Raphael Stevens

In this articleTGTBrian Cornell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Target Corporation.Anjali Sundaram | CNBCAn event featuring Target CEO Brian Cornell has been postponed as the nation awaits the jury’s verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.The big-box retailer is one of the largest corporations in Minneapolis, the city where George Floyd was killed and where the trial is taking place.Cornell was scheduled to speak at 5:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday at a virtual event hosted by the Economic Club of Chicago. According to the event’s description, Cornell planned to talk about the changing retail landscape and the company’s commitment to Chicago.Lisa Emerick, vice president and chief marketing and engagement officer for the Economic Club of Chicago, said Tuesday afternoon that the event would be rescheduled in light of the impending verdict. Target couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.The jury’s verdict is expected to be read between 4:30 and 5 p.m. ET Tuesday, according to a notice from the court.As a prominent Twin Cities-based company, Target has been uniquely close to Floyd’s killing. Some of its stores were damaged during the unrest that followed his death. One store, located not far from where Floyd died, had to be completely rebuilt.Following Floyd’s killing, Target was among the companies that made commitments to advance racial equity within its walls and beyond. Earlier this month, the retailer said it would spend more than $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by 2025. That includes the launch of a new program to help discover Black entrepreneurs and get more of their products on its shelves.Last year, Target pledged to increase the number of Black employees by 20% over the next three years. More

American Airlines flight 718, the first U.S. Boeing 737 MAX commercial flight since regulators lifted a 20-month grounding in November, takes off from Miami, Florida, U.S. December 29, 2020.Marco Bello | ReutersAmerican Airlines plans to resume hiring pilots this fall, the carrier told aviators on Tuesday, as a rebound in demand prompts airlines to rethinking their future staffing.The coronvirus pandemic derailed airline hiring plans in March of last year as carriers scrambled to reduce their head counts to cut costs when travel demand plunged. American last week said it plans to fly more than 90% of its 2019 domestic schedule this summer.Bookings have since recovered, led by vacationers flying within the U.S., airlines have recently reported.United Airlines also plans to restart pilot hiring next month, while low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines began training for new pilots in March. JetBlue Airways has also made plans to start hiring pilots later this year.American plans to start by hiring 300 new pilots by the end of the year and plans to double that number in 2022, Chip Long, American’s vice president of flight operations, wrote in a staff note, which was viewed by CNBC.The Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier has about 15,000 pilots though hundreds have taken early retirement or are scheduled to stop flying in the coming years as they turn 65, the federally mandated retirement age for airline pilots.Business and long-haul international demand remains weak as travel restrictions persist and large network carriers continue to lose money. United reported a $1.4 billion first-quarter loss on Monday while Delta Air Lines last week said it lost close to $1.2 billion in the first three months of the year.American will detail its demand and hiring outlook when it reports quarterly results on Thursday before the market opens. More

Rocter | iStock | Getty ImagesVacasa, which helps hosts not only list but manage their rental homes, is thinking about becoming a publicly traded stock, multiple sources told CNBC, looking to take advantage of an expected recovery in the vacation business as Covid vaccinations accelerate in the U.S. and federal and state governments lift virus mitigation measures.The Portland, Oregon-based company is considering an initial public offering, a direct listing, or merging with a SPAC, special purpose acquisition company, those sources said.In a CNBC interview, Vacasa CEO Matt Roberts said “no comment” to questions about whether the company is planning go public. However, he did talk about Vacasa’s future from a business standpoint, saying the company expects to “generate more than $1.25 billion in gross bookings, an all-time high for us,” in 2021. That’s about double 2019, which closed out before the coronavirus pandemic decimated the travel industry.From monitoring