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 Walt Disney Co.'s plans to get more aggressive with streaming as the pandemic hammers other areas of the media conglomerate helped earn the stock an upgrade from Guggenheim analyst Michael Morris after the company's Tuesday afternoon earnings report. Morris raised his rating on Disney shares to buy from neutral and upped his price target to $140 from $123 after Disney said it would launch a new streaming service overseas under the "Star" brand and release live-action "Mulan" as a direct-to-consumer option on Sept. 4 given disruptions to the traditional theater model due to COVID-19. "Using Disney assets to accelerate a push into DTC will likely be well received by investors," Morris said in his Wednesday morning note to clients. "Bottom line, as we head toward an investor day (in the coming months), we expect the burden of proof to be on why Disney will not be a secular streaming winner rather than justifying the company's ability to deliver on investor expectations." He saw hints in the company's language that may have signaled "a broader willingness to pursue additional opportunities" in streaming down the road, in his view. Disney shares are up 6.6% in premarket trading Wednesday. They've lost 19% so far this year as the S&P 500 has risen 2%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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Wendy's Co. reported second-quarter net income of $24.9 million, or 11 cents per share, down from net income of $32.4 million, or 14 cents per share, last year. Adjusted EPS of 12 cents was ahead of the FactSet forecast for 11 cents per share. Revenue of $402.3 million was down from $435.3 million last year but below the FactSet consensus for $409.0 million. U.S. same-restaurant sales fell 4.4%, ahead of the FactSet consensus for a 5.6% decline. Global same-store sales fell 5.8%, just below the FactSet outlook for a 5.6% decline. The same-store decrease was partially offset by the new breakfast menu, Wendy's says. Breakfast accounted for about 8% of second-quarter U.S. sales. Wendy's declared a dividend of 5 cents per share, payable on Sept. 15, 2020 to shareholders of record as of Sept. 1, 2020. And the fast-food chain intends to resume share repurchases in 2020. The board has approved an extension of the $100 million buyback program, which was set to expire in February 2022. Wendy's previously withdrew its guidance due to COVID-19. Wendy's stock edged down 0.5% in Wednesday premarket trading but has gained 7.2% for 2020 to date. The S&P 500 index is up 2.3% for the year so far.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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Capri Holdings Ltd. stock rose 3.3% in Wednesday premarket trading after the luxury fashion house reported fiscal first-quarter revenue that beat expectations. Net losses totaled $180 million, or $1.21 per share, after net income of $45 million, or 30 cents per share, last year. Adjusted loss per share was $1.04, ahead of the FactSet consensus for a loss of $1.17. Revenue of $451 million was down from $1.35 billion last year and beat the FactSet forecast for $426 million. Michael Kors revenue was down 68.7% to $307 million for the quarter. Versace revenue fell 55.1% to $93 million. And Jimmy Choo's revenue was down 67.7% to $51 million. Capri did not give fiscal 2021 guidance due to the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus. Capri stock has slumped 63.2% for the year to date while the S&P 500 index has gained 2.3% for the period.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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 Private sector hiring slowed down sharply in July as employers added 167,000 jobs, ADP reported Wednesday.
