Raphael Stevens

In this articlePTONA monitor displays Peloton Interactive Inc. signage during the company’s initial public offering (IPO) across from the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019.Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesPeloton said Thursday its fiscal third-quarter sales grew 141%, as recent investments in its supply chain allowed it to improve the pace of deliveries.However, even as the company made progress in easing delivery bottlenecks — brought on by its popularity as a way to exercise at home during the coronavirus pandemic — it faced another challenge: the need to recall all of its treadmills after one child died and dozens were injured in accidents involving the Tread+ machine.Peloton shares initially fell after its financial results were released. The report didn’t disclose any details about the impact of the recall, or its outlook.But the stock swiftly recouped losses after the company provided more details on its earnings call. Peloton shares were recently up more than 4% in extended trading.The company expects the treadmill recall — which has halted sales of its two models and delayed the planned launch of a less-expensive version in the U.S. — to reduce fourth-quarter sales by $165 million.It now expects fourth-quarter sales of $915 million, which is lower than the $1.12 billion analysts were expecting, according to Refinitiv estimates.Peloton also expects to incur added costs because it’s offering customers full refunds and will waive all treadmill customers’ membership fees for three months. This should reduce its fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA by about $16 million, Peloton said.”Our goal is to have the best safety features for treadmill products on the market,” Chief Executive John Foley said during the earnings conference call. “There will be a short-term financial impact due to the steps we’re taking.”Still, demand for its cycles, which represent the majority of its business, remains strong. Peloton said that unit sales of its cycles during the fourth quarter should be more than three times what they were two years prior.Here’s what the company reported for the quarter ended March 31 compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:Loss per share: 3 cents vs. 12 cents expectedRevenue: $1.26 billion vs. $1.1 billion expectedPeloton’s net loss shrank to $8.6 million, or 3 cents per share, from a loss of $55.6 million, or 20 cents per share, a year earlier. That was better than the 12 cents-per-share loss that analysts were anticipating. Total revenue surged 141% to $1.26 billion from $524.6 million a year earlier and topped a Wall Street forecast for $1.1 billion. Connected fitness revenue rose 140% to $1.02 billion, representing 81% of its total sales. Subscription revenue grew 144% from 2020 levels to $239.4 million and makes up 19% of total revenue, the company said. Sales were driven, in part, by an acceleration of expected deliveries, Peloton said. Last quarter, it announced plans to invest $100 million in air freight and expedited ocean freight over a six-month period to help speed shipments. It also recently completed its $420 million acquisition of the manufacturer Precor, in a bid to boost its production capabilities in the United States. The company said average wait times for its Bike are now back to pre-pandemic levels.”While progress has been made, additional work remains to reduce delivery times across the remainder of our product portfolio and regions,” Foley said in a letter to shareholders.Churn hits record lowPeloton ended the quarter with 2.08 million connected fitness subscriptions, up 135% from a year earlier. Connected fitness subscribers are people who own a Peloton product and also pay a monthly fee for access to the company’s digital workout content. Average net monthly connected fitness churn, which Peloton uses to measure retention of connected fitness subscribers, hit a six-year low of 0.31%. The lower the churn rate, the less turnover Peloton is seeing with its user base. Total workouts, which include those from connected fitness users and from digital-only customers, grew to more than 171 million from 48 million a year earlier.The company has been adding new content, such as barre and Pilates classes, to keep its customers engaged. It’s also preparing to launch in Australia later this year, as it continues pushing into new markets. Working to approve new designOn Wednesday, Foley apologized for initially rebuffing the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recommendation that the treadmills be recalled. In a statement, he said he should have acted more quickly to resolve the issue when the safety concerns were raised.Peloton originally opposed a recall, saying customers should use its machines when children and pets are not present, and lock the machines when they’re not in use.The CPSC must approve new enhancements to its treadmills that will make the equipment safer before it can be sold again, Foley said Thursday. He added that he anticipates the Tread to go on sale again “much sooner” than the Tread+.”This process typically takes six to eight weeks. It could take longer. So we can’t offer an