inquiries to fixing a broken toilet to increasing the number of nights a home is booked, Vacasa helps homeowners manage the whole end-to-end process of renting a property on a short- or long-term basis. The company — founded in 2009, one year after Airbnb — said it sets itself apart from the online rental giant and Expedia’s offerings by providing end-to-end services. While operating its own rental marketplace, Vacasa also feeds home rental supply to Airbnb and Expedia.”We create supply for the market. Retail it through our distribution partners. … That’s what makes us different. We are actually the ones creating the product on the shelf,” Roberts said.Danielle Martini, who has her Rockaway Beach, Oregon, home listed on Vacasa, told CNBC, “One of my favorite things is the owners’ portal … where I can compare my bookings to the previous year. I also get email notifications when there is a new booking. It’s pretty sweet.”One of my favorite things is the owners’ portal … where I can compare my bookings to the previous year. I also get email notifications when there is a new booking. It’s pretty sweet.Danielle MartiniVacasa userMartini’s family lives in Spokane, Washington — seven hours away from their second home — making it difficult to manage the property on a regular basis.”We basically breaking even … maybe making a little money,” Martini said of Vacasa, which charges a 35% commission. But that’s OK, she said, because she and her husband view their beachside property as a longer-term investment that they hope to retire in one day.When her mom was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, Danielle Martini started to think more seriously about the next phase in life. Last year, she and her husband cashed out part of their 401(k) money to buy their dream vacation home.”I told my husband we can’t be like my parents. We need a place to retire. Need it to be managed in an efficient way to cover our costs but also make sure we can one day spend more time out there,” she said.On the East Coast, in Ocean City, Maryland, Patrick Brady is slowly growing his portfolio of homes: Brooklyn Estate, Brooklyn Cottage and Brooklyn Meadows — all named after his daughter Brooklyn who helps him fix up every property.Brady started investing in homes in 2015. After the purchase of a large six-bedroom estate, he listed the property on Vacasa. “I was shocked by how many bookings it got me.”I was shocked by how many bookings it got me.Patrick BradyVacasa userThe fight for a vacation rental is putting increased focus, and pressure, on homeowners to keep up with demand and ensure their tenants are happy. But it can be a time-consuming process, and one bad review can hurt your ability to get new guests.As a manager of three restaurants, Brady was motivated to find a property manager who could help overlook the entire process, and ensure it was profitable.”From taking care of guest inquiries, processing payments, Vacasa is a one-stop shop,” said Brady.But competition is fierce. Airbnb and Expedia are both investing in their business models while Marriott continues to expand its small but growing market share through its Home & Villas platform.Starting last year, Expedia deployed a large sales team to attract Airbnb’s most valuable and experienced homeowners, using a strategy involving a mix of direct targeting and social media.Last month, multiple sources recently told CNBC that Expedia was poaching so-called superhosts from Airbnb in a fight for quality vacation rentals. Expedia did not respond to a request for comment.In a separate conversation, Cyril Ranque, president of Expedia’s Travel Partner Group told CNBC “there is a fight for supply.”Expedia launched its Fast Start program, which allows homeowners from a competing site to transfer their superhost status, late last month. That way they don’t have to start fresh on VRBO, Expedia’s vacation rental platform.However, at Vacasa, Roberts is betting that a dearth of high-quality rental homes as people start come out of their Covid bubbles will continue to push more homeowners and travelers to his site and the others, too. He said demand is so acute that he’s expecting occupancy above 90% in popular vacation destinations such the Outer Banks in North Carolina this summer. More

