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    Walmart reports big earnings miss as higher costs, supply chain eat into profits

    Walmart missed earnings expectations for the fiscal first quarter, as the retailer felt cost pressure from fuel prices, higher inventory levels and overstaffing.
    The nation’s largest retailer on Tuesday raised its sales outlook for the year, but lowered its profit expectations.
    CEO Doug McMillon said the discounter’s bottom line results “were unexpected and reflect the unusual environment,” as inflation in the U.S. is at a nearly four-decade high.

    Walmart on Tuesday reported quarterly earnings that missed Wall Street’s expectations by a wide margin, as the nation’s largest retailer felt pressure from rising fuel costs and higher levels of inventory.
    Shares were down nearly 7% in premarket trading.

    The company raised its outlook for sales this year, saying it expects net sales to increase about 4% in constant currency for the full year. It previously anticipated a 3% increase.
    But Walmart also lowered profit expectations. Earnings per share for the year will decrease by about 1% compared with the mid single-digit increase it previously expected, the company projected.
    In an interview with CNBC, Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs said the significant jump in fuel prices, elevated labor costs and aggressive inventory levels weighed on the company. He said some merchandise arrived late and other items, such as grills, plants and pool chemicals, didn’t sell due to “unseasonably cool weather in the U.S.” 
    Plus, he said, Walmart employees returned from Covid leave quicker than expected and caused the company to become overstaffed during part of the quarter. He said those scheduling challenges have been resolved.
    The discounter’s bottom line results “were unexpected and reflect the unusual environment,” CEO Doug McMillon said in a release Tuesday morning. Inflation in the U.S. is at a nearly four-decade high.

    “We’re adjusting and will balance the needs of our customers for value with the need to deliver profit growth for our future,” he said in a news release.
    Here’s what the discounter reported for the fiscal first quarter ended April 29, according to Refinitiv consensus estimates:

    Earnings per share: $1.30 adjusted vs. $1.48 expected
    Revenue: $141.57 billion reported vs. $138.94 billion expected

    In the quarter, Walmart’s net income fell to $2.05 billion, or 74 cents per share, from $2.73 billion, or 97 cents per share, a year ago. Excluding items, the company earned $1.30 per share. That’s lower than the $1.48 that analysts were expecting, according to Refinitiv.
    Total revenue rose to $141.57 billion from $138.31 billion a year earlier, above Wall Street’s expectations of $138.94 billion.
    Same-store sales for Walmart U.S. grew 3% compared with the year-ago period or 9% on a two-year basis. E-commerce sales rose 1% or 38% on a two-year basis.

    Average ticket for customers in the U.S. rose 3% from the year-ago period. Transactions on the company’s website and stores were flat.
    Walmart-owned warehouse club, Sam’s Club, saw same-store sales increase 10.2% year over year or 17.4% on a two-year basis.

    Walmart is a much-watched company as investors and economists look for clues about how the American consumer is weathering inflation – and if they are starting to pull back on spending. The consumer price index, a broad measure of prices for goods and services, increased 8.3% in April compared with a year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    Grocery, Walmart’s top sales category, is one of the hard-hit categories. Food costs rose 9.4% in April on a 12-month basis, according to unadjusted data from the BLS.
    As shoppers look for value, Walmart is gaining market share in grocery, Biggs said. However, sales of food are pressuring margins, since items like eggs and cereal drive lower profits than discretionary merchandise like apparel and electronics.
    Biggs said Walmart sees signs that some households feel budget strapped. For example, he said sales of half-gallons of milk and its private brand of lunch meat have jumped.
    “There’s some signs of changed behavior in some customers due to inflation,” he said. “They’re certainly taking notice of inflation.”
    On the other hand, he said, there’s still demand for the newest gaming consoles and patio sets. He said the second quarter is “off to a good start from a sales perspective,” with outdoor and apparel categories getting a lift from warmer spring weather.
    Shares of Walmart closed Monday at $148.21. The stock has risen about 2.5% so far this year, outperforming the broader market as investors seek out consumer staples among economic uncertainty. The company’s market cap is nearly $408 billion.
    Read the company’s earnings release here.
    This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

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    Investors withdraw over $7 billion from tether, raising fresh fears about stablecoin's backing

    Tether’s circulating supply has slipped from about $83 billion a week ago to less than $76 billion on Tuesday, according to data from CoinGecko.
    The so-called stablecoin slipped below its intended $1 peg Thursday amid panic over the collapse of rival token terraUSD.
    The situation has once again placed the subject of the reserves behind tether under the spotlight.

