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Costco's Extra Shopping Day

Costco's Extra Shopping Day

And, Eli Lilly's weight-loss drug delivery.

Photo by gibblesmash asdf on Unsplash

Today is Friday, January 5, 2024.

The Early Bird Index today is 62.21.

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Costco's Extra Shopping Day

Shares of Costco ticked up 1.03% in after-hours trading on Thursday after the retail giant reported its December sales (aka its holiday season sales).

Details: Net sales increased by 9.9% year-over-year in December. This included an 11.9% increase in Canada, a 7.4% increase in the U.S., and a 17.4% increase in e-commerce.

Powering the Story: Part of the reason that sales jumped in December is because the month had an additional shopping day due to the timing of New Year’s Day. This added a 3% increase to total sales.

Background: Holiday shopping was particularly strong this year. Online consumers spent a record $222.1 billion during the holidays.

Stock Price: Costco is up 44% in the past year, including a 7% increase in the last 30 days.

Final Thoughts: Where does Costco go from here? It all depends on the state of the consumer. If consumer spending continues to be strong, Costco and other retailers will benefit.

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Notables

Notable Earnings Today: Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ), AngioDynamics (Nasdaq: ANGO), Greenbrier (NYSE: GBX).

Notable IPOs Today: N/A.

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: The Million Marathon Fund (Mainvest), itracHEALTH (Wefunder), Aspire Wellness (Honeycomb), Sonoma Pizza Co (Honeycomb), Oberit (Wefunder).

Notable Economic Events Today: Unemployment Rate (8:30 a.m. ET), Average Hourly Earnings (8:30 a.m. ET), Nonfarm Payrolls (8:30 a.m. ET), Labor Force participation Rate (8:30 a.m. ET), ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI (10:00 a.m. ET), ISM Non-Manufacturing Employment (10:00 a.m. ET), Factory Orders (10:00 a.m. ET).

Eli Lilly's Weight-Loss Drug Delivery

Photo by Lucrezia Carnelos on Unsplash

The weight-loss pharmaceutical war entered a new phase on Thursday with the launch of a program from Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY).

Details: Eli Lilly introduced a new digital healthcare product called LillyDirect, which will provide patients with prescriptions and delivery. That means that Eli Lilly will be able to sell its drugs, including its popular weight-loss drugs, directly to consumers.

Background: Pharmaceutical stocks that offered ground-breaking weight-loss drugs soared in 2023. Eli Lilly grew by 70% last year due to the frenzy.

Powering the Story: With this new offer, Eli Lilly enters the home delivery space for weight loss and other drugs.

Feeling the Pain: The news impacted shares of Weight Watchers (Nasdaq: WW), which dropped 11.13% on Thursday.

Final Thoughts: Eli Lilly’s stock ticked down 0.52% on Thursday, but investors are bullish about what this new offer could do for the stock in the future.

Aptos Gets OKX NFT Support

The cryptocurrency Aptos was the big winner on Thursday, surging by 13%.

Details: A big reason why Aptos jumped on Thursday was that the crypto exchange OKX added marketplace support for Aptos NFTs (non-fungible tokens).

Price: Aptos is up 39% in the past 30 days as it benefits from increased positive sentiment in crypto.

Final Thoughts: Will this Aptos rally continue? It is tough to say, despite the good news on Thursday.