Raphael Stevens

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    in Finance

    Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Ford, Marvell Technology, Paramount, Gap and more

    A Ford F-150 Lightning Platinum electric truck during the 2022 New York International Auto Show, New York.
    Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Check out the companies making the biggest moves midday Friday.
    Ford — Shares popped 6.24% after Ford and Tesla announced a partnership late Thursday that will give Ford owners access to more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers in the U.S. and Canada. Tesla’s stock gained 4.72%.

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    Marvell Technology — The semiconductor stock soared 32.42% after the company’s earnings beat analyst expectations. Marvell Technology also expects revenue growth to accelerate in the second half of the fiscal year, with CEO Matt Murphy citing artificial intelligence as a “key growth driver.”
    Ulta Beauty — Shares of the beauty retailer tumbled 13.37% following the company’s first-quarter earnings announcement. Despite reporting an earnings and revenue beat, shares fell on the company’s reduced operating margin outlook for the full year.
    Paramount — Shares of the media company gained 5.89% after National Amusements, Paramount’s majority voting shareholder, announced a $125 million preferred equity investment by BDT Capital Partners. Loop Capital upgraded Paramount to a hold rating from a sell in light of the news. The Wall Street firm said the bull case is the financial pressure will force Paramount to find a buyer and shareholders will achieve private market value.
    Gap — Shares of the apparel retailer jumped 12.4% even after the company posted net losses and declining sales Thursday for its most recent quarter. Investors cheered Gap’s big improvement in its margins, which it attributed to reduced promotions and lower air freight expenses.
    Workday — The stock rallied 10.01% after its first-quarter earnings and revenue beat analysts’ expectations. Workday also raised the low end of its full-year subscription revenue guidance and named a new chief financial officer, Zane Rowe.

    RH — Shares tumbled 3.07% after the retailer’s second-quarter guidance missed analysts’ expectations. The company also warned of increased markdowns. However, RH beat estimates for first-quarter adjusted earnings per share and revenue, per Refinitiv, when it reported results after Thursday’s close.
    Deckers Outdoor — Deckers Outdoor popped 3.37% after the footwear company behind Ugg and HOKA shoes reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that exceeded analysts’ expectations. However, it gave full-year earnings and revenue guidance that was lower than expected.
    American Express — Shares added 4.08%. On Friday, Morgan Stanley said the recent sell-off was “overdone” and with the stock trading at its cheapest level in years, it’s a good entry point for investors.
    Nvidia — The semiconductor stock added 2.54%, a day after surging 24% on the back of the AI darling’s blowout earnings report. The move higher Friday takes Nvidia closer to reaching a $1 trillion market cap.
    Monolithic Power Systems, Arista Networks — The stocks were among those getting a boost from Nvidia’s earnings report and the excitement over AI. Monolithic Power Systems rallied 6.68%, while Arista gained 9.06%. Broadcom moved 11.52% higher, NXP Semiconductors added 5.74% and Adobe rose 5.95%.
    — CNBC’s Hakyung Kim, Yun Li, Tanaya Macheel and Sarah Min contributed reporting. More

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    in Business

    Ford’s EV charging deal with Tesla puts pressure on GM, other rival automakers

    A surprise deal between Ford Motor and Tesla on electric vehicle charging technology and infrastructure could put new pressure on other automakers’ EV strategies.
    Ford CEO Jim Farley and Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the deal Thursday during a live audio discussion on Twitter Spaces.
    RBC Capital analyst Tom Narayan said the Ford-Tesla deal could be a near-term negative for GM and other automakers.

    DETROIT – A surprise deal between Ford Motor and Tesla on electric vehicle charging technology and infrastructure could put new pressure on other automakers’ EV strategies.
    The tie-up between the two rivals will give Ford owners access to more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers across the U.S. and Canada, starting early next year. More importantly, Ford’s next generation of EVs — expected by mid-decade — will use Tesla’s charging plug, allowing owners of Ford vehicles to charge at Tesla Superchargers without an adapter.

