Finance

Shoppers leave a Nordstrom store on May 26, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois.
Scott Olson | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Check out the companies making headlines after the bell:
Nordstrom — Shares of the department store chain tumbled roughly 20% following its quarterly results. Nordstrom reported earnings of 39 cents per share, well below the 56 cents expected by analysts. Labor costs ate into profits and sales and Nordstrom Rack, its off-price division, has struggled to return to pre-pandemic levels, the company reported.

Gap — The apparel retailer saw its shares drop more than 15% after missing profit and revenue expectations for its fiscal third-quarter. It also slashed its full-year revenue outlook from a 30% increase to a 20% increase, compared with analysts’ expectations of a 28.4% year-over-year gain, according to Refinitiv.
HP — The computer hardware company saw shares jump about 6% following its quarterly results. HP reported earnings of 94 cents per share on revenue of $16.68 billion, beating analysts’ estimates of 88 cents per share on revenue of $15.4 billion, according to Refinitiv. It also raised its first quarter guidance to a range of 99 cents to $1.05 per share, compared with the 94 cents per share expected by analysts.
VMware — Shares of cloud computing company VMware got a 1% lift after the company reported a quarterly beat on the top and bottom lines. VMware recorded $1.72 per share in earnings, beating expectations by 18 cents, and $3.19 billion in revenue, topping estimates of $3.12 billion.
Autodesk — The software company’s shares fell more than 13% despite reporting a beat on the top and bottom lines for its most recent quarter. Autodesk issued fourth quarter earnings and revenue guidance that were largely below estimates.

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A view of a Best Buy retail store on August 29, 2019 in San Bruno, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading Tusday:
Occidental Petroleum, APA Corp — Energy stocks gained after the White House announced the U.S. will release 50 million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The move is a coordinated release between several countries, including China and Japan. APA Corp gained 7.3% and Occidental Petroleum rose 6.4%.

Dollar Tree — Shares of the discount retailer added 9.2% after the company reported its latest quarterly results. Dollar Tree also said its freight costs for the quarter were much higher than it anticipated, but it still reported a revenue beat.
Best Buy — The electronics retailer saw its shares plummet 12.3% after delivering a holiday comparable sales forecast that was largely below those of Wall Street analysts amid weakening demand and shipping bottlenecks. That weighed on investors despite Best Buy reporting a quarterly beat on the top and bottom lines.
Western Digital, Micron — The tech stocks gained 6.3% and 1.9%, respectively, after upgrades from Mizuho. The research firm said Western Digital and Micron should benefit from improving chip demand.
Best Buy — Shares of Best Buy tumbled 12.3% amid worries over how rising shipping costs could impact the company’s holiday season sales. Those concerns overshadowed better-than-expected quarterly earnings.
Zoom Video — Shares of Zoom Video tanked 14.7% in midday trading after the video-chat company warned investors of a revenue growth slowdown. This caused several Wall Street firms to cut price targets on the stock. BTIG lowered its price target to $400 per share from $460 per share. Deutsche Bank Research also lowered its 12-month target to $280 per share from $350 per share.

Urban Outfitters — Urban Outfitters shares sunk 9.3% after the retailer’s quarterly financial results showed a shift to more online sales increases costs for the company.
Dick’s Sporting Goods — Shares of the sporting goods giant dropped 4.1% despite a stronger-than-expected quarter report.  The company posted fiscal third-quarter earnings that outpaced analysts’ expectations, which led it to hike its annual forecast. Dick’s stock had been on a tear this year, rising nearly 150% year to date before Tuesday’s sell-off.
Abercrombie & Fitch — The apparel retailer saw its shares drop 12.6% after the company said its profit margin dropped by 30 basis points in the previous quarter.
Medtronic — Medtronic shares retreated 3% after the company reported a mixed quarter. The medical device maker’s profit beat the Refinitiv consensus estimate by 3 cents a share, but revenue came in below Street forecasts. Medtronic also lowered its full-year outlook, citing the Covid-19 resurgence and health-care staffing challenges.
J.M. Smucker — The food producer’s shares rose 5.7% after the company reported quarterly earnings of $2.43 per share, beating the Refinitiv consensus estimate of $2.05 a share. Revenue also beat forecasts and Smucker raised its full-year forecast.
American Eagle Outfitters — The apparel chain saw its shares jump 4.8% after beating the Street in its quarterly earnings report. American Eagle posted an adjusted profit of 76 cents per share versus the StreetAccount consensus of 61 cents per share. Revenue also came in higher than expected.
Burlington Stores — Shares of Burlington gained 8.6% after the off-price retailer reported better-than-expected earnings. The company posted earnings of $1.36 per share on revenue of $2.3 billion, compared with the Refinitiv consensus estimate of $1.26 per share on revenue of $2.23 billion.
— CNBC’s Yun Li, Tanaya Macheel and Maggie Fitzgerald contributed reporting.

