Lululemon's & Kronos Earnings, FTC vs grocery stores, Reddit's IPO, Broadcom analysts' new vision

Lululemon Athletica’s Guidance Misses the Mark. The Stock Tumbles.

• Lululemon Athletica’s earnings topped expectations, but the stock tumbled Thursday after the company’s guidance came in short of analyst expectations.

• The athletic wear company reported earnings of $5.29 a share for its fiscal fourth quarter ended in January. That was ahead of analysts’ estimates for $5 a share, according to FactSet. Gross margin improved by 4.3 percentage points.

• Still, shares of Lululemon plummeted 10.4% to $429 in after-hours trading.

KRON Stock Earnings: Kronos Bio Beats EPS, Beats Revenue for Q4 2023

• Kronos Bio (NASDAQ:KRON) just reported results for the fourth quarter of 2023.

• Kronos Bio reported earnings per share of -43 cents. This was above the analyst estimate for EPS of -52 cents.

• The company reported revenue of $2.29 million.

• This was 50.39% better than the analyst estimate for revenue of $1.52 million.

US regulators urge Congress to look into grocery profits

• The U.S. Federal Trade Commission recommended Thursday that policymakers look further into profits at grocery store operators that remain elevated since the pandemic and promotions that consumer products makers offer retailers.

• The FTC also is suing to block Kroger's acquisition of smaller grocery store rival Albertsons, citing concerns the deal would hike prices for millions of Americans.

• The FTC launched the study in 2021 when it ordered Walmart, Kroger, Procter & Gamble, grocery wholesalers and others to turn over detailed information relating to the supply chain crisis during the pandemic, which contributed to double-digit price increases on household necessities.

Reddit stock soared 60% as IPO kicks off

• Reddit stock began trading Thursday, kicking off its highly anticipated initial public offering. Shares surged 60% to $55, well above the company’s IPO price of $34 set the day before.

• Reddit is the first major social media company to go public since Pinterest in 2019. Reddit’s IPO pricing was the highest end of the range the company had set earlier of $31 to $34 per share, in line with expectations. At this pricing, the company and its shareholders would raise $748 million. But at the $55 share price Thursday afternoon, that figure surged to $1.2 billion.

Broadcom Jumps as Analysts Call It a Key Enabler and Beneficiary of Generative AI

• Broadcom shares jumped over 5% Thursday as analysts called it a key enabler and beneficiary of generative artificial intelligence (AI) following Broadcom's AI infrastructure event Wednesday.

• Goldman Sachs analysts said they came away from the event with a better appreciation of Broadcom's growth opportunities related to AI, adding that Broadcom could be "uniquely positioned to enable the build-out of AI hardware infrastructure."

• Broadcom (AVGO) shares jumped over 5% Thursday afternoon as analysts called it a key enabler and beneficiary of generative artificial intelligence (AI) following Broadcom's AI infrastructure event Wednesday.