Raphael Stevens

Lululemon is setting lofty goals for growth in the next five years and laying out for analysts exactly how it plans to get there. But not everyone on Wall Street is sold.
Jefferies analyst Randal Konik said Lululemon’s plan “will require an added level of execution prowess.”
Kimberly Greenberger, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, says Lululemon’s financial goals may not be that ambitious — but that’s actually the problem.

A woman jogs past a Lululemon retail store.
Bloomberg | Getty Images

Lululemon is setting lofty goals for growth in the next five years and laying out for analysts exactly how it plans to get there. But not everyone on Wall Street is sold.
Lululemon shares shed 4.8% on Wednesday after the leggings maker announced it’s aiming to double its annual revenue by 2026 to $12.5 billion. The stock was down more than 1% in afternoon trading Thursday. Within its five-year plan, the retailer expects its men’s business to double, its e-commerce sales to double, and its international revenue to quadruple from 2021 levels by 2026.

The company also announced the upcoming debut of a new membership model centered around fitness classes, which could serve as another potential revenue stream outside of its core apparel arm.
At least one analyst is concerned about potential hiccups in Lululemon’s ambitious blueprint given ongoing global supply chain disruption and inflationary pressures that are weighing on consumers. Following a recent ascent in the retailer’s shares, others believe investors could be coming away from Wednesday’s presentation a bit underwhelmed.

Hiccups

Jefferies analyst Randal Konik said in a note to clients Thursday that Lululemon’s plan “will require an added level of execution prowess,” as well as stability in the broader macroeconomic environment, that may be difficult to attain.
Konik has a hold rating on Lululemon shares and a price target of $375. The stock last traded closer to $380.
Konik also said that Lululemon’s recent push into the footwear category could prove to be a poor idea, given all the competition already in the space, and that it could end up weighing on profit margins. (Executives said Wednesday that the launch, starting with women’s running shoes, has been off to a strong start, but didn’t offer specific sales numbers.)

While Konik applauded the company’s new membership offerings as a way to create more loyal customers, he reiterated his concerns around Mirror, the at-home fitness business that Lululemon acquired for $500 million in 2020. Lululemon is folding the workout content on the Mirror platform into its $39-per-month membership plan.
“Our key concern is the slowing of unit sales as consumers return to gyms,” Konik said about Mirror. “We believe Lululemon will have difficulty expanding the installed base going forward.”

‘Scattershot’

Bernstein analyst Aneesha Sherman said she remains cautious, particularly around Lululemon’s ability to elevate gross margins, given the increasing role that international sales will play in the company’s broader strategy.
In the past, Lululemon has expanded overseas in a “scattershot” and pricey way, resulting in unprofitable growth, she wrote in a note to clients.
Lululemon aims to grow its international business so that by 2026, it will be the size that the North America business was in 2020, executives said. And should the men’s category double sales in the next five years as the company’s predicted, it would be larger than its women’s division was just two years ago.
Sherman has an underperform rating on Lululemon, with a $280 price target.
“It’s not that we don’t like the company — with a high-quality product, a super-loyal following and a good management team, it has good fundamentals,” she said. “But the growth trajectory of core products is slowing and the business model was lending itself to zero margin upside.”

Baked in

Kimberly Greenberger, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, says Lululemon’s financial goals may not be that ambitious — but that’s actually the problem.
In a note to clients Thursday, she wrote that Lululemon’s financial objectives appear to be achievable and in line with the high bar that Wall Street has set for the athletic apparel retailer in light of its success relative to other apparel businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.
However, given the run-up in Lululemon shares ahead of Wednesday, she said that investors could be coming away dissatisfied with the 2026 targets.
Lululemon’s stock is up about 25% from a month ago. When the retailer reported its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings results on March 29, it offered a better-than-expected outlook for the current year, which Greenberger said may turn out to be conservative.
For 2022, Lululemon expects revenue of between $7.49 billion and $7.615 billion, with earnings per share in a range of $9.15 to $9.35.
“Most of the long-term targets appeared already baked into Street numbers,” Greenberger said.
Greenberger has an equal weight rating on the shares, with a price target of $339.
Core to Lululemon’s plan will be product innovation, including investing in new gear for activities like golf and hiking, outside of the yoga apparel that it’s best known for.
Chief Executive Calvin McDonald said Wednesday he believes the company is still in the “early innings” of its growth, citing the fact that Lululemon already doubled its sales from 2018 to 2021.
“The opportunity is really to keep doing what we’re doing. It’s working. It’s resonating,” McDonald said.