    Tether has faced repeated calls for a full audit of its reserves.
    Justin Tallis | AFP via Getty Images

    Investors have withdrawn more than $7 billion from tether since it briefly dropped from its dollar peg, raising fresh questions about the reserves underpinning the world’s largest stablecoin.
    Tether’s circulating supply has slipped from about $83 billion a week ago to less than $76 billion on Tuesday, according to data from CoinGecko.

    The so-called stablecoin is meant to always be worth $1. But on Thursday, its price slipped as low as 95 cents amid panic over the collapse of a rival token called terraUSD.
    Most stablecoins are backed by fiat reserves, the idea being that they have enough collateral in case users decide to withdraw their funds. But a new breed of “algorithmic” stablecoins like terraUSD, or UST, attempt to base their dollar peg on code. That’s been put to the test lately as investors have soured on cryptocurrencies.
    Previously, Tether claimed all its tokens were backed 1-to-1 by dollars stored in a bank. However, after a settlement with the New York attorney general, the company revealed it relied on a range of other assets — including commercial paper, a form of short-term, unsecured debt issued by companies — to support its token.
    The situation has once again placed the subject of the reserves behind tether under the spotlight. When Tether last disclosed its reserve breakdown, cash made up around $4.2 billion of its assets. The vast majority — $34.5 billion — consisted of unidentified Treasury bills with a maturity of less than three months, while $24.2 billion of its holdings was in commercial paper.
    These “attestations” produced by Tether each quarter are signed off by MHA Cayman, a Cayman Islands-based firm which has only three employees, according to its LinkedIn profile.

    Tether has faced repeated calls for a full audit of its reserves. In July 2021, the company told CNBC it would produce one in a matter of “months.” It has still not done so.

    Tether was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC for this article.
    Responding to a Twitter user who urged Tether to release a full audit, Paolo Ardoino, the company’s chief technology officer, insisted its token was “fully backed” and had redeemed $7 billion in the past 48 hours.
    “We can keep going if the market wants, we have all the liquidity to handle big redemptions and pay all 1-to-1,” he said.
    In a further tweet, Ardoino said Tether is still working on an audit. “Hopefully regulators will push more auditing firms to be more crypto friendly,” he said.
    The destabilization of tokens which have the sole purpose of maintaining a stable price has rattled regulators on either side of the Atlantic. Last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned of the risks posed to financial stability if stablecoins are left to grow unfettered by regulation, and urged lawmakers to approve regulation of the sector by the end of 2022.
    In Europe, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said the turmoil in crypto markets recently should be taken as a “wake-up call” for global regulators. Cryptocurrencies could disrupt the financial system if left unregulated, Villeroy said — particularly stablecoins, which he added were “somewhat misnamed.”
    Meanwhile, European Central Bank Executive Board Member Fabio Panetta said stablecoins like tether are “vulnerable to runs,” referring to “bank runs” where clients flee a financial institution en masse. The European Union is planning to bring stablecoins under strict regulatory oversight with new rules known as the Markets in Crypto-assets Regulation, or MiCA for short.
    Frances Coppola, an independent economist, explained it’s crypto exchanges — not retail investors — that are pulling billions of dollars out of Tether in wholesale transactions. To redeem tethers for dollars on Tether, clients must make a minimum withdrawal of $100,000, according to the company’s website.
    “Its customers really are the exchanges,” Coppola said. “Then the exchanges sell tokens to traders, dabblers and small investors.”
    Tether is a crucial part of the crypto market, facilitating billions of dollars worth of trades every day. Investors often park their cash with the token in times of heightened volatility in cryptocurrencies.
    Monsur Hussain, head of financial institutions research at Fitch Ratings, said Tether would have “few difficulties” in selling down its Treasury holdings.
    But the source of those holdings is unclear. In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Tether’s technology chief refused to provide details on its Treasury holdings, saying the company doesn’t “want to give our secret sauce.”
    Anxiety surrounding tether appears to have boosted demand for rival tokens like Circle’s USDC and Binance’s BUSD, whose respective market values have increased around 8% and 4% in the past week. Experts said that’s because these tokens are deemed “safer” than tether.
    While not yet large enough to cause disruption in U.S. money markets, Tether could eventually reach a size where its owning of U.S. Treasurys becomes “really scary,” Carol Alexander, a professor of finance at Sussex University, said.
    “Suppose you go down the line and, instead of $80 billion, we’ve got $200 billion, and most of that is in liquid U.S. government securities,” she said. “Then a crash in tether would have a substantial impact on U.S. money markets and would just tip the whole world into recession.”