on-sale or revised launch date at this time,” Foley said.Peloton’s Tread+ machine has an unusual belt design that uses individual rigid rubberized slats or treads that are interlocked and ride on a rail. Many other treadmills on the market have a thinner, continuous belt. There is also a large gap between the floor and the belt of the Tread+, which leaves a space beneath it that can pose a risk.In April, the CPSC released a graphic video that showed a young boy being pulled under one of the Tread+ machines and struggling to free himself. It was captured on a home security camera.With the Tread, some users have reported their screens coming unscrewed and falling off.”We know that millions and millions of Americans use treadmills safely in homes today, so we remain incredibly bullish about the opportunity,” Foley said Thursday. “In order to run at home, you need a treadmill.”Peloton shares are down 45% year to date, as of Thursday’s market close. It has a market cap of $24 billion.Check here for the earnings release from Peloton. More

In this articlePTONA detail shot shows the running deck of a Peloton Tread treadmill during CES 2018 at the Las Vegas Convention Center on January 11, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada.Ethan Miller | Getty ImagesPeloton said Thursday it expects its fiscal fourth-quarter sales to take a $165 million hit due to a treadmill recall.It has halted sales of the machines globally and will be delaying an upcoming launch of its less-expensive treadmill in the United States until further notice.Peloton also said it expects to incur costs because it is offering customers full refunds and will also waive membership fees for all of its current treadmill customers for three months.”Our goal is to have the best safety features for treadmill products on the market,” Chief Executive John Foley said during an earnings call. “There will be a short-term financial impact due to the steps we’re taking.”The company expects the combined costs to reduce fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA by about $16 million.It has updated its fiscal fourth-quarter sales outlook to be about $915 million. Analysts had been calling for $1.12 billion, according to Refinitiv estimates.Peloton shares were up more than 4% in after-hours trading, as investors gathered more clarity on the fitness equipment maker’s forecast.Peloton now anticipates full-year revenue to be $4 billion, inclusive of the contributions from its recent Precor acquisition and taking into account the treadmill refunds and returns. Analysts had been looking for $4.1 billion.A day earlier, Peloton issued a voluntary recall of all treadmills, after one child died and dozens others were injured in accidents involving its machines. The recall affects about 125,000 Tread+ machines and roughly 1,050 Tread products in the U.S.”I think the Tread will be coming back to market much sooner than the Tread+,” Foley said Thursday. More

A person walks past a coal fired power plant in Jiayuguan, Gansu province, China, on Thursday, April 1, 2021.Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesChina’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 exceeded those of the U.S. and the developed world combined, according to a report published Thursday by research and consulting firm Rhodium Group.The country’s emissions more than tripled during the past three decades, the report added.China is now responsible for more than 27% of total global emissions. The U.S., which is the world’s second-highest emitter, accounts for 11% of the global total. India is responsible for 6.6% of global emissions, edging out the 27 nations in the EU, which account for 6.4%, the report said.The findings come after a climate summit President Joe Biden hosted last month, during which Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated his pledge to make sure the nation’s emissions peak by 2030. He also repeated China’s commitment to reach net-zero emissions by midcentury and urged countries to work together to combat the climate crisis.”We must be committed to multilateralism,” Xi said during brief remarks at the summit. “China looks forward to working with the international community, including the United States, to jointly advance global environmental governance.”Xi said China would control coal-fired generation projects and limit increases in coal consumption over the next five years, with reductions taking place in the five years following that.However, Chinese officials have also emphasized that economic growth, which is still largely dependent on coal power, remains a priority. And the nation is still increasing construction of coal-fired power plants.For instance, the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China together funded $474 million worth of coal projects outside China in 2020 alone. And coal accounted for more than half of China’s domestic energy generation last year, according to Li Gao, director general of the Department of Climate Change at China’s Ecology Ministry.CNBC PoliticsRead more of CNBC’s politics coverage:Biden says the corporate tax rate should be between 25% and 28%Battle over tax hikes muddies GOP push to become the working