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The CDC’s advisory committee met on Wednesday to discuss U.S. vaccination strategy ahead of an expected fall wave of infection.
Several committee members said boosting people every four to six months in an effort to prevent Covid infection is not an achievable public health goal.
They said three doses provided sufficient protection against severe illness for healthy adults, indicating that the committee is not ready to recommend fourth doses for the broader population.

Registered Nurse Orlyn Grace (R) administers a COVID-19 booster vaccination to Diane Cowdrey (L) at a COVID-19 vaccination clinic on April 06, 2022 in San Rafael, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

The CDC’s panel of independent vaccine experts signaled an unwillingness to endorse fourth Covid shots for the broader U.S. population until the agency adopts a clear strategy.
The group, in a five-hour meeting Wednesday, largely agreed that repeatedly deploying boosters to prevent infection isn’t a realistic goal with the current generation of shots.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices discussed U.S. vaccination strategy ahead of an expected fall wave of infection. It was the committee’s first meeting since the CDC cleared a fourth Pfizer or Moderna dose for people ages 50 and older in late March, as well as a fifth dose for those 12 and older with weakened immune systems.
Dr. Sarah Long, a committee member, said public health agencies need to abandon the idea that vaccines can prevent Covid infections. She said they should instead let the public know that the main goal is to prevent severe illness, hospitalization and death.

Chasing rainbows

“With the vaccines currently available, we should not chase the rainbows of hoping that those vaccines could prevent infection, transmission and even mild disease because we’ve learned that is just not possible,” said Long, a professor of pediatrics at Drexel University College of Medicine. “We just need to give that up with these vaccines and focus on preventing severe disease and preventing death.”
Long criticized the CDC for clearing fourth shots for older adults without consulting the committee, saying the decision has created public confusion and could lead to booster fatigue. She said having a full public discussion in the committee about vaccine recommendations would help restore public trust.
Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines have proven highly effective at preventing hospitalization from Covid, but protection against infection and mild illness rapidly declines over time, a challenge exacerbated by the swift evolution of the virus. The vaccine makers developed the shots to target the spike protein of the virus that emerged in Wuhan, China, in 2019. The virus uses the spike to invade human cells and as that protein has mutated over the past two years, it has become more difficult for the vaccines to block infections.

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65% effective against mild illness

Data presented by CDC officials on Wednesday showed that three doses of Pfizer’s or Moderna’s shots were 79% effective at preventing hospitalization and 94% effective at preventing critical illness or death among adults with healthy immune systems during the unprecedented wave of omicron infection over the winter. Three doses were about 65% effective at preventing mild illness.
Dr. Beth Bell, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, said asking people to get booster shots every four to six months is not a sustainable public health strategy. She said such an approach could undermine confidence in the vaccination campaign. Bell said a two-shot primary vaccination series and one booster dose provides sufficient protection right now for people who have healthy immune systems.
“I’m just very concerned about us meeting and considering additional doses for a smaller and smaller return and creating an impression that we don’t have a very effective vaccination program,” said Bell, who is also a clinical professor at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health.
Dr. David Kimberlin with the American Academy of Pediatrics said the CDC should adopt a more long-term vaccination strategy now to avoid having to react to the next crisis. The CDC should clearly communicate that most Americans need three doses initially and will then need a booster once a year to maintain protection against severe illness, Kimberlin said.

