Tag: Peloton Interactive Inc

Jim Cramer’s top 10 things to watch in the stock market Friday

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My top 10 things to watch Friday, May 5

1. Club holding Apple (AAPL) delivered better-than-expected quarterly results Thursday, with its installed base of active devices expanding to more than 2 billion. Apple’s board authorized a program to repurchase up to $90 billion worth of stock, while raising its quarterly dividend to 24 cents a share.

2. A slate of banks increased their price targets on Apple on Friday. These included Morgan Stanley, which raised its target to $185 per share, from $180, and Deutsche Bank which lifted its target to $180, from $170. Both firms reiterated the equivalent of buy ratings. Piper Sandler, meanwhile, was an outlier — lowering its price target on Apple to $180, from $195, even as it maintained an overweight rating on shares.

3. Shares of Club name Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) closed up more than 6% Thursday on a Bloomberg report that Microsoft (MSFT), another Club stock, is helping the chipmaker expand into artificial intelligence processors.

4. Club holding Coterra Energy (CTRA) delivered a first-quarter earnings beat Thursday, while reaffirming its commitment to regularly return at least half of its free cash to shareholders. Currently, Coterra said it plans to return a total of $420 million to shareholders, representing about 76% of its free cash flow in the first quarter. 

5. Barclays raised its price target on Bausch + Lomb (BLCO) to $18 a share, from $17, citing its “attractive growth profile.” The firm maintained an equal weight rating on BLCO shares. The eye-health products company holds the key to saving Club holding Bausch Health (BHC), which is in the process of unravelling its majority stake.

6. JPMorgan raised its price target on Kellogg (K) to $72 a share, from $68, while upgrading its rating to neutral, from underweight. The firm cited improved fundamentals at the food manufacturing giant.

7. DoorDash (DASH) received three price target raises following strong first-quarter earnings. Barclays increased its target to $75 a share, from $70, and maintained an equal weight rating. UBS lifted to $70 a share, from $68, maintaining a neutral rating. Oppenheimer raised to $85 a share, from $80, and reiterated an outperform rating.

8. Shares of Peloton Interactive (PTON) closed down more than 13% Thursday after the company reported a greater-than-expected loss for its fiscal third quarter — though, the reason why remains impenetrable.

9. Manufacturing firm Parker-Hannifin (PH) delivered a quarterly earnings beat Thursday, and there is no sign of a slowdown. Baird on Friday raised its price target on PH to to $415 a share, from $411, while maintaining an outperform rating on the stock.

10. Wells Fargo raised its price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) to $88 a share, from $78, and kept its overweight rating on the stock. The firm cited “robust” cruise demand and RCL management’s solid execution following the company’s first-quarter results.

(See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.)

As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade.

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Peloton shares plunge after company reports wider-than-expected loss

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Peloton‘s shares plummeted Thursday after the company reported a wider-than-expected loss for the fiscal third quarter and acknowledged an uncertain economic backdrop.

The company’s shares were down 14% in afternoon trading.

Yet Peloton pointed to signs of progress with its turnaround plan. It said connected fitness subscriptions grew and free cash flow losses declined. It also said new initiatives have resonated with customers, including a push to sell lower-priced, pre-owned bikes and a rent-to-buy program for fitness equipment. 

Here’s how the connected fitness equipment company did in the three months ended March 31 compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

  • Loss per share: 79 cents vs. 46 cents expected
  • Revenue: $749 million vs. $708 million expected

Peloton’s net loss for the period was $275.9 million, or 79 cents per share, compared with a loss of $757.1 million, or $2.27 per share, a year earlier. It marked the ninth quarter in a row of the company reporting losses.

Revenue declined 22% from a year ago, dropping from $964.3 million.

The fitness company has sought to stabilize its business and find a path to profitability again, after seeing a sharp reversal of fortunes. Sales of its bikes and treadmills slowed dramatically after a Covid pandemic-related surge, forcing Peloton to lean into other revenue sources like subscriptions.

The company ended its third quarter with about 3.1 million connected fitness subscriptions, up 5% from the year-ago period. Connected fitness subscribers are people who own a Peloton product, such as its Bike or Tread, and pay a monthly fee for access to live and on-demand workout classes.

Average net monthly connected fitness churn ticked up slightly from a year ago, too. It came in at 1.1% for the quarter, consistent with the prior quarter, but above the year-ago churn level of 0.8%.

Peloton’s overall membership, however, did not grow. It ended the quarter with 6.7 million total members, the same as the end of the prior quarter and down from 7 million in the year-ago period.

In a letter to shareholders, CEO Barry McCarthy said Peloton is looking toward the future. The company later this month will relaunch the brand and introduce a new version of the Peloton app with a tiered membership structure, he said.

McCarthy added the relaunch aims to shake up how people view Peloton, so they think of its wide variety of fitness offerings — not just its well-recognized bikes.

Yet he warned of challenges ahead. He said the company typically experiences a seasonal decline in subscriber growth in the fourth quarter, which stretches across summer months. He said he expects one this year, too.

