Raphael Stevens

Supply chain woes are plaguing many retailers, but a few stocks may be able to withstand the heat, two traders say.
Though Bank of America named Yeti Holdings and Dick’s Sporting Goods its top fourth-quarter picks for their relatively low exposure to Vietnam’s supply issues, a catch-all play like Costco may be the better bet, Laffer Tengler Investments’ Nancy Tengler told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Wednesday.

“This is a company that is well positioned to handle supply chain disruptions,” the firm’s chief investment officer said. “The purchasing team is probably one of the best in the industry.”
Costco’s management said on its latest earnings call that its warehouse format allows for stockpiling inventory and buying it when it’s available, a promising advantage heading into the holidays, Tengler said.
It will also not only benefit from the rise of outdoor retail, like Yeti and Dick’s Sporting Goods, but also holiday, toy and jewelry shopping, she said.
Athleticwear giant Nike could also be positioned for upside, Sanctuary Wealth’s chief investment officer, Jeff Kilburg said in the same interview.
“I think you want to own it,” he said, noting that the stock recently tested and held its 200-day moving average around the $145 level, meaning it has established support in that range.

Nike ended trading up nearly 2% at $156.30 on Wednesday.
“It’s No. 1 in its space,” said Kilburg, also founder and CEO of KKM Financial. Nike’s market cap is north of $247 billion, while Dick’s Sporting Goods’ is around $10.7 billion and Yeti’s is just shy of $7.5 billion, he added.

Arrows pointing outwards

Though Nike’s stock pulled back earlier this year in response to supply chain issues, its technical positioning and the negative sentiment surrounding Nike could spark a move to the upside, Kilburg said.
“I think this provides an opportunity for a little bit of outperformance,” he said.
Disclosure: Tengler and Laffer Tengler Investments own shares of Costco.
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Congress’ budget reconciliation bill includes three provisions impactful for employers and workers alike, including mandatory retirement savings plans for most.
The Insured Retirement Institute has found that many people over age 40 have inadequate retirement savings and are not saving enough to catch up.
A study by the American Retirement Association shows that this legislation would increase retirement savings by $7 trillion and create more than 60 million new retirement accounts.

10’000 Hours | DigitalVision | Getty Images

As Congress wrangles over many proposals within the Build Back Better reconciliation bill, one section holds the promise of addressing the anxiety millions of American workers, retirees and their families feel about their retirement security.
To that point, Congress needs to focus on the retirement provisions included in the budget reconciliation bill that would be impactful for both employers and their employees.

One provision in the bill, passed by two House committees, would require businesses with five or more employees to offer a workplace retirement plan. Employers who already provide workplace retirement plans would not need to change their current offerings.
As important, another provision would require employers to offer employees with $200,000 or more in a retirement account a choice to invest up to 50% of their vested balance in a protected lifetime income product. Providing this option would allow the employee to create a monthly income stream that they cannot outlive, mimicking the traditional pensions that many employers used to offer.
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Congress is often criticized for adding requirements to businesses without addressing implementation or cost burdens. But this time, Congress thought ahead and passed programs in the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (Secure) Act of 2019 to help small businesses afford and offer workplace retirement plans.
The Secure Act created pooled employer plans (PEPs) that allow small businesses to band together to offer employees a retirement plan and included tax credits to help business owners get started. Congress also clarified liability concerns that had created challenges for employers to include protected lifetime income options in plans to address workers’ concerns about outliving retirement savings.

While defined contribution workplace plans like 401(k) plans have increased, 48% of private-sector workers at establishments with fewer than 100 employees still do not have access to a retirement plan. With small businesses so critical to our national economy, we cannot leave the employees who work at these companies without an effective way to save for retirement.
A recent survey by my organization, the Insured Retirement Institute, found that many people over age 40 have inadequate retirement savings and are not saving enough to catch up. The survey found that 51% have less than $50,000 saved for retirement, and 57% save less than 10% of their income.

