Payrolls Looked Promising 🇺🇸

The U.S. added 531,000 new payrolls in October, according to today’s monthly job report numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 🙌 Analysts estimated 450,000.

The unemployment rate fell 0.2% to 4.6%, an all-time low for the pandemic. It’s still a ways off from pre-pandemic numbers. As of right now, nonfarm employment is down by 2.8% from pre-pandemic levels in February 2020. At that time, the U.S. had 152.5 million payrolls. In the latest job report this month, it had 148.3 million.

The industries which saw the greatest payroll additions were leisure and hospitality (+164,000), professional and business services (+100,000), manufacturing (+60,000), and transportation and warehousing (+54,000.) 📈

This jobs report is exactly what the Federal Reserve was looking for. Last week, the Fed announced it would begin cutting its monthly bond purchases. However, for rates to start rising, the Fed will probably need a few more big payroll reports like this. 🚀

Canopy Growth is growing (literally and figuratively 🌳), but it looks like it’ll take a lil’ bit more time to get to profitability.

The cannabis company reported a net loss of $16.3 million on revenue of $131.4 million. The company’s adjusted gross margin was -52%, a decline by more than 7.3% YoY. The company’s adjusted EBITDA was ($162.6 million).

On the whole, these numbers sound pretty intimidating. However, the company posted an EPS loss of just $0.03/Canadian share. That points to a narrowing loss, and hopes for profitability. 🙏 According to Barrons, the company previously stated that it expects “positive adjusted EBITDA in the second half of FY 2022.” 

Canopy Growth makes the majority of its money from recreational and medical cannabis sales in Canada and internationally. However, Canopy has also gone big on acquisitions for Wana Brands (the #1 cannabis edibles brand in North America) and Bio Steel, an energy nutrition drink. The company has also scaled a robust product line of vape and CBD, which looks like it’s beginning to pay off. 🚬

Whether $CGC can make it all profitable has yet to be seen, but some investors aren’t waiting. The stock fell 11.2% today. 

Cybersecurity company McAfee rose 20% on news that it could be purchased by private equity firms Advent International Corp. and Pelmira. The deal would value McAfee at more than $10 billion. 💰 💰

The sale still hasn’t been confirmed, but rumor has it the deal could be announced officially on Monday. People familiar with the situation say the companies are in talks, but a transaction could still fall through (which isn’t all that unusual these days.) 

Last month, McAfee’s Enterprise business was combined with FireEye and purchased by the PE firm Symphony Technology Group in an all-cash deal worth $1.2 billion. McAfee is also partly owned by Thoma Bravo LP and Singapore sovereign-wealth fund. GIC Pte. Ltd. 

$MCFE is up 0.08% in AH.

Groupon got some much-needed reprieve in its latest quarterly earnings report today. 

The company reported net income of $78.7 million on revenue of $214.2 million. The company’s revenue was down 30% YoY, but it returned to profitability with an EPS of $2.36 per diluted share. That EPS bested analysts’ estimates by over 550%, while revenue missed by less than 1%.

So what gives? What’s with all the saucy profit without the sweet revenue? 🤔 Well, $GRPN made a healthy amount of revenue during the pandemic, but it was actually unprofitable in Q3 2020. Comparatively, the company is making a little less money now, but it is turning income again.

In Groupon’s earnings report, the company cites “lower demand for our Goods category and the transition of Goods from a first-party to a third-party marketplace model.” It further explains that a third-party marketplace model recognizes revenue differently, which can be faulted for most of its revenue woes.

Groupon also announced that it signed a deal with Google, which might help the company boost its revenue back to (relative) greatness. 🤑

The strong EPS beat was enough to lift $GRPN‘s boat, however. Its stock rose 11.6% today. ⛵