“Notwithstanding the relaunch, Q4 will be among our most challenging from a growth perspective,” he said.

In the fiscal fourth quarter, Peloton expects connected fitness subscriptions to rise, but revenue to drop. It said it anticipates revenue to decline by about 6% year over year to a range of between $630 million and $650 million, compared with $678.7 million the year-ago period.

It expects to end the fourth quarter with 3.08 million to 3.09 million subscribers, up from 2.97 million in the year-ago period.

On an earnings call, McCarthy said consumers have continued to spend, but he said it’s hard to predict their behavior as economists debate the likelihood of a recession or “soft landing.” He said the debate in Congress over whether to raise the debt ceiling, or risk a first-ever default on U.S. debt, adds to the uncertainty.

Separately, Peloton announced Thursday that it had reached an agreement with Dish Technologies over a patent dispute. The company said it will pay Dish $75 million to settle a U.S. International Trade Commission complaint.

The company had previously said it aimed to reach break-even cash flow on a quarterly basis in the second half of its fiscal 2023. McCarthy said in the letter Thursday that the settlement will significantly pressure free cash flow in the current fiscal quarter.

He added that the temporary hit is worthwhile because it “eliminates a cloud of uncertainty and an enormous distraction to the day-to-day operation of our business.”

McCarthy’s focus on a turnaround follows a tumultuous stretch after the company’s post-pandemic surge.

The struggles forced the company to cut costs last year by laying off thousands of employees, shuttering many of its stores, and outsourcing its last-mile delivery and manufacturing. Its co-founder and former CEO, John Foley, also stepped down last year and later resigned as executive chairman.

As fitness equipment sales continue to lag, Peloton has focused on other ways to drive growth and attract new customers. Under McCarthy, a former Spotify and Netflix executive, the company has emphasized increasing subscriptions.

Subscriptions have become the company’s biggest business driver – accounting for nearly 60% of overall revenue in the three-month period. It was the fourth quarter in a row that subscription revenue surpassed hardware revenue.

The company has tried to nudge sales of equipment by tinkering with prices, offering a rental option and adding rowing machines to its lineup. It got into wholesale by allowing Amazon and Dick’s Sporting Goods to carry its equipment. Peloton also struck a deal with Hilton to put bikes in all of its U.S. hotels.

In the shareholder letter Thursday, McCarthy said those efforts are working.

Since the company began testing its rent-to-buy program in March 2022, it has grown to 47,000 subscribers, he said. It has an average monthly churn rate of 5%, which is higher than Peloton’s overall churn rate.

Yet McCarthy said the option, which allows customers to make rental payments and chip away at the equipment’s purchase price, reduces a barrier to sign-ups. He cited an internal survey, which found that 62% of respondents would not have subscribed if it weren’t for the flexibility of the rental program.

Peloton’s sales of pre-owned bikes have also resonated, he said. The company launched that offering in December and is considering adding its treadmills and rowers to the program later this year.

Together, the two programs accounted for 24% of connected fitness hardware sales in the fiscal third quarter, he said.

He said third-party sales have also gained traction, and the company plans to expand its assortment with Amazon and participate in its promotional events like Prime Day.

Peloton’s stock has risen about 11% so far this year. Yet its shares are still less than half of its 52-week high of $18.86 — and just a tiny fraction of their over $100 highs during the early years of the pandemic.

Peloton’s market cap is $3.06 billion, after reaching as high as almost $50 billion in early 2021.

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Top Wall Street analysts like these stocks for the long haul

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A Peloton exercise bike is seen after the ringing of the opening bell for the company’s IPO at the Nasdaq Market site in New York City, New York, U.S., September 26, 2019.

Shannon Stapleton | Reuters

Investors are trying to make sense of big corporate earnings, seeking clues about what lies ahead as macro headwinds persist. It’s prudent for investors to choose stocks with an optimistic longer-term view in these uncertain times.

Here are five stocks picked by Wall Street’s top analysts, according to TipRanks, a service that ranks analysts based on their past performance.

Costco

Wholesaler Costco (COST) is known for its resilient business model that has helped it navigate several economic downturns. Moreover, the membership-only warehouse club has a loyal customer base and generally enjoys renewal rates that are at or above 90%.

Costco recently reported better-than-anticipated net sales growth of 6.9% and comparable sales growth of 5.6% for the four weeks ended Jan. 29. The company delivered upbeat numbers despite continued weakness in its e-commerce sales and the shift in the timing of the Chinese New Year to earlier in the year.

Following the sales report, Baird analyst Peter Benedict reaffirmed a buy rating on Costco and a $575 price target. Benedict stated, “With a defensive/staples-heavy sales mix and loyal member base, we believe shares continue to hold fundamental appeal as a rare megacap “growth staple” – particularly in the face of a difficult consumer spending backdrop.”

