Companies with significant exposure to China, such as Merck (the Chinese government is slow in rolling out one of their vaccines) or Apple (the government is investigating its service stream, despite Apple employing many people in China). GLP-1 drugs impacting fast food companies. Department stores like Macy's.
Shares dropped 7.29% on reporting. It got punished for announcing spending of $75 billion in capex this year--punished for investing heavily in growth, which is a big change from last year. It ran up 25% since last September till the report, making it the third-best performer in the Mag 7. The quarter was mixed: slightly weaker revenue and surprisingly weaker Cloud revenue, but EPS and YouTube revenue beat. Growth slowed, but core advertising is still doing great. And yet Microsoft is spending $80 billion in capex, and Meta $65 billion. What has changed is the arrival of DeepSeek, which has changed the narrative around AI spending: Do megatech companies still need to spend a lot on AI infrastructure? Is the reaction to GOOG an exception or the new norm?
It sank 7.56% after reporting. Headwinds: robotaxi competition, Trump's close relationship with Musk/Tesla, and Uber's rideshare bookings missed in Q3-2024. Other numbers were solid: gross booking rose 18% YOY, revenue, cash flow growth and total trips all beat expectations. Their guidance for the quarter was in-line with expectations. But their Q4 GAAP operating income of $770 million badly missed the $1.19 billion estimate, but was hit by a $462 million hit from a one-time expense for legal, tax and regulatory changes. He feels that the robotaxi competition isn't that much of a threat. He won't give up on Uber.
Costco and Walmart offer terrific private label products that appeal to consumer starved for value after products were hiked during Covid. True, private label brands aren't growing much, but they keep all prices--including consumer brands--down. The brands are one reason why Costco and Walmart keep hitting new highs.
Costco and Walmart offer terrific private label products that appeal to consumer starved for value after products were hiked during Covid. True, private label brands aren't growing much, but they keep all prices--including consumer brands--down. The brands are one reason why Costco and Walmart keep hitting new highs.
They reported great numbers, fell shares closed -7.56% because guidance was lower than expectations. This is a buying opportunity.