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    The agreement will make Ford among the first automakers to explicitly tie into the network.
    Ford CEO Jim Farley and Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the deal Thursday during a live audio discussion on Twitter Spaces. On Friday morning, Farley acknowledged the tie-up would create challenges for Ford’s rivals.
    “I think GM and others are going to have a big choice to make,” he said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
    Farley’s comments referenced which EV plug should be standard for charging in the U.S. A charger known as CCS is the industry norm now. Tesla vehicles and its Supercharger network use what’s known as NACS. Other vehicles can use both, but they need an adapter.
    “The CCS is a great standard, but it was pretty much done by kind of a committee, and I think GM and others are going to have a big choice to make,” Farley told CNBC. “Do they want to have fast charging for customers? Or do they want to stick to their standard and have less charging?

    Ford’s stock rose by 6.2% Friday, closing at $12.09 per share. Tesla’s shares also climbed 4.7% Friday, ending the week at $193.17.

    The Ford-Tesla deal could be a near-term negative for GM, Stellantis and other automakers that don’t have access to as many fast chargers, which are considered crucial to expand EV adoption, said RBC Capital analyst Tom Narayan
    “The news is obviously a positive for Ford shares today (and potentially near term negative for GM/STLA), but ultimately, we think this should be viewed as Tesla playing the long game,” Narayan said in a Friday investor note.
    Tesla says it has roughly 45,000 Supercharger connectors worldwide at 4,947 Supercharger Stations. The company does not break out how many are in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Energy reports the country only has about 5,300 CCS fast chargers.
    General Motors, without specifically addressing Farley’s comments, said Friday it “believes that open charging networks and standards are the best way forward to enable EV adoption across the industry.” GM said it is working with a group of companies and SAE International, formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers, to develop and continue to refine an open connector standard for CCS, which it said was important for “the buildout of an open network of fast charging across North America.”
    The Detroit automaker has announced several partnerships with EV charging providers and lobbied for more federal support for such infrastructure.

    ‘Totally committed’

    Ford is “totally committed” to a single U.S. charging protocol that includes the Tesla plug port, Farley said Thursday.
    Musk, when announcing the deal with Farley, alluded to other automakers being able to use the Tesla Supercharger network and the company’s charging ports.
    “Working with Ford, and perhaps others, can make it the North American standard, I think that consumers will be all better for it,” Musk said Thursday.

    An all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E at a Tesla Supercharger station charging.

    Tesla previously discussed opening its private network to other EVs. White House officials announced in February that Tesla committed to opening up 7,500 of its charging stations to non-Tesla EV drivers by the end of 2024.
    Public charging of electric vehicles is a major concern for potential buyers, and no automaker other than Tesla has successfully built out its own network. Instead, they’ve announced partnerships with third-party companies that have often proven unreliable and frustrating to owners.
    Most U.S. drivers log vehicle miles from home to locations nearby. But EV buyers who want to take longer road trips, or who do not have access to a garage with a charger, often worry about access to reliable, public charging.
    The issue is getting worse: at least 1 in 5 charging attempts by drivers failed last year, according to a study on public charging released last year by J.D. Power.
    Tesla’s Superchargers were ranked the best for overall customer satisfaction, according to a separate new study from J.D. Power.

    Wall Street bullish

    Wolfe Research analyst Rod Lache called the deal a “win-win,” as it more than doubles Ford customers’ access to fast chargers and increases Tesla’s network’s utilization.
    “For Ford, access to Tesla’s network helps solve a major pain-point for their EV customers, who otherwise have to use third-party charging providers,” he said in a Friday investor note. “Meanwhile, for Tesla, adding Ford customers will help boost network utilization, a key driver of profitability.”

