Raphael Stevens

The Food and Drug Administration authorized Novavax’s new protein-based Covid vaccine for emergency use in people ages 12 and up.
Novavax’s vaccine targets the highly contagious omicron subvariant JN.1, which began circulating widely in the U.S. earlier this year.
The FDA’s decision comes only a week after it approved a new round of messenger RNA shots from Pfizer and Moderna, which both target an offshoot of JN.1 called KP.2.

A vial labelled “Novavax V COVID-19 Vaccine” is seen in this illustration taken January 16, 2022. 
Dado Ruvic | Reuters

The Food and Drug Administration authorized Novavax’s updated protein-based Covid vaccine for emergency use in people ages 12 and up on Friday, paving the way for the shot to compete with Pfizer and Moderna’s jabs this fall and winter. 
Novavax’s vaccine targets the highly contagious omicron subvariant JN.1, which began circulating widely in the U.S. earlier this year. JN.1 only accounted for 0.2% of cases circulating nationwide as of this week, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. 

Novavax manufactures protein-based vaccines, which cannot be quickly updated to target another strain of the virus.
Despite that, the biotech company has noted that its shot provides protection against descendants of JN.1 that are currently dominant in the U.S., including KP.2.3, KP.3, KP.3.1.1 and LB.1.
“Our updated vaccine targets JN.1, the ‘parent strain’ of currently circulating variants, and has shown robust cross-reactivity against JN.1 lineage viruses,” Novavax CEO John Jacobs said in a statement.
Novavax said it expects its shot to be “broadly available” in thousands of locations across the U.S., including retail and independent pharmacies and regional grocers.
Shares of Novavax rose more than 8% on Friday following the announcement. 

The FDA’s decision comes only a week after it approved a new round of messenger RNA shots from Pfizer and Moderna, which both target another offshoot of JN.1 called KP.2. Last year, the agency authorized Novavax’s shot nearly a month after clearing vaccines from its rivals, putting the company at a disadvantage. 
Public health officials see Novavax’s vaccine as a valuable alternative for people who don’t want to take mRNA shots from Pfizer and Moderna, which use a newer vaccine method to teach cells how to make proteins that trigger an immune response against Covid. Novavax’s shot, meanwhile, fends off the virus with protein-based technology, a decades-old method used in routine vaccinations against hepatitis B and shingles.
It’s unclear how many people will get a new Covid shot this fall and winter. 
Only around 22.5% of U.S. adults received the latest round of shots that came out last fall, according to CDC data through early May.  More

JetBlue, Spirit and Frontier have said they will defer deliveries of dozens of new Airbus planes.  
Those deferrals come as many airlines are still short on deliveries of fuel-efficient jets and demand for new planes is strong.
But low-cost airlines are trying to return to steady profitability and preserve cash.

JetBlue Airways, Spirit Airlines and United Airlines airplanes proceed to gates after landing at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey on May 30, 2024.
Gary Hershorn | Corbis News | Getty Images

Airlines that spent years clamoring for new jets are changing their tune.
Cash-strapped, low-cost and deep discounter airlines are putting off spending billions of dollars on new aircraft to save money as they try to return to steady profitability and face the impact of engine repairs.

Airlines flooded the U.S. with flights this year, driving down fares particularly in the domestic market, where low-cost carriers concentrate, and weighing on carriers’ revenue while costs have gone up. Spirit Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines last posted annual profits in 2019, while larger carriers have returned to profitability.
Lower prices on plane tickets are noticeable: Fare-tracker Hopper estimates “good deal” airfare in September is going for $240 for roundtrip U.S. domestic flights, down 8% from last year.
Now, some of those same airlines are dialing back their growth plans and deferring deliveries of new aircraft. The bulk of the price of an airplane is paid upon delivery.
“You have too much supply, so it’s natural for us as an industry to reduce the supply,” Frontier CEO Barry Biffle said. Frontier earlier this month said it is is deferring 54 Airbus aircraft to at least 2029.
Part of the problem is that years of aircraft delivery delays mean carriers don’t want to add too many planes too quickly, Biffle said.

