Is Anybody Out There?

A stock price falling nearly 60% over the last eighteen months left many investors wondering what could turn things around at the company. 🤔

Well, in a late-Sunday announcement, Disney informed the world that Bob Iger is back as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Just eleven months after leaving, he’ll replace his hand-picked successor, Bob Chapek, who has faced much scrutiny over his company management. 

Reports are that Kareem Daniel, Disney’s head of media and Chapek’s right hand, is also being pushed out. 👋

Disney+ has been a major growth driver for the company, but it came with many increased costs. That, combined with other business segments like parks missing analyst expectations, had investors concerned that the company was headed down the wrong path. There were also concerns that Chapek’s management style did not jive with Disney’s family-friendly culture.

Overall, investors appeared thrilled that “Bob the Builder” Iger was back to right the ship. $DIS shares rose 6.30% today. 👍

The charts of two retail favorites were making the rounds today, so let’s talk about’em.

The first is Coinbase, whose shares hit new all-time lows of $40.61 before the close of trade today. While CEO Brian Armstrong assured investors the company does not have “any material exposure to FTX,” crypto contagion fears continue to pummel Coinbase and other crypto-related stocks. Besides the contagion fears, overall trading volumes remain dismal during crypto winter. As a result, investors fear the company’s coming financial performance will be worse-than-expected.

Secondly, Tesla has fallen over 25% since Elon Musk took over Twitter. Today there was news that Tesla has to recall 321,000 cars – marking its nineteenth recall this year. However, the bigger fear among investors appears to be the distraction that Twitter is causing CEO Elon Musk. The billionaire has a lot on his plate, and all of his companies require significant effort and attention. So fears are that his overcommitment will result in dropping the ball at Tesla.

Like other technology companies, Zoom has faced many challenges over the last year or so. And that continued today with its quarterly earnings report.

The company reported better-than-expected adjusted earnings per share ($1.07 vs. $0.84), while revenue of $1.10 billion met expectations. 👍

The economic reopening and increased competition from players like Microsoft have caused Zoom’s growth to plummet. Additionally, as the economy softens and companies look to cut costs, it’s facing a “heightened deal scrutiny for new business.” This means deals take longer to close than in the past.

Net income was down roughly $300 million YoY, and revenues grew just 5%. It now has 209,300 enterprise customers, up from 204,100 last quarter. But its online business, where customers subscribe directly through its website, fell 9%.

Lastly, the company reduced its revenue guidance primarily due to a strong U.S. Dollar. 💵

Overall, investors were not thrilled with the results. Selling pressure sent $ZM shares down another 7% after hours toward its year-to-date lows. 🔻