Salesforce, Delta Air Lines, Best Buy: Stocks That Defined the Week
November 27 2020 - 6:39PM
Dow Jones News
By Francesca Fontana
Salesforce.com Inc.
Which business-software giant will become the go-to provider in
a work-from-home world? Salesforce.com could put pressure on
Microsoft Corp., as it is in advanced talks to buy workplace
messenger maker Slack Technologies Inc. Having failed to capture
Slack itself, Microsoft in 2016 launched its own competing
workplace collaboration tool, called Teams. Slack would be the
largest acquisition ever for Salesforce; Salesforce's core business
is in customer-relationship management software. Salesforce shares
lost 5.4% Wednesday.
AstraZeneca PLC
Optimism that vaccines will help revive the economy in 2021 got
another boost. On Monday the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca
said their vaccine was found to be as much as 90% effective in
preventing infections without serious side effects in a large
trial. Unlike shots under development from Pfizer and Moderna,
AstraZeneca's vaccine can be stored at temperatures above zero
degrees Celsius, easing the distribution process. U.S. stocks
climbed Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 1.1%.
American depositary shares of AstraZeneca shares fell 1.1%, as some
investors appeared to be disappointed that its vaccine candidate's
effectiveness rates fell short of those reported by Pfizer and
Moderna.
Delta Air Lines Inc.
Delta's pilots have struck a deal to save their jobs from the
pandemic. They agreed to accept reduced pay in exchange for job
security until 2022, the U.S. carrier and the union that represents
its pilots said Wednesday, which will prevent more than 1,700
previously planned furloughs. Delta said it has been able to avoid
cutting front-line workers in part because some 18,000 employees
agreed to take buyout or early retirement offers, and thousands
more took unpaid leaves. United Airlines Holdings Inc. and American
Airlines Group Inc. have furloughed over 30,000 workers, and United
has struck a similar deal to prevent cutting any pilots. Delta
shares added 0.1% Wednesday.
Best Buy Co.
Christmas came early at Best Buy. The big-box retailer continued
benefiting from online sales and items that support homebound
customers during the coronavirus pandemic but warned that those
gains will taper off. The retailer booked strong sales in the early
weeks of November, helped by orders of the new PlayStation and Xbox
consoles, and from early Black Friday deals that began in
mid-October. But product shortages remain a challenge for the
company in the face of high demand, particularly in categories such
as large appliances and computing, executives said. Best Buy shares
fell 7% Tuesday.
ViacomCBS Inc.
A pending sale of Simon & Schuster would create a new door
stopper for the book industry. Media giant ViacomCBS's decision to
sell the publisher for almost $2.18 billion to Penguin Random House
owner Bertelsmann SE would create a publishing goliath accounting
for about a third of all books sold in the U.S., and could trigger
attention from antitrust authorities. ViacomCBS put Simon &
Schuster up for sale in March, saying it would use the cash
proceeds to further invest in its streaming-video efforts, and is
looking to sell "Black Rock," CBS's historic Midtown Manhattan
headquarters. ViacomCBS shares rose 0.9% Wednesday after the deal
was announced.
Gap Inc.
Gap is betting that stuck-at-home shoppers are ready to spend
big on clothes. The apparel retailer's sales in the recent quarter
rebounded from spring shutdowns, but increased marketing weighed on
profits. The company, whose brands include Old Navy and Banana
Republic, warned that the recent increase in Covid-19 cases could
hurt store traffic during the critical holiday shopping period. But
Chief Executive Sonia Syngal on Tuesday told analysts she was
optimistic that housebound customers who can no longer splurge on
travel or events may shift their spending to apparel and other
products. Gap shares lost 20% Wednesday.
Exxon Mobil Corp.
Oil expectations are sliding inside Exxon. Internal documents
show the company has lowered its outlook for crude prices for each
of the next seven years by 11% to 17%, according to the documents.
This is due to the fallout from the pandemic-fueled drop in demand,
as well as increased competition from renewable-energy sources and
the prospect of increased global climate-change regulation. Exxon
is struggling to cover its dividend, $15 billion a year, at current
oil prices, taking on debt this year to do so. So far it has
maintained the payout, unlike rivals including Royal Dutch Shell
PLC and BP PLC, which have cut their dividends amid this year's
cash crunch. Exxon shares fell 2.8% Wednesday.
Write to Francesca Fontana at francesca.fontana@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 27, 2020 18:24 ET (23:24 GMT)
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