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Renting or Buying Is Often Personal, but It’s Also Helpful to Look at the Numbers 2024-05-20 18:08:10.593000+00:00 - The Upshot last week updated one of its earliest and most popular projects: the Rent or Buy calculator. Its lasting popularity is no mystery: All of us make this decision at some point. But it may be even more relevant today, with a changed environment of higher interest rates, than it was when the Upshot was created a decade ago. The new calculator takes into account the 2017 tax law that affected the mortgage-interest deduction and limited SALT deductions. Here are a couple of other points for longtime calculator fans and new readers alike: One of the biggest factors in the rent-vs.-buy decision is something we can’t predict: the housing market. Because our math takes into account the full cycle of owning — buying, annual costs and then selling — home price appreciation can vastly change your results. The same house might look like a great financial decision at 8 percent housing value growth, and a bad one at 4 percent. If you’re serious about buying, toggle that slider around, look at the history of home price growth in your area over shorter and longer periods, and go into the process with a range of numbers in your head, not just one. We fully understand this isn’t just a financial decision. You might want to own a home so that you can paint your walls or grow a garden or DIY to your heart’s content. You might want certainty that your children can stay in their school district. Or you might want to rent because it’s nice never to have to worry about repairs, big or small. Our calculator can’t take any of that into account, but you should. Give the calculator a whirl here, and take note that you can now save and share your results.
Can Artificial Intelligence Make the PC Cool Again? 2024-05-20 18:03:18+00:00 - The race to put artificial intelligence everywhere is taking a detour through the good old laptop computer. Microsoft on Monday introduced a new kind of computer designed for artificial intelligence. The machines, Microsoft says, will run A.I. systems on chips and other gear inside the computers so they are faster, more personal and more private. The new computers, called Copilot+ PC, will allow people to use A.I. to make it easier to find documents and files they have worked on, emails they have read, or websites they have browsed. Their A.I. systems will also automate tasks like photo editing and language translation.
ChatGPT suspends AI voice that sounds like Scarlett Johansson 2024-05-20 17:34:00+00:00 - OpenAI removed a heavily promoted voice option from ChatGPT on Monday, following a widespread reaction to the flirtatious, feminine voice that sounded almost identical to Scarlett Johansson. The company used the voice, which it calls “Sky”, during its widely publicized event last week debuting the capabilities of the new ChatGPT-4o artificial intelligence model. Researchers talked with the AI assistant to show off Sky’s personable and responsive affectations, which users and members of the media immediately compared to Johansson’s AI companion character in the 2013 Spike Jonze film Her. Even OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, seemed to suggest that the vocal design was intentionally mimicking Johansson’s character, posting a one-word tweet after the presentation that simply said “her”. Less than a week later, OpenAI felt compelled to explicitly clarify that Sky was not based on Johansson. The company published a blogpost about Sky’s creation and claimed that the company values the voice acting industry. “Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice,” the blogpost read. “To protect their privacy, we cannot share the names of our voice talents.” While many commentators remarked on Sky’s similarities to Johansson in Her – including Johansson’s husband and Saturday Night Live cast member, Colin Jost, during a segment on the show’s season finale – others questioned why the voice was so fawning and gendered. “You can really tell that a man built this tech,” the Daily Show host Desi Lydic joked last week. “She’s like, ‘I have all the information in the world, but I don’t know anything.’” OpenAI claimed that it selected ChatGPT’s vocals based on a range of criteria that included having a “timeless” quality and being “an approachable voice that inspires trust”. OpenAI reviewed hundreds of voice acting submissions over a period of five months last year, the company said, releasing five different voice options for its ChatGPT in September. The chosen actors then flew to San Francisco for recording sessions that allowed OpenAI to train its models on their voices. The company pulled back its Sky voice days after several top members of its safety team resigned, with a key researcher, Jan Leike, saying after he quit that the company was prioritizing “shiny products” over safety culture and processes. Altman and his fellow co-founder Greg Brockman defended the company over the weekend, stating that it would not release a product if there were safety concerns. OpenAI’s blogpost on Sunday about its creation of ChatGPT voices also made numerous mentions of the company collaborating with entertainment industry professionals and compensating voice actors for their work. AI companies, especially OpenAI, have been the focus of intense pushback, including lawsuits, from entertainers, creators and media companies over allegations of copyright violations and concern that AI will replace human workers. Major entertainment unions, such as Sag-Aftra, have gone on strike over issues that include how their likenesses will be used by artificial intelligence.
Spirit Airlines gets rid of change and cancellation fees, joining Frontier 2024-05-20 17:14:00+00:00 - A Spirit Airlines aircraft undergoes operations in preparation for departure at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 12, 2024. Spirit Airlines is doing away with both change and cancellation fees, effective immediately, days after Frontier's similar announcement, part of an overhaul of the country's biggest discount carriers' longtime strategy. Prior to the new rule, Spirit used to charge anywhere between $69 and $119 for ticket changes and cancellations, depending on how close to departure the customer made the change. "This new policy is among the best in the industry because it applies to each and every guest," Spirit said in a statement to CNBC. "We have many other enhancements in the works and look forward to sharing more soon." The changes mark a shift for budget airlines' longtime pricing approach, which includes low base fares to attract customers and add-on fees for advanced seating assignments, bottled water and cabin baggage. Ancillary revenue routinely surpasses those airlines' ticket prices. "As we continue to see the demand and competitive environments develop, we know that we must also change with the times," Spirit's Chief Commercial Officer Matt Klein said on an earnings call earlier this month. "We will continue to test out new merchandising strategies, which we anticipate will change how we think about the components of total revenue generation." Both Spirit and Frontier are trying to return to profitability in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, while larger airlines that offer both bare-bones fares to domestic destinations and big international networks have posted profits. Most larger rivals such as Delta , American , Alaska and United got rid of change fees during the pandemic except for the cheapest, most restrictive tickets. Southwest Airlines does not charge customers a flight-change fee. Along with getting rid of change fees, Frontier also announced Friday that it will start offering bundles that include add-on options such as early boarding and checked baggage that they previously offered a la carte. Spirit is also offering bundled packages with varying prices that include perks such as checked bags. President Joe Biden and the Department of Transportation have been cracking down on what they deem "junk fees." As part of that push, the DOT issued a new rule requiring airlines to be upfront about add-on fees such as those for checked or carry-on baggage, which was subsequently challenged by a slew of airlines. Spirit said the end of cancellation fees were not tied to the new rules. The Biden administration also recently issued a new rule requiring airlines to offer automatic cash refunds for cancellations rather than in response to a customer's request.