UiPath co-founder and CEO Daniel DinesUiPathUiPath’s New York Stock Exchange debut scheduled for Wednesday will mark one of the biggest software IPOs in U.S. history and will be the most hyped first trade for cloud investors since Snowflake went public in September.But the company, whose software helps businesses automate office tasks, has to contend with escalating investor concern over frothy valuations and a market rotation away from high-growth tech.In recent years, cloud has been a can’t-miss bet. From Zoom’s skyrocketing popularity after its 2019 IPO and Shopify’s growth in e-commerce, to surging demand for cloud security tools sold by Zscaler and CrowdStrike, investors now have an extensive roster of large-cap names for their portfolio.In 2020, the WisdomTree Cloud Computing Fund, consisting of 58 publicly traded cloud software vendors, more than doubled, while the Nasdaq rose 44% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained just 7.2%Heading into UiPath’s IPO, there’s been a notable shift in the trend, as investors gravitate to stocks that have a perceived advantage should interest rates keep rising. The cloud index has dropped more than 7% this year while the Dow has climbed over 10%, outperforming the other major U.S. benchmarks.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsCloud stocks have underperformed this yearCNBCJake Dollarhide, CEO of Longbow Asset Management, said that while he remains bullish on cloud stocks over the long run, sentiment has unquestionably soured. Part of that, he said, has to do with the economy reopening and uncertainty about whether businesses will pull back on their cloud spending when they return to the office. There’s also a sense of market saturation among investors because so many cloud vendors have gone public lately, he said.”The cloud pre-pandemic was like a Tesla — it was new and hot,” Dollarhide said. “Coming out of the pandemic, it’s like the Model T. It’s become so ubiquitous.”Based solely on its financial metrics, UiPath is hitting the market at the right time. Revenue surged 81% last year to $607.6 million, and the company’s loss narrowed to $92.4 million from $519.9 million in 2019. The company’s gross margin of 89% is eye-popping even for software.However, UiPath’s updated IPO price range this week of $52 to $54 a share values the company around $28 billion, which is down from $62.28 a share, or a valuation of $35 billion, in a financing round at the beginning of February.The stock could still open well above that level. UiPath may have set the price range low in order to show growing enthusiasm by raising its offer price, and bankers may be taking a conservative approach to leave room for a stock pop.Even if it prices at $54, UiPath is staring at a steep multiple relative to almost all of its peers. At that price, the stock would trade for about 50 times annualized revenue, which would be second among cloud stocks to Snowflake and be about double Zoom’s ratio.It would also be a mammoth offering, reeling in $1.48 billion, assuming the underwriters purchase their allotted shares. According to FactSet, only two business software IPOs in the U.S. have ever surpassed that mark and both have taken place in the last seven months. Cloud database vendor Snowflake was the largest, raising $3.9 billion in September, followed by Qualtrics, which raised $1.78 billion in January, after spinning out of SAP.”Snowflake to me was the most positive perfect story,” said Dollarhide, adding that he doesn’t own the stock. “It came out at the right time. It was just a beautiful investment if you were lucky enough to get in on the ground floor.”Snowflake more than doubled on its first day of trading to $253.93. It has since dropped 12% to $223.09 as of Tuesday. Across the WisdomTree cloud index, the average price-to-sales ratio fell to 13.2 by the end of March from a ratio of 15 in December, after almost doubling over the prior year.’Best in class’ retention rateFounded in 2005 in Romania and now headquartered in New York, UiPath calls its technology “robotic process automation.” The company’s software robots are designed to automate repetitive tasks in industries like health care, manufacturing and energy and across departments including finance, human resources and legal.UiPath’s appeal to investors depends on its ability to keep customers coming back and spending more money, so that revenue keeps rapidly expanding while costs (as a percentage of revenue) come down.In its last fiscal year, UiPath reported net revenue retention of 145%, meaning the average existing customer increased spending by 45% from the prior year. Jon Ma, co-founder of Public Comps, called UiPath’s retention rate “best in class” and the third-highest among all public subscription software companies. In an “IPO teardown” that Ma published last month, he wrote that “enterprises are continuing to add UiPath bots and to automate more processes.”UiPath, which ranked 50th on CNBC’s 2020 Disruptor 50 list, said in its prospectus that the number of customers spending at least $1 million in annualized revenue rose to 89 from 43 the prior year and 21 the year before that.Subscription software companies call it a “land and expand” strategy, allowing businesses to start with a test, then buy a limited amount, with the idea that some will eventually become power users. Thomas Hansen, UiPath’s chief revenue officer, said in the online roadshow that UiPath helps customers see value “in a matter of days or weeks.””Regardless of how big or how small a customer starts, the time from this initial land to expand often happens very very quickly.” Hansen said.WATCH: We’re at a peak market that will correct, says investor Jason Calacanis More

