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Romance Industry

1.36k followers • 12 symbols Watchlist by Yahoo Finance

This basket consists of companies tied to modern and traditional romance in the US.

12 symbols

Yahoo Finance
Breaking Bad star Dean Norris makes fictional beer Schraderbräu a reality
Breaking bad actor Dean Norris has taken the fictional beer Schraderbräu, the mythological homebrew from Norris’ beloved character Hank Schrader, and made it a reality.
Zacks
Darden Restaurants (DRI) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Darden Restaurants (DRI) closed at $127.34, marking a +1.02% move from the previous day.
Zacks
Here's Why Sprouts Farmers Is Down in the Past Six Months
Strained gross margin and higher SG&A expenses are negatively impacting Sprouts Farmers (SFM) performance. Management expects SG&A expenses for the full year to increase about 10.5% year over year.
Bloomberg
Apple Says TV+ Service Won’t Harm Results, Rebutting Goldman
(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. said a new video service won’t have a material impact on its financial results, seeking to counter research from a Goldman Sachs analyst who cut his share price target on concern that aggressive pricing of the TV+ offering will trim profit.Earlier this week, Apple outlined a strategy that involved lower prices on several devices and services, including a monthly cost of $4.99 for TV+. It will also be free for one year with purchases of new Apple devices. This is relatively rare for a company that has historically charged premium prices to support healthy profit margins.Rod Hall, the Goldman Sachs analyst who covers Apple, cut his price target on Apple shares to $165 from $187, saying the company’s plan to offer a trial period for TV+ was “likely to have a material negative impact” on average selling prices and earnings per share.“We do not expect the introduction of Apple TV+, including the accounting treatment for the service, to have a material impact on our financial results,” Apple said in an email.The stock jumped after the statement, trimming losses from earlier in the day. It traded down 1.8% at $219 at 2:56 p.m. in New York.The TV+ service is entering a crowded video-streaming field that already includes Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Hulu and AT&T Inc.’s HBO. In November, Walt Disney Co. plans to launch a Disney+ streaming service, with a giant catalog of titles, for $6.99 a month. Netflix’s entry-level subscription is $8.99 a month in the U.S.Apple, which doesn’t currently have a back catalog of content for TV+, announced the $4.99-a-month pricing on Tuesday, sparking a rally in its shares and declines in Netflix and Disney stock. In India, the TV+ service will be 99 rupees ($1.40) a month. (Updates with background on TV+ in final paragraphs.)To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Gurman in San Francisco at mgurman1@bloomberg.net;Nico Grant in San Francisco at ngrant20@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net, Alistair BarrFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Zacks
Looking Ahead to the Q3 2019 Earnings Season
Looking Ahead to the Q3 2019 Earnings Season
Yahoo Finance
Apple has a 'big acquisition' up its sleeve, tech analyst Dan Ives says
Apple TV + is price affordably but it really needs to focus on content to win the OTT race.
Bloomberg
J.J. Abrams's Bad Robot Better Be Good at AT&T
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Careful, AT&T, those Hollywood lights can be blinding. The industry newbie has just struck an eye-popping deal with sought-after director J.J. Abrams to bring more of his movie magic to the telephone-giant-turned-media-conglomerate. AT&T Inc.’s offer amounted to: Dear J.J., please take this wheelbarrow of money. The deal between AT&T’s new WarnerMedia division and the Bad Robot production company, led by husband-and-wife team Abrams and Katie McGrath, is reported to be worth more than $250 million. That’s after Apple Inc. bid $500 million, according to Hollywood Reporter, though Abrams was said to have turned down that offer in part because he wanted to maintain a large box-office presence. With WarnerMedia, Abrams can create content for both the big screen and online-streaming properties. Bad Robot has previously produced hits such as “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” and the shows “Lost” and “Alias.” The outrageous sums that AT&T and reportedly Apple put forth are emblematic of the escalating arms race for content. Entertainment giants – those new to the business, in particular – are trying to secure hit TV series and films for new streaming-video services launching in the coming weeks and months to compete with Netflix. Apple TV+ is set to be released Nov. 1, followed by Disney+ on Nov. 12 and AT&T/WarnerMedia’s HBO Max next spring. (Last year, AT&T acquired WarnerMedia, formerly called Time Warner, the parent of Warner Bros., HBO, CNN, TBS and other networks.) While most of these relatively low-priced subscriptions are years away from being able to turn a profit, the media giants are willing to bear the cost and pay up for the content to attract and keep