Why unions are lobbying Labour over a ‘just transition’ to cleaner energy 2024-05-20 17:09:00+00:00 - Peace may have broken out between Labour and its union backers over workers’ rights, but shadow ministers face fierce lobbying in another key policy area: how to make the switch from fossil fuels without causing deep economic scarring. Unions representing tens of thousands of oil and gas workers – in particular GMB and Unite – are demanding urgent answers about what will happen to members’ jobs as the UK switches to cleaner energy sources. When Labour dropped its £28bn green spending pledge earlier this year, it stuck to the promise of generating all the UK’s energy from green sources by 2030, saying it would create 400,000 jobs in the process. But unions with a significant presence in oil and gas are concerned that the gap between that aspiration and the taxpayer funding Labour is willing to make available could leave their members high and dry. The GMB has made no secret of its scepticism about Labour’s plan to ban new North Sea oil and gas licences. The general secretary, Gary Smith, last year called the plan “naive”, blaming “a lack of intellectual rigour”. With Labour deemed highly unlikely to change course, however, discussions have shifted more recently to how the party could use industrial policy to create new jobs in the north-east of Scotland, where the oil and gas workforce is concentrated – and support those who end up out of work. Unions are desperate to avoid a repeat of the abrupt closure of the UK’s coalmining industry, and have demanded a “just transition”. On Friday, the Unite leader, Sharon Graham, kicked off a provocative new poster campaign aimed squarely at Labour, with the slogan No Ban Without a Plan. In other words, the party should either reverse course on new North Sea licences, or show how it would protect the jobs and communities affected by the sector’s decline. “What I’m trying to say to Labour is, ‘Look, don’t let go of one rope until you’ve got hold of another,’” Graham said. “There is a way for you to transition these workers, where you could be the heroes of the hour. Why wouldn’t you want to do that?” View image in fullscreen Offshore Energy UK, the industry body, is working with the Scottish government on a skills passport to enable workers to move between oil and gas jobs and those involving clean energy. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images Unite wants to see Labour commit to public investment of £6bn in offshore wind over six years, which it says would help create new employment for workers made redundant from declining fields. The GMB has recently stuck to private conversations, including through an energy working group set up by Labour, rather than public lobbying – but its message is similar. A spokesperson said: “The GMB has been clear that we need an industrial plan for the UK’s transition, not just to fight for the jobs and skills we desperately need, but to help create stability and confidence that UK plc is worth investing in.” Many in the union movement have long memories, recalling the deep scars left by the decline of mining, textiles and other labour-intensive industries through the 1980s and beyond. They also express concern that jobs in industries such as offshore wind tend to be less unionised and have worse terms and conditions than the oil and gas ones they are replacing. That worry is echoed in the US, where unions are battling to organise in the electric vehicle sector, with manufacturers such as Elon Musk’s Tesla highly resistant to unionisation. Tessa Khan is the director of Uplift, a campaign group calling for a “rapid and fair” transition away from North Sea drilling. She has no sympathy for the idea of granting new licences for exploration. “From a climate perspective, all of this stuff needs to stay in the ground,” she said. But Khan does share some of the unions’ worries about the consequences for communities in Scotland. Uplift estimates up to 200,000 jobs are directly or indirectly supported by the sector. With the fields already in long-term decline, that is two-thirds of the figure of a decade ago. “What’s needed is really concerted industrial policy and crucially an approach that involves the trade unions, the communities, local governments in Scotland, the Scottish government,” she said. Offshore Energy UK, the industry body, is working with the Scottish government on a skills passport to enable workers to move between oil and gas jobs, and ones working with clean energy. OEUK said its members were poised to bring £200bn of investment into the sector over the next decade, if the government created “an attractive investment environment and a strong industrial economy”. But Uplift is sceptical about the existing North Sea transition deal between the industry and government, warning that it does not do enough to create new jobs. Labour insists it has answers to all the unions’ concerns. Ed Miliband, the shadow minister for energy security and net zero, has promised to create a state-owned power company, Great British Energy, headquartered in Scotland and capitalised with £8bn of taxpayers’ money. Of that, £5bn is earmarked for clean power, including offshore wind, where both sides agree that former oil workers have relevant skills. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Business Today Free daily newsletter Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion In addition, Labour’s national wealth fund, to be backed with £7bn, will invest in carbon capture and storage, and upgrading ports, to create the infrastructure necessary for a significant increase in offshore generation. However, while these are among the costliest spending pledges Labour has made, some environmentalists share the unions’ disquiet about whether they will be sufficient. “It’s going to be quite a challenge for Labour in power,” said Chaitanya Kumar, head of environment and green transition for the New Economics Foundation (NEF) thinktank. He said a Labour government should also try to make private sector investment work better for UK jobs and workers, through the power of “disciplining capital” – using public money to extract conditions from companies, as the Biden administration has done in the US on a vast scale with the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Labour has made some gestures in this direction, promising extra support through the energy pricing system, known as contracts for difference, to firms that create good jobs in the UK. Kumar said NEF would like to see it go much further. “That’s what we see in the US – huge amounts of tax credits, in the billions. That’s a lot of public money going into private hands, ultimately, but it’s coming with conditions.” One area where it is unlikely there will be any meeting of minds is on the role of hydrogen in the UK’s future energy mix. The GMB is pressing for Labour to keep open the possibility of a switch from gas to green hydrogen for domestic heating – something that experts including the Climate Change Committee believe is unlikely to be practical. Representing thousands of gas heating engineers, the GMB fears that the wholesale switch to heat pumps – which most environmentalists believe is the most viable approach to decarbonising household heating – would mean fewer and lower-paid jobs. Labour has not publicly ruled out the use of green hydrogen for domestic heating, but like most experts, believes its main role will be in industry and transport. Party insiders see the GMB’s stance on this issue as unhelpful. Aside from the role of hydrogen, Labour is adamant it can assuage the concerns of its union supporters over the risks facing workers as the economy is radically restructured to meet the challenge of the climate emergency. But the battle over the future of the North Sea underlines the challenges Labour will face in government in confronting the climate emergency while keeping a tight rein on the public finances.
Bank Regulator Overseeing ‘Toxic’ Culture Loses Key Supporter in Senate 2024-05-20 17:05:26+00:00 - The top Democrat on bank regulation, Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, called on President Biden on Monday to choose a new leader for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, saying he no longer had confidence that the agency’s current chair, Martin Gruenberg, could heal its “toxic culture.” In a statement, Mr. Brown, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said that after a committee hearing with Mr. Gruenberg on Thursday, he no longer believed that Mr. Gruenberg could put an end to a culture of sexual harassment and discrimination at the agency, which oversees U.S. banks. He called for Mr. Biden to nominate a successor and for the Senate to quickly confirm that person, who could then take over for Mr. Gruenberg. “There must be fundamental changes at the F.D.I.C.,” Mr. Brown said. “Those changes begin with new leadership, who must fix the agency’s toxic culture and put the women and men who work there — and their mission — first.” An F.D.I.C. spokesman declined to comment. The agency’s problems were detailed in a report released this month, prepared by the law firm Cleary Gottlieb, that the F.D.I.C.’s board commissioned in response to a series of articles in The Wall Street Journal. Since then, Mr. Gruenberg has faced some calls to resign from members of both political parties who said they felt he had played too big a role in shaping the agency’s culture in recent years, including by making the agency’s staff fear communicating with him.
US embassy owes £15m in congestion charge fees, says Transport for London 2024-05-20 17:00:00+00:00 - The US embassy in Britain owes about £15m in unpaid congestion charge fees, according to Transport for London, which is considering legal recourse through international courts. The unpaid fees and fines have amassed over more than a decade, making the US the worst offender among foreign diplomats, with embassies in London collectively owing £143.5m by the end of 2023. Statistics published by TfL showed the US was followed by Japan’s embassy, which owes £10.1m, and India’s high commission, owing £8.6m, with Nigeria, China and Russia close behind. The congestion charge, launched in 2003, levies a £15 daily fee on most motorists to drive into the busy streets of central London between 7am and 6pm on weekdays, and from 12-6pm on weekends and bank holidays. According to the TfL documents, most embassies in London do pay the charge, but it said: “There remains a stubborn minority who refuse to do so, despite our representations through diplomatic channels. We will continue to pursue all unpaid congestion charge fees and related penalty charge notices, and are pushing for the matter to be taken up at the international court of justice.” It said that TfL and the UK government were clear that the congestion charge was paid for as a service, and was not a tax that diplomats could avoid. TfL has asked the Foreign Office to push for repayment. A TfL spokesperson added: “We are clear that foreign diplomats and consular staff are not exempt from paying the congestion charge. We continue to pursue all unpaid congestion charges and related penalty charge notices.” The US embassy moved from Grosvenor Square to Nine Elms, just outside the charging zone, in 2018, but appears to have continued to rack up unpaid fines. According to the TfL figures, Scandinavian embassies appears the most law-abiding in London when it comes to the congestion charge, with Denmark and Sweden fully paid up. Among those still owing, Togo is the most minor of the offenders listed, on the hook for just £40. Its embassy is located some miles north of the congestion zone, in Archway. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Business Today Free daily newsletter Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion No figures have been provided for Ulez payments, but it is understood that the vehicles leased by embassies would normally be new enough to be compliant with London’s ultra-low emission zone and not be liable for the charge. A spokesperson for the US embassy in London said: “In accordance with international law as reflected in the 1961 Vienna convention on diplomatic relations, our position is that the congestion charge is a tax from which diplomatic missions are exempt. “Our longstanding position is shared by many other diplomatic missions in London.”
