Disney Turns to Nike Amid Duel

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Disney Turns to Nike Amid Duel

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) welcomed a new chairman of the board as it gears up to face a proxy fight this year.

Details: Mark G. Parker, a member of Disney’s board and the executive chairman of Nike (NYSE: NKE), was named Disney's chairman of the board late Wednesday afternoon. Parker will replace Susan E. Arnold and the size of the Board will also drop to 11 members.

The Real Issue: Meanwhile, activist investor Nelson Peltz was nominated by Trian Partners for election to the Disney board. Disney opposes the nomination of Peltz to the board.

Background: A few months ago, Trian Partners invested $800 million into Disney in a move to get a board seat and oppose CEO Bob Iger.

The Argument: Peltz and Trian Partners say that Disney is in bad financial shape. The firm wants to change Disney’s governance, media strategy, and capital allocation.

Not So Fast: Disney rejects the criticisms leveled by Trian Partners and points to its long-term track record of financial and creative success.

Stock Price: Shares of Disney are down 38% in the last 12 months, but are up 1% in the last 30 days.

Final Thoughts: While Disney has recovered from the pandemic, there are still challenges. As for the proxy battle, we’ll see what happens during the 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.

Notables

Notable Earnings Today: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM), Organigram Holdings (Nasdaq: OGI), Infosys (NYSE: INFY).

Notable IPOs Today: BlackRock AAA CLO ETF (Nasdaq: CLOA).

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: Massage Robotics (StartEngine), Sen-Jam Pharmaceutical (StartEngine), Pencilish Animation Studios (StartEngine).

Notable Economic Events Today: Import Price Index / Export Price Index (8:30 a.m. ET), Michigan Consumer Expectations / Sentiment (10:00 a.m. ET).

Avalanche Jumps Thanks to AWS Partnership

Photo by Cytonn Photography / Unsplash

The price of the cryptocurrency Avalanche grew by 28% on Wednesday thanks to a new partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud unit for Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN).

Details: Ava Labs, the company behind Avalanche, announced Wednesday that it will work with AWS “to accelerate enterprise, institutional, and government adoption of blockchain.”

Background: The initial release of Avalanche goes back to 2020. It claims to have a faster transaction time than other blockchains. The price of Avalanche peaked in 2021 and has since lost 90% of its value.

Final Thoughts: Avalanche and other altcoins have enjoyed a good start to 2023, but it’s too early to tell if the crypto market has turned around.

KB Home’s Seasonally Slower Time Frame

Shares of KB Home (NYSE: KBH) dropped 2.11% in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the homebuilder posted disappointing financial earnings.

Financials: KB Home reported earnings of $2.47 per share and revenue of $1.94 billion; both missed estimates.

Quote: “High mortgage rates and persistent inflation, together with an uncertain economy, have made homebuyers more cautious since the middle of last year. As such, in the fourth quarter, we prioritized delivering our large backlog and protecting our high margins over taking steps to stimulate additional sales during this seasonally slower time frame.” - CEO Jeffrey Mezger.

Final Thoughts: Deliveries are low for KB Home. The stock is also down 15% in the past 12 months. Despite the challenge, KB Home believes that it can navigate the current environment.

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Trends to Watch

Pay Attention to This: Forget Core CPI, Market Pros Are Searching for Supercore Inflation (The Wall Street Journal)

Get Used to It: The Used Car Market Remains in Chaos (Jalopnik)

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