McDonald's, Nike, Amazon.com: Stocks That Defined the Week
January 31 2020 - 07:23PM
Dow Jones News
By Francesca Fontana
McDonald's Corp.
The fast-food fight for breakfast is heating up. McDonald's said
Tuesday that it will offer chicken sandwiches that are served on
griddle cakes and biscuits at the start of the day, for a limited
time. The chain faces intense competition from rivals vying for
morning customers as well as pressure to step up its chicken
offerings after Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen sparked a battle over
poultry last year by introducing a chicken sandwich that quickly
became a hit. McDonald's shares gained 0.5% Tuesday.
Nike Inc.
The sudden death of Kobe Bryant sent fans looking for
merchandise linked to the basketball icon. Nike said its website
sold out of Kobe Bryant merchandise, rebutting media reports it had
pulled the products. Several media outlets earlier reported Nike
pulled the items to thwart buyers seeking to resell them at higher
prices. A Nike spokesman said Tuesday the company didn't remove
Kobe Bryant products or ask retailers to send them back. Mr.
Bryant, who died Sunday in a helicopter crash, was one of Nike's
biggest basketball stars after it signed him to an endorsement
contract in 2003. Shares fell 0.6% Tuesday.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Warren Buffett is tossing his newspapers. The decision by Mr.
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway to sell its papers to publisher Lee
Enterprises Inc. for $140 million is an admission by the
billionaire investor that he views that business as unsustainable.
Berkshire is famous for hardly ever selling any of its operating
businesses. Berkshire's newspaper collection includes the Buffalo
News in New York, the Tulsa World in Oklahoma, the Richmond
Times-Dispatch in Virginia and Mr. Buffett's hometown paper in
Nebraska, the Omaha World-Herald. Berkshire shares gained 0.2%
Wednesday following the announcement.
L Brands Inc.
Leslie Wexner could relinquish day-to-say oversight of the
retail empire he built. The billionaire behind the lingerie brand
Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works is in discussions to
step aside as chief executive officer of L Brands, The Wall Street
Journal reported Wednesday. The company is exploring strategic
alternatives for the lingerie brand, including a full or partial
sale, and is exploring those alternatives with private-equity firm
Sycamore Partners. Victoria's Secret has long dominated the U.S.
lingerie market but has struggled in recent years with falling
sales. L Brands shares gained 13% Wednesday.
General Electric Co.
There are some new bright spots at General Electric. The
conglomerate reported strong cash flow from its industrial
operations Wednesday and gave an upbeat outlook. GE said it
generated $3.9 billion in industrial free cash flow in 2019's final
quarter, helping the company exceed its targets for the full year.
Executives expect cash flow and profit to rise in 2020, overcoming
challenges from the grounding of Boeing Co.'s 737 MAX jet. GE is
part of a joint venture that makes the engines for the airplane;
its financial projections assume the plane returns to service in
mid-2020. Shares gained 10% Wednesday.
International Business Machines Corp.
There were big changes unveiled this week at Big Blue. IBM said
Chief Executive Ginni Rometty is stepping down after a challenging
eight-year run at the top of the iconic technology company. Ms.
Rometty will formally step down on April 6 and will be succeeded by
Arvind Krishna, who heads the company's cloud and
cognitive-software division, the company said on Thursday. Jim
Whitehurst -- the chief executive of Red Hat, the open-source
software giant that IBM acquired for about $33 billion last year --
was appointed the company's president. IBM shares gained 5.1%
Friday.
Amazon.com Inc.
Amazon is poised to join the trillion-dollar club. The
e-commerce giant came close to joining Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp.
and Google parent Alphabet Inc. as the fourth U.S. company to close
at a value of $1 trillion Friday after beating rivals in the
crucial holiday period and signing up a wave of new customers to
its Prime service. The tech giant released quarterly results
Thursday, saying the company surpassed its internal profit estimate
by more than $1 billion. Amazon shares gained 7.4% Friday.
Write to Francesca Fontana at francesca.fontana@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 31, 2020 19:08 ET (00:08 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
General Electric (NYSE:GE)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024
General Electric (NYSE:GE)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024