Target to cut prices on 5,000 products in bid to lure cash-strapped customers 2024-05-20 16:20:00+00:00 - Why middle-tier retailers are suffering as high and low-price stores thrive Target said Monday it plans to slash the price of bread, coffee, diapers and thousands of other everyday items this summer, joining other retailers looking to kickstart business by catering to inflation-weary consumers. Target is cutting its prices because "consumers are feeling pressured to make the most of their budget," Executive Vice President Rick Gomez said in a statement. Other staples being repriced include fruit, milk, meat, peanut butter, pet food, vegetables and paper towels, the Minnesota retailer said. Target said it has already lowered the price on roughly 1,500 items, and the remaining cuts will take effect in coming weeks. The lowered prices will also be available through Target's website and shopping app. Target, which is scheduled to release its first-quarter earnings on Wednesday, in March reported a 1.7% drop in sales for 2023 — its first annual decline in seven years. The move comes as the U.S. economy is slowing. Although inflation continues to ease and overall consumer spending has remained solid this year, recent economic signals suggest Americans are becoming more frugal. The median rise in monthly household spending in April fell to 4.6%, the lowest reading in three years, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. "While there are some encouraging signs in the economy, there are also stubborn pressures impacting families and retails," Christina Hennington, Target's chief growth officer, said in an earnings call with analysts in March. "Consumers say they still feel stretched, they're balancing a lot and having to make trade-offs to meet the needs of their families while sprinkling in the occasional luxury." The pullback in spending by budget-conscious consumers is also affecting other industries, including fast-food giant McDonald's and casual-dining chains such as IHOP and Applebee's. In April, grocery chain Giant Food, which has 164 locations across Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., cut the price on hundreds of its private-label items. Arts supply retailer Michaels also lowered prices in April, slashing the cost of paint, markers, pens and other products.
Norwegian Cruise Line, Wix.com rise; Cushman & Wakefield, Target fall, Monday, 5/20/2024 2024-05-20 16:05:56+00:00 - NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes on Monday: Johnson Controls International PLC, up $1.60 to $70.62. Elliott Investment Management has reportedly taken a large stake in the diversified technology and industrial company. Hims & Hers Health Inc., up $4.03 to $18.60. The telehealth company announced expanded access to weight-loss medication, including GLP-1 injections. Wix.com Ltd., up $32.34 to $168.02. The cloud-based web development company beat analysts’ first-quarter earnings and revenue forecasts. Independent Bank Group Inc., up $3.36 to $47.30. SouthState Corp. is buying the bank holding company for about $2 billion in an all-stock deal. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., up $1.19 to $16.94. The cruise line raised its earnings forecast for the year. Cushman & Wakefield, down 27 cents to $11.45. The commercial real estate company announced a stock offering of 26.5 million shares through J.P. Morgan. Target Corp., down $3.42 to $156.71. The retailer plans on cutting prices on thousands of consumer basics this summer. United States Steel Corp., up 84 cents to $36.75. Nippon Steel is reportedly stepping up efforts to complete its buyout of the steelmaker.
Ivan F. Boesky, Rogue Trader in 1980s Wall Street Scandal, Dies at 87 2024-05-20 15:45:11+00:00 - Ivan F. Boesky, the brash financier who came to symbolize Wall Street greed as a central figure of the 1980s insider trading scandals, and who went to prison for his misdeeds, died on Monday at his home in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego. He was 87. His daughter Marianne Boesky said he died in his sleep. An inspiration for the character Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone’s movie “Wall Street” and its sequel, Mr. Boesky made a fortune betting on stock tips, often passed to him illegally in exchange for suitcases of cash. His guilty plea to insider trading in November 1986 and his $100 million penalty, a record at the time, sent shock waves through Wall Street and set off a cascade of events that marked the end of a decade of frenzied takeover activity and the celebration of conspicuous wealth. As federal investigators closed in on Mr. Boesky, he agreed to cooperate, providing information that led to the downfall of the investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert and its junk bond king, Michael Milken. Mr. Boesky brought an aggressive style to the once-sleepy world of arbitrage, the buying and selling of stocks in companies that appear to be takeover targets. Sniffing out impending deals, he amassed stock positions at levels never seen before.
James Greenfield, Globe-Trotting Reporter and Times Editor, Dies at 99 2024-05-20 15:09:44+00:00 - James L. Greenfield, an urbane journalist who covered postwar world affairs for Time magazine, served as a State Department official in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and for nearly 25 years was a senior editor of The New York Times, died on Sunday at home in the rural town of Washington, Conn. He was 99. The cause was kidney failure, his wife, Ene Riisna, said. As a foreign and diplomatic correspondent with an insider’s savvy about the workings of Washington, Mr. Greenfield was well placed for a career that took him from the globe-trotting reporter’s life in Europe and Asia into the company of world leaders as a government spokesman and then to the top echelons of the Times newsroom. A protégé of A.M. Rosenthal, a rising star who later became executive editor, Mr. Greenfield was hired by The Times in 1967 and soon became a focus of controversy through no fault of his own. Seeking to rein in the relative independence of The Times’s Washington bureau, Mr. Rosenthal in 1968 urged the publisher, Arthur O. Sulzberger, to name Mr. Greenfield bureau chief, replacing the popular Tom Wicker, who also wrote a political column.