class partyU.S. sends more firepower to the Middle East as troops leave AfghanistanRepublicans ramp up threats against Big Tech after Facebook ruling on TrumpChina, which is home to more than 1.4 billion people, saw its emissions surpass 14 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalents in 2019, more than triple 1990 levels and a 25% increase over the past decade, the Rhodium report found. China’s per capita emissions in 2019 also reached 10.1 tons, nearly tripling over the past two decades.China’s net emissions last year also increased by roughly 1.7% even while emissions from almost all other countries declined during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Rhodium estimates.The Rhodium Group is a U.S. think tank that provides global emissions estimates and forecasts through the ClimateDeck, a partnership with Breakthrough Energy, an initiative founded by Bill Gates.Slashing carbon emissions is one of the few areas on which the U.S. and China have agreed to cooperate.Days before the summit, U.S. special envoy for climate John Kerry traveled to Shanghai to meet with officials on climate change, after which the two countries released a joint statement vowing to tackle the climate crisis together with “seriousness and urgency.”Biden has vowed to to reduce U.S. emissions by 50% to 52% by 2030, more than doubling the country’s prior commitment under the 2015 Paris climate agreement.A goal of the accord is to keep the global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, compared with preindustrial levels. So far, the world is set to warm up by 1.5 C, or 2.7 F, over the next two decades alone.— CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed reporting More

More than 70% of Americans aged 65 and older are fully vaccinated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data published Wednesday.CDC data shows an average of 2.1 million reported vaccinations per day over the past week, down from a peak of 3.4 million in mid-April.At the same time, the rate of new infections fell further. About 46,600 new cases are being reported each day in the U.S., based on a seven-day average of Johns Hopkins University data, the lowest level since the fall.U.S. share of the population vaccinatedAbout 45% of Americans have received at least one vaccine dose, and nearly one-third are fully vaccinated, CDC data shows.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsAmong seniors, one of the most vulnerable groups and to whom vaccine eligibility opened earliest, those figures are much higher. 83% are at least partially vaccinated and more than 70% are fully vaccinated.President Joe Biden on Tuesday set a goal of getting 70% of U.S. adults to receive at least one dose of a Covid vaccine by July 4. As of Wednesday, about 57% of adults have done so.U.S. vaccine shots administeredWith 1.8 million vaccinations reported Wednesday, the latest seven-day average of daily shots administered is 2.1 million per day, according to CDC data.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsThe rate of reported daily vaccinations has been on the decline for weeks, down 37% from the high point a few weeks ago.U.S. Covid casesThe U.S. is reporting an average of 46,600 daily new infections over the past seven days, according to Hopkins data, down 11% from a week ago.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsDaily case counts have fallen by at least 5% over the past week in more than half of the states.The CDC said Wednesday that its projections show U.S. cases will likely surge again due to the highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant, peaking in May and then falling sharply in July.High rates of vaccination coverage and compliance with pandemic safety measures “are essential to control COVID-19 and prevent surges in hospitalizations and deaths in the coming months,” federal health officials wrote in the report.U.S. Covid deathsThe latest seven-day average of U.S. Covid deaths is 686, Hopkins data shows, and the total death toll throughout the course of the pandemic is nearly 580,000.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsCNBC Health & Science Read CNBC’s latest coverage of the Covid pandemic:Covid vaccine makers’ shares seesaw after Biden administration says it will back patent waivers Global Covid death toll more than double official estimates, says IHME Moderna says early data shows Covid vaccine is 96% effective in teens Russia authorizes use of ‘Sputnik Light,’ a one-shot Covid vaccine it says is 79% effectiveCNBC’s Berkeley Lovelace Jr. contributed reporting. More

