🌯 Earnings wrap

…and UPS’s Shein overload (Wiktor Szymanowicz/Getty Images) Just kidult things   Sponsored by Yesterday's market moves Dow Jones 39,935 (+0.20%) S&P 500 5,399 (-0.51%) Nasdaq 17,182 (-0.93%) Bitcoin $65,906 (+0.83%) Dow Jones 39,935 (+0.20%) S&P 500 5,399 (-0.51%) Nasdaq 17,182 (-0.93%) Bitcoin $65,906 (+0.83%) Hey Snackers, To apologize for its business-halting outage disaster, CrowdStrike has [reportedly]( offered some corporate partners $10 Uber Eats gift cards. That should cover a side of fries to cry into. Big Tech names [fell further]( into the red yesterday while the Russell 2000 of small-cap stocks gained 1.3%. 😘 Quiz goodbye: Close out the workweek on a high note by testing your biz knowledge with our [Snacks Seven]( quiz. Here’s an appetizer: - Which fast-casual chain reported growing foot traffic and announced plans to open 315 new locations this year? ([Check your answer](.)   WRAP [Weekly Earnings Wrap: the good, the bad, and the ugly]( The good… Toymakers “Hi, Barbie”… Toymakers are staging a comeback. Hasbro shares jumped yesterday after the Play-Doh and “Transformers” parent topped Q2 estimates and boosted its annual earnings forecast. While total sales fell in the quarter, Hasbro saw a 20% surge in its digital gaming revenue thanks to hit franchises like “Magic: The Gathering” and “Monopoly Go.” Hasbro also said it benefited from cost-cutting moves including layoffs. Rival Mattel (Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price) topped expectations after its quarterly profit more than doubled from a year ago (though sales ticked down). While Mattel’s doll business has cooled since last year’s “Barbie” boost, the toymaker expects adult collectors (#kidults) to fuel demand. The bad… Luxury designers Not Gucci… Luxury giants are losing their shine. Shares of LVMH fell 5% on Wednesday after the Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior parent missed Q2 estimates. Despite “exceptional growth” in Japan, LVMH’s profit sank 14% as demand from China (a key luxury market) stayed muted. Gucci and Saint Laurent parent Kering said “ditto” on weak demand from China: sales fell 11% in the first half of the year, and it expects operating profit to be 30% lower in the second half. Cartier owner Richemont watched sales drop 27% in the China region. And while Birkin-bag maker Hermès topped expectations, its store traffic in Asia shrank. The ugly… Carmakers Electro-less… Automakers had a bumpy week. Tesla stock [tumbled]( after the EV icon reported quarterly #s: profit plummeted 45% and revenue from car sales sank 7%. It's the fourth straight quarter that Tesla’s had a bummer profit as EV rivals steal roadshare. Ford stock tanked 18% yesterday (its worst day since 2008) after it disappointed on profit as its EV biz lost $1.1B. Still, Ford’s overall sales grew in the quarter, driven by momentum for its new F-150 pickups. GM stock had its worst drop since 2022 on Tuesday, even though the Chevy maker reported record Q2 revenue. Investors worried about its growth prospects. [Read this online]( Sponsored by RAD AI AI Investors Back This MarTech Disrupter AI-powered content creation is red-hot for investors but only a few have traction. Brands like Hasbro and Skechers are seeing the benefits of RAD AI — while clued-in investors from [Google, Meta and Amazon are seeing the potential](. Here’s why: 📱Award-winning AI: Poised to disrupt the $633B MarTech industry, Fortune 1000 execs partner with RAD AI. ℹ️ Big campaign returns: 3.5X ROI or across various clients, campaigns, and marketing channels for high-profile customers. 💼 Booked revenue is up nearly 3X: The last 12 months has proven that RAD’s SaaS-focused model works. It’s designed to retain enterprise clients for multi-year commitments — and it does. Backed by the Adobe Fund for Design, RAD has raised $28M+ from 7000+ investors. Accredited investors can get in at this valuation [with a 10% share price discount]( for a limited time — [invest in RAD AI here](. Sponsored by RAD AI AI Investors Back This MarTech Disrupter AI-powered content creation is red-hot for investors but only a few have traction. Brands like Hasbro and Skechers are seeing the benefits of RAD AI — while clued-in investors from [Google, Meta and Amazon are seeing the potential](. Here’s why: 📱Award-winning AI: Poised to disrupt the $633B MarTech industry, Fortune 1000 execs partner with RAD AI. ℹ️ Big campaign returns: 3.5X ROI or across various clients, campaigns, and marketing channels for high-profile customers. 💼 Booked revenue is up nearly 3X: The last 12 months has proven that RAD’s SaaS-focused model works. It’s designed to retain enterprise clients for multi-year commitments — and it does. Backed by the Adobe Fund for Design, RAD has raised $28M+ from 7000+ investors. Accredited investors can get in at this valuation [with a 10% share price discount]( for a limited time — [invest in RAD AI here](.   