“Because they delayed a bunch, [the order] got piled up,” he said. “So we had to smooth that out”

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Frontier’s revenue rose 1% from last year in the second quarter despite carrying 17% more passengers, with average fare revenue falling 16% to just shy of $40.
JetBlue Airways is estimating it will save about $3 billion by deferring 44 Airbus A321 airplanes through 2029, opting to extend some aircraft leases. The New York carrier posted a surprise profit in the second quarter but is scrambling to reduce its costs through the deferrals and steps like exiting unprofitable routes — and it wants to do that quickly.
The airline and others are also grappling with grounded jets from a Pratt & Whitney engine recall.
Deferring so many aircraft even while the carrier is short on planes because of the engine recall is a “double-edged sword,” JetBlue CEO Joanna Geraghty said in a note to employees on Aug. 19.
“We need planes to grow, but taking delivery of aircraft that end up sitting on the ground after we’ve paid for them significantly worsens the problem,” she said. “In addition, given our growing debt, we just can’t afford to buy so many planes.”
Spirit Airlines — which had planned to get acquired by JetBlue until a judge blocked the deal in January — has also deferred aircraft as it fights to turn the company’s deep losses around.
Spirit earlier this month reported an 11% drop in revenue and a $192 million loss, compared with a roughly $2 million loss a year earlier, and said it would furlough some 240 pilots in the coming weeks. The airline has been especially hard hit by the Pratt & Whitney engine recall.
The airline said it was deferring all the Airbus planes it has on order from the second quarter of next year through the end of 2026 until at least 2030.
Aircraft leasing firm AerCap said earlier this month that it will assume 36 of Spirit’s Airbus A320neo family aircraft from the carrier’s order book. CEO Gus Kelly called it a “win-win” transaction for the airline and AerCap.

Airbus, Boeing jets still hot items

Even with the moves from low-cost carriers, most of the global airline industry is still in a scarcity mindset, with new fuel-efficient planes in short supply.
Lease rates for new Airbus A320s and the larger A321s hit fresh average records in July of $385,000 a month, and $430,000 a month, respectively, according to Eddy Pieniazek, head of advisory at aviation consulting firm Ishka. Meanwhile, leases for new Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft, the most common model, are near a record at $375,000 a month, Pieniazek said.
Airlines can buy aircraft directly from suppliers or lease them from companies like Air Lease or AerCap, paying monthly rent. Some airlines, like Frontier, have been active in sale-leasebacks, in which they sell planes to generate cash and lease them back.

The first U.S.-made Airbus jetliner moves down the assembly line at the company’s factory in Mobile, Alabama, U.S. on September 13, 2015. Picture taken on September 13, 2015.
Alwyn Scott | Reuters

Boeing and Airbus, the world’s two main suppliers of commercial aircraft, are struggling to increase output as a post-Covid hangover lingers in the form of skilled worker shortages and supply shortfalls. Airbus recently cut its delivery target for the year, while Boeing is limited from ramping up output as it tries to work through a safety crisis.
Despite the deferrals from budget airlines, an Airbus spokeswoman said the company isn’t seeing any slowdown in demand for airplanes in the A320 family, for which it has more than 7,000 unfilled orders. Boeing has nearly 4,200 orders for its competing 737 Max planes.
“We offer a full range of aircraft to meet our customers’ needs and maximize their flexibility with fleet decisions,” the Airbus spokeswoman said in a statement.
But airlines are feeling the strain. Executives have said delayed deliveries of new planes have forced them to slow, if not halt, hiring and other growth plans.
“We are urgently and deliberately pursuing opportunities to mitigate cost pressures, including the drag from overstaffing related to previously reported Boeing delivery delays,” Southwest Airlines CFO Tammy Romo said on an earnings call last month. The all-Boeing 737 airline has offered some staff voluntary leave programs.
When asked about Southwest’s fleet plans, Romo said the airline has “a lot of flexibility with our order book from Boeing. Boeing didn’t comment for this article.
“We’re not ready yet to lay out all of our plans,” Romo said, adding that the company would provide more details at a Sept. 26 investor day. “But we have ample flexibility to reflow the order book to ultimately meet our needs.”

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Gap beat fiscal second-quarter earnings and revenue estimates and hiked its profit margin outlook.
The apparel retailer released its results earlier than expected after a presentation was inadvertently posted on its website Thursday morning.
Gap CEO Richard Dickson told CNBC the company still has more work to do but is making progress in its turnaround.