The survey also revealed that two-thirds of respondents wish they had started saving earlier and regret that they had not saved more. And 87% believe it is important that their retirement income from savings is protected for life.
When employers offer a plan and automatically enroll employees, participation rates triple to 91% among new hires, compared with 28% under voluntary enrollment. Over time, 9 in 10 participants increase the amount they save, either automatically or on their own.
But if a business does not offer a retirement plan, many workers may fail to save for retirement. Taking an extra step to require businesses to offer a plan can only boost retirement savings further.
This is important because the longer individuals can save throughout their working years, the more they will likely be able to accumulate for their retirement years.
A study by the American Retirement Association shows that this legislation would increase retirement savings by $7 trillion and create more than 60 million new retirement accounts — 98% of which would be among workers earning less than $100,000. The magnitude of what this legislation could accomplish should spur our elected leaders to act now.

Balancing government regulations with addressing societal issues requires careful consideration.
Despite significant progress toward expanding retirement plan coverage for workers, more still needs to be done. Requiring those businesses that have not provided a retirement plan to now do so will increase small business employees’ opportunities to save for retirement and lessen fears about whether they can afford to retire.
This is a defining moment for America’s workers and retirees.
We can address our nation’s retirement crisis, build economic equity, strengthen financial security and provide the means for workers to create sustainable lifetime income to last throughout their retirement years.
Congress needs to use this unique opportunity to pass the retirement provisions the House has included in the reconciliation legislation.

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McDonald’s will test the meatless McPlant burger created as part of its partnership with Beyond Meat in eight U.S. restaurants next month.
Other restaurant chains have been quicker to launch plant-based meat items on their menus, but McDonald’s has taken a more cautious approach.
The fast-food giant has already started selling McPlant burgers in some international markets, including Sweden, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

McDonald’s McPlant burger
Source: McDonald’s

McDonald’s will test the meatless McPlant burger created as part of its partnership with Beyond Meat in eight U.S. restaurants next month.
The trial is the latest step in McDonald’s cautious march to add plant-based meat to its menu. The company has taken its time to learn more about the longevity of meat substitutes and consumer demand, even as other fast-food chains raced to add the trendy item to their menus. For example, rival Burger King, which is owned by Restaurant Brands International, added the Impossible Whopper to its menu more than two years ago.

Starting Nov. 3, McDonald’s customers in Irving, Texas; Carrollton, Texas; Cedar Falls, Iowa; Jennings, Louisiana; Lake Charles, Louisiana; El Segundo, California; and Manhattan Beach, California, can order the McPlant for a limited time. The meat-free patty’s ingredients include peas, rice, potatoes and beets, and the McPlant burger will include a slice of American cheese, according to McDonald’s.
The company said the limited test is supposed help the chain understand the impact of introducing a plant-based burger on its operations. New menu items add more complexity to kitchens, and a nationwide labor crunch has compounded the issue.
McDonald’s global footprint represents a massive opportunity for Beyond Meat as the preferred supplier of its plant-based patties. The two companies announced a three-year partnership in February.
The fast-food giant has already started selling McPlant burgers in some international markets, including Sweden, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Before the official announcement of the McPlant line, McDonald’s tested a meatless burger that used a Beyond patty in several dozen Canadian restaurants in September 2019. By the following April, the chain had ended the pilot and has since said that it has no plans to bring back its P.L.T. burger.
A growing number of consumers eat meat substitutes from Beyond or Impossible Foods, citing the health or environmental benefits of opting out of traditional meat. For restaurants, adding plant-based meat to the menu can draw in new consumers and help the companies reach their sustainability goals. One downside for plant-based meat, however, is the higher cost for both restaurants and consumers.
Shares of McDonald’s have risen 13% this year, giving it a market value of $187.06 billion. Beyond’s stock has fallen 16% in the same time period, dragging its market value down to $6.64 billion.

