Wendy's, Walt Disney, Nintendo: Stocks That Defined the Week -- WSJ
May 09 2020 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Francesca Fontana
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (May 9, 2020).
Wendy's Co.
Where's the beef? Wendy's is limiting its signature fresh-beef
hamburgers due to coronavirus-related meat shortages caused by
temporary closures of meatpacking plants across the country.
Wendy's serves only fresh beef at its 5,850 U.S. locations. That
makes it more vulnerable to supply disruptions because it can't
rely on frozen stocks like rivals Restaurant Brands International
Inc.'s Burger King and McDonald's Corp. do. Wendy's shares fell
2.4% Tuesday.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.
Norwegian Cruise Line is struggling to stay afloat. The cruise
line said Tuesday that it won't be able to remain in business
without a significant influx of money needed to offset the
suspension of travel during the coronavirus pandemic. Norwegian has
canceled all its sailings through the end of June, and has said it
plans to restart some cruise operations as soon as July 1 if the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has lifted its no-sail
order by then. The company is seeking to raise about $2 billion in
debt and equity. Norwegian shares plummeted 23% Tuesday.
Mattel Inc.
Families in need of entertainment during a pandemic are reaching
for board games, not Barbie dolls. Mattel toy maker posted a 14%
drop in first-quarter sales late Tuesday. Its Barbie sales fell 10%
and its Fisher-Price and Thomas & Friends toys were down 25%.
Those results follow a report last month from rival Hasbro Inc. of
surging sales during the first quarter of board games Monopoly,
Jenga, Connect 4 and Operation. Mattel did have some brands that
stood out: Hot Wheels sales rose 5%, while games like Uno and
Pictionary also posted gains. Mattel shares fell 1.3%
Wednesday.
Walt Disney Co.
The Magic Kingdom ran out of tricks in the first three months of
2020. Walt Disney said late Tuesday that it lost $1.4 billion as
the pandemic shut down its film and TV productions and closed theme
parks world-wide. The global economic shutdown has exposed a
central vulnerability to Disney's franchise-based business model
that uses characters from Marvel Studios or the Star Wars universe
to sell movie tickets, action figures, streaming-service
subscriptions and theme-park tickets. Disney+ has been a rare
bright spot as people stay at home to avoid spreading the virus,
and the company said last month it had surpassed 50 million
subscribers. Disney shares fell 0.2% Wednesday.
Nintendo Co.
Millions of homebound consumers are escaping lockdowns on their
own virtual tropical islands, giving Nintendo's business a big
boost. The Japanese game giant's "Animal Crossing: New Horizon"
sold 13.4 million copies in the first six weeks in major markets
since it went on sale March 20, and Nintendo sold more than three
million Switch videogame consoles during the most recent quarter.
Demand for the "Animal Crossing" game and supply-chain issues
during the pandemic have led to some shortages of the Switch
hardware, but Nintendo said the shortages had only a limited impact
on its results for the fiscal year ended in March. American
depositary shares of Nintendo added 2.3% Thursday.
Marathon Petroleum Corp.
After weeks of staying inside, Americans are starting to get
back behind the wheel. That's welcome news for fuel makers like
Marathon Petroleum, Valero Energy and Phillips 66. The companies
have said they expect gasoline demand to continue to rebound after
plunging to roughly half of normal levels in early April, as states
reopen from lockdowns imposed to limit the spread of the new
coronavirus. Marathon reported a first-quarter loss of $9.2
billion, the company's largest quarterly loss on record. Still, the
companies are generally optimistic about an eventual recovery in
demand. Marathon shares fell 1.2% Tuesday.
Uber Technologies Inc.
Uber is mapping out a revised path to profitability. After
losing riders during the pandemic, Chief Executive Dara
Khosrowshahi said Thursday that Uber plans $1 billion in fixed-cost
cuts. That includes lower marketing expenses, deferral of capital
expenditures and a 14% reduction of staff. Those measures could put
Uber in a position to be profitable in 2021, the milestone that the
company had targeted to reach on an adjusted basis in 2020. Smaller
rival Lyft Inc. has also shelved its profitability target and
embarked on a cost-cutting effort that it says will make it easier
to turn profitable once ridership recovers. Uber shares rose 6%
Friday.
Write to Francesca Fontana at francesca.fontana@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 09, 2020 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
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