Nasdaq vs. S&P: A Detailed Breakdown of Stock Indexes 2024-05-20 15:01:00+00:00 - The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 are both major measures used to track the health of specific segments of the economy. The Nasdaq is a global electronic marketplace for buying and selling securities best known for its higher concentration of tech stocks. Its index, the Nasdaq Composite, is used as a benchmark to compare the performance of technology and biotech stocks. The S&P 500 is a competing index that includes a wide range of sectors but limits inclusions to the largest U.S. stocks. While both indexes serve similar functions, the best investment for your portfolio may vary depending on your risk tolerance and investing timeline. Get stock market news alerts: Sign Up What Are Stock Indexes? Both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 are market indexes, important tools used to track the performance of a group of assets. Stock market indexes consider only a select “basket” of stocks, providing investors with a quick glimpse into how that group of assets is performing over time and on any particular day. Stock indexes are crucial tools for comparing investments against one another, serving as a benchmark that tracks the average movement within an industry or group of stocks. For example, imagine that you’re a tech investor and you want to know if returns on recent stock investment are beating what you’d see if you’d invested the same capital into the general tech market. By comparing your rate of return to the average return of a tech-focused index like the Dow Jones U.S. Technology Index, you can quickly see if your investments are beating the general movement of the market. Market Composition The first and most pronounced difference between the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are the types of stocks that make up the “basket” mentioned above. The Nasdaq focuses primarily on technology-driven companies, with the Nasdaq Composite Index including more than 3,000 individual stocks that qualify for inclusion on the Nasdaq exchange. The Nasdaq includes both internationally and domestically based companies. The S&P 500 index is largely considered to be a general measure of the performance of the U.S. economy as a whole. The “500” in the name refers to the number of stocks included in the index, which is composed of the top 500 largest companies in the United States. Unlike the Nasdaq, the S&P 500 features stocks in sectors like technology, healthcare, finance and consumer goods Inclusion Criteria There are a few variations in the stocks included in both indexes. The Nasdaq is made up of all stocks operating on the market, which is primarily tech-based. If a company meets the qualification criteria for listing on the Nasdaq exchange, it qualifies for inclusion in the Composite index. The S&P 500 is more strict in its inclusion criteria. While it includes companies from a wide range of sectors, the index is only representative of the top 500 domestic companies when measured by market capitalization. It includes stocks from both the Nasdaq exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, but does not consider international companies like the Nasdaq Composite does. Market Cap Variation The Nasdaq Composite is made up primarily of tech companies, which tend to feature higher market capitalizations on average than companies in other sectors. Many of the top stocks included on the Nasdaq (like Apple and Microsoft) are also major components of the S&P 500. While the S&P 500 categorizes inclusions and weighting by market capitalization, it features large-cap, medium-cap and a few small-cap stocks. What Are the Similarities Between Nasdaq and the S&P 500? Both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 are major stock market indexes used to track and measure the performance of a basket of representative stocks. While the criteria for inclusion might vary between them, both are used as benchmarks to compare the performance of a smaller or individual asset to the returns of some segment of the overall market. Stock market indexes are also notable for their association with exchange-traded funds (ETFs). ETFs are investment funds that trade on the stock market in the same way as individual shares of stock. Most of the world’s largest ETFs track some form of stock index. For example, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: VOO) is an ETF that includes assets in accordance with the composition of the S&P 500. The goal of these funds is to replicate the performance of the index, and both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 are the basis for multiple ETFs. Is It Better to Invest in the Nasdaq Composite or the S&P 500? The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 serve different purposes to investment analysts and investors alike. The best investment choice for your needs will vary depending on how long you plan to stay in the market and your overall portfolio makeup, with the S&P 500 usually being considered the more conservative choice. Risk Tolerance Between the Nasdaq and the S&P 500, the Nasdaq is usually considered the less stable option. The index is driven primarily by tech stocks, which tend to be classified as growth stocks. Growth stocks are companies that reinvest most of their profits back into growth and new asset development, which give them the potential to grow long-term. While these stocks usually show higher potential for return, they’re also more volatile than larger, more established companies — like those that make up the S&P 500. If you’re looking for a less volatile investment option or have a lower risk tolerance, you may want to opt for the S&P 500. Time Horizon If you’re investing on a longer time frame, you may want to consider investing more heavily in the Nasdaq. The Nasdaq is made up of a high number of growth stocks, which tend to be more volatile in the short-term when compared to blue-chip options. If you’re investing for a more conservative goal (like a retirement that’s coming in a few years), you may want to invest more heavily in the S&P 500. Diversification Needs Diversification is the idea that you should invest in multiple sectors, companies and types of assets to reduce your financial risk in the long-term. The S&P 500 features more intrinsic diversification than the Nasdaq, which primarily focuses on technology and biotech stocks. If you’re looking to add more diversification to your portfolio, you may want to learn towards the S&P 500. It’s important to remember that you don’t necessarily need to choose one or the other when investing in an index. You may want to include investments in both the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite when creating your portfolio. Make Your Investment Decisions with Confidence The Nasdaq and S&P 500 are both stock market indexes used to track specific segments of the market. While the Nasdaq focuses primarily on the top technology leaders, the S&P 500 focuses on summarizing the performance of the largest companies in the United States. The best market index to invest in will vary based on your risk tolerance, with the S&P 500 usually considered to be the more stable choice for long-term investors.
Young people: have you relocated to a more affordable UK town, small city or village? 2024-05-20 13:24:00+00:00 - We’re keen to hear from people under the age of 45 who have in recent years relocated to a smaller, more affordable community in the UK – whether that’s a small city, town or village. We’d like to know why people have made such a move, how their new life has been working out, and what the positives and the negatives of living in these communities may be. We’re also very interested to hear from longstanding residents of more affordable, smaller communities in the UK whether they feel their community has been changing in recent years, and if so, how they feel about that.
Bill Ackman Reduced Chipotle Stock, Fundamentals Still Sound 2024-05-20 13:14:00+00:00 - Key Points Bill Ackman's fund reduced its stake in Chipotle stock, spooking some investors in all the wrong ways. Like a risk-management practice, this reduction has nothing to do with the company's underlying fundamentals. Despite outperforming its peers, analysts see double-digit EPS growth and upside left in Chipotle. 