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    GM is betting its Ultium batteries will lead the automaker to EV dominance

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    General Motors once led the world in auto sales, and still, with some exceptions, leads the U.S.
    Now the automaker hopes to become a leader in electric vehicles on its home turf and beyond.

    The Detroit company has made massive investments in EV technology in a bet that its new Ultium platform — consisting of batteries, motors, software and other components — will help it to outpace competition from legacy automakers and countless start-ups and eventually replace Tesla as the No. 1 EV maker.
    The automaker unveiled its Ultium EV platform in March 2020 and as is delivering the first vehicles built around it this year.
    At the heart of the Ultium platform are GM’s batteries. They were developed in partnership with LG Energy Solutions, a division of the Korean conglomerate LG Corp.
    The batteries use a highly unusual chemistry that reduces expensive and tough-to-source cobalt by 70%. That move, the company says, will help push battery pack costs below $100 per kilowatt-hour — commonly considered to be a critical threshold for EVs to be competitive with internal combustion engines.
    GM’s system for managing its battery pack is also different from competitors. The Ultium platform allows GM to run battery cells with different chemistries in the same pack, so parts of the pack can be replaced as time goes on.

    It’s innovations like these that GM says will make it a leader in EVs in North America by 2025. Tesla dominated the U.S. market in 2021.
    But competition from other automakers is stiff. And there are many more challengers on their way, from just about every corner of the world.
    Watch the video to learn more. More

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    Stocks making the biggest moves in the premarket: Walmart, Home Depot, Citigroup and more

    Take a look at some of the biggest movers in the premarket:
    Walmart (WMT) – Walmart slumped 7% in premarket trading after missing bottom-line expectations for the first quarter. The retail giant earned $1.30 per share, 18 cents a share below estimates as inflationary pressures offset the positive impact of better-than-expected sales.

    Home Depot (HD) – Home Depot added 2.7% in the premarket after the home improvement retailer reported better-than-expected profit, revenue and comparable sales for the first quarter, while also raising its full-year forecast. Home Depot earned $4.09 per share for the quarter, compared to a consensus estimate of $3.68 a share.
    Citigroup (C) – Citi rallied 5.4% in the premarket following news that Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) took a nearly $3 billion stake in the bank during the first quarter. Berkshire’s latest 13-F filing also showed that the company sold nearly all of an $8.3 billion stake in Verizon (VZ), whose shares fell 1%.
    United Airlines (UAL) – United Airlines shares rallied 4.6% in premarket action after the airline raised its current-quarter revenue forecast, saying it expects its busiest summer since before the pandemic began.
    Twitter (TWTR) – Twitter fell 1% in the premarket as Tesla CEO Elon Musk continues to cast doubt on whether his deal to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share will be completed. Musk is suggesting that he could seek a lower price, saying there could be at least four times the number of spam or fake accounts than the company has said.
    Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) – Take-Two jumped 4.9% in the premarket despite a quarterly miss in its key bookings metric as well as weaker-than-expected guidance. Analysts have pointed to a history of conservative guidance from the video game maker, and are also expecting a more upbeat outlook once its pending acquisition of Zynga (ZNGA) closes.