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U.S. sales online are expected to hit $207 billion this holiday shopping season, a record, according to Adobe. A big chunk (about 17%) will occur between Black Friday to Cyber Monday.
Online shopping accounted for about 58,000 Covid-related consumer fraud reports through Oct. 18 this year, more than any other fraud category, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
Fake retailers, social media scams and missing package scams are among the common frauds to watch for this holiday season.

krisanapong detraphiphat | Moment | Getty Images

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are almost here — and consumers shopping for the winter holidays should be on the lookout for online scams.
U.S. sales online are expected to hit $207 billion this holiday shopping season, between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, according to Adobe. That’s a record and a 10% jump over 2020, a year in which the Covid pandemic pushed more consumers to shop digitally.

Cyber weekend — the period from Black Friday to Cyber Monday — will draw about 17% of all sales this holiday season, Adobe estimates.
Seventy-five percent of American adults anticipate their e-commerce through big retailers like Amazon or Walmart will be similar to or increase relative to the 2020 holiday season, according to a recent AARP survey.

Criminals will likely try to take advantage of the volume — and of unwary consumers.
Online shopping accounted for about 58,000 Covid-related consumer fraud reports from January 2020 to Oct. 18 this year, more than any other category of fraud, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Consumers lost a total $48 million.
“We are entering a sensitive holiday and tax period, and we urge people to protect their personal information,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said Friday in an alert, which warned of potential identity thieves using that data to file fraudulent tax returns.

Here are three common scams to watch for around this time of year.

Fake retailers

Fake retailers using bogus websites may lure consumers with ads for big sales on popular gifts that are out of stock or hard to find elsewhere, according to Social Catfish, an online security site.
The issue may be more present than past years due to supply-chain issues and higher prices for some goods. Consumers are expected to pay 9% more during Cyber Week, on average, in 2021 relative to 2020, according to Adobe.
“Out-of-stock notifications have remained high throughout 2021 and will remain a challenge over the season,” Adobe said in its annual holiday shopping forecast.
More from Personal Finance:Cities and states pass dozens of new protections for rentersHeading into Black Friday, 1 in 3 shoppers still paying off last year’s holiday debtConsider these year-end tips to lower your tax bill or boost your refund
There are some telltale signs of fraud: A fake site’s domain name will have an extraneous letter or number, and the site may have grammatical errors or limited contact information, according to Social Catfish.
Consumers should research unfamiliar companies and read customer reviews, or search for the company name online along with the word “scam,” Social Catfish advised. Also, don’t buy a product via wire transfer, money order or gift card.

Social media scams

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube are “becoming hotbeds for deception,” according to the Federal Trade Commission.
The platforms have amplified harmful content during the pandemic, the federal agency said.
Around the holidays, brands and influencers typically offer free product giveaways on Instagram, according to Social Catfish. Scammers may advertise the chance to win a holiday prize but include malicious links in Instagram posts and steal consumers’ personal data.
About 38% of consumers reported making a purchase in the past 12 months by clicking on a social media ad — which could lead them to a cloned site of a legitimate store or download malicious software onto one’s device, according to AARP.
Consumers should be wary of social media accounts without a blue checkmark (platforms use these to verify a real page from copycats) and watch for typos and accounts with little other content, according to Social Catfish.

Missing package scam

Consumers aren’t necessarily safe even after buying something — product delivery is also fertile ground for fraud.                                                 
Scammers may pretend to be from FedEx or another shipping firm, sending a text or e-mail with a link to track the package, according to Social Catfish. But clicking the link allows criminals to steal the consumer’s personal and financial information. Fraudsters may also leave voicemails or place a “missed delivery” tag on a consumer’s door with a number to call to verify their information.
About a third of adults have received a fake notification from someone saying they are from USPS, FedEx, or UPS about a shipment issue, according to AARP.
Never click a link or call back a number from an unexpected delivery notice, Social Catfish cautioned. Contact the company directly using a verified number or website.