A United Airlines plane seen at the gate at Chicago OHare International airport (ORD)on October 5, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois.Daniel Slim | AFP | Getty ImagesUnited Airlines shares tumbled on Tuesday after the carrier reported its fifth consecutive quarterly loss, and its CEO expressed uncertainty about when two key parts of the business would recover from the coronavirus pandemic.CEO Scott Kirby said long-haul international and corporate travel demand is down about 80% compared with 2019 levels, depriving the carrier of high-paying customers it relied on before the crisis.”The big question is when do those two things come back and we’re not certain of when that is,” Kirby said an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” He said both segments would likely start recovering over the summer and through the second half of the year.The airline on Monday reported a $1.4 billion loss for the first quarter and said it could reach profitability even if long-haul international and business travel demand gets back to 35% of 2019 levels.United on Monday announced new flights to countries that have started to open their borders like Greece, Iceland and Croatia, and Kirby said the airline had strong bookings for those flights after they went on sale.The State Department, however, still recommends travelers reconsider trips abroad. On Monday, it said that it would increase “do not travel” advisories to 80% of the world’s countries, citing that the Covid-19 pandemic presents an “unprecedented risk to travelers.”United shares fell more than 8% to $50.30 on Tuesday, while other airline stocks also fell. American shed more than 5% to $20.37, Delta lost nearly 4% to close at $44.45 and Southwest fell more than 3% to end the day at $59.85.Domestic leisure travel bookings to popular vacation destinations like beaches have surpassed 2019 levels, Kirby said.Vacationers flying within the U.S. have led the recovery in travel as more people get vaccinated, governments loosen travel restrictions and tourist attractions reopen. But companies still haven’t put many of their employees back on the road and international travel bans or quarantine requirements continue to keep many travelers closer to home.”I don’t know how people are finding hotels,” Kirby said of popular vacation destinations. More

In this articleVABKVirgin Galactic’s spacecraft Unity comes into land during a glide test flight on May 1, 2020.Virgin GalacticVirgin Galactic shares fell in trading Tuesday after Ark Invest’s space exploration ETF sold nearly half its stake in the space tourism company.Cathie Wood’s firm sold 275,204 shares of Virgin Galactic from its ARKX fund on Monday, cutting the ETF’s holdings of the stock from 585,675 shares to 315,781 shares. Of the 39 ARKX holdings, Virgin Galactic was the 19th largest but is now down to 33rd, making up just over 1% of the fund’s weight.Ark Invest also sold 315,600 shares of Virgin Galactic from its ARKQ “autonomous technology and robotics” fund on Monday. That Ark ETF retains a larger stake in Virgin Galactic, with 1.76 million shares. Together, ARKX and ARKQ hold a stake worth $46.7 million in Virgin Galactic stock as of yesterday’s closing price.Virgin Galactic’s stock dropped 6.6% in trading to close at $20.98 a share.Wood’s new space ETF only began trading at the end of last month and many investors believed Virgin would be a top holding for the fund given it was among the first publicly traded pure plays in the industry. But ARKX continues to focus its largest holdings on GPS-based services company Trimble, another Ark Invest fund PRNT, and a variety of aerospace and defense contractors including Kratos, L3Harris, Komatsu, Lockheed Martin, Thales, and Boeing. The largest pure-play space holding in ARKX is satellite operator Iridium Communications.Virgin Galactic’s stock last week erased its 2021 gains, after more than doubling to highs above $60 a share in February. The losses accelerated in the past month after delays to its test program and commercial flights, as well as share sales by chairman Chamath Palihapitiya and then founder Richard Branson. More