    JD.com (JD) – JD.com surged 9% after beating top-line and bottom-line estimates for its latest quarter, as the China-based e-commerce giant saw increased demand amid new Covid-related lockdowns. JD.com is also among tech stocks benefiting from hopes for relaxed regulatory curbs on tech companies, along with Pinduoduo (PDD), up 8.6%, and Baidu (BIDU), gaining 4.1%.
    Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) – Tencent Music shares jumped 6.5% in premarket trading, despite a 15% slide in quarterly revenue. Tencent Music shares are also benefiting from those hopes for looser regulatory curbs.
    Lordstown Motors (RIDE) – Lordstown CFO Adam Kroll said doubts about the electric vehicle maker’s ability to stay in business will remain in place until it secures more funding. Lordstown originally issued a “going concern” warning in June 2021. The stock fell 1.8% in premarket trading.

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    19. Maven Clinic

    The 2022 CNBC Disruptors are 50 private companies growing and innovating through a challenging market and changed world, while inspiring change in their larger, incumbent competitors.

    Founder: Kate Ryder (CEO)Launched: 2014Headquarters: New York CityFunding: $202 millionValuation: $1 billionKey technologies: N/AIndustry: Health carePrevious appearances on Disruptor 50 List: 0

    Persephone Kavallines

    Maven is the largest virtual clinic for women’s and family health, and as of last August, it also became the first female-focused health start-up valued at over $1 billion, or so-called unicorn status.

    Offering technology-based care for fertility, pregnancy, and parenting, Maven has grown quickly from a service that in its early days was popular with college students seeking quick telehealth advice, to a scalable digital health program now being used by large employers and health plans.
    As with many emerging technologies in the health-care space focused on bridging the gap between digital and the patient as a consumer, Covid-19 accelerated the uptake and acceptance of Maven’s business model, even if the premise for the business was in place from well before the pandemic. 

    More coverage of the 2022 CNBC Disruptor 50

    “We saw it in the fact that 50% of U.S. counties were without a single OB-GYN. We saw it in galling racial disparities across fertility, maternity, and pediatric care. We saw it in the lack of financial support for LGBTQ+ family building. And, in the U.S., the richest country in the world, we saw it in the highest maternal mortality rate in the industrialized world,” Maven founder and CEO Kate Ryder wrote in a blog post at the time of its big fundraise.
    Over the past year, Maven has added 100 new clients, including five of the Fortune 15 companies, one of them being Microsoft. Among existing clients, which include L’Oreal, 50% expanded their use of Maven services last year as it invested in new programs, including enhanced care management for high-risk patients, a service to match patients with providers of the same background (race, ethnicity, sexual identity, religion, etc.) and MavenRx, which focuses on managing the cost and complexity of fertility medications.
    The August 2021 historic $110 million in Series D funding was co-led by Dragoneer and Lux, but Maven has also attracted the interest of powerful, successful American women. Oprah Winfrey joined the round, adding to Maven’s roster of celebrity backers, which includes Mindy Kaling, Natalie Portman, and Reese Witherspoon.

    The round was more than just a milestone for Maven – female founders received just 2% of all U.S. venture capital funding in 2021.
    Female health tech — also referred to as femtech — is gaining traction. Fertility company Progyny, a three-time CNBC Disruptor 50 company, has grown to a valuation of roughly $4 billion as a public company and has doubled in value since its first trade in 2019. And despite the fact that women-founded firms still receive an inequitable share of venture investment, 2021 was a breakout year for femtech specifically, according to a PitchBook report, with global venture capital investment surpassing $1 billion for the first time. 
    With its recent funding, Maven is focusing on reaching new populations, including Medicaid, which is responsible for paying for nearly half of all U.S. births. 
    Like many start-up founders, Ryder’s determination to create Maven came partially as a result of personal experience, in her case medical frustration and trauma. A miscarriage left her feeling “lost, discouraged, and confused why something so painful and physically taxing was considered outside the bounds of traditional healthcare,” she wrote in a post.
    Now a mother of three, she has had a newborn in the natal intensive care unit, a painful recovery from a C-section, and describes herself as the “biggest critic” of Maven products.
    The company boasts work on behalf of over 10 million families across 30-plus medical specialties, and is adding more employers at a time of return-to-work for many caregivers. Whether a new parent navigating return-to-office, the same-sex couple seeking adoption; women suffering from fertility issues; or institutional biases in the current health system, Ryder sees a similar underrepresented community problem to be solved.
    “For all of these patients, and countless others, digital health offers a way to be seen, heard, and supported,” Ryder stated.