A Gap store in New York, US, on Monday, May 27, 2024. 
Stephanie Keith | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Gap raised its full-year profit outlook on Thursday after seeing better-than-expected results at its largest brand, Old Navy.
The apparel company’s fiscal second quarter results were released earlier than planned after the company “inadvertently” posted them to its website and then removed them, a Gap spokesperson told CNBC.

“As soon as the error was caught, we notified the NYSE and trading of our stock was halted temporarily,” the spokesperson said, adding the results were posted “as a result of administrative error.”
Gap’s stock was halted just before 10 a.m. ET. The company then released its quarterly results at 11:12 a.m. ET. Following the release, shares rose more than 2% after being halted for much of the morning.
Here’s what the company reported, compared with what Wall Street expected, according to analysts surveyed by LSEG:

Earnings per share: 54 cents vs. 40 cents expected
Revenue: $3.72 billion vs. $3.63 billion expected

The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended Aug. 3 nearly doubled from the year-ago period. Gap posted earnings of $206 million, or 54 cents per share, compared with $117 million, or 32 cents per share, a year earlier.
Sales rose to $3.72 billion, up about 5% from $3.55 billion in the prior-year period.

For the full year, Gap now expects its gross margin to be 2 percentage points higher than the uptick of at least 1.5 percentage points it had previously forecast. It also expects its operating income to grow by about 50%. It previously anticipated it would increase by slightly more than 40%.
Over the last year, Gap has been working to turn around its business, reverse a sales slump and reclaim cultural relevance under the direction of CEO Richard Dickson — the former Mattel executive credited with reviving the Barbie empire.
Since Dickson took over, sales have started to turn around at the company’s four brands — Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta and its namesake banner — and the company is finding its voice again among its peers. Beyond sales and relevance, Gap’s profits and balance sheet have also improved significantly under Dickson. The company ended the quarter with $2.1 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, an increase of 59% compared to last year.
The company’s second-quarter results didn’t blow away expectations, but are solid improvements from where the company was a year ago.
“We really concentrated on our strategic priorities, and the first priority has been about maintaining financial and operational rigor that is becoming, to the extent that we can define it, the fabric of how we work, and it’s reinforcing better processes and cultural accountability,” Dickson told CNBC in an interview.
“Reinvigorating our brands is enabled by financial and operational rigor, and you see it. You see it in the results, you see it in our stores. You see it on our sites,” he added.
“We’re building stronger brand identities. They’re supported by trend right products,” Dickson said. “We’re amplifying those through better storytelling. Our media mix has gotten much more innovative, and generally speaking, I’m proud of the brand’s portfolio work in the context of cultural relevance.”
During the quarter, comparable sales were up 3%, in line with the 3.1% growth that analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount. Its gross margin came in better than forecast at 42.6%, ahead of the 40.8% that analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount.
Here’s a closer look at how each brand performed:

Old Navy

Sales rose 8% to $2.1 billion, with comparable sales up 5%, better than the 4.3% growth analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount. The company has been working to improve its assortment and ensure that its value offering isn’t just low cost but also fashionable.
“We’ve been dialing up, if you will, our fashion quotient,” said Dickson. “Besides really driving a much more disciplined approach with financial and operational rigor, we’re now dialing up and seeing the results of our reinvigoration strategy.”
As consumers feel the brunt of inflation and high interest rates, many have traded down to cheaper options, and Dickson said Old Navy is seeing “growth across all income cohorts.”
“With a presumed flight to value, Old Navy is there with a welcome mat,” said Dickson. “We become the style authority and the brand in the value space, and so again, we’re concentrating on our strategic approach, our strategic priorities. I think we’re seeing the success of that.”

Gap

Revenue at Gap’s namesake banner rose 1% to $766 million during the quarter, with comparable sales up 3%, just shy of the 3.4% uptick analysts had expected. As Dickson looks to bring cultural relevancy back to the company, it has helped the company’s namesake banner grow sales, he said.

