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    Kay Jewelers parent Signet expects to keep taking market share, investing in growth, says CEO

    Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

    Signet Jewelers expects to further expand its market share in the coming years, CEO Gina Drosos told CNBC on Thursday.
    She said the company’s successful transformation has made those ambitions realistic.
    “What I think is very exciting is we now have the financial fitness to invest in our business consistent and to drive share gains over time,” she told Jim Cramer.

    Signet Jewelers expects to further expand its market share in the coming years, CEO Gina Drosos told CNBC on Thursday, contending the company’s successful transformation has made those ambitions realistic.
    “What I think is very exciting is we now have the financial fitness to invest in our business consistent and to drive share gains over time,” Drosos said in an interview on “Mad Money.”

    Signet gained 270 basis points of market share in its fiscal 2022, the parent company of Zales and Kay Jewelers reported earlier Thursday, bringing its slice of the pie to 9.3%. A basis point equals 0.01%.
    “We feel poised to be able to continue to be able to do that,” said Drosos, who has led Signet since 2017. Under her leadership, Signet has tried to right size its store footprint, while building out its ecommerce operations.
    Signet’s online sales were $556 million in fiscal 2022, up 85.4% compared with its fiscal 2020, which ended Feb. 1, 2020, before the worst economic impacts of the Covid pandemic were felt. Overall sales of $2.8 billion in fiscal 2022 represented 30.6% growth compared with fiscal 2020.

    Gina Drosos, CEO, Signet
    Scott Mlyn | CNBC

    Drosos said Signet’s focus on ecommerce is an important part of its broad strategy to gain market share and, by extension, grow revenue. Another important piece is simply expanding the jewelry market overall, the CEO said.
    “With our targeted marketing, with our data and analytics, we have the capability to target new customers with the right message at the right time, and so they already come to our websites and to our stores as ready buyers,” Drosos said. “We saw a lot of people come into the category last year. The category was up about 20%, but a disproportionate number of those came into Signet.”

    Signet shares rose roughly 7% Thursday as investors cheered the company’s financial results. Fourth-quarter revenue and same-store sales were above expectations, while earnings per share of $5.01 were in line with estimates, according to Refinitiv.
    Signet’s stock has been a strong performer over the past 12 months, advancing 40% as of Thursday’s close at $83.14 per share. That’s far better than the S&P 500’s 11% in that same span.
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    GameStop shares fall as retailer reports loss during holiday quarter, says it will launch NFT marketplace

    GameStop swung to a loss in the holiday quarter amid a turnaround effort and supply chain challenges.
    The company said it will launch a marketplace for NFTs by the end of the second quarter.
    The video game retailer said it’s making progress in other areas, too, such as launching a redesigned app, striking relationships with PC gaming brands and attracting new members to its rewards program.

    A mall visitor walks be a GameStop store on December 08, 2021 in San Rafael, California.
    Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

    GameStop shares fell roughly 8% in extended trading Thursday after the video game retailer reported an unexpected loss during the holiday quarter and declined to provide a financial outlook.
    Yet the company said it’s strengthening relationships with gaming brands and looking for new ways to make money — including launching a new marketplace for nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, by the end of the second quarter.

    CEO Matt Furlong said on the company’s earnings call that GameStop is still in the early days of turning itself back into a “customer-obsessed technology company.”
    “It is important to stress the GameStop had become such a cyclical business and so capital starved that we have had to rebuild it from within,” he said. “We’ve also had to change the way we assess revenue opportunities by starting to embrace, rather than run from, the new frontiers of gaming.”
    GameStop was an early target in the meme stock frenzy and has gotten a fresh slate of leaders who want to transform the brick-and-mortar chain into an e-commerce player. Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen was tapped to lead the company’s turnaround as chair of the board. He hired former Amazon executives, Furlong, and Mike Recupero, as CEO and CFO, respectively.
    In the most recent quarter, Furlong said, it made progress toward its digital goals. It struck deals and grew relationships with PC gaming brands including Alienware, Corsair and Lenovo. The company also launched a redesigned app and hired dozens of people with experience in e-commerce, operations and blockchain gaming.
    He said its membership program, PowerUp Rewards Pro, grew by 32% on a year-over-year basis and now has about 5.8 million members.