Long Covid concerns

However, committee chair Dr. Grace Lee said the U.S. needs to invest in developing vaccines that are effective at preventing infection, pointing out that even mild infections can result in long Covid with potentially debilitating health consequences.
“If we focus in on hospitalization and death in the acute illness, you’re not thinking about the long-term consequences of Covid, and that can occur even in mildly symptomatic individuals,” said Lee, a professor of pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine. Lee said missed work or school due to infection is a major challenge, particularly for communities that do not always have easy access to health care.
While three doses may be sufficient for healthy adults, people with compromised immune systems remain vulnerable to severe illness, according to Dr. Camille Kotton, an infectious disease specialist with Massachusetts General Hospital. They are at risk of infection even after full vaccination, boosting and preventative treatment with monoclonal antibodies, Kotton said.
“In some ways they are the ones that are being somewhat left behind in the pandemic,” Kotton said. “I would just ask that we maintain a significant focus on immunocompromised patients,” she said.

FDA meeting

The CDC committee meeting comes after the Food and Drug Administration’s independent advisors met earlier this month to develop framework for selecting new vaccines that target mutations the virus has developed over the course of the pandemic. Public health authorities expect another wave of infection this fall and are worried that a new variant could emerge that undermines the current vaccines.
Dr. Peter Marks, who leads the FDA division responsible for vaccine safety and efficacy, told the drug regulator’s advisory committee that the U.S. has until June at the latest to select a new formula for the vaccines to have them ready for the fall. Marks said waning immunity from the vaccines could leave the U.S. vulnerable to another surge when people move inside during the colder months. The FDA committee members were also skeptical about asking the broader population to repeatedly get boosted until there’s clear data demonstrating that it’s necessary to prevent severe illness.
“I think we’re very much on board and with the idea that we simply can’t be boosting people as frequently as we are,” Marks told the committee. “I’m the first to acknowledge that this additional fourth booster dose that was authorized was a stopgap measure until we got things in place for the potential next booster given the emerging data,” Marks said.

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When people think of what it takes to start a business, words like “struggle” and “stressful” come to mind. But it was rewriting this narrative that allowed me to achieve success as an entrepreneur.
I was always a shy and anxious person. But in 2020, I made an effort to rewire my mindset and started my Excel training side hustle, Miss Excel, by posting a TikTok video of me dancing in front of an Excel sheet.

My passion for teaching people how to use Excel shined through — and by February 2021, I was making enough money to quit my 9-to-5 job and grow my business full-time.
Since leveraging Miss Excel into a software training business, I’ve brought in more than $1 million in revenue. Ninety-five percent of that is in passive income course sales. At one point, I even made $100,000 in sales — in just one day.
Overcoming my fears and making this leap has allowed me to work about 15 hours per week, and spend the rest of my time traveling. Here are five books that helped me get started by boosting my confidence and growing my business mindset:

1. “Dot Com Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Growing Your Company Online With Sales Funnels”

By Russell Brunson
This is a tactical guide to growing a digital sales business. Russell Brunson, founder of software company ClickFunnels, has helped entrepreneurs sell millions of dollars’ worth of products and services.

I used the strategies outlined in his book to build out lead generation techniques and sales funnels that allow my online courses to sell without additional work from me and generate passive income.

2. “You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life”

By Jen Sincero
Written by success coach Jen Sincero, this book helped me identify my self-limiting beliefs, so I could deconstruct them and build my confidence up enough to run my own business.
The fun bite-sized chapters of relatable stories, sage advice and simple exercises left me feeling motivated and inspired.

3. “Twelve and a Half: Leveraging the Emotional Ingredients Necessary for Business Success”

By Gary Vaynerchuk
With honesty and humility, bestselling author, Resy co-founder, and investor Gary Vaynerchuk maps out the most important skills in business and includes practical tips on how to develop them.
This book is a great starting point for entrepreneurs to identify opportunities for personal growth fueled by deep self-exploration.