5 stocks we like better than Starbucks Investors may feel uneasy seeing one of Wall Street’s top value investors, Bill Ackman, sell a stock. Reducing or even bailing out of a company could send many wrong signals to the market, so investors can follow a rule of thumb. When investors buy a stock, it is only to make money. However, selling could be a decision rooted in a dozen different reasons. Whether it is for tax-loss harvesting, a practice investors use to unload losing positions at the end of the year to offset the capital gains they – hopefully – had during the year, or whether it is to rotate out of a sector or company weighing, selling can happen due to more than just profit taking. Get Starbucks alerts: Sign Up Bill Ackman reduced his holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. NYSE: CMG by 9.8% in the past quarter. However, it is still Pershing Square’s (Ackman’s fund) largest holding. Deciding to keep up to $2.1 billion in Chipotle stock, roughly 20% of his fund, speaks more than the recent reduction, which may not imply a bearish view of the company. It’s Called Risk Management Shares of Chipotle rallied by as much as 53.5% over the past 12 months, leaving the broader S&P 500 behind by roughly 26.2%. Even peers in the consumer discretionary sector had difficulty keeping up with Chipotle, as McDonald’s Co. NYSE: MCD and Starbucks Co. NASDAQ: SBUX delivered a respective 7.2% and 27.3% decline during the year. Because of this outperformance, the weight of Chipotle stock in Ackman’s portfolio became too large. The best practice in this situation is to block intrusive thoughts leading to greed, just like a hot poker player should take some chips off the table and cool off. Investors should be aware of this tendency to cut winners occasionally, as overstaying in a winning stock could lead to nightmare-like outcomes. Knowing this, Chipotle is far from a stock that Main Street should avoid, especially in today’s economic environment. Chipotle’s Growth Is Nothing to Walk Away From Chipotle Mexican Grill Today CMG Chipotle Mexican Grill $3,176.39 -37.04 (-1.15%) 52-Week Range $1,768.64 ▼ $3,260.00 P/E Ratio 67.78 Price Target $3,137.12 Add to Watchlist This isn’t going to be just any other cycle; the U.S. economy is giving economists something new to worry about. Gross domestic product (GDP), also known as the size of the economy, pushed out a mere 1.6% growth in the past quarter. The economy is falling into stagflation because inflation remained above 3%, nearly twice as high as GDP growth. Stagflation is defined as little to no economic growth and high inflation. Portfolios need a new strategy to beat this destructive cycle. Two things should be at the top of portfolio managers and retail investors' minds: steady and predictable growth (ideally above average). This is where Chipotle comes in to save the day, as Wall Street analysts expect to see 20.2% earnings per share (EPS) growth in the next 12 months. This growth rate, which is definitely above the long-term GDP growth rate, is also above McDonald’s 8.3% EPS projections and the 12.9% analysts see out of Starbucks this year. Because of this above-average growth gap, markets are willing to bid Chipotle stock to 98% of its 52-week high, but that’s not all. Compared to the retail sector’s 23.6x P/E multiple, Chipotle’s 67.0x valuation calls for a premium of 183% today. Stocks typically trade near their 52-week highs and at higher P/E ratios for a good reason, and Chipotle’s EPS growth projections could be one of them. Wall Street’s Take Chipotle Mexican Grill MarketRank™ Stock Analysis Overall MarketRank™ 4.18 out of 5 Analyst Rating Moderate Buy Upside/Downside 1.9% Downside Short Interest Healthy Dividend Strength N/A Sustainability -1.96 News Sentiment 0.36 Insider Trading Selling Shares Projected Earnings Growth 20.24% See Full Details show investors another reason to stick with this compounder. Operating at 40.9% gross margins lets management keep more capital from each dollar sold, reflected in the company’s 15% average return on invested capital (ROIC) rates over the past 5 years. Because annual stock price performance follows the long-run ROIC rate, investors can expect their investment to rise by this percentage. All the technical and fundamental factors make Chipotle a stock to keep portfolios above today’s stagflation. Even bearish traders aren’t looking to slow the stock down and keep it from making new all-time highs. Over the past month, Chipotle’s short interest declined by 9.7%, giving bulls the open field to squeeze the potential in the company’s fundamentals. Before you consider Starbucks, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Starbucks wasn't on the list. While Starbucks currently has a "Hold" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here
3 Dow Stocks to Watch as The Index Hits a New High 2024-05-20 13:00:00+00:00 - Key Points The Dow just hit a new all-time high, and three stocks stand out inside it with stronger-than-ever fundamental trends. Analysts see a double-digit upside in each of them, and markets are willing to slap a premium valuation on future financials. Price action and relatively high weightings in the Dow justify the attention of retail investors. 5 stocks we like better than Honeywell International This year, the stock market could show investors a new divide, unlike anything that portfolios have dealt with in the past economic cycle. After contracting for over 15 months, the U.S. manufacturing and industrial sector could be set up to outperform others, even if there are currently hot issues in the technology sector. While some may keep their focus – and capital – in names like Nvidia Co. NASDAQ: NVDA or choose to follow the meme stock revival in GameStop Corp. NYSE: GME, however, the best odds to potentially outperform the market could be found in boring names within the Dow 30 index. Get HON alerts: Sign Up These companies include stocks like Caterpillar Inc. NYSE: CAT, Home Depot Inc. NYSE: HD, and even Honeywell International Inc. NASDAQ: HON. As the Dow index hit 40,000 for the first time, these seemingly boring industrial stocks could catch up this quarter. The Economy is Just Right According to this 2024 macro outlook report set by the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts, the U.S. manufacturing sector could be set for a breakout this year; here’s why. Because the Federal Reserve (the Fed) proposes cutting interest rates later this year, which could be as soon as September 2024, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool, the dollar index could decline in value (as most currencies are valued based on their interest rates). A potentially lower dollar could make American exports more attractive for foreign buyers, a theme that was present in February’s ISM manufacturing PMI index, which delivered a 6.4% bump in export orders. To fulfill these orders, the manufacturing sector needs to start producing, and that’s where corporate profits are set to soar. Now that investors understand where the Dow’s momentum is coming from, three stocks could carry investors even higher. 1. Caterpillar Caterpillar Today CAT Caterpillar $362.75 +6.48 (+1.82%) 52-Week Range $205.60 ▼ $382.01 Dividend Yield 1.43% P/E Ratio 16.38 Price Target $323.35 Add to Watchlist Investors need a dull, under-the-radar stock that is still exposed to one of the biggest trends in the economy. Weighing at 5.8% of the Dow index , Caterpillar is one of the key companies in the U.S. and globally. Because the real estate sector is at a stalemate currently. The average homeowner holds a mortgage of 3.25% (according to the Intercontinental Exchange), giving them close to zero reasons to let go of that cheap rate compared to today’s 7.3%. Those looking to buy a new home must handle today’s higher rate. If it wasn’t enough, they would also be shopping for a 32% more expensive home compared to pre-pandemic average home prices. The only way to break this market freeze is to build, as new supply could help normalize prices. Analysts at Goldman Sachs see this trend, so they boosted Caterpillar's price target to $408 a share, calling for a 15% upside from today's price. More than that, markets are willing to pay a 9.9x price-to-book multiple for Caterpillar’s balance sheet, which carries 62% debt today. Because the Fed may cut rates later this year, markets are bullish on Caterpillar’s leverage and fundamental play in the construction sector. 2. The Home Depot Home Depot Today HD Home Depot $337.82 -6.39 (-1.86%) 52-Week Range $274.26 ▼ $396.87 Dividend Yield 2.66% P/E Ratio 22.66 Price Target $377.46 Add to Watchlist Following Caterpillar’s thesis, owners and landlords will always find a few dollars in their budgets for renovation and needed repairs, whether new homes or existing ones. This is where The Home Depot comes into play. Knowing that, as of the fourth quarter of 2023, Home Depot held a 61.9% market share in the home improvement industry, markets felt comfortable bidding the stock up to 87% of its 52-week high. But how does this compare to peers? Controlling only 35% of the industry, Lowe’s Companies Inc. NYSE: LOW fell to a 30% discount to Home Depot on a price-to-sales (P/S) basis. Stocks typically have a good reason to trade at premiums over comparable peers. Home Depot’s market share exposed to upcoming home sales is one of them. Bank of America deemed Home Depot worthy of a $425 valuation. The stock must rally 23.4% from its current price to prove these targets right. These trends and fundamental factors justify Home Depot’s positioning in the Dow today, carrying a weight of up to 5.6%. 3. Honeywell International Honeywell International Today HON Honeywell International $204.62 -1.35 (-0.66%) 52-Week Range $174.88 ▼ $210.87 Dividend Yield 2.11% P/E Ratio 23.71 Price Target $215.71 Add to Watchlist How is the manufacturing sector potentially set for a busy rest of 2024? Honeywell International could be called upon for its building and manufacturing automation technology solutions, as efficiency is critical upon a sector breakout. Not only that, as oil prices flirt with their $80 a barrel ceiling once again, Honeywell’s exposure to the energy sector – sustainable solutions in particular – could help the company see brighter days ahead, as more expensive oil makes alternative energy more attractive. Because of this, markets placed a P/S premium of 120% in Honeywell’s 3.4x valuation, compared to 3M NYSE: MMM and its 1.6x multiple today. Leaning on this market's willingness to overpay for a stock, analysts at Barclays felt comfortable placing a $232 valuation on Honeywell today, calling for a 13% upside on top of the stock's 2.1% annual dividend yield today. If that wasn’t enough, the stock’s quality and potentially bullish road ahead called for up to $357 billion of institutional buying over the last 12 months, keeping its weight in the Dow at 3.4%. Before you consider Honeywell International, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Honeywell International wasn't on the list. While Honeywell International currently has a "Hold" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here