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“We’re very happy as a private company,” Stripe co-founder John Collison told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble at the Fintech Abu Dhabi festival.
Stripe launched in the United Arab Emirates in June and has plans to expand to other Gulf countries, Collison said.
Collison said it was also “not implausible” that the company would start accepting payments in cryptocurrencies again in the future.

Online payments giant Stripe is still in no rush to go public, with co-founder John Collison telling CNBC the company is happy staying private for now.
“We’re very happy as a private company,” Collison said, speaking in an interview with CNBC’s Hadley Gamble at the Fintech Abu Dhabi festival.

“Part of where our patience stems from is the fact that it feels like we are very early in Stripe’s journey.”
Collison’s comments come after a Bloomberg report said that Stripe was in early talks with investment banks about going public as early as next year.
Collison said the firm has plans to expand across the Persian Gulf, which includes countries like the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Stripe already has clients from $7.5 billion food delivery firm Deliveroo to a small gymwear brand called Squatwolf using it to process payments in the region, he added.
“We launched here in the UAE in June only and we’ve seen this massive ramp-up,” Collison, who is currently Stripe’s president, said.
“This is a massive region that is just starting to inflect in terms of its own growth,” he added. “It feels like we are very early on that journey, we’re still heavily investing.”

Stripe is unlikely to seek an IPO in the immediate future, Collison said.
It’s not the first time Stripe has poured cold water on talk of a stock market debut. The fintech company was last valued at a whopping $95 billion, making it worth more than Uber ahead of the ride-hailing firm’s initial public offering.
Founded by Irish brothers Patrick and John Collison in 2009, Stripe has grown from tech upstart to a payments powerhouse processing billions of dollars in transactions each year for the likes of Amazon, Google and Deliveroo.
The company’s major competitors include PayPal, Square, Adyen and Checkout.com.

Stripe has been increasingly expanding into other areas of finance too, including lending and tax management. The company has firmly ruled out the idea of becoming a fully-fledged bank, however, a move that would ultimately lead to increased regulatory scrutiny and costs.
Another space Stripe has begun moving into more recently is cryptocurrencies. The company recently announced it has established a team dedicated to crypto and “Web3,” a buzzword in tech that refers to a new, decentralized version of the internet.
Collison said there are a number of innovations emerging in the crypto market that have caught his attention, from solana — a competitor to ethereum, the world’s second-biggest digital currency — to “Layer 2” blockchain systems like bitcoin’s Lightning Network which are designed to speed up transactions and process them at a lower cost.
Stripe previously accepted payments in bitcoin but stopped support for the cryptocurrency in 2018, citing price volatility and a lack of efficiency when it comes to making transactions at scale.
“There have been a lot of developments of late with an eye to making cryptocurrencies better and, in particular, scalable and acceptable cost as a payment method,” Collison said.
Asked whether Stripe could start accepting payments in crypto again in the future, the company’s co-founder said it was “not implausible” that it would do so.

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Take a look at some of the biggest movers in the premarket:
Best Buy (BBY) – The electronics retailer’s shares tumbled 10.4% in the premarket, after it forecast holiday season comparable sales largely below Wall Street forecasts as it faces possible product shortages. Best Buy reported a quarterly beat on the top and bottom lines, however, with a profit of $2.08 per share coming in 17 cents a share above estimates.

Zoom Video (ZM) – Zoom beat estimates by 2 cents a share, with quarterly profit of $1.11 per share. Revenue also topped Street forecasts and Zoom raised its full-year guidance. The return of many workers to offices is slowing sales growth, however, and the stock tumbled 9.6% in premarket trading.
Urban Outfitters (URBN) – Urban Outfitters earned 89 cents per share for its latest quarter, 5 cents a share above estimates. Revenue came in very slightly above analysts’ projections. The apparel retailer’s stock is getting hit hard, however, as a shift to more online sales increases costs for the company, and the stock slumped 11.5% in premarket action.
Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) – The sporting goods retailer earned $3.19 per share for the third quarter, well above the $1.97 a share consensus estimate. Revenue also beat forecasts, and a comparable-store sales increase of 12.2% was substantially better than the 1.9% consensus estimate from StreetAccount. The stock added 1% in premarket action.
Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) – The apparel retailer beat estimates by 20 cents a share, with adjusted earnings of 86 cents per share. Revenue also topped forecasts. Abercrombie’s profit margin dropped by 30 basis points. Its shares fell 3.8% in the premarket.
Dollar Tree (DLTR) – Dollar Tree matched estimates with quarterly profit of 96 cents per share. The discount retailer’s revenue came in slightly above estimates. Dollar Tree’s freight costs during the quarter were significantly higher than expected, and its stock fell 1.4% in premarket trading.