    Jim Farley and Elon Musk
    Getty Images

    The deal is a major boost to access to fast-chargers for Ford and its customers, Morningstar analyst David Whiston said. He added that it “puts some pressure on other legacy automakers but if you are someone like GM, I don’t think you need to panic.”
    Whiston said he would like to know more about the deal, such as cost, length and other details that were not announced.
    A Ford spokesman said more information about the agreement will be announced closer to Tesla’s chargers opening up to Ford owners early next year.
    – CNBC’s Michael Bloom, Lora Kolodny and John Rosevear contributed to this report.
    Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify that SAE International was formerly known as the Society of Automotive Engineers. More

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    in Business

    Disney rips DeSantis bid to disqualify judge in free speech lawsuit

    Disney urged a federal court to reject a request by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to disqualify the judge overseeing the company’s lawsuit accusing the governor and his allies of political retaliation.
    The effort to remove the judge in Disney’s civil case in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee, Florida, came days before DeSantis launched his 2024 presidential campaign.

    Chairman of The Walt Disney Company Bob Iger.
    Drew Angerer | Getty Images

    Disney urged a federal court to reject a request by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to disqualify the judge overseeing the company’s lawsuit accusing the governor and his allies of political retaliation.
    Attorneys for DeSantis had argued that Judge Mark Walker should recuse himself from the lawsuit over his comments in two separate cases that referenced the clash between the governor and the entertainment giant.

    Disney — which has been feuding with DeSantis since last year, when the company came out against his bill that critics have labeled “Don’t Say Gay” — responded that the defendants’ argument failed to meet the legal standard for disqualification.
    “Judges are not prohibited from referring accurately to widely-reported news events during oral arguments, nor must they disqualify themselves if cases related to those events happen to come before them months later,” Disney’s lawyers argued in a court filing Thursday.
    “Disqualification is allowed only if the prior comments expose an incapacity on the judge’s part to consider the new case on its own merits,” the lawyers wrote, adding that the judge’s comments in question “come nowhere close to that standard.”
    Disney’s lawsuit alleges that DeSantis “orchestrated at every step” a campaign to punish the company for speaking out against a Florida bill limiting classroom discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity. That alleged scheme now threatens the company’s business, Disney alleges.
    “The case that we filed last month made our position and the facts very clear,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said during the company’s earnings call earlier this month. “And that’s really that this is about one thing and one thing only and that’s retaliating against us for taking a position about pending legislation.”

    The effort to remove Walker as the judge in Disney’s civil case in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee, Florida, came days before DeSantis launched his 2024 presidential campaign. The governor, who is seen as former President Donald Trump’s main competition for the GOP nomination, has gained a national profile for engaging in numerous political battles.
    The long-running fight between the ambitious politician and one of his state’s top employers spilled into the courts after the governor’s handpicked officials voted to cancel Disney’s development deals for its Orlando-area parks.
    Disney filed its suit in late April after the new board of its special district voted to undo development contracts that the company said it struck to secure its investments. The company has since updated that lawsuit to include newly passed legislation targeting its monorail system as further evidence of retaliation by the governor.
    DeSantis’ next volley was to move to have Walker replaced. Walker was nominated to serve as judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama.
    In 2018, Walker ruled against the state and ordered then-Governor Rick Scott to restore voting rights of felons after their release from prison.
    That same year, he ordered the Florida Department of Corrections to continue providing a transgender woman prisoner with hormone treatment and to provide her with women’s undergarments and grooming products. The prisoner, who was diagnosed with gender dysphoria, was housed in a male-only correctional facility.
    Representatives for DeSantis did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. More

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    in Finance

    JPMorgan Chase cut about 500 jobs this week, including technology and operations roles

    JPMorgan Chase cut about 500 positions this week, mostly among technology and operations groups, according to people with knowledge of the move.
    The cuts were spread across the New York-based firm’s main divisions, said the people, who declined to be identified speaking about personnel matters.
    The dismissals come even as JPMorgan seeks to fill about 13,000 open positions, said one of the people.

    JPMorgan Chase & Co. headquarters in New York, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023.
    Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    JPMorgan Chase cut about 500 positions this week, mostly among technology and operations groups, according to people with knowledge of the move.
    The cuts were spread across the New York-based firm’s main divisions of retail and commercial banking, asset and wealth management and its corporate and investment bank, said the people, who declined to be identified speaking about personnel matters.

