Stocks made modest moves Monday as investors looked ahead to the busiest week of earnings season so far.
Several sectors are represented on this week’s earnings calendar, but tech stocks are the most prevalent. Indeed, mega-cap tech giants Microsoft (MSFT (opens in new tab)) and Alphabet (GOOGL (opens in new tab)) are slated to disclose their results, as is Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META (opens in new tab)).
But ahead of this onslaught of earnings, today’s headlines centered on Bed Bath & Beyond’s (BBBY (opens in new tab)) bankruptcy and the unexpected departure of Tucker Carlson from Fox’s (FOX (opens in new tab)) cable news channel Fox News.
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“The week is off to a slow start without any major economic releases, Fed speakers under the gag order [ahead of the next Fed meeting] and only a handful of earnings releases,” says Michael Reinking, senior market strategist at the New York Stock Exchange.
But while it was relatively quiet on the economic and earnings fronts, there was plenty of single-stock news to hold Wall Street’s attention. Bed Bath & Beyond stock, for one, tumbled 35.7% after the home goods retailer said Sunday that it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Speculation that BBBY could go under has been building for some time as the company’s financial troubles snowballed.
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“We see the bankruptcy news as largely expected by the market given significant revenue/ earnings pressure for Bed Bath & Beyond, a going concern warning issued in January and struggles to raise adequate capital over the past several months,” says BofA Securities (opens in new tab) analyst Curtis Nagle.
Elsewhere, communication services stock FOX fell 3.0% following news that controversial, highly rated primetime TV host Tucker Carlson is leaving its Fox News division. “FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways,” the company stated in a press release (opens in new tab). “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.”
As for the major indexes, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 0.3% to 12,037, while the broader S&P 500 rose 0.1% to 4,137, and the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2% to 33,875.
Coca-Cola reports solid Q1 earningsWhile it’s true that Big Tech will likely dominate this week’s earnings chatter, results from soft drinks maker Coca-Cola (KO (opens in new tab), -0.2%) were in focus today. KO reported first-quarter earnings of 68 cents per share on revenue of $11.0 billion, with both figures beating analysts estimates.
“Coca-Cola delivered an impressive earnings report as they were able to deliver strong beats with both top and bottom lines despite raising prices,” says Edward Moya, senior market strategist at currency data provider OANDA (opens in new tab). “The soft-drink giant is able to pass along these inflationary pressures with no issue and that is helping with their organic revenue.”
While Coca-Cola stock is flat on a year-to-date basis, income investors love it for its status as one of Wall Street’s best dividend stocks. Additionally, KO is one of Warren Buffett’s favorite stocks, having been a member of the Berkshire Hathaway equity portfolio for more than three decades. But these aren’t the only fans of the consumer staples giant. Coca-Cola is also one of the highest-rated Dow stocks, enjoying a consensus Buy recommendation from industry analysts.