Medtronic (MDT) – Medtronic reported a mixed quarter, with revenue falling below Street forecasts. The medical device maker’s profit beat forecasts by 3 cents a share, with earnings of $1.32 per share. Medtronic also lowered its full-year outlook, citing the Covid-19 resurgence and health-care staffing challenges.
J.M. Smucker (SJM) – The food producer reported quarterly earnings of $2.43 per share, beating the $2.05 a share consensus estimate. Revenue also beat forecasts and Smucker raised its full-year forecast amid strong consumer demand for its flagship brand as well as Jif, Folgers and Milk-Bone. Smucker rose 1.2% in the premarket.
Xpeng (XPEV) – Xpeng jumped 3% in the premarket after the China-based electric vehicle maker reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss, but also saw revenue come in well above estimates while issuing an upbeat current-quarter outlook.
Agilent Technologies (A) – Agilent came in 3 cents a share ahead of Street forecasts, with quarterly earnings of $1.21 per share. The life sciences company’s revenue was in line with estimates. Agilent saw particular strength during the quarter from its diagnostics and genomic unit. The company also issued an outlook that falls partially below analysts’ estimates, however, prompting a 4.2% premarket drop in the shares.

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Istanbul-based Getir, which aims to ship groceries to people’s doors in as little as 10 minutes, says it is buying Weezy to further expand into the U.K.
Europe is home to a flourishing grocery delivery sector that’s seen a flood of challengers emerge trying to take on supermarkets and convenience stores.
Analysts say the market is entering a phase of consolidation, as the multitude of different players increasingly struggle to differentiate their offerings.

A delivery driver of the Turkish delivery service “Getir” rides his bicycle.
Michael Kappeler | picture alliance | Getty Images

LONDON — Turkish start-up Getir on Tuesday agreed to acquire British rival Weezy, in the latest sign of consolidation in the ultrafast grocery delivery market.
Istanbul-based Getir, which aims to ship essential items to people’s doors in as little as 10 minutes, said it was buying Weezy to further expand into the U.K.

The company currently operates in 15 cities and towns including London, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool.
Weezy, which was founded just two years ago by Kristof Van Beveren and Alec Dent, experienced breakneck growth during the coronavirus pandemic as more people moved online to do their essential shopping.
It now has over 700 employees, a number that includes the firm’s delivery drivers. Unlike gig economy companies that hire contractors on flexible working arrangements, Weezy treats its couriers as salaried workers.
Combined with Getir, the newly merged company will have a workforce totaling more than 4,000 employees globally.
“Teaming up with Weezy, which has quickly established itself across the U.K., is an exciting opportunity and one that complements our people-first belief and business approach,” Turancan Salur, Getir’s U.K. general manager, said in a statement Tuesday.

Europe is home to a flourishing online grocery delivery sector that’s seen a wave of challengers emerge trying to take on established supermarket chains and convenience stores.
The likes of Getir and other players like Germany’s Gorillas and the U.K.’s Zapp have lured customers with the promise of speedy delivery times and generous discounts.
Getir, a privately-held firm, was last valued at $7.75 billion after raising $550 million in funding from investors including Silver Lake, Mubadala, Sequoia and Tiger Global. It’s raised more than $1 billion to date.
Ahead of the acquisition news, Weezy had raised a total of over $25 million from venture capital firms Heartcore Capital and Left Lane Capital.
It follows a slew of other deals in the space, from American grocery start-up Gopuff’s acquisition of British firms Dija and Fancy to German food delivery giant Delivery Hero’s purchase of a minority stake in Gorillas.
Analysts say the rapid grocery delivery market is entering a phase of consolidation, as the multitude of different players increasingly struggle to differentiate their offerings.

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Ripple is making “good progress” in its legal feud with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, CEO Brad Garlinghouse said.
Garlinghouse expects the case will likely reach a conclusion next year.
The SEC alleges Ripple and its executives sold $1.3 billion worth of the cryptocurrency XRP in an unregistered securities offering.