    Like many financial firms, JPMorgan periodically trims staff during the year, even as it hires thousands more workers to fill roles. The bank has about 13,000 open positions, said one of the people.
    Under CEO Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan has been in growth mode as of late, most recently by acquiring failed regional bank First Republic in a government-brokered deal. This week, JPMorgan offered positions to about 85% of First Republic’s roughly 7,000 workers.
    JPMorgan had 296,877 employees as of March 31, 8% higher than a year earlier.
    The bank declined to comment about its personnel decisions. More

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    in Finance

    Thanks to vesting schedules, it can take up to 6 years for workers to own their 401(k) match

    A 401(k) match is a common type of employer contribution made to a worker’s retirement plan.
    Companies set “vesting” schedules that dictate how long it takes for matching contributions to fully belong to the worker.
    In 30% of 401(k) plans that offer a match, it can take up to five or six years, according to data from the Plan Sponsor Council of America.

    Iparraguirre Recio | Moment | Getty Images

    44% of plans offer a ‘rare’ advantage

    Companies use different timelines, or vesting schedules, to determine how long it takes for savers to fully own the employer contributions.

    In some cases, they must work at a company at least six years before the funds are theirs. They risk forfeiting some of the money, and investment earnings, if they walk away early.
    A worker retains complete ownership of their match when it is 100% vested. One important note: An employee always fully owns their own contributions.

    More than 44% of 401(k) plans offer immediate full vesting of a company match, according to the PSCA survey. This means the worker owns the whole match right away, which is the best outcome for savers. That share is up from 40.6% in 2012.

    For the rest, vesting timelines may vary

    The rest, 56% of 401(k) plans, use either a “cliff” or “graded” schedule to determine the timeline.
    Cliff vesting grants ownership in full after a specific point. For example, a saver whose 401(k) uses a three-year cliff vesting fully owns the company match after three years of service. However, they get nothing before then.
    Graded schedules phase in ownership gradually, at set intervals. A saver with a five-year graded schedule owns 20% after year one, 40% after year two and so on until reaching 100% after the fifth year.
    For example, someone who gets 40% of a $5,000 match can walk away with $2,000 plus 40% of any investment earnings on the match.
    Federal rules require full vesting within six years.

    Almost 30% of 401(k) plans use a graded five- or six-year schedule for their company match, according to the PSCA survey. This formula is most common among small and midsize companies.
    Vesting schedules tend to be a function of company culture and the philosophy of executives overseeing the retirement plan, Ellen Lander, principal and founder of Renaissance Benefit Advisors Group, based in Pearl River, New York, previously told CNBC.
    Further, there are instances in which a worker may become 100% vested regardless of the length of their tenure.
    For example, the tax code requires full vesting once a worker hits “normal retirement age,” as stipulated by the 401(k) plan. For some companies, that may be age 65 or earlier.
    Some plans also offer full vesting in the case of death or disability. More

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    in Finance

    Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Marvell Technology, Gap, RH & more

    Matt Murphy, president and CEO of Marvell Technology
    Adam Jeffery | CNBC

    Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:
    Marvell Technology — Marvell Technology surged 17% in premarket trading after reporting a top-and-bottom beat in its first quarter. Marvell posted adjusted earnings of 31 cents per share, topping estimates for 29 cents, according to Refinitiv. It reported $1.32 billion in revenue, while analysts polled by Refinitiv expected $1.3 billion. It expects revenue growth will accelerate in the second half of the fiscal year.

    Gap — Shares of the apparel retailer jumped more than 11% premarket despite the company posting net losses and declining sales Thursday for its most recent quarter, as investors cheered Gap’s big improvement in its margins thanks to reduced promotions and lower air freight expenses.
    Workday — Workday jumped 9% after topping first-quarter expectations on the top and bottom lines. The financial management software firm also named a new chief financial officer, Zane Rowe, and raised the low end of its full year subscription revenue guidance. 
    Autodesk — Autodesk rose 1% in premarket trading. The software company reported first-quarter results that were in line with analysts’ expectations. It gave second-quarter guidance that was weaker than expected, while its full year outlook was roughly in line. 
    Deckers Outdoor — Deckers Outdoor fell 2% in premarket trading. The lifestyle footwear company reported fourth-quarter results that exceeded analysts’ expectations, according to Refinitiv. However, it gave full year earnings and revenue guidance that was lower than expected. 
    RH — Shares of the retailer fell more than 3% in premarket trading despite RH beating estimates for its fiscal first quarter in a Thursday evening report. The company reported $2.21 in adjusted earnings per share on $739 million of revenue. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were looking for $2.09 in earnings per share on $727 million of revenue. However, RH’s second-quarter revenue guidance was short of expectations, and the company warned of increased markdowns. 