    Those moves, however, have yet to translate into profits. In the three-month period ended Jan. 29, total revenue grew to $2.25 billion, but the company reported a net loss of $147.5 million, or $1.94 per share. That’s compared with a profit of $80.5 million, or $1.19 per share, a year earlier. Adjusted loss per share for the fourth quarter was $1.86.
    The company took a hit from both supply chain challenges and the omicron variant, Furlong said. He added GameStop leaders “made the conscious decision to lean in and absorb higher costs in order to meet customer demand.”
    “We felt, and continue to feel, that investing in our customers and rebuilding brand loyalty right now is in the company’s best interest over the long term,” he said.
    The retailer hasn’t provided a financial outlook since the pandemic began in March 2020. It has also declined to take questions from analysts on the company’s earnings calls over the past year, including during its investor call Thursday.
    Furlong said company leaders “do not feel it’s prudent to provide guidance during the early stages of our transformation and with the current global backdrop,” but he said they expect growth across the company’s stores, its website and its gaming offerings.
    GameStop’s shares have swung wildly over the past year. Shares hit a 52-week low on Monday of $77.58 — less than one-fourth of the stock’s value last June.
    As of Thursday’s close, GameStop shares are down about 41% so far this year. Shares rose about 1% on Thursday to close at $87.70. The company’s market value is nearly $7 billion.
    Read GameStop’s news release here.

    Correction: Mike Recupero is CFO of GameStop. And the company said it would launch a marketplace for nonfungible tokens by the end of the second quarter. An earlier version misstated the timeline.

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    Stock futures fall slightly as S&P 500 tries to notch its best week since November 2020

    Stock futures dipped in overnight trading Thursday after a three-day rally for the S&P 500 as the equity benchmark is poised to post its biggest weekly gain in more than a year.
    Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 120 points. S&P 500 futures were down 0.4% and Nasdaq 100 futures traded 0.3% lower.

    Stocks enjoyed a relief rally this week as the Federal Reserve’s decision to tighten policy largely met investor expectations. The S&P 500 has gained for three consecutive days this week, up 4.9%, on track for its best week since November 2020.
    The blue-chip Dow is coming off a four-day winning streak, rising 4.7% for the week so far, and is also on pace for its biggest weekly gain since November 2020. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is up 6% this week, headed for its best week since February 2021.
    Earlier this week, the central bank hiked its benchmark interest rate for the first time since 2018 and signaled six more hikes this year.
    “Fortunately, investor expectations for inflation over the next five years was brought down quite a bit, which, if sustained, will continue [to] be helpful for the Fed and the markets despite somewhat higher interest rates,” said John Vail, chief global strategist at Nikko Asset Management.
    Investors continue to monitor news out of Ukraine and Russia as the war rages on. Russian attacks across Ukraine have resulted in numerous civilian deaths over the past day, Ukrainian officials said.

    Russia was able to pay coupons on its sovereign bonds to some creditors, Reuters reported, citing sources. While uncertainty still persists, Russia may have been able to avoid a historic debt default for the time being.
    On Thursday, West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. oil benchmark, jumped more than 8% and bounced back above $100 per barrel.
    Shares of FedEx fell more than 1% in after-hours trading after the U.S. delivery firm posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit amid labor shortages, while the pandemic also hurt its holiday revenue growth.
    GameStop saw its shares dropping 10% in extended trading after the video game retailer reported an unexpected loss during the holiday quarter. The company said it will launch a new marketplace for non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, by the end of April.

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    Disney creative leaders express frustration to CEO Chapek over 'Don't Say Gay' bill response

    Senior leaders at Disney’s studios have expressed their frustration to CEO Bob Chapek about his handling of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida, sources say.
    Several employees are set to stage a walkout Tuesday, but it’s unclear whether it will draw a crowd as only a fraction of employees have been coming in to work on the lot.
    Some were reassured by an email Chapek sent Friday to express his commitment to support and engage with the LGBTQ+ community and to pause all political donations in Florida pending review.

