Dec 9, 2022 | Peel #355

Market Snapshot

Congrats on making it to the end of the week

If you had the gall to tough it out for 5 straight days of declines without selling this week, your portfolio was rewarded today as stocks finally dug themselves out of the doldrums for their first positive performance.

The S&P added 0.75% while the NASDAQ led gains, up 1.13% on the day. The S&P was on the cusp of falling below its 100-day moving average, which it successfully avoided.

Now, we wait for tomorrow’s PPI numbers as one of the final pieces of data before the Fed’s policy meeting.

Let’s get into it.

If You Still Use a Mouse to Navigate Excel, Keep Reading

Banana Bits

Macro Monkey Says

Meme of the day

What's Ripe

What's Rotten

Lululemon ($LULU) ↓ 7.51% ↓

• Beating earnings yet still getting pounded is a part of the quintessential 2022 playbook.
• Lululemon’s stock slid after hours after reporting 3rd quarter results that fell short of the mark, even though they largely beat analyst expectations. Sounds on-brand.

Lincoln National ($LNC) ↓ 10.86% ↓

• This is the biggest decline in over a month; not a great vote of confidence after the company’s CEO provided a 2023 earnings update
• CEO Ellen Cooper cut revenue and earnings forecasts for the foreseeable future
• This was followed by a flurry of target price cuts from various banks across the street

Data Peel

Source

Thought Banana

Living in the Land of Layoffs

What happens when an entire industry has a 10-year run of prosperity and money to be spent liberally? A lot of overhiring, overpromising, and under-delivering. If you haven’t figured it out by now, we are talking about the woes of the tech industry.

For the past few years, the tech industry was having a moment. Investors were willing to pour ungodly amounts of money into tech, which led to sky-high valuations and a superiority complex. In turn, companies massively overhired, which was largely exacerbated by the pandemic.

Essentially, when things are going well, there is a plethora of cash available for long-term “pie in the sky” projects. Fast-forward to 2022, with the economy on the brink of a recession, those same companies are taking steps to reverse the trend, going back to a leaner mode, moving away from ridiculous projects (*cough cough* Meta) and sticking to what they know best.

Big tech was unprepared for the Fed interest rate hikes. Higher interest rates led to a contagion effect whereby tech valuations were dramatically reduced. As a result, those companies have implemented layoffs of proportions not seen since the Global Financial Crisis.

Layoffs have impacted just about every corner of the tech sector, and nobody is safe. Tens of thousands of employees in roles that were widely thought of as secure have been forced to “pursue other opportunities.”

In case you were interested in seeing the layoffs (“reorganizations”) at each company, look no further. Not that we’re keeping track or anything, but…

• Tesla fired 200-300 employees working on its Autopilot program
• Coinbase cut 18% of its staff, citing overly optimistic growth projections in the face of a looming recession
• Twitter slashed half of its staff before famously asking some workers to return
• Shopify laid off 10% of its total workforce
• The Casino (aka Robinhood) is coming to a slowdown as it announced a cull of 25% of its staff

Of course, these are just a small subset of tech companies that have cut staff, which also includes giants like Microsoft, Meta, and Google.

Banana Brain Teaser

Wise investor says

Happy Investing, Patrick & The Daily Peel Team

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up for the WSO Daily Peel here.  
 

ADVERTISE // WSO ALPHA // COURSES // LEGAL