FedEx, Bed Bath & Beyond, Netflix: Stocks That Defined the Week
December 20 2019 - 6:04PM
Dow Jones News
By Francesca Fontana
FedEx Corp.
No one is delivering holiday cheer to FedEx. The delivery giant
Tuesday cut its earnings targets for the fourth time in 2019.
Shares fell 10% the next day, highlighting investor concerns about
the company's ability to adapt as more of its business shifts to
delivering less-profitable e-commerce packages to homes. Meanwhile,
Amazon.com Inc. announced this week that it has blocked third-party
sellers from using FedEx's ground delivery network for Prime
shipments.
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.
The executive suite at Bed Bath & Beyond will be a lot
emptier during this holiday season. A half-dozen top executives are
leaving in an unusual shakeup for the struggling home goods
retailer. Chief Executive Mark Tritton said Tuesday that five
executives would leave their roles, including the heads of
merchandising, marketing, digital and legal. In addition, the chief
brand officer resigned last week, he said. Earlier this year, Bed
Bath & Beyond replaced several directors, including the chain's
co-founders, amid pressure from activist investors, and has been
conducting a strategic review of its portfolio of roughly 1,500
stores. Shares rose 11% Tuesday.
Netflix Inc.
Netflix is trying to sell Wall Street on what it hopes will be
its next blockbuster: overseas sales. The company's subscription
growth in the U.S. has begun to slow, and it is set to face greater
competition as new streaming rivals come online. The region of
Europe, the Middle East and Africa has more than doubled in
subscribers since the start of 2017, and is the largest non-U.S.
region, Netflix data shows. Netflix released new subscriber growth
metrics late Monday in an effort to persuade Wall Street to focus
more on its growth outside of the U.S. Latin America has also
posted sharp growth, while Asia is promising but still a small
portion of the overall business. Netflix shares gained 3.7%
Tuesday.
Uber Technologies Inc.
Uber might drop off its food-delivery business in India to a
local rival. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the sale
would be a potential boost for the American company as Chief
Executive Dara Khosrowshahi seeks a path to profitability. A deal
would see the San Francisco-based company unload the costly Indian
operations of its global food-delivery arm, Uber Eats, to
competitor Zomato Media Pvt. Ltd., the people said. Mr.
Khosrowshahi is trying to improve the unprofitable company's
finances. Uber's shares have fallen about a third from the
initial-public-offering price of $45. Shares gained 5.5%
Monday.
General Mills
Pets are adorable. Even more so for shareholders of General
Mills, where sales of the Blue Buffalo pet food that General Mills
acquired last year rose 16% in the company's latest quarter. Pet
food is helping the Minneapolis-based food maker make up for weaker
snack bar and yogurt sales. The owner of Cheerios and Betty Crocker
has been weighed down by brands that are outdated or facing tougher
competition from generic products. Diversifying into businesses
such as pet food is helping General Mills offset laggards like
baking mixes and Yoplait yogurt. General Mills shares gained 1.9%
Wednesday.
Facebook Inc.
Facebook is choosing a giant stage for its next message to
consumers: the Super Bowl. The embattled social media giant has
bought time for a 60-second ad featuring Chris Rock and Sylvester
Stallone to promote its Groups feature, the company said late
Wednesday. Facebook has been seeking to improve the appeal of its
platform, partly through a campaign themed "More Together" that
positions Groups as a way for people to connect with like-minded
users. It's part of a larger increase in global ad spending by
Facebook in a bid to rebuild trust and positive consumer sentiment
after a series of controversies over privacy practices and
misinformation on its platform. Facebook shares gained 1.8%
Thursday.
IAC/Interactive Corp.
The media and internet holding company wants to get into the
family-care business. IAC/InterActive Group agreed Friday to buy
Care.com for about $500 million in cash. Care.com is the nation's
largest online marketplace for babysitters and other caregivers,
with about 35 million members in over 20 countries. A March
investigation by The Wall Street Journal showed that it largely
left it up to families to determine whether a caregiving listed on
Care.com was trustworthy. IAC/InterActive expects to close the
transaction in the first quarter of 2020 and name one of its own
executives as CEO. Its shares gained 3.1% Friday.
Write to Francesca Fontana at francesca.fontana@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 20, 2019 18:49 ET (23:49 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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