LAST-MILE [UPS stock had its worst day ever as shipping companies get hit with the Shein effect]( Skimping on shipping… UPS shares fell 12% on Tuesday — its worst day on record — after the parcel titan failed to deliver on investors’ expectations. UPS’s quarterly profit fell over 30% annually, despite the # of packages it sent rising for the first time in two years. The likely reason for the imbalance: customers are choosing slower, cheaper shipping over expedited, premium options (less “Next Day Air,” more “5-7 Day”). At the same time, labor costs to ship those cheaper packages have risen since the Teamsters union negotiated a lucrative new contract for UPS drivers last year. Apparently, UPS’s plan to save $1B by cutting thousands of jobs (announced in January) isn’t offsetting those pay bumps yet. - Anonymous: UPS’s CEO said shipping demand from new customers “blew up” last quarter with “much higher” demand than anticipated. She didn’t name the new customers, but experts have a pretty good idea. $2 tank, two-week shipping… Experts say Shein and Temu have likely flooded UPS with budget shipments. Together, the Chinese ecomm giants send nearly 600K packages to the US each day, a deluge that’s already squeezed air-freight capacity. Amazon, UPS’s biggest customer, could soon add to the international shipping strain: it’s planning to roll out a service this fall that would compete with Shein and Temu by sending low-priced products directly from China to the US. THE TAKEAWAY Consequences have consequences… and now industries are getting hit with the second-order effects of booming Chinese ecommerce. That boom was fueled partly by a rule that lets retailers avoid paying certain tariffs for shipments worth less than $800. But US lawmakers are starting to question whether that gives Chinese companies an advantage over domestic ones, and US Customs has started to crack down. [Read this online](   GOT-GOX The Crypto Catch-Up… 🪙 Coins… Spot ethereum exchange-traded funds saw [$107M]( in inflows and $1B in trading after their Tuesday [debut](. That’s about 16% of what spot bitcoin ETFs pulled in on their first day of trading in January. 📸 Flashy… Polymarket’s trading volume hit an [all-time high]( this month of $260M. The crypto-based prediction market saw bets soar following President Biden’s decision not to seek reelection. Meantime, Trump’s landed on crypto as a “wedge issue.” 💰 Spendy… Former customers of defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox started [getting]( their cash and bitcoin repayments. Traders speculated the transfers could trigger a wave of bitcoin sales and pressure the coin’s price.   ON SHERWOOD George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images [A time traveler’s guide to the stock market]( Cigarettes and asphalt, my friends. Cigarettes and asphalt. [Read More.](   What else we're Snackin' - [Query](: ChatGPT maker OpenAI announced a prototype for an AI-powered search engine called (you guessed it) SearchGPT. It could pose another threat for Google, which launched an “AI overview” in its search results this year. - [Buckled](: The California Supreme Court yesterday upheld Prop 22, a ballot measure allowing Uber, Lyft, and other gig cos to classify the state’s 1.4M app-based drivers as contractors rather than employees. - [Bye-brid](: A quarter of corporate execs hoped that return-to-office plans would result in voluntary quits, a BambooHR survey suggested. About 80% of companies that implemented RTO said they lost staff as a result. - [OffTune](: Universal Music stock plunged 24% yesterday after the record label (which reps Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande) posted disappointing streaming-revenue growth. Physical sales (think: vinyl) outperformed. - [CleanUp](: The $25B merger between Kroger and Albertsons (America’s largest supermarket chains) was put on ice until a court rules on a lawsuit aiming to block the deal. If approved, the combo-grocer would have 5K US stores.   Snack Fact of the Day [“Inside Out 2” is now the highest-grossing animated movie (not adjusted for inflation)](   Friday - Earnings expected from Booz Allen Hamilton, Bristol Myers Squibb, 3M, Charter Communications, and Colgate-Palmolive - Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index - Paris Olympic Games begin Authors of this Snacks own bitcoin and ethereum and shares of: Alphabet, Amazon, GM, Tesla, and Uber Advertiser's disclosures: * A $2000 minimum investment is required to receive the discount. * INVESTMENTS IN PRIVATE PLACEMENTS ARE SPECULATIVE, POSSESS A HIGH LEVEL OF RISK, ARE HIGHLY ILLIQUID, AND THOSE INVESTORS WHO CANNOT HOLD AN INVESTMENT FOR AN INDEFINITE TERM SHOULD NOT INVEST. NO ASSURANCE CAN BE GIVEN THAT INVESTORS WILL RECEIVE A RETURN OF THEIR CAPITAL. 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