4. “Quantum Success: 7 Essential Laws for a Thriving, Joyful, and Prosperous Relationship with Work and Money”

By Christy Whitman
Life coach Christy Whitman shares a 10-step plan for how to establish strong inner relationships with professional contacts, create a culture of appreciation for those in your network, and magnetize future relationships and opportunities.
Applying the principles from this book helped me attract opportunities — from press spots to corporate sponsorships — and grow my business with inbound leads instead of paying for publicity.

5. “Think and Grow Rich”

By Napoleon Hill
This book is an inspirational classic that has sold over 100 million copies. It shares wisdom from more than 500 of America’s most successful individuals, grouped into 13 principles of success.
The case studies in this book gave me the inspiration I needed to chase my dream, while the mindset advice gave me the tools.
Kat Norton teaches Microsoft Excel to individuals, businesses and educational institutions. Since launching Miss Excel in 2020, she has grown her TikTok and Instagram audience to over 1 million followers.
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President Joe Biden will announce a new military aid package to Ukraine, which is expected to look similar to the $800 million in assistance that the U.S. released a week ago.

The package comes as Russia begins an offensive to seize the Donbas region that many analysts believe will be a decisive phase in its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
After failing to take Kyiv in a blitzkrieg early in the war, Russia downsized its intent, announcing that it sought only to seize the eastern regions of the country. In recent weeks, Russia has amassed more than 50,000 troops in or near occupied regions of eastern Ukraine.
In order to fend off the Russian assault, Ukrainian troops will need a massive supply of heavy weapons, which the United States is providing in aid packages like the one being announced today.

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If you had a surprise tax bill this filing season, it may be time to adjust your withholdings, financial experts say.
You can use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator, but complicated situations may need an advisor.
It’s important to revisit withholdings throughout the year, particularly after life changes.

Georgijevic | E+ | Getty Images

If you had a surprise tax bill this filing season, it may be time to adjust your withholdings, financial experts say. 
Whether you’re a W-2 employee or self-employed, the IRS expects an ongoing piece of your income, paid through withholdings or quarterly payments.

As of April 8, nearly 68% of filers for 2021 have received a refund, with an average payment of $3,175, according to the latest IRS data. But if you owed money, there’s still time to make adjustments for next year.
The beginning of the year, particularly after filing your taxes, is a prime opportunity to review your current withholdings, said Or Pikary, a CPA and tax advisor at Mazars, a tax advisory firm in Los Angeles.   
More from Personal Finance:What we learned from the Biden, Harris tax returnsSupreme Court rejects states’ challenge to SALT limitThe average tax refund this year and what you should do with yours
“It’s a tougher pill to swallow at the end of the year when you have a lot more due,” he said.
When starting a new job, you typically complete Form W-4, dictating how much your employer needs to withhold from each paycheck for federal taxes. Many wrongly assume it’s a one-time activity.

Nearly 45% of tax-filing Americans don’t know when they last updated their withholdings, according to a survey from the American Institute of CPAs. 
That may be a problem, since many things can affect how much you need to withhold every year, tax experts say. 
“If certain changes or life events happen throughout the year, it’s up to you to let your employer know about adjusting your tax withholding,” said certified financial planner Philip Herzberg, lead financial advisor at Team Hewins in Miami. 

Top reasons to adjust your withholding:
1. Tax law changes
2. Lifestyle changes like marriage, divorce or children
3. New jobs, side gigs or unemployment
4. Tax deductions and credits shifts

Some of the most common reasons may include family changes such as marriage, divorce or having children. While tying the knot may shift your filing status, children may add a “new set of game-changing tax breaks,” he said.  
Other lifestyle changes, like buying a home, may adjust your situation if you itemize deductions, since you may be able to claim a write-off for mortgage interest, which may possibly result in a lower bill. 
However, starting a side business or a second job may lead to higher levies, Herzberg said, and you may consider increasing the withholding at your primary job to cover the difference. 
You can double-check your withholding with the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator, but it may be better to run projections with an advisor for complex situations.

