France: Je Suis Cool

Monday, May 8th, 2017

The hotly anticipated election for President of France yesterday resulted in a global sigh of relief: at roughly a 2/3 majority, 39-year-old former investment banker Emmanuel Macron won the highest government seat in the third largest economy in Europe. He defeated right-wing National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who had not only run a campaign tied to emotions of citizens concerned about immigration and being left behind by the global economy (reminiscent of recent wins of “Brexit” in Great Britain and Donald Trump in the U.S.), but had even threatened to leave the European Union (EU) itself.

That it did not work this time puts to bed worries about the viability of the EU overall for now; had Le Pen won and led France’s separation from the econo-political body, it may have resulted in economic disaster, not only in France and Europe overall, but in markets the world over. Even better for market participants, Macron’s ties to the investment world looks to pave a clear road toward generating a better economic climate in France. This is a country, after all, that is very heavy with entitlements for its citizenry; true reform in these matters may prove quite positive for global investors in a general sense, provided future actions taken don’t upset the influential working class leaders there.

Yet the election result is far from a guarantee Macron will be as successful as many investors hope: the voter absentee rate was the biggest in almost 50 years, indicating a lukewarm reception may be awaiting Macron’s administration, from not only whatever groundswell of populism Le Pen has managed to cultivate, but also those committed to more ground-up, socialistic policies that are part of France’s political climate in the modern age. Macron had previously served as economy minister in France’s Socialist party, so perhaps he will indeed be the political bridge-builder the country needs. This is also contingent on parliamentary elections in France next month.

Q1 Earnings, Continued

Though we’re entering into the last leg of the thus-far-auccessful Q1 earnings season, we’ve still got plenty of companies scheduled to report this week. Ahead of the bell today, here are three notable firms that have reported earnings:

Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) missed the Zacks consensus estimate by 5 cents per share, bringing in $1.01 on revenues that were just a smudge under the $9.1 billion projected. This was a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock prior to the earnings release, though it also resulted in the second earnings miss in the last three quarters.

Another company posting its second miss in the past three earnings reports is ON Semiconductor (NASDAQ:ON) , which missed the Zacks consensus on the bottom line this morning. The semiconductor space has been very hot of late, and projections had been for almost 15% EPS growth year-over-year, but such was not to be the case this time around.

Conversely, PetMed Express (NASDAQ:PETS) posted its first earnings beat in the past three quarters, though the specialty retailer has expressed concerns over new sales orders and competition. Like most companies in the retail space, the shadow of Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) looms large with respect to earnings performances from companies like PetMed.

Mark Vickery
Senior Editor

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PetMed Express, Inc. (PETS): Free Stock Analysis Report

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ON Semiconductor Corporation (ON): Free Stock Analysis Report

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