Banana Republic

Gap’s elevated work-wear line has dragged on the company’s overall performance. Both revenue and comparable sales were flat in the second quarter compared to last year, versus StreetAccount estimates of up 0.5%. The company said it is working to “improve its pricing and assortment” to turn around the brand’s performance.
“In some cases, we got too ahead of ourselves, and in other cases, we could add more value orientation to drive more scale,” Dickson said when asked what work the company is doing to improve pricing.
“Some of our new merchandising strategies include depth of product in store, finding that right mix, if you will. And last but not least, really improving fit, which is an important part of any brand, but in particular, has been a challenge in the women’s space in Banana Republic, where we’re really concentrating,” he said.

Athleta

Sales at Gap’s athleisure brand Athleta slid 1% to $388 million, with comparable sales down 4%. The results were not comparable to analyst estimates.
One of Gap’s strongest brands during the pandemic, Athleta had been on a downward trajectory and weighed heavily on the company’s performance until it appointed former Alo Yoga president Chris Blakeslee as its CEO last summer. Since then, Blakeslee has worked to improve Athleta’s assortment and has also worked to generate more excitement at the line with product drops and collaborations with athletes.
In a press release, the company said it expects Athleta to return to positive comparable sales growth for the remainder of the year.

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Ulta Beauty fell short of second-quarter expectations and trimmed its full-year guidance.
Comparable sales for the second quarter fell 1.2%, compared to an 8% increase a year earlier.
Shares of Ulta have been suffering since CEO Dave Kimbell warned of cooling beauty demand.

An Ulta Beauty store in New York, US, on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. 
Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Ulta Beauty shares sank 7% in extended trading Thursday as the company fell short of second-quarter expectations and trimmed its full-year guidance after a decline in same-store sales during the most recent period.
It was the company’s first earnings per share miss since May 2020 and first revenue miss since December 2020.

Comparable sales for the second quarter fell 1.2%, compared with an 8% increase a year earlier and well below the 1.2% growth that Wall Street analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount.
“While we are encouraged by many positive indicators across our business, our second quarter performance did not meet our expectations, driven primarily by a decline in comparable store sales. We are clear about the factors that adversely impacted our store performance, and we have actions underway to address the trends,” CEO Dave Kimbell said a press release.
During the company’s earnings call, Kimbell attributed the declining sales performance to four key factors, including an “unanticipated operational disruption” due to a change in store systems as well as disappointing impact from promotions.
The company also suffered from what Kimbell described as consumers who are increasingly cautious with their spending and from heightened competition in the beauty industry. Kimbell conceded that Ulta’s market share is being challenged and said although the company maintained its share in mass beauty during the most quarter, it lost share in the prestige beauty sector driven by makeup and hair categories, according to Circana data, cited by Kimbell.
It’s not uncommon for stores to experience a short-term negative sales impact due to competitors’ openings or cannibalization by new Ulta beauty stores, but Kimbell said the scale and pace of change now has been unusual, adding that 80% of stores have been impacted.

“We know we’re still in the midst of this…these competitive pressures will likely continue into the near term, but the positive signals…in our broader business, the guest engagement, the impact of newness, the impact of our new stores, the success of our salon business, the loyalty growth, all of those factors suggest to us and give us a lot of confidence that our business continues to have underlying strength and health,” Kimbell said.
The company now forecasts full-year same-store sales in a range of flat to 2% down, compared with prior guidance of 2% to 3% growth.
“Our updated outlook for sales assumes it will take more time for our actions to change the top line trajectory and that stores impacted by multiple competitive openings will continue to be pressured,” CFO Paula Oyibo said.
Ulta also now expects full-year revenue of $11 billion to $11.2 billion, down from previous guidance of $11.5 billion to $11.6 billion, and full-year earnings per share of $22.60 to $23.50, down from a previous forecast of $25.20 to $26.
Here’s how the beauty retailer performed in the period ended August 3 compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $5.30 vs. $5.46 expected
Revenue: $2.55 billion vs. $2.61 billion expected