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    Home Depot raises full-year outlook after earnings beat, record first-quarter sales

    Home Depot on Tuesday raised its full-year outlook after reporting strong quarterly earnings, fueled by the company’s strongest first-quarter sales on record.
    For 2022, Home Depot is now expecting sales growth of about 3% and earnings per share growth in the mid-single digits.
    This marks Ted Decker’s first quarter at the helm of the company.

    Home Depot on Tuesday raised its full-year outlook after reporting strong quarterly earnings, fueled by the company’s strongest first-quarter sales on record. Shares of the company rose 4% in premarket trading.
    Here’s what Home Depot reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

    Earnings per share: $4.09 vs. $3.68 expected
    Revenue: $38.91 billion vs. $36.72 billion expected

    The home improvement retailer reported first-quarter net income of $4.23 billion, or $4.09 per share, up from $4.15 billion, or $3.86 per share, a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting the company to earn $3.68 per share.
    Net sales rose 3.8% to $38.91 billion, topping expectations of $36.72 billion. Same-store sales increased 2.2% in the quarter.
    “The solid performance in the quarter is even more impressive as we were comparing against last year’s historic growth and faced a slower start to spring this year,” CEO Ted Decker said in a statement.
    This marks Decker’s first quarter at the helm of the company. Decker, a longtime Home Depot veteran, previously served as chief operating officer and inherited the top job at a tough time for home improvement.
    Inflation keeps climbing, which may lead consumers to put off renovation projects. Rising interest rates could result in a slowdown in the hot housing market and delays to expensive home improvement plans. And many consumers spent the early days of the pandemic painting their walls, buying new patio furniture and taking care of other do-it-yourself projects that won’t need to be repeated for at least a few years.

    But Tuesday’s results show that consumers are still willing to spend money on their homes, and the company isn’t expecting the trend to reverse.
    For 2022, Home Depot is now expecting sales growth of about 3% and earnings per share growth in the mid-single digits. The company previously forecast “slightly positive” sales growth and earnings per share growth in the low-single digits.
    Read the full report here.

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    22. Tala

    The 2022 CNBC Disruptors are 50 private companies growing and innovating through a challenging market and changed world, while inspiring change in their larger, incumbent competitors.

    Founder: Shivani Siroya (CEO)Launched: 2014Headquarters: Santa Monica, CaliforniaFunding: $362.1 millionValuation: $800 million (PitchBook)Key technologies: Machine learningIndustry: FintechPrevious appearances on Disruptor 50 List: 2 (No. 20 in 2021)

    Persephone Kavallines

    Fintech start-up Tala is continuing its mission to improve the financial health of underserved and underbanked populations.

    Founded in 2011 by Shivani Siroya, the Santa Monica-based company uses its mobile platform to provide access to loans ranging from $10 to $500 to people in India, Mexico, the Philippines, and India. Using its Android app to create a credit profile for a user by looking at their texts, merchant transactions and other behavioral data to create a risk profile, Tala looks to approve loans within minutes compared to legacy banks or online lenders, who often rely on a credit score or a financial history check to determine eligibility.
    In October, Tala closed a $145 million Series E funding round to further expand its borrowing, savings and money management options. At that time, Tala said it had lent more than $2.7 billion to more than six million people.
    The company has raised more than $350 million in venture funding from investors including PayPal Ventures, GV, and Revolution Growth.