The tool may be more accurate if used immediately after your last paycheck, Pikary from Mazars said. And you’ll want to share the specifics with your employer’s human resources department to fill out a new Form W-4. Refiling the form must go through HR since it’s a payroll change.

Loans to the IRS

Many Americans may love getting an annual refund. But experts say overpaying throughout the year may be more costly as the economic climate shifts. 
With rising interest rates, earning next to nothing on certificates of deposits and savings accounts may become a thing of the past, said George Gagliardi, a Lexington, Massachusetts-based CFP and financial advisor at Coromandel Wealth Management.
“So why give the IRS an interest-free loan by over-withholding taxes?” he said.

Taxes on retirement income

Whether retirees receive income from Social Security, a pension or retirement accounts, they may also need to consider withholdings or quarterly payments to avoid a surprise bill. However, running a tax projection can be more complicated with multiple sources of income, said Pikary from Mazars. 

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A health-care worker has reportedly tested positive for the omicron strain of the coronavirus just 20 days after having an infection caused by the delta variant, according to Spanish researchers.
The case study of the 31-year-old woman, who was fully vaccinated and boosted, is due to be presented by researchers at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases that’s taking place in Portugal this coming weekend.
The 20-day gap between infections is the shortest known.

A medical worker takes a swab sample from a citizen for nucleic acid test at a testing site in Binhai New Area in north China’s Tianjin, Jan. 9, 2022.
Zhao Zishuo | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

A health-care worker has reportedly tested positive for the omicron strain of the coronavirus just 20 days after having an infection caused by the delta variant, according to Spanish researchers.
The case study of the 31-year-old woman, who was fully vaccinated and boosted, is to be presented by researchers at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases taking place in Portugal this coming weekend.

The 20-day gap between the infections is the shortest known.
The woman first tested positive on Dec. 20 last year in a PCR test during staff screening at her place of work. The patient, who didn’t develop any symptoms, self-isolated for 10 days before returning to work.
On Jan. 10 this year, just 20 days after first testing positive, she developed a cough, fever and felt generally unwell and did another PCR test. This was also positive.
Whole genome sequencing showed that the patient had been infected by two different strains of Covid-19. The woman’s first infection was with the delta variant while the second, in January, was with the more transmissible omicron variant that had been identified as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization last November.

Studies showed that omicron is much more infectious than delta and can evade the immunity people acquire from past infections and Covid vaccination, which protects against severe infection, hospitalization and death.
The omicron variant has since started to become supplanted by a subvariant of the strain, known as BA.2, while other variants have also since emerged, including one dubbed XE.

One of the study’s authors, Dr. Gemma Recio of the Institut Català de Salut of Tarragona in Spain, said the case highlights the potential of the omicron variant to evade the previous immunity acquired either from a natural infection with other variants, or from vaccines.
“In other words, people who have had Covid-19 cannot assume they are protected against reinfection, even if they have been fully vaccinated,” Recio said.
“Nevertheless, both previous infection with other variants and vaccination do seem to partially protect against severe disease and hospitalization in those with omicron.”

She said the case underscored the need to carry out genomic surveillance of viruses in infections in those who are fully vaccinated and in reinfections as “monitoring will help detect variants with the ability to partially evade the immune response.”
The material has been peer reviewed by the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases selection committee, but there is no full paper at this stage and the authors have not yet submitted the work to a medical journal for publication.

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Starbucks shares have fallen 12% since Howard Schultz took the reins on April 4.
Wedbush Securities and Citi Research both downgraded shares to neutral in April, citing the coffee chain’s growing union push among other concerns.
Starbucks risks its long-held reputation as a progressive company the longer it battles union efforts.

Michelle Eisen, a barista at the Buffalo, NY, Elmwood Starbucks location, the first Starbuck location to unionize, helps out the local Starbucks Workers United, employees of a local Starbucks, as they gather at a local union hall to cast votes to unionize or not, Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022, in Mesa, Ariz.
Ross D. Franklin | AP

When Starbucks announced Howard Schultz would return to the company as interim CEO, investors cheered. His first tenure as chief executive turned the company into a global brand and his second, years later, revived both the business and its stock price.
But the applause has since quieted as Wall Street forecasts that the coffee giant will keep spending money in its effort to stem a unionization tide.