Burry Just Sold Amazon, Replaced it With Alibaba, is He Right? 2024-05-20 12:26:00+00:00 - Key Points Michael Burry joined Ray Dalio in his hunt for higher rewards tied to lower risks, which he found in Chinese stocks. Selling out of America's technology sector, Burry plunged into Alibaba and JD.com stock recently. Analysts agree that Alibaba's discount and upside are similar to Amazon's, giving a better risk/reward ratio. 5 stocks we like better than Alibaba Group Far from blindly following the most prominent names on Wall Street, retail investors could reverse engineer the recent moves made by giants like Warren Buffett and Ray Dalio. However, a critical piece of information must be added to this equation: Relative account size and buying power. Running the largest hedge fund in the world, Dalio can’t just pick any value stock; it has to be a big enough fish to reel in. In the same way, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. NYSE: BRK.A can’t just go with any value stock, as the company’s financials now hold a record $180 billion in cash set aside for the right opportunity. So, for investors in their early days, an investor like Michael Burry (the guy who called the 2008 financial crisis) is better suited to reverse engineer investment decisions. Get Alibaba Group alerts: Sign Up Burry’s fund, Scion Capital, shows exciting decisions in the technology and consumer discretionary sectors in both the U.S. and China. He has reduced his positioning in Amazon.com Inc. NASDAQ: AMZN while buying up shares of Alibaba Group NYSE: BABA and taking an interest in physical gold funds. Here’s what could be driving Burry to make this rotation today. A Global Market Super Cycle Alibaba Group Today BABA Alibaba Group $88.28 -0.26 (-0.29%) 52-Week Range $66.63 ▼ $102.50 Dividend Yield 1.11% P/E Ratio 20.58 Price Target $109.96 Add to Watchlist The two most important economies in the world are about to make a rotation, which has yet to be seen since 2008. Chinese and American stocks should be at the top of investors' minds worldwide, though not all are created equal. Amazon is part of the ‘magnificent 7’, which recently pushed the S&P and NASDAQ indexes to new all-time highs. However, the rest of the market showed lackluster performance, meaning that a small percentage of companies were responsible for most of the stock market’s run. Those getting most of the credit were found in the technology and business services sectors. According to the ISM services PMI index, these sectors have had consecutive monthly expansions since 2020, which recently took a turn to the downside. April’s services PMI showed the first contraction reading in more than 24 months, while its cousin, the ISM manufacturing PMI, edged closer to expanding after a 15-month contraction. In China, it’s been more challenging to say the least. The Chinese economy's manufacturing and services sectors have been in contraction since the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why the CSI 300 (China's S&P 500) fell to near-decade lows. Stocks became so cheap that their average dividend yield surpassed the Chinese 10-year bonds. Any time this happens in an economy, investors consider equities in that nation to be cheap enough to pose little to no risk. The last time this happened in the U.S. was in 2020 when a 180% rally came soon after in only a year. Knowing that this rotation out of American services and technology (like Amazon) and into anything Chinese is about to happen, Burry decided to take this rotation literally. Here’s What Investors Can Do with This Information Recently, stocks in the manufacturing sector have outperformed most in the magnificent seven to crystalize this economic fact. Shares of Mueller Water Products Inc. NYSE: MWA and ATI Inc. NYSE: ATI have outperformed names like Nvidia Co. NASDAQ: NVDA, Tesla Inc. NASDAQ: TSLA and even Apple Inc. NASDAQ: AAPL over the past month. Seeing the markets play out the rotation in live price action, investors can start hunting for value in both U.S. manufacturing sectors or look to take on a bit more risk (for potentially more reward) in Chinese names like Alibaba. Pegging these two technology giants against each other, here’s what that looks like. Is Burry Right in This Decision? For starters, being a value investor often requires buyers to be willing to go against the trend. Amazon stock has reached 96% of its 52-week high, so as a true contrarian, Burry started selling Amazon shares against bullish momentum. But he didn’t stop there; he reportedly sold Alphabet Inc. NASDAQ: GOOGL from the same U.S. basket. With this new liquid buying power, he chose Alibaba and JD.com Inc. NASDAQ: J.D. to replace American counterparts, making them his largest portfolio holdings today. Wall Street analysts may condemn Burry’s decision. They see up to 23.5% earnings per share (EPS) growth for Amazon in the next 12 months while only expecting 11.0% growth from Alibaba. Because Alibaba’s recent quarter shows a severe EPS contraction due to equity investment losses, Burry could be betting that the actual core operations in the business are still driving a higher valuation. That’s where analysts could see eye-to-eye with Burry, as those at Citigroup saw it fit to slap a $122 price target for Alibaba, calling for up to 36% upside from where the stock trades today. On the other hand, J.P. Morgan analysts see a $240 valuation for Amazon, or 30% higher than today’s price. Apart from being in completely different countries, these two seem to differ in their price action and valuations. Burry saw Alibaba’s 86% of its 52-week high and 20.6x P/E ratio as a more attractive proposition than Amazon’s 96% and 51.7x P/E ratio. Whether he is right is up to the market, though Ray Dalio seems to be in sync. The Wall Street legend has been buying into the iShares MSCI China ETF NASDAQ: MCHI since the third quarter of 2023. Before you consider Alibaba Group, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Alibaba Group wasn't on the list. While Alibaba Group currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here
3 Stocks That Look Like Chipotle in the Early Days 2024-05-20 12:09:00+00:00 - Key Points Cava Group operates garden-style, select-your-ingredients format, quick service Mediterranean restaurants generating 52.6% YoY revenue growth. Sweetgreen operates locally sourced, high-quality, customized salad and meat bowls, experiencing 26.2% revenue growth. Kura Sushi operates over 400 conveyor belt sushi restaurants, generating 30% YoY revenue growth. 5 stocks we like better than CAVA Group If you were an early investor in Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. NYSE: CMG when it went public in January 2006 at just $22 a share, you'd be sitting pretty as it trades around $3,213. It's too easy (and painful) to look back and question why you "shoulda, woulda, coulda" bought shares before the meteoric rise when they were cheap. Unfortunately, they haven't invented a time machine for your investment portfolio to get in on stock winners during the early days. However, one can learn from the past and try to identify stocks using a proven template that may repeat itself. Here are 3 stocks in the retail/wholesale sector that look like potential Chipotle-like growth candidates to consider for your portfolio. Get CAVA Group alerts: Sign Up CAVA Group Inc. CAVA Group Today CAVA CAVA Group $80.47 +3.19 (+4.13%) 52-Week Range $29.05 ▼ $80.70 Price Target $60.42 Add to Watchlist Often considered the Chipotle of Mediterranean food, CAVA Group Inc. NYSE: CAVA operates over 330 Cava quick-service restaurants. Its garden-style, point-and-choose toppings format is similar to Chipotle's, as customers can select ingredients for their custom salad or grain bowls and pitas. Unlike Chipotle, the food at Cava is much healthier, comprised of fresh vegetables and lean meats, including lamb meatballs, Harissa honey chicken and toppings like hummus, Crazy feta cheese, roasted eggplant, pickled cabbage slaw, tomatoes, cucumbers, pickles and corn. Shares are trading up 79.8% year-to-date (YTD) but may have much more upside as the company continues to expand. Scorching Growth Cava reported Q4 2024 EPS of 2 cents, beating consensus estimates by 2 cents. Revenues surged 52.6% YoY to $175.5 million, beating consensus estimates for $174.27 million. For the full year 2025, EBITDA is expected to be between $86 million and $92 million. Same-restaurant sales rose 11.4% YoY, and traffic increased 6.2% YoY. The company opened 19 net new restaurants ending the quarter with 309 total restaurants, up 30% YoY. Net income was $2 million, and adjusted EBITDA