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Domino’s Pizza stock fell as much as 5% in premarket trading after the pizza chain’s third-quarter revenue fell short of estimates and its U.S. same-store sales turned negative.
The company did top analysts’ estimates for its third-quarter earnings.
High demand for pizza during the pandemic has caused investors to worry about pizza fatigue and tough comparisons against last year’s performance.

Domino’s in Denmark
Francis Dean

Domino’s Pizza shares were down more than 3% in premarket trading after the pizza chain’s third-quarter revenue fell short of estimates and its U.S. same-store sales turned negative.
The pandemic brought skyrocketing demand for Domino’s pizza in its home market, but as consumers were vaccinated and states relaxed restrictions, investors began to worry about pizza fatigue. Last quarter, despite facing tough comparisons, U.S. same-store sales still rose 3.5%.

The company’s third quarter seems to be the turning point. U.S. same-store sales shrank by 1.9%, although the metric was up by 15.6% on a two-year basis. StreetAccount estimates forecast that the company would report U.S. same-store sales growth of 1.8%.
The decline in U.S. demand led the pizza chain to fall short of Wall Street’s revenue estimates. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting net sales of $1.04 billion, but Domino’s reported $998 million in revenue for the quarter.
Outside the U.S., the company’s business is faring much better. International same-store sales climbed 8.8% in the quarter, up 15% on a two-year basis.
Domino’s earned $3.24 per share during the quarter, topping the $3.11 per share expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.
Although Domino’s shares were down more than 5% at one point on Thursday, the stock has climbed 19% this year, bringing its market value to $17 billion.
Read Domino’s press release.

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United is expecting a surge in international travel next year following a two-year lull.
Destinations include Amman, Jordan and Bergen, Norway.
Airlines have spent the pandemic focused on domestic destinations.

A United Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft lands at San Francisco International Airport on March 13, 2019 in Burlingame, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

United Airlines plans to add 10 new trans-Atlantic routes in 2022, a bet that cooped up U.S. customers will race to get out of the country to visit Norwegian fjords, Jordan’s archeological sites or the Canary Islands after international travel was largely on pause since the pandemic began.
The additions include five new destinations: three-times-a-week service to Amman, Jordan from Washington, D.C. on May 5 with a Boeing 787-8 and from Newark Liberty International Airport, Bergen, Norway on May 5 with a Boeing 757-200, Palma de Mallorca in Spain on June 2 with a 767-300ER and Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands on June 9 on a 757-200. It’s also added daily flights to Ponta Delgada in Portugal’s Azores on May 13, using a Boeing 737 Max.

“We want to return to travel being fun,” Patrick Quayle, United’s senior vice president of international network and alliances, said on a call with reporters.
International travel, and trans-Atlantic in particular, has been a pillar of large U.S. carriers’ service but was derailed by the pandemic and accompanying travel restrictions, which are beginning to ease.
United’s trans-Atlantic service brought in just $585 million in the second quarter, about 10% of its revenue, down from nearly $2.1 billion compared with 2021, when it was 18% of its sales.
United and other carriers have focused on domestic travel, particularly for beach and other outdoor destinations, which was more resilient than international and surged after vaccines became widely available this spring and case counts dropped. Delta and American used some of their largest jetliners for domestic routes with international demand depressed.
Carriers have pounced on new destinations in Europe but executives don’t expect demand to return in full until the Biden administration lifts restrictions on visitors to the U.S. from Europe and elsewhere, which it says it will do in early November.

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said on a quarterly call on Wednesday that bookings surged sixfold after the Biden administration announced it would replace travel bans with vaccine requirements that would allow visitors from Europe into the U.S. again.
United is also adding other European routes including between Denver and Munich, Chicago and Milan, Washington D.C. and Berlin. Routes it had to put on hold during the pandemic will also launch, like San Francisco to Bangalore on May 26 and Newark and Nice, France on April 29.
United won’t fly previous routes from Newark to Manchester, Newark to Glasgow and San Francisco to Dublin, Quayle said.

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