The stock has slid 12% since Schultz took the reins on April 4, dragging the company’s market value down to $92.2 billion. The S&P 500 fell just 2% in the same time period. Wedbush Securities and Citi Research both downgraded shares to neutral ratings in April, citing the labor situation and other concerns.

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The recent tension follows months of buildup.
In late August, company-owned Starbucks cafes in Buffalo, New York, petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for a union election. Since then, more than 200 of the coffee chain’s locations have filed the paperwork to unionize. To date, 24 stores have voted to unionize under Workers United, with only two locations so far voting against.
To be sure, these locations represent a small portion of Starbucks’ nearly 9,000 company-owned U.S. cafes. But analysts and industry experts are concerned Schultz isn’t taking a frugal approach to curb the union push.
“It’s hard to avoid the reality of the situation – that addressable problems in the near term are probably much more expensive and time consuming to bear results,” JP Morgan analyst John Ivankoe wrote in a note to clients on April 11.

Pay and benefits

In October, when Kevin Johnson was CEO, the company announced two wage hikes for all of its baristas that would take effect this year and bring its average wage up to $17 per hour. In late March, Starbucks Workers United warned Schultz could leverage those improved benefits in an attempt to curb the union’s campaign.
Starbucks did not respond to a request for comment at the time, but Schultz appeared to confirm the strategy on his first day back on the job when he announced that Starbucks would suspend all stock buybacks to invest back into the company’s people and cafes.
In meetings with U.S. store leaders last week, Schultz said the company was weighing improved benefits for all its workers, but that federal labor law precludes the chain from giving higher pay or making other changes to the terms of employment for unionized workers. Labor experts say that’s technically true, but Starbucks can still ask the union if those baristas want the enhanced benefits.
Higher benefits could dissuade baristas from organizing, but Wall Street is worried that strategy may come at too high a cost.
Citi Research analyst Jon Tower wrote in a note on April 11 either wage hikes or growing momentum behind the unionization efforts would make him more bearish on the stock.
There’s also the risk that Starbucks hikes worker pay, but the initiative doesn’t stave off unionization efforts.
“Starbucks has made the job of being a barista so much more challenging that even if they ‘solve the wage and benefit issue,’ I don’t think that’s necessarily going to stop or slow down the unionization push,” said Nick Kalm, who has advised other companies on how to deal with unionizing workers, strikes and lockouts as president and founder of Reputation Partners.
While organizing baristas have mentioned the low pay gains for more senior staff and other benefits issues, contract negotiations at its Elmwood location in Buffalo, New York, have focused on “just cause” firing, stronger health and safety policies and allowing customers to tip with credit cards. The union is planning to ask for higher wages and benefits as well.

Reputational risk

With each new union counterstrike, Starbucks is also risking its long-held reputation as a progressive company.
“Our conversations with several union experts suggest that the greatest financial risk to Starbucks is market share loss and deterioration in brand perception if the union battle continues to make headline news,” BTIG analyst Peter Saleh wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday.
Saleh lowered his price target on the stock from $130 per share to $110 per share but maintained his buy rating.
The Seattle-based company garnered a reputation as a generous employer by offering its workers healthcare, paid leave and other benefits decades ago, a rarity in the restaurant industry at the time and even today. The company has also been vocal in its support of same-sex marriage, hiring refugees and other liberal causes, further bolstering its image as a bastion of progressive capitalism.
While conservatives have threatened boycotts of the company before, its stances drew in progressive employees – like those pushing for a union today – and customers.
But the union has alleged union-busting activity by the company, including firing organizers and cutting barista hours at unionizing locations. The NLRB has filed three complaints against Starbucks, alleging that the company illegally retaliated against organizing baristas. Starbucks has denied all allegations of union busting and filed two complaints of its own with the NLRB on Wednesday, alleging that the union broke federal labor law by intimidating and harassing its workers.

