In this Placer Bytes, we dive into Hibbett’s growth and the overall strength of the sporting goods sector, and break down the latest from Panera. Hibbett Sports has had an exceptionally strong run lately, and analyzing visit trends for the brand shows that this should be of little surprise. Like industry leader Dick’s Sporting Goods, Hibbett kicked off 2020 with a bang, with 5.7% and 9.6% year-over-year visit growth in January and February respectively.
Skilled mathematicians, physicists, and computer scientists have long been coveted by top hedge funds and big tech companies. For years, these sectors have competed over this technical talent pool to generate profitable trading algorithms, build infrastructure, and targeted ad platforms. But commentary on this war for talent has been little more than conjecture. Who is actually winning the war to attract top talent - top hedge funds or big tech?
When Disney reopened in a hard-hit Florida, there was little anticipation of normalcy, but many felt the reopening failed to live up to expectations. Even comparing weekly visits to crosstown theme park rival Universal Studios saw Disney with larger gaps in terms of year-over-year traffic for the weeks of July 6th and July 13th. Yet, not only is the growth coming for Disney, but even the gap with Universal is also closing.
Three weeks of earnings are now behind us, which means we’re officially entering the back half of this 2Q earnings season. This week, we’re highlighting SimilarWeb data on Roku, Wix, Wayfair, Carvana, Booking, and Etsy. The data presented below is Desktop only, unless explicitly stated otherwise.
In this Placer Bytes, we break down traffic for one of the top pharmacies and analyze the recoveries for Wendy’s, Shake Shack and Wingstop. Though clearly within the essential retail category, CVS felt the impact of COVID. Visits reached a low point in April with traffic down 36.8% year over year. Yet, from that point, the brand has seen a strong recovery with visits down 27.8% year over year in May and just 10.6% in June.
Looking at national rideshare trends, the gradual recovery of the industry is obvious. Both leading merchants have now regained about 25% of the ground they lost since their high points earlier in March. This slow but steady increase began mid-April and has continued since then, although spending from late June to early July showed a bit of a drop.
The home fitness industry is growing rapidly, with several companies now offering interactive fitness hardware with subscription access to classes, private training, or workouts. High-tech at-home workouts have been increasing in popularity, and among select private companies in this space, recent growth has been impressive. Our data indicates that Q2 2020 saw nearly 780 percent more consumers purchasing versus Q2 2019. Not all of this growth is due to the pandemic.
In this Placer Bytes we take a bite out of McDonald’s, dive into the data surrounding Yum! Brands and check in on The Cheesecake Factory. One of the top QSR players, McDonald’s had a strong start to 2020. Monthly traffic for the brand was up year-over-year 7.9% and 13.4% for January and February respectively.
In the upcoming week, an estimated 890 public companies will report their 2Q performance. While next week will have even a larger number of companies reporting, the world’s leading companies – including Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, and Facebook – will be reporting this week. As always, we’ve prepared digital insights on the companies that are reporting. This week, we have earnings insights on Apple, Paypal, Spotify, Shopify, Expedia, and Next UK. Keep in mind that all the data below is desktop data only.
Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts are two of the most well-known and well-loved brands in the country. And while they were hit hard by the pandemic, recovery is underway for both. The shutdown meant more than closed stores and work from home, it represented a fundamental shift in the normal patterns of behavior for most people in the country.
Overall earnings were up 3% from May ($10.2B) and 9% over June 2019 ($9.6B). Both PC and console revenue were down from their 2020 peaks set in March. This was offset by growth in mobile revenue, which hit an all-time high. Mobile game spending typically sees a boost in the summer months, and this seasonal growth was likely further bolstered by the limited availability of other entertainment options due to COVID-19.
The wholesale sector has been so thoroughly dominated by Costco in recent years, that one can be forgiven for ignoring other players in the space. Yet, Sam’s Club has been on the rise and BJ’s Wholesale has seen a massive surge since the start of the pandemic. So, has the space gotten more competitive with Costco seeing downturns in visits for the first time in years? Can the giant recover considering it still operates heavily in some of the hardest-hit states?
As we prepare for a large swath of companies to report earnings in the next few weeks, LinkUp decided to take a look at jobs data to see if we could find an indication of what to expect. To start, we selected a handful of stocks whose 10 day average of active jobs have shown movement either up or down over the past 30 days.
In this Placer Bytes, we break down Tractor Supply’s surge, Chipotle’s post-shutdown status, and the potential of some of Bloomin’ Brands’ top assets. Tractor Supply did not kick off 2020 with the strongest start, but the company’s pandemic and recovery performance have been especially impressive. Even with the difficulties created by the COVID pandemic, the brand has seen four out of six months in 2020 with year-over-year visit growth including massive jumps of 31.6% and 19.9% in May and June, respectively.
After Netflix and the banks kicked off earnings season last week, the companies reporting this week get a bit more diversified as different industries step into the spotlight. This week is the appetizer after last week’s amuse-bouche, and the next two weeks will constitute the main course of this earnings season.
Ahead of Snowflake's rumored IPO, ETR reviews its most recent data to determine whether Snowflake can maintain its elevated adoption rate & continue penetrating the largest accounts in the world. The information below was collected through a topical study ETR conducted in May 2020.
Earnings season is here, and so are SimilarWeb’s earnings insights for companies reporting in the upcoming week. Every week, we’ll publish relevant digital data points ahead of key earnings reports. This week officially opens up earnings season, with expected reports from Netflix, Dominos, JPMorgan, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Ocado.
Key industrials across Europe are showing signs of stronger recovery, with footfall to manufacturing plants in both staple and discretionary sectors reaching new highs in the last week. According to Huq’s ‘Key Industries Indicator’, which tracks the number of employees attending workplaces across a range of sectors, every industry measured has seen a sharp increase since the middle of last month
Early in 2020, we put together a list of brands that would end the year as clear winners. And halfway through, we’re still feeling good about our picks. Target’s pandemic low has been replaced by a recovery surge. Ulta, CVS, Chick-fil-A, and Chipotle are already within striking distance of 2019 levels, and even Bed Bath & Beyond is showing strength in recent weeks.
Investors of all stripes have a well-known tendency towards loss aversion and academic literature has consistently described that property owners tend to sell winners and hold losers. Therefore, at this time of market dislocation – when deal flow is down substantially and assets may be forced onto the market, either because of breached covenants or liquidity requirements – we have looked at how far prices would have to fall in the major global markets for owners to see their gains wiped out.