    Ulta Beauty — Ulta Beauty slid 9% in premarket trading even after the beauty retailer posted strong earnings and revenue for the first quarter. It very slightly raised full year revenue guidance, and reaffirmed earnings per share guidance. However, comparable sales grew slightly less than expected.
    — CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel and Jesse Pound contributed reporting More

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    Fintech firm Klarna halves net loss in first quarter as it races toward profitability

    Klarna posted a net loss of 1.3 billion Swedish krona ($120.7 million) in the March quarter, down 50% from the same period a year ago.
    The company reported total net operating income of 5 billion Swedish krona, up 22% year-over-year.
    The results show how Klarna is making “significant strides” toward profitability on a monthly basis by the second half of 2023, the firm said.

    Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Klarna, speaking at a fintech event in London on Monday, April 4, 2022.
    Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg via Getty Images

    Klarna, the Swedish buy now, pay later fintech company, halved its net loss in the first quarter, recording a significant improvement in its bottom line after a major cost-cutting drive.
    The company posted a net loss of 1.3 billion Swedish krona ($120.7 million), down 50% from the 2.6 billion krona loss in the same period a year ago.

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    Klarna reported total net operating income of 5 billion Swedish krona, up 22% year-over-year.
    “This quarter we’ve impressively managed to grow GMV and revenue, at the same time as we cut costs and credit losses, and also investing ambitiously in AI driven products,” Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski said in a statement.
    “We are on track to achieve profitability this year all while revolutionizing shopping and payments through our AI-powered approach.”
    Siemiatkowski previously told CNBC the company was planning to achieve profitability in the second half of 2023.
    Klarna attributed the latest reduction in losses to a fall in customer defaults thanks to an improvement in its underwriting, as well as to diversification into other sources of revenue, such as marketing.

    The results show how Klarna is making “significant strides” toward profitability on a monthly basis, the firm said.
    Klarna, which now has more than 150 million customers, was in April given a credit rating of BBB/A-3 with a stable outlook by S&P Global. The ratings agency at the time said this reflected Klarna’s “ability to defend its robust e-commerce position in its key markets, rebuild profitability,” and “maintain a strong capital buffer.”
    Early indications signal that Klarna’s deep cost-cutting measures are starting to pay off. The company went on a hiring spree during 2020 and 2021 to capitalize on growth triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, and was forced to reduce headcount by roughly 10% in May 2022 in response to investor pressure to slim down operations. Despite this measure, it still later lost 85% of its market value in a funding round last summer.
    Klarna is not alone in its troubles. Buy now, pay later firms, which allow shoppers to defer payments to a later date or pay over installments, have been particularly impacted by souring investor sentiment on technology, amid a worsening macroeconomic environment.

    AI push

    More recently, Klarna has turned its focus toward AI. The company revamped its app with a more advanced AI recommendation algorithm to help its merchants target customers more effectively.
    Klarna previously launched the ability to integrate OpenAI’s ChatGPT into its service with a plugin that lets users ask the popular AI chatbot for shopping inspiration. The company said it was embedding AI in its business to “improve internal efficiencies and provide customers with an even better service and experience,” for example through real-time translations in customer chat.
    The company has now also made a foray into facilitating short-term holiday rentals. Earlier this month, Klarna announced a partnership with Airbnb to let the online vacation rental firm’s customers book holidays and pay down the cost over installments. More

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    Disney still has plans to spend billions in Florida despite its battle with DeSantis

    Disney is set to invest $17 billion in Florida over the next decade, including the creation of 13,000 jobs.
    The company reiterated its commitment to the state despite ongoing tensions with Gov. Ron DeSantis.
    The $17 billion investment includes the ongoing transformation of Epcot, the revamp of Splash Mountain and a number of “blue sky” park plans.