    Bob Chapek, Disney CEO at the Boston College Chief Executives Club, November 15, 2021.
    Charles Krupa | AP

    Senior leaders across Disney’s creative studios have expressed their frustration to CEO Bob Chapek about his handling of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida, people familiar with the matter told CNBC.
    Chapek met with senior leadership groups from the media giant’s creative studios after the company’s annual meeting March 9. Many have expressed frustration with Disney’s reluctance to take a firm stand against the bill, the people said.

    Employees also raised concerns in the wake of the meeting, saying Chapek didn’t respond critically to homophobic comments made by a shareholder during the Q&A period, according to the people, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss internal conversations at Disney.
    Chapek and Disney faced pressure for not coming out earlier in opposition to the Parental Rights in Education bill in Florida. The legislation prohibits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools for kindergarten through third grade. It has been dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” and criticized by advocates who believe the bill could do harm to marginalized people.
    In the past week, executives have been hosting town halls and meeting with employees to hear their frustrations and concerns, the people said. Some were reassured by an email Chapek sent Friday to express his commitment to support and engage with the LGBTQ+ community and to pause all political donations in Florida, pending review.
    Still, many of those people say they are waiting to see the company take appropriate action against the bill. Some employees have organized a walkout, in protest, on Tuesday.
    The walkout is set to coincide with the time of a company “reimagine tomorrow” event. This event was scheduled on March 2, and these regular discussions typically cover timely issues and are held monthly. Tuesday’s is called “LGBTQ+ Employees, Leaders and Allies Get Disney Real.”

    The invitation to the virtual event, which went out on Thursday morning, reads: “Employees can expect an honest conversation addressing the following: How does the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill and other pending legislation impact LGBTQ+ kids and families? Why have LGBTQ+BERG leaders and allies organized internally to hold the company accountable? What will it take to rebuild trust with our employees and LGBTQ+ communities?”
    It’s unclear how many people will participate in Tuesday’s walkout. Only a fraction of employees have been coming into work on the lot.
    Disney did not comment for this article.
    Chapek’s email to employees on Friday addressed the broader frustration.
    He wrote: “Thank you to all who have reached out to me sharing your pain, frustration and sadness over the company’s response to the Florida ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill. Speaking to you, reading your messages, and meeting with you have helped me better understand how painful our silence was. It is clear that this is not just an issue about a bill in Florida, but instead yet another challenge to basic human rights. You needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I let you down. I am sorry.”
    He announced that the company is increasing its support for advocacy groups to combat similar legislation to the “Don’t Say Gay” bill in other states and is pausing all political donations in the state of Florida.

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    Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Dollar General, Occidental Petroleum, Guess and more

    A customer enters a Dollar General Corp. store in Colona, Illinois, U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2014.
    Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
    Dollar General — Shares of the discount retail chain gained 4.5% despite a weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter report. Dollar General reported $8.65 billion in sales for the quarter, below the $8.7 billion expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. The company’s $2.57 in earnings per share matched expectations. The company did announce a 31% dividend increase, and some analysts cited Dollar General’s outlook as a positive.

    Signet Jewelers — Shares of the jewelry company popped 7% after reporting same-store sales above consensus estimates. Per-share earnings were in line with expectations and quarterly revenue topped Wall Street’s estimates, according to Refinitiv.
    PagerDuty — Shares rallied 20.9% after PagerDuty posted a better-than-expected quarterly report. The company lost an adjusted 4 cents per share for its latest quarter, beating the Refinitiv consensus estimate by 2 cents. The digital operations platform provider’s revenue also defied Street forecasts, and PagerDuty issued an upbeat revenue forecast.
    Occidental Petroleum — The energy stock rose 9.5% after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway purchased an additional 18.1 million shares of Occidental. A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday shows it paid a weighted average of $54.41 per share, a total of $985 million for the new shares.
    Guess — The apparel maker’s shares rallied 9.3% after the company’s quarterly report. Guess posted adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.14 per share, one cent below the Refinitiv consensus, while revenue also fell short of forecasts. However, profit margins were better than anticipated.
    Revolve — Shares of the online designer clothing retailer rose 6.5% after Needham initiated coverage of the company with a buy rating. As consumers return to in-person events, Revolve is an “ultimate reopening play” that will continue to leverage data to capture market share, analysts wrote.