The company reported net income of $252.6 million, or $5.30 per share, compared with $300.1 million, or $6.02 per share, during the same quarter a year earlier. 
Revenue rose to $2.55 billion, up from $2.53 billion a year earlier.
Earlier this month, Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed a $266 million stake in the beauty retailer, sending Ulta shares surging. For some analysts, it was validation that the stock was oversold after falling 32% in 2024 up to that point, tumbling 26% in the second quarter alone.
Shares of Ulta have been suffering since CEO Dave Kimbell warned of cooling beauty demand at an investor conference back in April. Kimbell said although a pullback was expected, it had hit the company “a bit earlier and bit bigger” than anticipated.
During the company’s first-quarter earnings call in May, Kimbell outlined plans to boost sales that spanned five key areas: product assortment, brand social relevance, enhancing the consumer digital experience, boosting the loyalty program and evolving the company’s promotional levers.
In the same call, Kimbell also said the beauty retailer later this year would be expanding its partnership with delivery service DoorDash, would start testing new gamification platforms and would activate new marketing technology to personalize customer shopping experience.
This time around, Kimbell said that executives has identified further opportunities within the attempted turnaround plan, such as relaunching Ulta’s own beauty collection and introducing new personalized product recommendations for consumers online. The company is also focusing on increasing rewards program value through member-only events and exclusive member-tiered offers.
Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify that Ulta Beauty forecast full-year earnings per share of $22.60 to $23.50, down from a previous forecast of $25.20 to $26. More

Lululemon missed Wall Street’s sales expectations for the first time in more than two years as it cut its full-year guidance.
The company, most known for its yoga pants and belt bags, has been struggling to stock the right assortment and recently pulled its new Breezethrough leggings from shelves.
The apparel retailer beat on earnings and made progress in growing its gross margin and operating income.

Signage at a Lululemon store in New York, US, on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. Lululemon Athletica Inc. is scheduled to release earnings figures on August 29. 
Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Lululemon lowered its guidance and posted its first revenue miss in more than two years on Thursday after it botched a highly anticipated product launch and growth slowed in the Americas. 
The company now expects full-year net revenue to be between $10.38 and $10.48 billion, down from a previous range of between $10.7 billion and $10.8 billion. Lululemon anticipates earnings per share will be in a range of $13.95 to $14.15, down from previous guidance of $14.27 to $14.47.

Here’s how company did in its fiscal second quarter compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:

Earnings per share: $3.15 vs. $2.93 expected
Revenue: $2.37 billion vs. $2.41 billion expected

Shares rose more than 2% in extended trading after initially falling.
The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended July 28 was $393 million, or $3.15 per share, compared with $342 million, or $2.68 per share, a year earlier. 
Sales rose to $2.37 billion, up about 7% from $2.21 billion a year earlier. Beyond total sales, Lululemon also missed expectations on comparable sales, which grew 2%, well behind estimates of 5.9%, according to StreetAccount. Comparable sales in the Americas fell 3%.
The trend doesn’t appear poised to improve in the current quarter. Lululemon said it expects sales to grow 6% to 7%, worse than the 9.2% growth that analysts had expected, according to LSEG.

However, Lululemon’s profit guidance is roughly in line with what Wall Street anticipated. The company said it expects third-quarter earnings per share to be between $2.68 and $2.73, compared to estimates of $2.70, according to LSEG.
During the quarter, Lululemon pulled its Breezethrough leggings, launched in early July, after it received a wave of complaints about the product’s unflattering fit.
On a call with analysts, CEO Calvin McDonald addressed the Breezethrough launch and said it was an opportunity for the company to “test and learn.” He added the company bought a small amount of product for the launch.
“While guests were excited by the fabric, the design didn’t meet their expectations. Listening to our guests is central to who we are and how we grow our brand, and we took the right step of pausing on sales and look forward to reintroducing the fabric in the future,” said McDonald. “This decision had a negligible impact on our performance in this quarter.”
The botched launch came after the company struggled with other self-inflicted issues with its assortment, including not having the colors and sizes that its core customers desired, which has had an impact on sales in the U.S. During the quarter, sales grew only 1% in the Americas, the company’s largest region.
On a call with analysts, McDonald acknowledged Lululemon’s women’s business has slowed down in the U.S. He said the company has determined the “most significant factor” affecting the segment is a lack of new styles, which has hurt sales of bottoms and the company’s online business.
“The newness that we had performed well. We simply did not have enough to inspire her to purchase,” he said.
McDonald insisted that the Lululemon brand “remains strong in the U.S. market” and said its men’s business continues to grow.
“Guests are looking for our product, coming into our stores and visiting our e-commerce sites,” said McDonald.
Lululemon’s product challenges follow the departure of its longtime Chief Product Officer Sun Choe, who resigned in May to pursue another opportunity. At the time, the decision weighed on Lululemon’s stock over concerns that Choe’s department would hurt the company’s ability to innovate and keep winning over customers with trendy new fits.
McDonald said the company had a succession plan in place at the time of Choe’s departure, and said the company’s global creative director, Jonathan Cheung, would report directly to McDonald and oversee product design and innovation.
The company also appointed Nikki Neuburger as its new chief brand and product activation officer, overseeing merchandising, footwear, and product operations. On Thursday, McDonald said he and Neuberger are “pleased” with the new structure, which puts design and merchandising on “equal footing” and “reestablishes the healthy balance that must exist within a product organization.”
“The teams are working well together and already in action,” said McDonald.
Like other retailers that are seeing demand slow, Lululemon appears focused on what’s within its control: operations and efficiency. While the sales picture during the quarter was rougher than expected, Lululemon’s profits came in higher than anticipated.
Gross profit grew 9% to $1.4 billion, while its gross margin increase 0.8 percentage points to 59.6% — better than the 57.7% that analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount. Its operating margin and operating income also increased.
Sales jumped 29% in Lululemon’s international markets as the company looks to China for growth. More