rose to $15.7 million, up $12.2 million from the year-ago period. Ready to Expand: Promote From Within Cava has a presence in 24 states, opening a total of 72 new restaurants in 2023. Despite macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, the company continues to grow at a 15% target annual unit growth rate. Cava is on a growth path towards 1,000 restaurants by 2032. Chipotle has over 3,200 restaurants, which leaves Cava with a long runway for growth to catch up. The company also practices a promote-from-within method of promoting general managers through its in-house manager development pipeline. The company ended the year with 55 Academy general managers (GMs) and 7 promoted to multi-unit leader positions. In 2023, the company placed 75% of its new restaurant GMs internally. Vertically Integrated Model Cava produces its line of sauces and dips for its restaurants. They are also commercially available in grocery stores. The company commenced operations of its new 55,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Verona, Virginia, to produce CAVA dips and spreads in addition to its Largo, Maryland facility, which has the capacity to support up to 750 restaurants. Weekly Bull Flag Breakout The weekly candlestick chart for CAVA illustrates a bull flag breakout pattern. The flag formed at $71.50, indicating parallel lower highs and lows until the breakout triggered surging shares to new highs at $80.33. The weekly relative strength index (RSI) is hovering around the 70-band. Pullback support levels are at $66.15, $58.22, $51.25 and $48.64. CAVA Group analyst ratings and price targets are on MarketBeat. Sweetgreen Sweetgreen Today SG Sweetgreen $33.83 +2.08 (+6.55%) 52-Week Range $8.64 ▼ $34.45 Price Target $25.75 Add to Watchlist Growth Accelerating Like Cava, Sweetgreen Inc. NYSE: SG also serves healthy, choose-your-own-ingredient salad and grain bowls. Its shares recently spiked 30% on a solid Q1 2024 earnings report. Sweetgreen allows customers to choose pre-selected salads and bowls or customize them using up to 30 freshly chopped, locally sourced ingredients. The company pivoted to include proteins, including salmon, chicken and steak options, which were a smashing hit. In a test study, Sweetgreen discovered that its caramelized garlic steak was a dinner-time favorite, being selected in 1 out of every 5 dinner orders. Sweetgreen reported a 5-cent EPS miss in its Q1 2024 earnings report. However, its same-store sales grew 5% YoY as the company recorded an adjusted EBITDA of $100,000, which was a strong reversal from a $6.7 million loss in the year-ago period. The average unit volume (AUV) was $2.9 million. Its loyalty program helped grow digital orders to 59% of total sales as the company opened 6 net new restaurants in the quarter. Raised Guidance Sweetgreen raised its revenue guidance for the full year 2024 to come in between $600 million and $675 million. The company also raised its adjusted EBITDA to $19 million, up from $10 million. Comparable store sales guidance was also raised to the 4% to 6% range, up from the previous 3% to 5% range. Like Cava, Sweetgreen plans on 15% annual unit growth. Sweetgreen analyst ratings and price targets are at MarketBeat. Kura Sushi Kura Sushi USA Today KRUS Kura Sushi USA $103.85 -7.61 (-6.83%) 52-Week Range $51.02 ▼ $122.81 P/E Ratio 741.84 Price Target $109.50 Add to Watchlist Cost Cutting While Revenues Growing Switching to an Asian theme, Kura Sushi USA Inc. NASDAQ: KRUS operates over 400 technology-enabled Japanese sushi restaurants globally, with 63 in the United States. These restaurants employ conveyor belts with small sushi plates, allowing customers to select and consume the sushi they desire as they come around. The restaurants have over 140 freshly prepared items. The company has opened 10 restaurants in 2024 and raised its guidance to open a total of 13 to 14 this year. Kura Sushi reported a Q2 2024 EPS loss of 9 cents, missioned estimates by 6 cents. Revenues surged 30.4% YoY to $57.3 million, beating consensus estimates for $56.6 million. Comparable sales growth was up 3%. Adjusted EBITDA grew 23% YoY. The company was able to drop G&A expenses down to 14.3% of sales, compared to 16.3% in the year-ago period. The company opened 5 new restaurants in the quarter, including locations in Kansas City, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio and Texas. Its rewards program has helped boost U.S. sales to a third of total sales compared to less than 25% of total sales in the year-ago period. Rewards program members also spend 10% more per ticket and visit 1.3 times per month. Sushi Slider Kura Sushi is currently getting certified in the U.S. for a new battle-tested technology from Kura, Japan, called the Sushi Slider. The company hopes to test and retrofit the Sushi Slider this summer. The Sushi Slider puts rice balls directly onto the sushi plates and takes them directly to each dine-in employee. This speeds up the process, whereas it takes 2 to 3 employees to spend half their shift during peak hours placing rice balls manually on the sushi plates and handing them to the next person on the making line. This automation would dramatically improve operational output. Kura Sushi analyst ratings and price targets are at MarketBeat. Before you consider CAVA Group, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and CAVA Group wasn't on the list. While CAVA Group currently has a "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here
Dole is a Tasty Low Hanging Treat for Value Hunters 2024-05-20 12:04:00+00:00 - Key Points Dole is a global producer of fresh fruits and vegetables with a trailing PE of 6.79 compared to competitor Del Monte with a PE of 15.19. Dole saw net income surge 220% YoY while revenues rose 6.6% YoY in Q1 2024. Dole stock pays a 2.48% annual dividend and trades at just 0.15 price-to-sales. 5 stocks we like better than (DOLE) As stock markets reach new all-time highs, it's tough to find bargains among strong companies with frothy valuations. Steady and reliable may not be enough to excite the markets, but for value investors, these treats are hidden gems in plain sight. One such gem is Dole plc NYSE: DOLE, a leading producer of fresh fruits and vegetables. Dole competes in the consumer staples sector with Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. NYSE: FDP. Dole supplies fruits and vegetables to grocers, including Target Co. NYSE: TGT, Costco Warehouse and Walmart Inc. NYSE: WMT, which sells the most bananas of any retailer. Get (DOLE) alerts: Sign Up A Value Gem Hidden in Plain Sight (DOLE) Today DOLE (DOLE) Dividend Yield 2.45% P/E Ratio 6.90 Price Target $17.00 Add to Watchlist Comparing Sweet to Sour Fruit Results Dole's current market capitalization is just $1.22 billion, and it is trading at 0.15 price-to-sales (PS). Dole has a trailing PE of 6.79 and a forward PE of 11.16. Compare that to Fresh Del Monte with a trailing PE of 15.19, forward PE of 17.92, and a PS of 0.27. Del Monte does half the revenues of Dole and yet trades at a higher valuation. However, Del Monte takes the win in terms of dividend yield at 4.11% versus 2.48% and debt-to-equity at 0.21 versus 0.61. The real difference between the undervalued Dole and arguably overvalued competitor Del Monte is their latest Q1 2024 results. In Q1 2024, Del Monte saw net income fall 33% YoY to $26.1 million while revenues sank 1.8% YoY to $1.11b. Conversely, Dole saw net income rise 220% to $65.4 million, and revenues climb 6.6% to $2.1 billion. Of course, Dole also completed the sale of a 65% equity stake in Progressive Produce for a $74 million gain on $120.3 million in proceeds. Dole took proceeds to reduce its debt by $100 million to $776 million at the end of the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA row 9.7% to $110.1 million. Daily Cup Pattern DOLE formed a daily cup pattern. The daily cup lip line formed at $13.70 on August 17, 2023. Shares fell to a low of $10.55 by October 24, 2023. DOLE formed a higher low at $10.71 on February 14, 2024, before grinding its way back up toward the cup lip line. The daily relative strength index (RSI) rose to the 70-band. Pullback support levels are at $12.14, $11.40, $10.55 and $9.98. Robust Business Dole reported Q1 2024 EPS of 43 cents, beating consensus estimates by 12 cents. Adjusted net income was $40.6 million. Adjusted EBITDA rose 9.7% YoY to $110.1 million. Revenues rose 6.6% YoY to $2.12 billion, matching consensus analyst estimates. Growth emerged across all segments. Strong operational performance and a favorable FX impact of $12.8 million were partially offset by a net negative impact from acquisitions and divestitures of $13.3 million. Net income was $45 million due to strong operational performance across the Group in addition to the gain of $74 million from the sale of Progressive Produce offset by a goodwill impairment of $36.7 million. Segment Performance The Fresh Fruit segment's revenues increased 3.2%, or $25.3 million, due to a higher worldwide volume of pineapples and bananas sold. Pineapples saw an increase in worldwide pricing, while banana prices fell. Adjusted EBITDA rose 0.3% to $0.2 million, driven by higher volumes, lower pricing, and fruit sourcing costs. The Diversified Fresh Produce EMEA segment saw a 7% rise in revenues, or $55 million, due to strong performance in Northern Europe, the U.K. and