customers.But WarnerMedia also threw in an unusual perk for Abrams: He gets to own potentially as much as a 50% stake in the projects he creates for the company, according to NBC News. The inclusion of a term like that, combined with the value of the contract, makes the deal look like a rookie move by WarnerMedia and the executive spearheading its streaming strategy, John Stankey, a three-decade veteran of AT&T’s phone business. Either that or desperation. Virtually no other media or tech giant would likely agree to give up those content rights. In fact, Walt Disney Co. is moving to cut back on the profits it shares with showrunners and stars after hit series pass the crucial 100-episode mark and enter into lucrative syndication deals, according to the Los Angeles Times. Disney wants control over that future licensing windfall, preferring to instead divide profits earlier on, when they aren’t quite as big.It’s no wonder that after Disney, Comcast Corp., Viacom Inc., Sony Corp. and Netflix Inc. were all said to have looked at Bad Robot, AT&T and its new media moguls landed the deal. Stankey, known for a brusque management style, has already had a rough start when it comes to gaining the respect of his new media employees and shaping the vision for WarnerMedia. It's part of the reason shareholder Elliott Management Corp. launched an activist campaign at AT&T this week, calling for more operational focus and a clearer strategy. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson recently promoted Stankey to chief operating officer in addition to his role presiding over WarnerMedia specifically.Stankey and Stephenson aren’t the only industry outsiders starstruck by Hollywood and feeling the pressure to pay whatever’s necessary to expand streaming-app libraries and keep viewers from canceling subscriptions. Apple TV+ has reportedly dished out $300 million for the first two seasons of “The Morning Show,” an original series starring big names like Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. Disney+ spent about $15 million on each episode of its “Star Wars” series, “The Mandalorian,” which adds up to the cost of a big-budget film. But AT&T’s leaders are showing their inexperience in the world of content and entertainment, driving away key internal personnel while so eagerly courting Abrams. The company’s post-deal turnover was punctuated by the high-profile exits of HBO’s Richard Plepler and Turner’s David Levy earlier this year.In reporting on the Abrams deal, Bloomberg News also uncovered an interesting detail about what actually happened to Kevin Tsujihara. He’s the former head of Warner Bros. who left in March amid a sex scandal involving an actress with whom he was having an affair and was accused of helping to land film roles. At first it seemed like Tsujihara was going to stay on despite the scandal, and in fact he had even just been promoted by Stephenson. However, Bloomberg reports that Abrams’s wife, McGrath, essentially gave AT&T an ultimatum, saying that’d it be hard for Bad Robot and WarnerMedia to work together if Tsujihara was there. It all makes sense now.As for the deal, Stankey had better hope Bad Robot makes good movies, because it seems none of his industry peers were willing to offer what he did. To contact the author of this story: Tara Lachapelle at tlachapelle@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Beth Williams at bewilliams@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Tara Lachapelle is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the business of entertainment and telecommunications, as well as broader deals. She previously wrote an M&A column for Bloomberg News.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Zacks
Olive Garden & LongHorn to Drive Darden's (DRI) Q1 Earnings
Darden's (DRI) first-quarter fiscal 2020 results are likely to be driven by robust performance of the Olive Garden, LongHorn and Fine Dining segments.
Market Realist
Apple, Disney May Not Succeed with Anti-Netflix Strategy
Apple and Disney have shown that they want to beat Netflix by undercutting it on pricing. This week, Apple disclosed the details of its streaming service.
Zacks
Netflix and Apple Spar Over India's Video Streaming Market
Apart from a series of other moves, Netflix (NFLX) has signed prolific filmmaker Karan Johar to strengthen presence in India amid growing competition post Apple's aggressive pricing of Apple TV+.
Investing.com
StockBeat: Netflix Climbs on Piper Jaffray Backing Despite Competition
Investing.com – Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) climbed higher on Friday after Piper Jaffray backed the streaming giant to continue its dominance, even as rivals eye a piece of the pie.
Zacks
Pebblebrook Hotel (PEB) Closes Sale of Rouge Hotel for $42M
Pebblebrook Hotel's (PEB) sale of Rouge Hotel is in line with its strategic disposition program that aims to optimize portfolio reduce leverage levels by repayment of outstanding debt.
Zacks
Church & Dwight up 9.2% in 6 Months, Strong Brands Add Gleam
Church & Dwight's (CHD) robust brand portfolio is boosting market share across categories. However, weakness in the Specialty Products unit is a worry.