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Jim Hackett reveals why he's leaving Ford a year earlier than expected Detroit Free PressFord's Jim Hackett is out as CEO, to be succeeded by Jim Farley as restructuring plan fails to reignite stock CNBCFord CEO Jim Hackett to step down, Jim Farley to assume top post Yahoo FinanceHowes: Ford's charge to new CEO Farley — 'step it up' The Detroit NewsFord CEO Jim Hackett to step down October 1 CNBC Television
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Long time Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller is replaced PhoneArenaApple marketing chief Phil Schiller steps down from role CNBCGreg Joswiak replaces Phil Schiller as head of Apple marketing The VergePhil Schiller advances to Apple Fellow Apple NewsroomApple's Phil Schiller will step down from his role as VP of marketing Ars Technica
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The New York Times Co. posted better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter on Wednesday, and said digital revenue exceeded print revenue for the first time. The newspaper group said it had net profit of $23.7 million, or 14 cents a share, in the quarter, down from $25.2 million, or 15 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 18 cents, ahead of the 3 cents FactSet consensus. Revenue fell 7.5% to $403.8 million from $436.3 million, but beat the $390.0 million FactSet consensus. "We believe that the significant growth over the last several years in subscriptions to our products demonstrates the success of our "subscription-first" strategy and the willingness of our readers to pay for high-quality journalism," the company said in a statement. New York Times added 493,000 net new subscribers to its core news product in the quarter, and 176,000 additions to other digital products for net new digital additions of 669,000. At quarter-end, it had 5.7 million digital-only subscribers and 6.5 million total subscriptions, said CEO Mark Thompson, who is handing the reins to COO Meredith Kopit Levien in September. Advertising revenue fell 43.9% in the quarter, while subscription revenue rose 7.5% and other revenue fell 5.0%. Digital ad revenue fell 31.9%, while print ad revenue was down 55%. "Print advertising revenue decreased as the COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated secular trends, largely impacting the entertainment, luxury, and technology categories," said the statement. The company is expecting subscription revenue to rise about 10% in the third quarter, while digital-only subscription revenue is expected to rise about 30%. Ad revenues are expected to decline about 35% to 40%, with digital ad revenue expected to fall about 20%, mostly due to the pandemic. Shares were not active premarket, but have gained 45% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 2.3%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short new
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Bloc's consumers return to the high streets in June after pandemic lockdowns lifted
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 Square Inc (NYSE: SQ) beat analyst expectations in its second quarter earnings report Tuesday, as its mobile payment service Cash App netted significant profit, including from Bitcoin.Q2 Earnings: The Jack Dorsey-led company reported an adjusted earnings per share of 18 cents in Q2, down from the 21 cents posted in the similar quarter last year.This signficantly beat Wall Street estimates. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had estimated an average adjusted loss per share of 5 cents, as earlier reported by CNBC.Square's net loss stood at $11.5 million, up 71.6% from last year's $6.7 million. Overall adjusted EBITDA was at $97.9 million, down 7% from 2019 Q2's 105.3 million.Cash App Leads Charge: The company's largest revenue growth came with Cash App, which netted $281 million in gross profit on a total revenue of $1.2 billion.View more earnings on SQRevenue through Bitcoin increased a whopping 600% for the payments app at $875 million. Bitcoin gross profit increased 711% YoY at $17 million.The increase in both revenue and profits stemmed from a rise in customer demand. Square revealed that as of June, the app had 30 million monthly transacting active users.The Cash App offers Bitcoin purchase, commission-free stock trading, and allows customers to send money on a peer-to-peer basis as well as make payments. It competes with Apple Inc's (NASDAQ: AAPL) Apple Pay, Alphabet Inc's (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) Google Pay and PayPal Holding Inc's (NASDAQ: PYPL) Venmo in the space.Dorsey's Personal Interest:
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The president once again likened TikTok's presence in the U.S. to a landlord-tenant relationship, saying the Treasury should get a ‘big proportion' of the sale.
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S&P 500 News: AMD Stock Surges, Disney Loses Billions, Another CEO Change for Ford Motley FoolFord's Jim Hackett is out as CEO, to be succeeded by Jim Farley as restructuring plan fails to reignite stock CNBCFord CEO Jim Hackett to step down, Jim Farley to assume top post Yahoo FinanceHowes: Ford's charge to new CEO Farley — 'step it up' The Detroit NewsFord CEO Jim Hackett to step down Fox Business
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 (Bloomberg) -- Autonomous driving engineer Anthony Levandowski was ordered to spend 18 months in prison for stealing trade secrets from Google as he defected to Uber Technologies Inc., in one of the highest-profile criminal cases to hit Silicon Valley.U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco imposed the sentence Tuesday after Levandowski pleaded for mercy and prosecutors said anything short of locking him up would render similar crimes by future engineers a mere cost of doing business. Alsup subtracted nine months from what government lawyers wanted, and said the engineer should serve his term only once the coronavirus has been wiped away from prisons.The 40-year-old father of two's downfall is a saga of avarice and betrayal that left all involved looking bad."This was the biggest trade-secret crime I have ever seen," Alsup said, citing his decades of experience as a defense lawyer and judge. "It was massive in scale," with the stolen trade secrets amounting to "a game plan that the opposing coach would love to have."The judge also expressed a deep admiration for Levandowski, repeatedly calling him a "brilliant engineer," and "maybe the best I have ever seen." Telling him that "it pains me to do this to you," Alsup explained that in white-collar cases especially, deterring would-be thieves is paramount. The judge ordered the engineer to give "Why I went to federal prison" speeches to the public.Read More: Ex-Uber Engineer Bankrupt After $179 Million Google RulingLevandowski's guilty plea, af
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