    Ralph Lauren — The retail stock rose 4.6% after JPMorgan upgraded Ralph Lauren to an overweight rating from neutral. The firm said Ralph Lauren could benefit from an “elevated casual” apparel trend as customers return to the office.
    McDonald’s — McDonald’s shares were marginally lower as Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on the fast-food giant to $287 per share from $294 amid store closures in Russia and Ukraine. The company has said the closures could cost it $50 million a month.
    SolarEdge Technologies — Shares fell 5.9% after the company announced a proposed public offering of 2 million shares of its common stock.
    — CNBC’s Jesse Pound, Tanaya Macheel and Samantha Subin contributed reporting.

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    Impossible Foods taps Chobani executive as new CEO, founder Pat Brown steps down

    Impossible Foods founder Pat Brown is stepping down as CEO, and Chobani’s departing operating chief, Peter McGuinness, will take the helm of the company.
    Brown will continue working at the company as chief visionary officer and will report to the board.
    McGuinness’s departure from Chobani comes as the yogurt maker reportedly delayed its initial public offering due to market conditions.

    Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown in 2019
    Robyn Beck | AFP | Getty Images

    Impossible Foods founder Pat Brown is stepping down as CEO, and Chobani’s departing operating chief, Peter McGuinness, will take the helm of the company.
    The transition comes after a roller coaster two years for the plant-based meat industry. Impossible and rival Beyond Meat both saw their grocery sales skyrocket in the early days of the pandemic as meat shortages boosted sales and helped to offset slumping restaurant business.

    But in recent months, sales in the plant-based meat category have slowed, prompting concerns about long-term growth prospects. Nevertheless, Impossible did report that its fourth-quarter retail revenue soared 85%.
    Brown founded Impossible a decade ago with the goal of combatting climate change by reducing meat consumption. Since 2016, it has sold meat substitutes and has expanded its distribution to tens of thousands of retailers across three continents, while introducing food items at global restaurant chains like Starbucks and Burger King.
    In a letter published on the company’s website, Brown said Impossible’s growth has meant that the demands of helming the business have encroached on other tasks, such as leading strategic initiatives, sharing the company’s mission and guiding research.
    “Given the momentum of our business, our accelerating product pipeline, ongoing international expansion and the magnitude of our mission, the leadership demands of the commercial business will inevitably continue to grow,” Brown wrote.
    Starting April 4, McGuinness, a food industry veteran, will join the company as CEO and a director. For the past eight years, he’s been with yogurt maker Chobani, helping the company expand into oat milk, coffee creamers and other categories.

    “The key with Impossible, with all of its great innovation, is to make [its products] more available and more accessible to more people,” McGuinness said in an interview.
    “The company is in a great spot, by the way — I’m not coming in to fix anything, I’m coming in to try to help the company grow more than it’s already grown,” he added.
    Brown will continue working at Impossible as chief visionary officer and will report to the board. His roles will include leading in such areas as research and technology innovation, strategic initiatives, public advocacy and the company mission. He will also remain a director on the company’s board.
    “Peter and I will work together to lead Impossible and its long-term strategy, combining our complimentary strengths and experience,” Brown wrote in his letter.
    McGuinness’s departure from Chobani comes as the yogurt maker reportedly delayed its initial public offering due to market conditions. Chobani initially filed to go public in November.
    Meanwhile, Reuters reported nearly a year ago that Impossible was weighing going public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company or an initial public offering. In that time, Beyond’s stock has taken a beating, with shares falling 63% since the initial report.
    McGuinness said Impossible has “a very strong cash position.” It last raised $500 million at a valuation of $9.5 billion in November, according to Pitchbook.
    “There’s no rush or urgency to go public, not to say that we wouldn’t decide to do that down the road,” he said.

    Correction: Beyond Meat’s shares have fallen 63% since April 2021. That stock move was not clear in an earlier version of this story.