    Handout | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

    Despite its battle with Gov. Ron DeSantis, Disney remains committed to the state of Florida.
    The media and theme park juggernaut is set to invest $17 billion in central Florida’s Walt Disney World hub over the next decade, which includes the potential creation of 13,000 jobs.

    Those figures have been repeated by CEO Bob Iger and parks chief Josh D’Amaro over the past few months, as tensions between Disney and Florida lawmakers have continued to ratchet up. The fight has taken on even more significance now that DeSantis is officially running for president.
    In April, the company filed a lawsuit accusing DeSantis and the new board members of its special district of carrying out a campaign of political retribution against the entertainment giant.
    DeSantis targeted Disney’s special district, formerly called the Reedy Creek Improvement District, after the company publicly criticized a controversial Florida bill — dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics — that limits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms.
    “We never wanted, and we certainly never expected, to be in the position of having to defend our business interests in federal court, particularly having such a terrific relationship with the state as we’ve had for more than 50 years,” Iger said during the company’s earnings call earlier this month.
    Disney recently scrapped plans to open up a new employee campus in Lake Nona, Florida, citing “changing business conditions.” This means the company also will no longer be asking more than 2,000 California-based employees to relocate to Florida. That location was not part of Disney’s $17 billion investment plan.

    D’Amaro, who runs Disney’s parks, experiences and consumer products division, reiterated Iger’s sentiments earlier this week during the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference. He told audience members that the $17 billion investment “gives you a sense of how aggressive we’re being in Walt Disney World.”
    “And this includes things like the transformation of Epcot,” he explained. “It includes things like there’s a new Star Tours attraction coming, we have a new Tiana attraction that’s coming. So, we’re thinking pretty aggressively about where we can take things in Florida.”
    Already Epcot opened Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in the France pavilion in late October and also last year unveiled Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, a roller coaster in the Wonders of Xandar Pavilion, based on the fictional planet from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The park also has a new restaurant called Space 220.
    Still to come to the park is the “Moana”-themed park area called The Journey of Water, a self-guided outdoor trail where guests can play and interact with water. It’s set to open in late 2023.

    At Disney World’s Hollywood Studios, as well as at the California-based Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, the company is set to add more stories and characters to its Star Tours attraction. Additionally, it is updating Splash Mountain at both domestic resorts with a “Princess and the Frog” theme.
    The company is also updating several of its hotel and resort locations in Florida.
    D’Amaro added that the $17 billion figure for Florida also includes some of the “blue sky” ideas the company presented last year during its D23 Expo in Anaheim, California. These projects are still in early development and may not see the light of day.
    During that presentation last September, D’Amaro talked about the possibility of revamping Dino Land at Animal Kingdom in Orlando. Initial ideas for the space include the possibility of bringing “Zootopia” to the park, including its variety of districts and animal species, or even “Moana.”
    At Magic Kingdom, Disney is asking the question: “What is behind Big Thunder Mountain?” The company teased that an area based on “Coco” could be in that location or “Encanto.” Perhaps both.
    D’Amaro even hinted at the possibility of bringing to life an area of Magic Kingdom overrun by Disney villains.
    Price points will vary for these projects, if they do come to fruition, but for reference, the two Star Wars: Galaxy Edge lands in Disneyland and Disney World are estimated to have cost $1 billion each.
    Disney’s theme parks have been a bright spot for the company, as guest visitation has rebounded significantly in the months following the pandemic shutdowns. The parks, experiences and products divisions saw a 17% year-over-year revenue increase to $7.7 billion during the most recent quarter.
    Around $5.5 billion of that revenue came from its theme park locations. The company said guests spent more time and money during the quarter visiting its parks, hotels and cruises both domestically and internationally. Its cruise business, in particular, saw an increase in passenger cruise days.
    “We see this business as a key growth driver for the company,” Iger said during Disney’s recent earnings call. More