Benedict’s convictions can be trusted, given his 55th position out of more than 8,300 analysts in the TipRanks database. Apart from that, he has a solid track of 71% profitable ratings, with each rating delivering 16.3% average return. (See Costco Hedge Fund Trading Activity on TipRanks)​

Amazon

2022 was a challenging year for e-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN) as macro pressures hurt its retail business and the cloud computing Amazon Web Services division.

Amazon’s first-quarter sales growth outlook of 4% to 8% reflects further deceleration compared with the 9% growth in the fourth quarter. Amazon is streamlining costs as it faces slowing top-line growth, higher expenses and continued economic turmoil.

Nonetheless, several Amazon bulls, including Mizuho Securities’ Vijay Rakesh, continue to believe in the company’s long-term prospects. Rakesh sees a “modest downside” to Wall Street’s consensus expectation for the 2023 revenue growth for Amazon’s retail business. (See Amazon Website Traffic on TipRanks)

However, he sees more downside risks to the Street’s consensus estimate of a 20% cloud revenue growth in 2023 compared to his revised estimate of 16%. Rakesh noted that Amazon’s cloud business was hit by lower demand from verticals like mortgage, advertising and crypto in the fourth quarter and that revenue growth has slowed down to the mid-teens so far in the first quarter.

Consequently, Rakesh said that AMZN stock could be “volatile near-term given potential downside revision risks.” Nonetheless, he reiterated a buy rating on AMZN with a price target of $135 due to “positive long-term fundamentals.”

Rakesh stands at #84 among more than 8,300 analysts tracked by TipRanks. Moreover, 61% of his ratings have been profitable, with each generating a 19.3% average return.

Peloton 

Fitness equipment maker Peloton (PTON), once a pandemic darling, fell out of favor following the reopening of the economy as people returned to gyms and competition increased. Peloton shares crashed last year due to its deteriorating sales and mounting losses.

Nevertheless, investor sentiment has improved for PTON stock, thanks to the company’s turnaround efforts under CEO Barry McCarthy. Investors cheered the company’s fiscal second-quarter results due to higher subscription revenue even as the overall sales dropped 30% year-over-year. While its loss per share narrowed from the prior-year quarter, it was worse than what Wall Street projected. 

Like investors, JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth was also “incrementally positive” on Peloton following the latest results, citing its cost control measures, improving free cash flow loss and better-than-anticipated connected fitness subscriptions. Anmuth highlighted that the company’s restructuring to a more variable cost structure is essentially complete and it seems focused on achieving its goal of breakeven free cash flow by the end of fiscal 2023.

Anmuth reiterated a buy rating and raised the price target to $19 from $13, given the company’s focus on restoring its revenue growth. (See PTON Stock Chart on TipRanks) 

Anmuth ranks 192 out of more than 8,300 analysts on TipRanks, with a success rate of 58%. Each of his ratings has delivered a 15.1% return on average.

Microsoft

Microsoft’s (MSFT) artificial intelligence-driven growth plans have triggered positive sentiment about the tech behemoth recently. The company plans to power its search engine Bing and internet browser Edge with ChatGPT-like technology.

On the downside, the company’s December quarter revenue growth and subdued guidance reflected near-term headwinds, due to continued weakness in the PC market and a slowdown in its Azure cloud business as enterprises are tightening their spending. That said, Azure’s long-term growth potential seems attractive. 

Tigress Financial analyst Ivan Feinseth, who ranks 137 out of 8,328 analysts tracked by TipRanks, opines that while near-term headwinds could slow cloud growth and the “more personal computing” segment, Microsoft’s investments in AI will drive its future.

Feinseth reiterated a buy rating on Microsoft and maintained a price target of $411, saying, “Strength in its Azure Cloud platform combined with increasing AI integration across its product lines continues to drive the global digital transformation and highlights its long-term investment opportunity.”

Remarkably, 64% of Feinseth’s ratings have generated profits, with each rating bringing in a 13.4% average return. (See MSFT Insider Trading Activity on TipRanks)

Mobileye Global 

Ivan Feinseth is also optimistic about Mobileye (MBLY), a rapidly growing provider of technology that powers advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and self-driving systems. Chip giant Intel still owns a majority of Mobileye shares.

Feinseth noted that Mobileye continues to see solid demand for its industry-leading technology. He expects the company to “increasingly benefit” from the growing adoption of ADAS technology by original equipment manufacturers.  

The company is also at an advantage due to the rising demand in the auto industry for sophisticated camera systems and sensors used in ADAS and safe-driving systems. Furthermore, Feinseth sees opportunities for the company in the autonomous mobility as a service, or AMaaS, space.

Feinseth said there is potential for Mobileye’s revenue to grow to over $17 billion by 2030, backed by the company’s “significant R&D investments, first-mover advantage, and industry-leading product portfolio, combined with significant OEM relationships.” He projects a potential total addressable market of nearly $500 billion by the end of the decade.

Given Mobileye’s numerous strengths, Feinseth raised his price target to $52 from $44 and reiterated a buy rating. (See Mobileye Blogger Opinions & Sentiment on TipRanks)

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