In this articleETSYEtsy hopes to tap into the network of social media influencers to help bring new people to its e-commerce marketplace, CEO Josh Silverman told CNBC on Thursday.”So many influencers who love Etsy, who are passionate about Etsy and talk about Etsy to their community already, we’ve created a tool where those influencers can curate their own collection of their favorites on Etsy and then broadcast that out to their community and say, ‘Here’s what I love on Etsy,'” Silverman told Jim Cramer in a “Mad Money” interview. “That shows the desirability, the specialness, the uniqueness, the scarcity of items on Etsy and it allows Etsy to reach many, many different diverse communities in ways that feel very personal to them,” Silverman added.Silverman’s comments came one day after the company reported first-quarter earning results. Etsy said its quarterly revenue grew by 141.5% on a year-over-year to $550.6 million. However, the stock tumbled more than 14% on Thursday as investors likely focused on Etsy’s second-quarter guidance. Etsy expects revenue to only grow between 15% and 25% on a year-over-year basis, a sharp slowdown from the previous quarter. Despite that projected slowdown in growth, Silverman told Cramer he is comfortable with the demand dynamics Etsy is seeing.”We had 90 million active buyers in the first quarter and, in fact, we had 8 million habitual buyers. These are our most loyal buyers that have bought on six or more purchase days and spent $200 or more, and that’s up 200%,” Silverman said. “So, we are absolutely delighted with what’s happening in terms of buyer activity and frequency and loyalty on Etsy.”As consumer interests shift in a post-pandemic world, Silverman said Etsy is well-positioned to respond. That’s similar to how thousands of Etsy sellers began to make face masks last year after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first recommended Americans wear them to slow the spread of coronavirus.”One of the great things about the Etsy model is that it is so dynamic, it is so responsive to consumer trends,” Silverman said. “There’s 100 million things for sale on Etsy right now and anything that is suddenly hot, for sure we’ve got some of them for sale on Etsy and if we do not, our sellers will be making them within hours to respond to that trend.”Silverman also said Etsy’s two-sided marketplace generates trust between buyers and sellers that will be valuable in differentiating the company from other e-commerce players and helping propel long-term growth.”Everyone else is playing Amazon’s game. They’re trying to sell you that same mass-produced stuff and try to ship a little faster than Amazon or sell it a little cheaper, and good luck,” Silverman said. “Etsy plays a different game. We lift up our sellers — now 4.5 million artisans, craftspeople — selling on Etsy that you can connect with directly and buy from.”Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer’s world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter – Jim Cramer Twitter – Facebook – InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the “Mad Money” website? [email protected] More

In this articlePTONPeloton introduces a treadmill to their product line.Emily Gaffney | CNBCPeloton said Thursday it will delay the launch of its Tread machine in the United States, until new safety features are added.The new, less expensive treadmill was set to go on sale May 27. It had already been available in Canada and the U.K.Peloton will be working with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to get its treadmills back on the market, said CEO John Foley during an earnings call.The CPSC must approve new enhancements to its treadmills that will make the equipment safer before it can be sold again, Foley said. He added that he anticipates the Tread to go on sale again “much sooner” than the Tread+.”This process typically takes six to eight weeks. It could take longer. So we can’t offer an on-sale or revised launch date at this time,” Foley explained.On Wednesday, Peloton voluntarily recalled all of its treadmills over safety concerns. It apologized for not acting more quickly to resolve the issue after reports of one death and dozens of injuries.Peloton’s Tread+ machine has an unusual belt design that uses individual rigid rubberized slats or treads that are interlocked and ride on a rail. Many other treadmills on the market have a thinner, continuous belt. There is also a large gap between the floor and the belt of the Tread+, which leaves a space beneath it that can pose a risk.In April, the CPSC released a graphic video that showed a young boy being pulled under one of the Tread+ machines and struggling to free himself. It was captured on a home security camera.With the Tread, some users have reported their screens coming unscrewed and falling off.Peloton originally opposed a recall, saying customers should use its machines when children and pets are not present, and lock the machines when not in use. The company has since apologized for not acting more quickly.The recall affects about 125,000 Tread+ machines and roughly 1,050 Tread products in the U.S.Peloton shares were up more than 5% in after-hours trading. More