NBA superstar Stephen Curry has agreed to sign a one-year, $62.6 million extension with the Golden State Warriors, his agent confirmed to CNBC.
The extension keeps Curry in a Golden State uniform through the 2026-27 season.
Curry will be the first NBA player to make $60 million in a season, and was also the first to make $50 million and $40 million.

Steph Curry
Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images

NBA superstar Stephen Curry has agreed to sign a one-year, $62.6 million extension with the Golden State Warriors, his agent confirmed to CNBC.
The extension keeps Curry in a Warriors uniform through the 2026-2027 season, and will make him the first NBA player to make $60 million in a season, according to Spotrac. As of now, several NBA players who have signed long-term extensions are set to eclipse Curry’s $62.6 million salary the following year.

Curry is a four-time NBA champion and most recently won a gold medal with the Team USA basketball team at the 2024 Olympics. In the championship game against France, Curry led the team with 24 points, all of which were three-pointers.

Curry is no stranger to setting records. He was the first NBA player to hit both the $40 million and $50 million annual base salary marks and has been the highest paid player in the league since the 2017-2018 season, according to Spotrac.
Curry, among other stars, is one of the reasons why the NBA was able to negotiate an 11-year, $77 billion media rights contract in its most recent deal with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon, which takes effect after the upcoming season. The booming value of media rights is driving player salaries up with it.
Younger players like Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum have signed contracts worth more than $300 million over five years, as the league keeps growing more popular and sports continue to be one of the only types of television that people will tune in for live.
Curry, 36, has played his entire NBA career with the Warriors. He has won two league MVP awards and is the all-time leader in three-pointers made.

Programming note: Curry will appear on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” at 10:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
Disclosure: Comcast NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC. More

GM will fold its electric BrightDrop commercial vans into the Chevrolet brand in an attempt to increase sales, accessibility and recognition of the vehicles.
The move is expected to expand the selling and service points from a handful of dealers to Chevrolet’s large network of North American dealers.
It’s the latest change for BrightDrop, which GM launched in 2021 as a fully owned subsidiary before folding it into the company last year.

Brightdrop EV600 van
Source: Brightdrop

DETROIT – General Motors is folding its all-electric BrightDrop commercial vans into the Chevrolet brand in an attempt to increase sales, accessibility and recognition of the vehicles.
The change is expected to expand the selling and service points from a handful of dealers to Chevrolet’s large network of North American dealers, including more than 500 commercial-focused stores in the U.S., according to Sandor Piszar, vice president of the GM Envolve fleet business in North America.

“It’s got that strength of the Chevrolet brand behind it,” he told CNBC. “It’s absolutely going to drive volume. It helps our customers that choose to go into EVs to easily do so working with the Chevrolet dealer they know and trust now for their other fleet needs.”
The number of new dealers will be based on the amount that decide to opt in to selling and servicing the vans. To sell commercial EVs, dealers must have specific vehicle lifts, service bays and employee training, among other things.
GM declined to disclose the average cost for a dealer to become certified to sell the BrightDrop products, citing expenses will vary based on the store.