    More coverage of the 2022 CNBC Disruptor 50

    “From the very beginning we’ve been very intentionally focused on building a global platform that’s truly scalable across these regions, but that also has the ability to be localized,” Siroya said during a CNBC “TechCheck” livestream last October.
    That new funding round is aiding Tala in a crypto push. In May 2021, it partnered with Visa to build a platform where users could buy cryptocurrencies, starting with digital currency USDC. Tala is now allowing users to send money across borders using the cryptocurrency.

    It also furthers Tala’s overall goal of becoming the primary financial account for the global underbanked, a path that Siroya says isn’t about competing with banks but rather creating a financial system that works for everyone.
    “There’s a lot of leakage around the financial system, especially for the underserved. They have to spend a lot of time going to physical locations, there’s money being spent on transportation, and then there’s additional fees to actually go get their money and use it,” Siroya said.
    “So we’re really looking to ensure that they have a safe place to more efficiently use their money, and that’s what we’re thinking about when it comes to crypto: how can we use this technology to really ensure that we’re supporting the essential movement of money.”

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    21. Fanatics

    The 2022 CNBC Disruptors are 50 private companies growing and innovating through a challenging market and changed world, while inspiring change in their larger, incumbent competitors.

    Founder: Michael Rubin (CEO)Launched: 2011Headquarters: Jacksonville, FloridaFunding: $4.2 billionValuation: $27 billionKey technologies: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, machine learningIndustry: RetailPrevious appearances on Disruptor 50 List: 2 (No. 25 in 2019)

    Persephone Kavallines

    Fanatics has established itself as the leader for sports merchandise and commerce, with exclusive licensing deals ranging from the NFL and NBA to the International Olympic Committee.

    Now it’s looking to expand its sports industry reach even further, setting its sights on digital collectibles, sports betting, and trading cards.
    Its recently launched NFT and digital collectible company, Candy Digital, secured initial exclusive rights with MLB and the MLBPA to create digital products around baseball, aiming to do what Dapper Labs, ranked No. 10 on this year’s Disruptor 50 list, has done around the NBA. Candy Digital said it raised $100 million in Series A round from investors like SoftBank’s Vision 2 Fund and former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning, valuing it at $1.5 billion.

    More coverage of the 2022 CNBC Disruptor 50

    Last year, Fanatics hired former FanDuel CEO Matt King as part of an effort to break into the now booming U.S. sports betting market. While it made an unsuccessful bid for a New York online sports betting license, losing out to companies like DraftKings, Caesars and FanDuel, Fanatics is reportedly looking at potential acquisitions in the space.
    Perhaps the biggest part of the sports business industry Fanatics is disrupting is trading cards. The company surprised many last August when it landed a deal with MLB to be its partner for cards, supplanting Topps in the process, which had become nearly synonymous with baseball cards dating back to 1952. It also secured the trading card licenses for the NFL and NBA.
    Fanatics then acquired the Michael Eisner-owned Topps in January for roughly $500 million following Topps’ $1.3 billion SPAC merger that fell apart after it lost the MLB rights.

    It also saw a sports commerce boon as leagues welcomed back fans to stadiums and largely played seasons unencumbered by Covid-19. Fanatics has said it is projecting $4.5 billion in revenue for its e-commerce business in 2022, up from $2.3 billion before the pandemic. The company claims it has more than 80 million users across its businesses, providing further business opportunities for its new ventures geared towards sports fans.
    All of that has helped Fanatics raise several rounds over the last year. The latest, in March, totaled $1.5 billion from investors like the NFL, NFL Players Association, MLB and the NHL. Other investors include Fidelity, BlackRock and Michael Dell’s MSD Partners, among others.
    Fanatics’ valuation has seen a jump as a result to $27 billion, up from $18 billion less than a year ago.
    “We’re thinking about how to build a company that’s beloved by billions of sports fans globally,” Fanatics CEO and founder Michael Rubin said at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston on March 4. “Valuation just follows the business results.”

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