In this articleBYNDTK.CRBQXBeyond Meat “Beyond Burger” patties made from plant-based substitutes for meat products sit on a shelf for sale on November 15, 2019 in New York City.Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty ImagesBeyond Meat on Thursday reported a wider-than-expected loss in the first quarter as restaurant customers take longer to return and grocery shoppers aren’t stockpiling its meat substitutes anymore.However, CEO Ethan Brown said the company is seeing a “slow thaw” in its food service segment in the United States and some international markets, prompting the company to issue a revenue forecast for the next quarter.Shares of the company fell 6.7% in extended trading.Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:Loss per share: 42 cents adjusted vs. 19 cents expectedRevenue: $108.2 million vs. $113.7 million expectedBeyond reported fiscal first-quarter net loss of $27.3 million, or 43 cents per share, down from net income of $1.8 million, or 3 cents per share, a year earlier.Excluding expenses from early debt extinguishment, the company lost 42 cents per share, wider than the loss of 19 cents per share expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.This is the third quarter in a row that Beyond has reported a wider-than-expected loss. The company has been investing back into its business as it tries to position itself as a global player. Beyond now has production facilities in China and the Netherlands, for example.Net sales rose 11.4% to $108.2 million, missing expectations of $113.7 million.U.S. retail sales jumped by 27.8% during the quarter. Sales in grocery and convenience stores accounted for more than three-quarters of the company’s total U.S. revenue. Prior to the pandemic, retail sales made up only about half of Beyond’s revenue.Food service sales in the U.S. fell 26% as streamlined menus and less customer traffic at restaurants hurt demand. Beyond also lost roughly 3,000 foodservice locations, which the company attributed to the pandemic. Brown said that the company has added about 2,400 locations since the quarter ended.Rival Impossible Foods has been slashing prices of its meat substitutes, helping it toward its goal of achieving price parity with beef. According to Brown, the move hasn’t pulled many customers away from Beyond’s products, which he said shows strong brand loyalty.”We just did some comparative data analysis, and we looked at their consumer and our consumer and take-away and things of that nature, and what’s really interesting is while they’re doing a really good job building the category and bringing people into the category, they’re not sourcing a lot of our consumers,” Brown said.Outside of Beyond’s home market, sales rose 12.5%, fueled by skyrocketing retail demand. International grocery sales nearly tripled during the quarter. In total, international sales account for a quarter of the company’s revenue, and Beyond’s meat substitutes are sold in more than 80 countries worldwide.For the second quarter, the company is forecasting revenue in the range of $135 million to $150 million, representing an increase of 19% to 32% compared with the year-ago period. Wall Street analysts are expecting net sales of $142.8 million next quarter. Executives said that the company did not include a significant uptick in its foodservice sales in the forecast.Brown said that the company will revisit the outlook if there’s a significant resurgence of Covid-19 in the U.S. or other important markets.Beyond did not provide an outlook for the full year, citing the uncertainty caused by the pandemic.CFO Mark Nelson retired Wednesday, which was previously announced. Brown said that the company will reveal his successor in the coming weeks. More

CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Thursday the specific shape of the U.S. economic recovery is coming further into focus, and, as far as the stock market is concerned, it’s stronger than most predicted during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.”We couldn’t decide, are we were looking at an L-shaped recovery or maybe it’s a U, maybe it’s a W, maybe it’s a V? But it turns out the letter we landed on doesn’t exist unless you have real bad handwriting,” the “Mad Money” host said.That’s because the Covid recovery has transpired “much, much better than almost any business person expected,” Cramer said.On Thursday the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched a record close of 34,548.53.The current recovery is shaped more like a ‘super V,’ according to Cramer, “with the right side almost straight up, taking us well above where we were before the pandemic.””That’s the situation now: We’ve got an economy plagued by shortages because we had the wrong letters all along — nobody saw this kind of strength coming,” said Cramer, pointing to the dearth of semiconductors and rising lumber costs as two examples.There are multiple reasons for the robust rebound, Cramer said, beginning with the fiscal stimulus from Congress and highly accommodative policy from the Federal Reserve. Then in the fall, the realization that Covid vaccines were successful and likely to be rolled out soon added to investor optimism, Cramer said.”The implications of the super V are finally being realized, and the gains are coming fast and furious, but only for a very small part of the market where there’s no new stock being created, just buybacks retiring old shares,” he said. “That scarcity creates tremendous value, at least for those of you who know the alphabet when you see it.”Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer’s world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter – Jim Cramer Twitter – Facebook – InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the “Mad Money” website? [email protected] More