BrightDrop currently sells two all-electric commercial vans, called the Zevo 400 and Zevo 600, which are used for things such as package delivery. Starting later this year with the 2025 model year, those vans will be rebranded as Chevrolet BrightDrop 400 and 600 vans.
“Chevy’s our top-selling fleet brand for General Motors.” Piszar said. “This makes absolute perfect sense for GM Envolve and Chevrolet.”

The Thursday announcement is the latest change for BrightDrop, which GM launched in 2021 as a fully owned subsidiary before folding it into the company’s fleet business last year.

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GM had high expectations of making BrightDrop into a new, lucrative growth business for the automaker, but sales and revenue are not believed to have met the company’s initial expectations.
BrightDrop was expected to generate $1 billion in revenue in 2023. GM declined to disclose BrightDrop’s revenue, but it’s highly unlikely the target was achieved.
The automaker only sold about 500 BrightDrop vans in 2023. GM reports BrightDrop’s sales through the first six months of 2024 were 746 units.
The vans are produced at GM’s CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario.

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American Eagle delivered mixed quarterly results that beat Wall Street’s profits expectations but fell short of its sales targets.
The longtime mall brand, which also runs the Aerie intimates line, saw profits grow by nearly 60% as costs begin to tick down for the company.
American Eagle also delivered a mixed outlook that implies an uncertain second half of the year.

A shopper walks past the American clothing and accessories retailer American Eagle store in Hong Kong.
Budrul Chukrut | Lightrocket | Getty Images

American Eagle missed Wall Street’s sales targets for a second quarter in a row on Thursday, but profit grew by nearly 60% thanks in part to lower product costs. 
The company’s shares fell more than 7% in premarket trading Thursday.

Here’s how the apparel company did in its fiscal second quarter compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: 39 cents vs. 38 cents expected 
Revenue: $1.29 billion vs. $1.31 billion expected 

The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended Aug. 3 was $77.3 million, or 39 cents per share, compared with $48.6 million, or 25 cents per share, a year earlier. 
Sales rose to $1.29 billion, up about 8% from $1.2 billion a year earlier. That sales gain would have been slimmer had it not been for a calendar shift, which positively impacted second-quarter sales by $55 million.
During the quarter, American Eagle’s intimates line Aerie saw revenue grow 9% while its namesake brand grew by 8%. 
American Eagle’s gross margin came in at 38.6% — 0.9 percentage point higher than the prior year and in line with what analysts had expected. The gross margin expansion was led by “favorable product costs,” indicating American Eagle spent less to make its assortment during the quarter. It’s unclear if it lowered prices as a result.

The longtime mall brand issued a better-than-expected outlook for the current quarter but its forecast was lower than anticipated for the full year, indicating the company is still bracing for a turbulent second half. 
For the current quarter, American Eagle expects comparable sales to grow between 3% and 4%, which is better than the 2.8% growth that analysts had expected the company to forecast, according to StreetAccount. 
The retailer is expecting total revenue to be flat to up slightly for the third quarter — in line with expectations, according to LSEG.
For the year, the company expects comparable sales to increase approximately 4%, with total revenue up 2% to 3%, shy of what analysts had expected. Wall Street was expecting its full-year comparable sales forecast to be up 4.2% and overall sales to be up 3.5%, according to StreetAccount and LSEG.
In May, Finance Chief Mike Mathias told CNBC that American Eagle is maintaining a “cautious” view for the back half of the year as it awaits interest rate decisions from the Federal Reserve and prepares for “noise” around the upcoming presidential election. 
Like other retailers contending with slowing demand for discretionary items, American Eagle has looked to cut costs and boost efficiencies so it can protect profits, even if sales are sluggish. Earlier this year, it unveiled a new strategy to grow profits and is working to boost sales by 3% to 5% each year over the next three years and get its operating margin to about 10%.
During the quarter, American Eagle made some strides in achieving that goal. It posted an operating income of $101 million, an increase of 55%, while its operating margin grew 2.4 percentage points to 7.8%. Operating income would have been lower had it not been for the calendar shift, which positively impacted the metric by $20 million. 

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