Zacks
Should You Invest in the Fidelity MSCI Consumer Discretionary Index ETF (FDIS)?
Sector ETF report for FDIS
Investing.com
Apple Falls Midday; Goldman Cuts Price Target
Investing.com - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell in midday trade Friday after its price target was cut by Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) to $165 from $187.
Bloomberg
Apple Has the Cash, But Does It Need a Hollywood Studio?
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Apple Inc. is getting ready to launch its own streaming-video service, Apple TV+, in the coming weeks. Compared to Netflix and other rival offerings, the new app will feature a rather skimpy lineup of viewing choices. That’s reigniting the will-they/won’t-they debate around Apple and the handful of Hollywood studios that look ripe for an acquisition.The tech giant announced this week that Apple TV+ will launch on Nov. 1, beating Walt Disney Co.’s rival product to the market by 11 days. Apple TV+ will cost $4.99 a month, which is $2 less than Disney+, and on the face of it, significantly cheaper than Netflix and AT&T Inc.’s HBO Max, set to debut next spring. What’s more, Apple will let customers have the service free for a year when they purchase an iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple TV console. Much has been made of Apple TV+ undercutting competitors, but the price was set low to make up for the fact that, unlike rival services, it won’t contain a backlog of content out of the gate. Disney and AT&T both own immense libraries of films and TV shows and can stuff them into their streaming services even as they work to produce new original content exclusively for app subscribers. Remember, Disney owns Marvel, Pixar, “Star Wars,” “The Simpsons,” National Geographic and so on, while AT&T acquired Warner Bros., HBO and Time Warner’s other television networks last year. Apple TV+, on the other hand, will contain just nine originals on Day One and nothing else. Apple’s lack of a library argues for the company to buy a production studio. Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (which also owns the Starz premium channel), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (known as MGM), Sony Pictures and indie studio A24 are all prospects. Even a combined Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. – two content companies that are in the process of merging – could be an appealing option given their diverse set of assets, including Paramount Pictures, MTV, BET, Nickelodeon and Showtime. (Shari Redstone, the billionaire who controls Viacom and CBS, would likely be a willing seller.)(1)It all depends, though, on how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees streaming video fitting into the company’s future. Is the goal to build a bona fide competitor to Netflix, available on anything with a screen? Or is Apple TV+ a loss leader meant to help drive sales of Apple devices? This week’s unveiling seemed to suggest the latter. After all, Apple’s revenue from iPhones decreased by $19 billion in the latest fiscal year, my colleague Shira Ovide noted in her column this week. In 2017, she wrote that Apple should try bundling software – such as video and music subscriptions – with its hardware to help boost sales. Apple is essentially doing just that by giving TV+ as a freebie for buying a new Apple product. “They’re doing it to sell hardware,” Marci Ryvicker, an analyst for Wolfe Research, said in a phone interview. “This isn’t Apple’s core business.”It’s noteworthy that Cook, while on stage Tuesday, compared the Apple TV+ fee to the cost of renting a single movie on demand – not to the price of other streaming subscriptions. That may provide some insight into his thinking. At $5 a month, Apple TV+ is also a long ways from making any money. That’s another reason it looks more like an internet add-on than a stand-alone product intended to take on Netflix, a business running on negative cash flow and junk debt. The cost of going all-in on streaming is steep. Disney, for example, doesn’t think its own $7-a-month app will start turning a profit until 2024, by which point it expects to have at least 60 million global subscribers. Even then, Ebitda for Disney+ may be just $51 million, a paltry 1% profit margin, according to a model by Alan Gould, an analyst for Loop Capital Markets. In 2025, he sees that figure jumping to $2.6 billion, though it still pales in comparison to the roughly $10 billion of Ebitda that Disney’s traditional TV and film businesses generate.Still, some analysts see Apple TV+ topping 100 million subscribers within five years, and it’s already planning to spend billions of dollars on content. It could be that Apple doesn’t know exactly what it wants from Apple TV+ yet. If it turns out to be successful early on, that may be what leads Cook to acquire a studio. Dan Ives, an analyst for Wedbush Securities, made the same bold prediction at the start of the year, and he told me this week that he’s sticking to it.“Right now, they’ve built a house with no furniture,” said Ives, who interprets Apple’s aggressive pricing strategy as a sign that it’s changed its past thinking and is ready to commit to streaming content in a big way. “It’s hard to envision them being massively successful in streaming without doing a major acquisition.”I agree. The question is, does it plan for Apple TV+ to be massively successful? This week may have signaled “no,” but when it comes to M&A, never say never. (1) Viacom is also said to be the front-runner to buy a stake in Miramax films.To contact the author of this story: Tara Lachapelle at tlachapelle@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Beth Williams at bewilliams@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Tara Lachapelle is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the business of entertainment and telecommunications, as well as broader deals. She previously wrote an M&A column for Bloomberg News.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Zacks
Buy $1 Trillion Apple (AAPL) Stock on iPhone 11 & Streaming TV Potential?
