Tiffany (TIF) For Sale? Plus New Earnings From AT&T, Spotify & Walgreens

Monday, October 26, 2019

Ahead of the opening bell, we see a couple economic data points along with a new batch of fresh quarterly earnings reports. We even see a potential takeover of a major U.S. luxury brand, which sent its shares up more than 30% in early trading. Pre-markets appear ready to open in new record territory.

First, the September Advance Trade in Goods performed better than expected at -$70.4 billion, its lowest read of the past 12 months. This is also below the -$73.7 billion estimate and the slightly downwardly revised -$73.06 billion from August.

Also for September, Chicago Fed National Activity also put up higher figures than anticipated, at +0.17%, with a revision almost triple the original +0.10% reported a month ago, to +0.27%. This is also in-line with the 3-month moving average of +0.18%. With 46 of 85 indicators registering in positive territory, this is not an astounding print, but it is remarkably consistent.

Tiffany & Co. (NYSE:T) has received an offer to be taken over by French luxury firm LVMH — the parent company of Louis Vuitton, Sephora, Hennessy and other high-end brands — for a 20% premium above Friday’s closing price. LVMH prices Tiffany at $14.5 billion, $120 per share, and the bid is reportedly all cash.

Tiffany’s pre-market price has rocketed on the news, now at roughly +32%, inferring there may be a higher selling price yet to come for the New York jeweler. We will keep an eye on developments here in the hours and days to come…

AT&T (NYSE:T) topped earnings estimates by a penny this morning to 94 cents per share, up from the 90 cents reported in the year-ago quarter. Revenues of $44.59 billion was slightly below the Zacks consensus, and lower than the year-ago $45.75 billion. But shares are up 3.5% as the conference call rolls along at this hour.

CEO Randall Stephenson has told shareholders he intends to stay on as AT&T’s transition from pure-play telecom company turns into one of the world’s top entertainment providers with its purchase of Warner Media. This includes the company’s new HBO Max, on which news is expected tomorrow. For more on T’s earnings, click here.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) modestly beat expectations on both top and bottom lines this morning, with $1.43 per share beating the $1.41 consensus estimate on $33.95 billion which surpassed the Zacks consensus by 0.28%. Earnings from the year-ago quarter were $1.48 per share, though revenues have grown slightly over its fiscal Q4 2018 top-line number. The Dow component and Zacks Rank #4 (Sell)-rated company is up 1% on the news in early trading. For more on WBA’s earnings, click here.

Premier music streamer Spotify (NYSE:T) posted a big beat, not to mention a big swing to profit from a loss expected: +41 cents per share versus -40 cents analysts were looking for. This has shot up its share price 9% in today’s pre-market, as revenues of $1.97 billion also improved 2.8% over the Zacks consensus, and higher than the $1.57 billion reported a year ago. For more on SPOT’s earnings, click here.

Burger King and Popeye’s Fried Chicken parent company Restaurant Brands (NYSE:QSR) just met estimates of 72 cents per share in its Q3 report. This is up from the 63 cents reported in the year-ago quarter. Sales of $1.46 billion slipped 0.28% from expectations, though an improvement from Q318’s $1.38 billion. Shares, which had easily outperformed the S&P 500 year to date, have slipped 2.5% at this minute of the pre-market. For more on QSR's earnings, click here.

After today's cose, we look forward to new earnings releases from Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) , T-Mobile (NYSE:T) and Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND) . Q3 earnings season keeps the heat on a hot market.

Mark Vickery

Senior Editor

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