If your whole mantra is being a very progressive company, it becomes very difficult for you to reconcile strong anti-union messages with that.”

president and founder of Reputation Partners

Starbucks’ response to the union push could turn off investors who pick stocks with environmental, social and governance values in mind. An investor group led by Trillium Asset Management urged Starbucks to adopt a neutral policy toward union efforts. The group said in March that it holds at least $1.2 billion in Starbucks shares.
“If your whole mantra is being a very progressive company, it becomes very difficult for you to reconcile strong anti-union messages with that,” Kalm said. “And that’s where they’re finding themselves, and it is going to take a reputational toll. Now, at the same time, people are strangely addicted to Starbucks products.”
One such conflicted customer is Clarissa, a 33-year old from Taos, New Mexico, who describes herself as “a bit of a peppermint mocha or blonde roast addict.”
She hasn’t patronized a Starbucks cafe since Feb. 13, citing how the company has dealt with unionizing workers. Her personal boycott breaks a two decades-long streak of visiting the coffee chain at least five times every week.
“I still have $6.70 on my Starbucks Gold card that is likely just sitting there because I won’t go back after their union busting,” she said.
But not everyone’s soured on the company. BTIG surveyed 1,000 Starbucks customers on their allegiance to the coffee chain if it fails to agree on a contract with Starbucks Workers United. Only 4% of respondents said they would never visit a Starbucks again, and 15% said they would visit less frequently.
More than two-thirds of consumers surveyed said it wouldn’t impact their visit frequency at all.
Neuberger Berman analyst Kevin McCarthy said he’s sticking with the stock because of his belief in the company’s long-term prospects under Schultz’s leadership. The investment firm has $460 billion in assets under management as of Dec. 31.
“It’s the Howard 3.0,” McCarthy said. “I’m hopeful that his credentials and historic track record with being able to come back to the business and reinvigorate will be constructive for the company in the long term.”

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American said March was the first month since the pandemic began that its revenue surpassed 2019 levels.
It expects to fly as much as 94% of its 2019 schedule, more than competitors Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.
The airline said it paid $2.80 a gallon for fuel in the first quarter, up 65% from last year.

American Airlines on Thursday forecast a second-quarter pretax profit as strong bookings help it cover soaring fuel costs.
American, the country’s largest airline, said March was the first month since the pandemic began that its revenue surpassed 2019 levels and said bookings have continued to rise.

The carrier forecast second-quarter sales as much as 8% higher than the same period three years ago even though it plans to fly between 6% and 8% less than its 2019 schedule. That’s still more than competitors Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, which have been more conservative about restoring capacity throughout the pandemic.
American forecast business-travel revenue will be 90% recovered to 2019 levels in the second quarter, led by small- and midsize companies.
“I’m a new CEO. People want to come and see me. It’s the same thing in the rest of the economy,” new CEO Robert Isom told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “People have been cooped up too long, relationships have faded, and they need to be reestablished.”
American is the third major airline to report quarterly results. United said Wednesday it expects to return to a profit this year thanks to a surge in bookings and fares, echoing similar comments a week earlier from Delta. United’s forecast sent airline stocks higher in after-hours trading Wednesday.
American shares surged after reporting results and were up more than 11% in premarket trading Thursday, up from a roughly 5% increase fueled by United’s results. United was up more than 8%.

Here’s how American performed in the first quarter compared with what Wall Street expected, based on average estimates compiled by Refinitiv:

Adjusted loss per share: $2.32 versus an expected $2.40
Total revenue: $8.9 billion versus expected $8.826 billion

American posted a net loss of $1.6 billion in the first quarter on revenue of nearly $8.9 billion, more than double its $4 billion in sales a year ago and ahead of analyst estimates. Sales were down 16% compared with the same quarter of 2019.
The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline said it paid $2.80 a gallon for fuel in the first quarter, up 65% from last year. American stopped hedging fuel after oil prices cratered in 2014.

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