A new marketing campaign by supplement retailer Protein World has people fuming over the company’s decision to use scantily clad fitness models to advertise weight loss products. Many people claim the main goal of the advertisements is to make people feel guilty about their bodies because they are not, as Protein World states, “beach body ready.” In response to Protein World’s promotion, over 70,000 people have signed a petition calling for an end to the offensive advertising campaign.
Read More
Today's Most Important Apple Article
For the fourth consecutive quarter, Apple (AAPL) surpassed Wall Street's earnings expectations. In what has become habitual for America's largest company, Apple beat both earnings-per-share (EPS) and revenue estimates. After Monday's close, Apple reported Q2 EPS of $2.33 (vs. analyst expectations of $2.16) and reported Q2 revenue of $58.01B (vs. analyst expectations of $56.06B). Shares of Apple are already up over 20% YTD, and increased 1.5% in after-hours trading.
Read More
Lumber Liquidators' Big Gamble
of the most popular analyses include quarterly growth projections, P/E ratios, cash flows, debt/earnings balances, enterprise value (EV), and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). Because of this, analysts spend innumerable hours deciphering what they believe to be the true market value of public entities.
Read More
Wall Street Hammers Chipotle
One of the most popular (and most traded) fast food restaurants, the Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), reported that its same-store sales (defined on a Y/Y basis) missed analyst expectations for Q1 2015 by 1.4%, thereby offsetting the company's otherwise impressive earnings results of $3.88/share on revenue of $1.09 billion. Although Chipotle’s same-store sales rose 10.4%, this metric fell far short of Wall Street’s expected 11.8% growth rate.
Read More
Spoiled By Oil
In what has otherwise been a tumultuous year for the oil industry, some good news emerged this week as crude oil prices hit a new 2015 high. Since its $110 per barrel price in June 2014, Brent crude prices have crashed to below $50 per barrel; however, as of Wednesday, Brent crude bucked recent trends and ended the day at $64 per barrel. Unfortunately, this good news came at a cost.
Read More
When Bubbles Don't Burst
On March 2, 2015 the Nasdaq Composite Index, more commonly referred to as the NASDAQ, closed above 5,000 points for the first time in fifteen years. As this occurred, Wall Street trading floors swelled with the collective anxiety of investors who had observed the same milestone during the Dot-Com era (in March 2000). Only two days after the NASDAQ eclipsed 5,000 on March 9th, the tech-oriented index began its dramatic collapse.
Read More
When Billionaires Clash
Ever since Alibaba (BABA) had its record-shattering U.S. IPO, it appears the Chinese e-commerce giant and its American competitor, Amazon (AMZN), are destined for a Wall Street showdown. In an unpredictable market, with many potential outcomes, I will focus on two questions: 1) can Amazon convert its R&D investments into positive quarterly reports and 2) will Alibaba continue to build upon its momentum and run Amazon out of American markets?
Read More