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    Delta gives employees 4% raises, first pay increase since before the pandemic

    Delta Air Lines on Thursday said it would give most of its 75,000 employees a 4% pay raise, their first increase since the fall of 2019, before the Covid pandemic.
    Carriers like Southwest Airlines and United Airlines have raised minimum pay or offered hiring bonuses to attract workers in a tight labor market and amid high inflation.

    Flight attendants hand out refreshments to a packed Delta Airlines flight traveling from Ronald Regan National Airport to MinneapolisSaint Paul International Airport on Friday, May 21, 2021.
    Kent Nishimura | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

    Delta Air Lines on Thursday said it would give most of its 75,000 employees a 4% pay raise, their first increase since the fall of 2019, before the Covid pandemic.
    Airlines were among the hardest-hit during Covid as travel demand dried up, spurring record losses at all the major carriers. But bookings are back on the upswing, particularly for domestic leisure travel.

    Now carriers are scrambling to hire and train staff to match surging travel demand. Carriers like Southwest Airlines and United Airlines have raised minimum pay or offered hiring bonuses to attract workers in a tight labor market and amid high inflation.
    A Delta spokesman said the increases are part of regular, base pay raises the company offered employees before Covid hit.
    Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, said the airline still expects an overall loss in the first quarter because of omicron’s impact on staffing and travel early this year. The company forecasts a profit for the month of March.
    “We’ve come a long way since the darkest days of 2020,” Bastian said in an employee memo announcing the pay increases. He said the airline is “optimistic” that it can generate a profit this year.
    The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA last week wrote to Delta cabin crew members noting they haven’t received a pay increase since 2019. The flight attendants’ union is in the middle of a membership drive at Delta that it launched in November 2019.

    Delta’s roughly 20,000 flight attendants are the largest nonunion cabin crew of any U.S. airline. The union said the organizing drive likely contributed to the decision “as part of an effort to divide Delta workers who are organizing to make Delta a better place to work.”
    “As long as Delta Flight Attendants are without a contract, like management at Delta has for themselves, promises can change,” AFA wrote in a post on its website after the pay increases were announced.
    Delta said in a statement to CNBC that the pay increase was not related to the flight attendant union drive.
    “Delta has a long track record of taking care of our people, and as the CEO said, this is a well-deserved base pay increase for our people who continue to excel at safely taking care of our customers with a travel experience that sets us apart,” an airline spokesman said.
    The pay increase does not apply to Delta pilots.

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    Maserati unveils all-electric plan, starting with a new 1,200-horsepower GranTurismo

    Maserati plans to offer electric versions of its entire lineup beginning next year with a new GranTurismo car featuring more than 1,200 horsepower, the company said Thursday.
    The GranTurismo “Folgore” will be the first all-electric vehicle for the famed Italian brand, which is owned by Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler.
    Maserati CEO Davide Grasso described the EV transformation, including a target to go totally electric by 2030, as a “defining moment” for the company.

    The new GranTurismo Folgore will be the first car in Maserati history

    DETROIT — Luxury auto brand Maserati plans to offer electric versions of its entire lineup by 2025, starting next year with a new GranTurismo EV featuring more than 1,200 horsepower, the company said Thursday.
    The GranTurismo “Folgore” will be the first all-electric vehicle for the famed Italian brand, which is owned by Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler. It’s expected to have a top speed of nearly 190 mph and achieve 0-62 mph in under three seconds, the company said.

    After the GranTurismo, Maserati will introduce the all-electric Grecale midsize SUV and a Grancabrio GT car. By 2025, Maserati also plans to add electric versions of its MC20 supercar, Quattroporte sedan and Levante SUV.
    Maserati CEO Davide Grasso on Thursday described the EV transformation, including its target of going totally electric by 2030, as a “defining moment” for the more than century-old automaker.

    Nearly all major automakers, specifically luxury ones such as Maserati, have announced plans for EVs to represent a majority, if not all, of their sales by 2030.
    Preview images of the electric GranTurismo released Thursday showed a smooth exterior design for the four-seat coupe.
    Maserati did not release expected pricing for the new EVs. Its current traditional models range from about $78,000 to more than $200,000.

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