Fintech company Ripple is making great strides in its legal feud with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, CEO Brad Garlinghouse told CNBC on Monday.
Garlinghouse said he expects the case, which centers on XRP, the world’s seventh-biggest cryptocurrency, will likely reach a conclusion next year.

“We’re seeing pretty good progress despite a slow-moving judicial process,” he told CNBC’s Dan Murphy.
“Clearly we’re seeing good questions asked by the judge. And I think the judge realizes this is not just about Ripple, this will have broader implications.”
Garlinghouse said he was hopeful there would be closure next year.
Ripple, which is based in San Francisco, generated a lot of buzz during the crypto frenzy of late 2017 and 2018, which saw the prices of bitcoin, ether and other cryptocurrencies skyrocket to record highs.

Read more about cryptocurrencies from CNBC Pro

XRP, a token Ripple is closely associated with, benefited from that rally, hitting an all-time high above $3. It’s since declined dramatically from that price but is riding the latest crypto wave with a more than 370% gain year-to-date

Ripple’s technology is designed to let banks and other financial services firms send money across borders faster and at a lower cost. The company also markets another product that utilizes XRP for cross-border payments called On-Demand Liquidity.
The SEC is concerned about Ripple’s ties to XRP, alleging the company and its executives sold $1.3 billion worth of the tokens in an unregistered securities offering. But Ripple contends that XRP should not be considered a security, a classification that would bring it under much more regulatory scrutiny.

It comes as regulators around the world are taking a closer look at crypto, a market that is still largely unregulated but has boomed in the last year.
Garlinghouse said the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Singapore and Switzerland are examples of countries showing “leadership” when it comes to regulating crypto, while China and India have cracked down on the industry.
“In general, the direction of travel is very positive,” Garlinghouse said.
Brady Dougan, the former CEO of Credit Suisse, said regulation is a key area in crypto that’s likely to develop over time.
“It’s a market that’s early in its development,” Dougan, who now runs fintech firm Exos, told CNBC. “I think it’s a healthy market and it’s one that will continue to develop in a positive way.”
Ripple, a privately-held company, was last valued at $10 billion and counts the likes of Alphabet’s venture capital arm GV, Andreessen Horowitz and Japan’s SBI Holdings as investors.

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Bryn Mawr Trust’s Jeff Mills is recommending stocks involved in supply chains, cybersecurity and e-commerce because they have “staying power.”
He credits the groups’ capacity to insulate investors from the tug-of-war between growth and cyclical stocks.

Mills’ first pick focuses on companies helping supply chains.
“You’re starting to hear a narrative of things improving there, but it’s not going to fall out of the purview of a lot of companies who try to figure out how do we make things more efficient,” the firm’s chief investment officer told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Monday.
Mills favors PTC Inc. in the space, which focuses on productivity, maximizing revenues and reducing costs.
“They do all sorts of things in the industrial internet of things,” he said. “That’s going to be extremely important for companies throughout the world.”
But Mills acknowledges the chart is ugly. PTC is off 10% over the past month.

“This is a stock that’s pretty far off its all-time highs here,” he said.
Mills, who has $22 billion in assets under management, also likes the cybersecurity space because it has tremendous longevity.
“It’s probably one of the biggest threats not only to national defense, but corporate America,” said Mills. “There’s definitely runway there for further growth.”
His top cybersecurity play is CrowdStrike. It’s seeing a rocky month, down 15%. However, it’s up 13% so far this year.
“[It’s] growing revenues at 40% year over year. Recurring revenue growth is increasing cash flow. Metrics are getting better,” he said. “That’s a company that I really like.”
His third pick is e-commerce with an emphasis on Amazon.
“You can’t talk about thematic investing without talking about e-commerce. And, Amazon is such an interesting stock,” noted Mills. “It’s been a darling for so long. But the stock hasn’t really gone anywhere for really the entire year.”
This year, Amazon shares are up about 10%. The performance pales in comparison to 2020 when the stock soared 76%.

‘A breakout of pretty significant proportions’

Mills highlights Amazon’s massive e-commerce logistics network as a major bullish driver during the holiday season.
“The supply crunch that everyone is dealing with right now might actually help Amazon because they’re probably best positioned. They can probably get stuff to people quicker, so I think they can potentially take market share,” Mills said. “I think 2022 you see a breakout of pretty significant proportions for Amazon.”
Disclosure: Jeff Mills has long exposure to PTC Inc, CrowdStrike and Amazon.
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