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Zuckerberg Loses Another One

Zuckerberg Loses Another One

Today is Thursday, June 9, 2022.

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Zuckerberg Loses Another One: Head of Engineering Leaves Meta

Shares of Facebook’s parent Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: FB) slipped 0.18% in after-hours trading on Wednesday after a report said that another executive is leaving Mark Zuckerberg’s company.

Details: A report from The Verge late Wednesday said that David Mortenson, Meta’s head of engineering, is stepping down from his role. Santosh Janardhan will assume the role later in June. Meta confirmed the details.

Quote: “I’m incredibly proud of everything we’ve achieved over the past two years I’ve been supporting Infra,” Mortenson said in a memo to employees, according to The Verge.

Background: There’s been an exodus of executives lately from Meta. Sheryl Sandberg announced that she was leaving the chief operating officer post last week and so did the head of AI, Jerome Pesenti.

Numbers: Over the past 6 months, Meta’s stock is down 40%. In the past 30 days, the stock is about even.

Final Thoughts: Today, the company gets a new stock ticker: META.

Notables

Notable Earnings Today: NIO (NYSE: NIO), DocuSign (Nasdaq: DOCU), FuelCell Energy (Nasdaq: FCEL), Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN), Bilibili (Nasdaq: BILI), Stitch Fix (Nasdaq: SFIX), Signet Jewelers (NYSE: SIG), Rent the Runway (Nasdaq: RENT), Vince Holding (NYSE: VNCE), Lakeland Industries (Nasdaq: LAKE), Comtech Telecommunications (Nasdaq: CMTL), Aurora Mobile (Nasdaq: JG), Hooker Furnishings (Nasdaq: HOFT).

Notable IPOs Today: Meta Platforms, Inc. (NYSE: META).

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: N/A.

Notable Economic Events Today: Initial Jobless Claims (8:30 a.m. ET).

Five Below’s “Softer” Sales

Photo by Franki Chamaki / Unsplash

Share of Five Below (Nasdaq: FIVE) dropped 8.25% in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the discount retailer posted mixed earnings.

Financials: Five Below posted earnings per share of 59 cents, which was better than expected. But its revenue of $639 million was below estimates.

The Good: Net sales increased 7% year-over-year. The company said it demonstrated “disciplined cost management” in the quarter. Inventory is strong.

The Bad: Comparable sales dropped 3.6%. Both operating income and net income fell year-over-year as well. Five Below said its “first-quarter sales were softer than expected.”

Outlook: Five Below expects “the macro environment to remain challenging.” It expects net sales to be between $675 million to $695 million in the quarter and to be between $3.04 billion to $3.12 billion for the full year. Both projections are below estimates.

Numbers: Five Below’s stock is down 34% in 2022 and down 62% in the past 12 months.

Final Thoughts: This is another retail store impacted by the economy. It is also another example of a retail store that loaded up on a lot of extra inventory.

Summer Rally, Explained

A summer rally, a period that occurs in the summer when the stock market rises, is on the minds of investors. Will it happen in 2022?

Data: July is considered to be the most profitable month of the year for investors, with the stock market rising nearly 60% of the time. Those are good odds to have and it shows that summer rallies are usually common.

Trouble: Macro issues in 2022, including inflation and rising interest rates, could prevent a summer rally from occurring.

Final Thoughts: There’s no guarantee of a summer rally in 2022, but investors hope that it occurs.

Trend to Watch

Can’t Believe We Have to Ask: Is Netflix about to buy Roku? (TechRadar)

Optimism: Surge in China Tech Stocks Kindles Hopes for Sustained Rally (Bloomberg)

The Next Version: Moderna says updated Covid-19 vaccine booster shows stronger antibody response against Omicron (CNN)

Could be a September to Remember: Ethereum ‘double Doji’ pattern hints at a 50% ETH price rally by September (Cointelegraph)

Big Reforms: SEC seeks level playing field for retail investors (Investment Executive)