American Eagle Outfitters Inc. Q1 Profit Drops, Inline With Estimates

Facebook Owner Meta Conducts Final Round Of Layoffs

Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) has begun its third round of layoffs, which is expected to impact nearly 6,000 employees, as the tech giant continues to massively restructure to save costs.

The latest round of layoffs was expected as Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had announced in a March blog post that he would cut 10,000 jobs across two rounds of layoffs in late April and late May. Meta had eliminated 11,000 jobs in November.

The latest layoffs primarily target business roles, while the April layoffs impacted tech teams. In total, about 21,000 people have lost their jobs at Meta, reducing the company’s global headcount by about a quarter since November, when the company had around 87,000 employees.

“Since we reduced our workforce last year, one surprising result is that many things have gone faster,” Zuckerberg wrote in his March blog post. “In retrospect, I underestimated the indirect costs of lower priority projects.”

The cuts are part of Meta’s so-called year of efficiency, which the company expects is necessary for the company amid a challenging economy and weakened digital advertising market.

“As I’ve talked about efficiency this year, I’ve said that part of our work will involve removing jobs — and that will be in service of both building a leaner, more technical company and improving our business performance to enable our long term vision,” Zuckerberg had said in March. “I understand that this update may still feel surprising, so I’d like to lay out some broader context on our vision, our culture, and our operating philosophy.”

Petco Health Shares Are Down 17% On Q1 Loss

Shares of Petco Health and Wellness Company, Inc. (WOOF) were down 17% on Wednesday after it posted a loss for the first quarter.

WOOF is currently trading at $8.35, down 17.93% or $1.83 per share, on Nasdaq. It has traded between $7.29 and $17.17 in the past 52-week period.

Net loss for the quarter was $1.9 million, or $0.01 per share compared to net income of $24.7 million, or $0.09 per share in the prior year.

Lordstown Stock Down 12 % On Reverse Stock Split

Shares of manufacturer of electric vehicles Lordstown Motors Corp. (RIDE) were down 12% on Wednesday after it announced that it will issue a reverse stock split to meet Nasdaq listing norms and salvage a deal with Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn.

RIDE is currently trading at $3.71, down 12.82% or $0.54 per share, on Nasdaq. It has traded between $3.62 and $55.95 in the past 52-week period.

The Reverse Stock Split will automatically cause each 15 shares of the Company’s issued and outstanding Class A common stock to be combined into one, the 1:15 split has been scheduled for May 24.
Lordstown Motors has been struggling with dwindling cash balances and production challenges because of the recession and economic uncertainty. The company had previously stated that it might be forced to file for bankruptcy due to uncertainty over the investment from Foxconn.

Palo Alto Shares Up 7% After FY Outlook Lift

Shares of cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (PANW) were up 7% on Wednesday after the company lifted its outlook for the full year.

PANW is currently trading at $204.33, up 7.69% or $14.59 per share, on Nasdaq. It has traded between $132.22 and $207.38 in the past 52-week period.

The company sees fourth-quarter earnings of $1.26 to $1.30 per share, while analysts currently estimated $1.20 per share. Fourth-quarter revenue is expected to be between $1.94 billion and $1.97 billion, this compares to analyst consensus of $1.95 billion.

For its fiscal year 2023, the company now anticipates earnings of $4.25 to $4.29 per share, from $3.97 to $4.03 per share estimated earlier. The analyst consensus is $4.02.

Fiscal-year revenue is expected at $6.88 billion to $6.91 billion compared with a prior forecast of $6.85 billion to $6.91 billion. The analyst consensus stands at $6.89 billion.

Tina Turner, unstoppable musical force with hits like ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It,’ dies at 83, manager says – The Denver Post

NEW YORK (AP) — Tina Turner, unstoppable musical force with hits like ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It,’ dies at 83, manager says.

Gold Futures Settle Lower Again

Gold futures settled lower on Wednesday, extending losses to a third straight session, as the dollar climbed higher on expectations of another interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

The dollar index climbed to 103.91 a little past noon, gaining about 0.4%.

Gold futures for June ended lower by $9.90 or about 0.5% at $1,964.60 an ounce, the lowest close in about a week.

Silver futures for July ended down $0.384 at $23.240 an ounce, while Copper futures for July settled at $3.5615 per pound, down $0.0930 from the previous close.

Concerns about lawmakers’ ability to reach an agreement on increasing the U.S. debt ceiling weighed on the financial markets.

While negotiations have continued this week, traders remain worried about reports suggesting a lack of progress towards a deal.

“Talks were always going to go down to the wire and an 11th hour deal is still expected to be made,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA. “What could be making some investors nervous is that some House Republicans might not be convinced that the X-date of June 1st is accurate or that a default would be the end of the world.”

He added, “If the actual X-date ends up being closer to June 7th, that means we could see market stress build up leading to that point.”

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. Q1 Profit Drops, Inline With Estimates

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (AEO) released a profit for first quarter that decreased from the same period last year in line with the Street estimates.

The company’s earnings totaled $18.5 million, or $0.09 per share. This compares with $31.7 million, or $0.16 per share, in last year’s first quarter.

Excluding items, American Eagle Outfitters Inc. reported adjusted earnings of $33.9 million or $0.17 per share for the period.

Analysts on average had expected the company to earn $0.17 per share, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

The company’s revenue for the quarter rose 1.9% to $1.08 billion from $1.06 billion last year.

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. earnings at a glance (GAAP) :

-Earnings (Q1): $18.5 Mln. vs. $31.7 Mln. last year.
-EPS (Q1): $0.09 vs. $0.16 last year.
-Analyst Estimates: $0.17
-Revenue (Q1): $1.08 Bln vs. $1.06 Bln last year.