Levi Strauss Sees Wholesale Drop

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The Early Bird Index today is 56.98.

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Levi Strauss Sees Wholesale Drop

A poor financial outlook caused shares of Levi Strauss (NYSE: LEVI) to drop by 6.32% in after-hours trading on Thursday.

Financials: Levi Strauss reported earnings of 4 cents per share in the past quarter, which was better than expected. Revenue reached $1.34 billion, which was expected.

Growth: Net revenues for direct-to-consumer grew 13% during the past quarter, and e-commerce sales jumped by 20%.

But: Overall net revenues declined by 9% in the quarter. The company blamed its U.S. wholesale business, which CEO Chip Bergh said “remains pressured.”

Outlook: As a result of these pressures in the U.S. wholesale business, Levi Strauss lowered its full-year outlook. The company now expects revenue to grow between 1.5% to 2.5% instead of between 1.5% to 3%. Levi Strauss also lowered its projected earnings per share from $1.30 to $1.40 down to the range of $1.10 to $1.20.

Stock Price: Shares of Levi Strauss are down 8% this year, including a 1% decline in the last 30 days.

Final Thoughts: Investors were not pleased that Levi Strauss lowered its guidance for the year. Some retail stocks are struggling as consumer spending is under pressure in 2023.

Notables

Notable Earnings Today: Immunoprecise Antibodies (Nasdaq: IPA).

Notable IPOs Today: Exchange Traded Concepts Trust (NYSE Arca: MSUQ), Pineapple Financial Inc. (NYSE American: PAPL).

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: Imagin8 Play Cafe (Mainvest), Biggerstaff Brewing (Honeycomb), Lil Boite Patisserie (Honeycomb), Brueprint Tap Rooms (Mainvest), Lei'd Cookies (Honeycomb), Art of Kava (Honeycomb).

Notable Economic Events Today: Unemployment Rate (8:30 a.m. ET), Nonfarm Payrolls (8:30 a.m. ET), Average Hourly Earnings (8:30 a.m. ET), Labor Force Participation Rate (8:30 a.m. ET).

Biogen Alzheimer's Drug Gets FDA Approval

Photo by Robina Weermeijer / Unsplash

The Alzheimer's drug from Biogen (Nasdaq: BIIB) and Eisai (OTCMKTS: ESAIY) known as Leqembi received traditional approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday.

Details: Leqembi is the first drug of its kind to get this approval, which was shown to slow down the progression of Alzheimer's disease. The drug was first approved under a preliminary accelerated approval pathway in January. Medicare coverage for the drug is now available.

Stock Price: Biogen’s stock is up 4% this year, which is better than other health stocks, but is down 6% in the last 30 days. 

Final Thoughts: When news of the FDA approval broke in after-hours on Thursday, trading for Biogen was halted. Trading will resume on Friday, and Biogen could be set up for a nice day.

Solana Gets Coca-Cola Bump

While most cryptocurrency prices didn’t go anywhere on Thursday, Solana jumped by 4%.

Details: The business of Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) in Serbia introduced a new partnership with the Solana platform SolSea on Wednesday. Both parties are working on a non-fungible token (NFT) offering at a music event, according to Blockworks. 

Definition: An NFT is a unique digital token on the blockchain. It represents ownership.

Final Thoughts: Solana’s price is about even in the last 30 days, but it is surging by 11% in the last week.

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