WeWork became a predictable disaster.
If the WeWork IPO even makes it to market, it may not even be worth owning. The company, which rents out spaces to businesses was founded back in 2010 by CEO Adam Neuman – whose site says he’s “committed to elevating the collective consciousness of the world by expanding happiness and unleashing every human’s superpowers,” says CNBC.
Unfortunately, the market doesn’t seem to share in expanding any of that “happiness.”
It proved that again today after noting it plans to cut up to 4,000 jobs in a “bid to achieve financial stability,” notes CNBC. Worse, just last week, the company told investors it lost $1.25 billion on revenue of $834 million. Losses are now up 150% year over year.
HP Inc. (HPQ) and Xerox (XRX)
HP’s board just rejected an acquisition bid from Xerox, noting the current offer would undervalue the company. “The board also said it considered the “highly conditional and uncertain nature of the proposal, including the potential impact of outsized debt levels on the combined company’s stock,” as also noted by CNBC.
Carl Icahn, who owns a 10.6% stake in Xerox, took a $1.2 billion stake in HP. He was also pushing for the merger to happen.
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP)
TRIP is up about 1% this morning after analysts at Cowen upgraded the stock to market perform from outperform. They pointed to a recovery in the company’s online search metrics after a “major SEO shortfall.”
Five Below Inc. (FIVE)
After dropping nearly 4% on Friday, FIVE is up more than 2% after JP Morgan added the stock to its focus list, believing the pullback offers opportunity. “FIVE targets 20% annual revenue growth on high-teens unit growth expansion and low-single-digit comps with roughly flat margins and a 3% fixed cost hurdle equating to 20% net income growth. Importantly, we see high visibility to +20% annual net income growth based on (1) high-teens unit growth with new store returns the sole governor, (2) low-single-digit “core” comps on positive store traffic, and (3) margin expansion driven by scale citing opportunity to reduce today’s +3% fixed cost hurdle over time,” as quoted by CNBC.