Ireland. Revenues rose on a like-for-like basis by 4.7% YoY, or $36.7 million, ahead of the prior year. The Diversified Fresh Produce for the Americas and rest of the world (ROW) revenues rose 12.8% YoY or $54.1 million. Dole attributed the revenue increase to higher volumes of cherries sold, improved pricing and volume of avocados, and strong pricing across most commodities. Adjusted EBITDA grew 89.3% or $6.9 million. Outlook for Fiscal 2024 Forecasting the full year remains complex, but Dole is maintaining its target to achieve full-year adjusted EBITDA in line with 2023 on a like-for-like basis or $360 million after adjusting for the disposal of Progressive Produce. Capex for fiscal 2024 is expected to range from $110 million to $120 million. The company plans to reduce interest expense guidance in the range of $75 million to $80 million. Dole CEO Rory Byrne commented, "While it's still early in the year and forecasting remains complex, we are maintaining our target to deliver full-year adjusted EBITDA in line with 2023 on a like-for-like basis. In dollar terms, adjusting for the progressive project disposal implies an adjusted EBITDA target of at least $360 million for the full year. Dole analyst ratings and price targets are on MarketBeat. Before you consider (DOLE), you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and (DOLE) wasn't on the list. While (DOLE) currently has a "Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. View The Five Stocks Here
Red Lobster, an American Seafood Institution, Files for Bankruptcy 2024-05-20 11:00:49+00:00 - Versatile and resilient, the lobster survives by molting, shedding its skin and growing into a new, bigger shell. But eventually, energy runs low and the transformation becomes more difficult. Red Lobster, one of America’s best-known shellfish ambassadors, has reached this stage in its life cycle: The once-ubiquitous restaurant chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday after more than half a century as the country’s pre-eminent seafood franchise. In court filings, the company said it had more than 100,000 creditors and liabilities of $1 billion to $10 billion. Red Lobster said it planned to reduce its locations as it prepared to to sell most of its assets. In the meantime, surviving Red Lobster restaurants will remain open. It has been a painful, slow end for Red Lobster, whose death throes were telegraphed earlier this year when the company reportedly sought to restructure its debt. After decades as a General Mills subsidiary, Red Lobster was purchased by a private equity firm in 2014, and bolstered by a 2020 investment from a Thai seafood conglomerate. But it faced challenges in the years since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, when industry headwinds, rising costs and changes in dining habits forced the company to close underperforming locations.
High price of Ozempic, other diabetes drugs deprive low-income people of effective treatment 2024-05-20 09:56:00+00:00 - For the past year and a half, Tandra Cooper Harris and her husband, Marcus, who both have diabetes, have struggled to fill their prescriptions for the medications they need to control their blood sugar. Without Ozempic or a similar drug, Cooper Harris suffers blackouts, becomes too tired to watch her grandchildren and struggles to earn extra money braiding hair. Marcus Harris, who works as a Waffle House cook, needs Trulicity to keep his legs and feet from swelling and bruising. The couple's doctor has tried prescribing similar drugs, which mimic a hormone that suppresses appetite and controls blood sugar by boosting insulin production. But those, too, are often out of stock. Other times, their insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace burdens the couple with a lengthy approval process or an out-of-pocket cost they can't afford. "It's like, I'm having to jump through hoops to live," said Cooper Harris, 46, a resident of Covington, Georgia, east of Atlanta. Supply shortages and insurance hurdles for this powerful class of drugs, called GLP-1 agonists, have left many people who are suffering from diabetes and obesity without the medicines they need to stay healthy. One root of the problem is the very high prices set by drugmakers. About 54% of adults who had taken a GLP-1 drug, including those with insurance, said the cost was "difficult" to afford, according to KFF poll results released this month. But it is patients with the lowest disposable incomes who are being hit the hardest. These are people with few resources who struggle to see doctors and buy healthy foods. In the United States, Novo Nordisk charges about $1,000 for a month's supply of Ozempic, and Eli Lilly charges a similar amount for Mounjaro. Prices for a month's supply of different GLP-1 drugs range from $936 to $1,349 before insurance coverage, according to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker. Medicare spending for three popular diabetes and weight loss drugs — Ozempic, Rybelsus, and Mounjaro — reached $5.7 billion in 2022, up from $57 million in 2018, according to research by KFF. The "outrageously high" price has "the potential to bankrupt Medicare, Medicaid, and our entire health care system," Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, who chairs the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, wrote in a letter to Novo Nordisk in April. The high prices also mean that not everyone who needs the drugs can get them. "They're kind of disadvantaged in multiple ways already and this is just one more way," said Wedad Rahman, an endocrinologist with Piedmont Healthcare in Conyers, Georgia. Many of Rahman's patients, including Cooper Harris, are underserved, have high-deductible health plans, or are on public assistance programs like Medicaid or Medicare. Many drugmakers have programs that help patients get started and stay on medicines for little or no cost. But those programs have not been reliable for medicines like Ozempic and Trulicity because of the supply shortages. And many insurers' requirements that patients receive prior authorization or first try less expensive drugs add to delays in care. By the time many of Rahman's patients see her, their diabetes has gone unmanaged for years and they're suffering from severe complications like foot wounds or blindness. "And that's the end of the road," Rahman said. "I have to pick something else that's more affordable and isn't as good for them." GLP-1 agonists — the category of drugs that includes Ozempic, Trulicity and Mounjaro — were first approved to treat diabetes. In the last three years, the Food and Drug Administration has approved rebranded versions of Mounjaro and Ozempic for weight loss, leading demand to skyrocket. And demand is only growing as more of the drugs' benefits become apparent. In March, the FDA approved the weight loss drug Wegovy, a version of Ozempic, to treat heart problems, which will likely increase demand, and spending. Up to 30 million Americans, or 9% of the U.S. population, are expected to be on a GLP-1 agonist by 2030, the financial services company J.P. Morgan estimated. As more patients try to get prescriptions for GLP-1 agonists, drugmakers struggle to make enough doses. Eli Lilly is urging people to avoid using its drug Mounjaro for cosmetic weight loss to ensure enough supplies for people with medical conditions. But the drugs' popularity continues to grow despite side effects such as nausea and constipation, driven by their effectiveness and celebrity endorsements. In March, Oprah Winfrey released an hourlong special on the medicines' ability to help with weight loss. It can seem like everyone in the world is taking this class of medication, said Jody Dushay, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an endocrinologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. "But it's kind of not as many people as you think," she said. "There just isn't any." Even when the drugs are in stock, insurers are clamping down, leaving patients and health care providers to navigate a thicket of ever-changing coverage rules. State Medicaid plans vary in their coverage of the drugs for weight loss. Medicare won't cover the drugs if they are prescribed for obesity. And commercial insurers are tightening access due to the drugs' cost. Health care providers are cobbling together care plans based on what's available and what patients can afford. For example, Cooper Harris' insurer covers Trulicity but not Ozempic, which she said she prefers because it has fewer side effects. When her pharmacy was out of Trulicity, she had to rely more on insulin instead of switching to Ozempic, Rahman said. One day in March, Brandi Addison, an endocrinologist in Corpus Christi, Texas, had to adjust the prescriptions for all 18 of the patients she saw because of issues with drug availability and cost, she said. One patient, insured through a teacher retirement health plan with a high deductible, couldn't afford to be on a GLP-1 agonist, Addison said. "Until she reaches that deductible, that's just not a medication she can use," Addison said. Instead, she put her patient on insulin, whose price is capped at a fraction of the cost of Ozempic, but which doesn't have the same benefits. "Those patients who have a fixed income are going to be our more vulnerable patients," Addison said. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.