Apple (AAPL) is once again a $1 trillion company, joining Microsoft (MSFT), with shares up 8% in the past month. So is now the time to buy Apple stock after it showed off its new iPhone 11s and its streaming TV service, Apple TV+?
Yahoo Finance
Viral robot Sophia says she’s a ‘fan’ of dating apps — and determined who should pay on first dates
Lifelike humanoid robot Sophia says humans should be open to dating apps and that she finally solved who should pays on first dates.
Yahoo Finance
Trump unleashes selling tsunami in this hot area of the stock market
Value stocks are in. Momentum stocks are out. Thank you President Trump.
Zacks
Trade War Hope, ECB Stimulus, Apple Hits $1 Trillion & Buy CIO Stock - Free Lunch
The latest hopeful U.S.-China trade war news. The European Central Bank's new stimulus plan. President Trump's call to the Fed. Apple (AAPL) stock hits $1 trillion in market cap. Why City Office REIT (CIO) is a Zacks Rank 1 (Strong Buy) - Free Lunch
Bloomberg
WarnerMedia Enlists Filmmaker J.J. Abrams in Its War on Netflix
(Bloomberg) -- AT&T Inc.’s WarnerMedia reached a production deal with superstar director J.J. Abrams, locking in one of Hollywood’s hottest filmmakers as it prepares to do battle with streaming services from Netflix Inc. and Walt Disney Co.Abrams, whose film credits include recent versions of “Star Wars” and “Star Trek,” will create original TV shows, movies and games for the studio through 2024, according to a statement Thursday. Financial terms weren’t revealed.The signing highlights the increasingly fierce competition for talent among Hollywood’s biggest media companies, including newer players like Netflix and Amazon.com Inc. Last year, WarnerMedia signed Greg Berlanti, producer of shows like “Riverdale” and “The Flash,” with a contract topping $300 million.The New York Times said in June that Abrams was likely to get a $500 million deal. But the contract was ultimately worth closer to $250 million, the Hollywood Reporter said on Thursday.The WarnerMedia pact builds on a TV relationship with Warner Bros. that began in 2006. But Abrams’s production company, Bad Robot, will honor its existing obligations to Paramount Pictures.Talent BattleOver the past couple years, Netflix has managed to cinch deals with top TV producers including Ryan Murphy and Shonda Rhimes. That’s given leverage to big-name filmmakers and showrunners, especially as studios need more content than ever.Hollywood’s legacy companies are pushing into streaming to survive in an age when traditional pay-TV customers are canceling service for cheaper online alternatives. WarnerMedia, Disney and Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal all offer or plan to offer paid streaming services.Abrams has directed some of Hollywood’s highest-profile films, including “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which took in $2.07 billion in worldwide ticket sales. His next “Star Wars” movie, “The Rise of Skywalker,” is due in theaters on Dec. 20.To contact the reporter on this story: Lucas Shaw in Los Angeles at lshaw31@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Zacks
Cracker Barrel (CBRL) to Post Q4 Earnings: What's in Store?
Cracker Barrel's (CBRL) fourth-quarter fiscal 2019 results are likely to be driven by robust comparable restaurant sales.
Zacks
Darden Restaurants (DRI) Reports Next Week: Wall Street Expects Earnings Growth
Darden Restaurants (DRI) doesn't possess the right combination of the two key ingredients for a likely earnings beat in its upcoming report. Get prepared with the key expectations.
Zacks
High Costs Mar Building Products - Retail Industry Prospects
High Costs Mar Building Products - Retail Industry Prospects
Zacks
Prologis' Seattle Multi-Story Warehouse Gets Amazon as Tenant
Prologis' (PLD) multi-story warehouse in Seattle lures retailers that are in race to lower their shipping times.

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