To be honest I never looked at this website before. I chose Ulta Beauty, Inc., one of the
leading cosmetics and hair product stores in the United States. According to Yahoo finance
the price per share a year ago was 391.64 compared to 419.35 today. This to me seems like
a very steady and strong financial growth for the company, which makes sense based on the
amount of customers the company has. Since they cater to both the low end and high end
consumers, their position in the market is even higher than that of Sephora, their competitor
who only caters to high end consumers. According to Ulta’s website they have over 32
million reward members and an online presence with almost 71 million monthly visitors in
the US alone, making it the leading online beaty retailer in the country. Ulta Beauty is
widely recognized as a major player in cosmetics retail, also controlled a large percentage
of the online beauty sales market, ahead of Amazon and Sephora. Even during the
pandemic, they open ahead of their competitors, and started offering in store pick-up, and
curbside pick-up. The company that I selected is Zoom Video Communications Inc., the
online video communication tool that many people used during the pandemic and even now
if they still work from home. One year ago today the share price was $259.90 and as of
today, the share price is set at $79.61. One of the main reasons that the stock price was very
high a year ago is because that was the time when Covid was still very prevalent and
lockdowns were still taking place. Many jobs during the pandemic were forced to work
from home and so Zoom was a medium that many of these companies used. Since then
many freedoms have been given back and the lockdowns are no longer taking place, all of
the restrictions have since been non-existent at least from what I have seen so far. Many
companies are going back to the office and so the use of Zoom is not really needed as much
as it was during the pandemic. The company's health is going to remain steady because
even though some companies have peeled back from working online, many companies are
also moving online and Zoom is one of the most popular and known reliable tools for
online businesses. For this week's discussion post, I chose to AMC Entertainment Holdings,
Inc. (AMC). Personally, I am huge fan of movies and I enjoy going to AMC theaters to
watch movies. I think it is interesting to see how the company's stock's performance has
fluctuated since the pandemic began back in late 2019. Obviously, movie ticket sales
suffered and more movie watchers chose to rent and/or buy the movie then watch in the
privacy of their homes. With the high number of COVID-19 cases at the beginning of the
pandemic and the restrictions set in place, many AMC theaters were forced to temporarily
close their doors. Not only were movie ticket sales suffering but concession sales took a
plunge as well. AMC's Income Statement from December 31, 2021 shows total revenue of
$2,527,900.00 which is up from the prior year's total revenue of $1,242,400.00. Once the
number of cases went down as well as restrictions were lifted in most states, movie theaters
began reopening a select number of theaters in addition to offering an option to rent a
theater for a private showing. By AMC doing this, the stock prices increased to $30.03 per
share and this was when I decided to purchase some stocks. Currently, stock prices are
down to $5.33 per share for today's closing. I have hope that AMC stocks will rise again
and do well because of the upcoming movie releases that many movie goers are
anticipating. Also, it seems safer to predict that more people will come out to the movies
instead of staying home and spend money on concessions which will stimulate AMC's
financial standings. AMC has reinstated their $5 Tuesdays which helped in the past to
attractive movie goers to come out. They also offer Investor free promotions and screenings
which allows those who have invested in AMC to see new movies before the general public
can which in my opinion is a nice gesture to do. Amazon’s corporate office is located in
Seattle, Washington. They scaled back their deliveries during 2020 due to the riots that
occurred in quite a number of cities. Then mid 2020 they had hundreds of employees called
in sick and basically threatened to strike due to safety concerns for their warehouse
employees. Amazon's President, CEO, and Director Mr. Andrew R. Jassy earns $767.65k
annually. the Sr. VPs, CFI, General Counsel and Secretary earn $163.2k annually.
Amazon's stock performance has steadily dropped over the past 3 years. Today, it closed
down -5.65 on November 1, 2022. It opened this morning at 103.99 at 9:30 a.m. and closed
at 96.79 at 4:00 p.m. For the third quarter 2022, and the preceding nine months ending
September 30, 2022 Amazon.com, Inc reported earnings even though their stock is down.
Amazon reported revenues of $127,101 million USD compared to $110,812 million USD a
year ago. Amazon’s net income is $2,872 million compared to $3,156 million a year ago.
Amazon has the financial strength rank of 6. They show a risk score of 7.00; a score of 0
corresponds to a very high risk and 10 corresponds to a very low risk. Part of Amazon’s
drop is being attributed to because forward earnings estimates have fallen according to
FactSet as a higher cost such as wages have eaten into profit margins. The key factors
affecting its price are its earnings releases, news about the company and the world’s
economic health. Stock prices change every day by market forces. By this we mean that
share prices change because of supply and demand. If more people want to buy a stock
(demand) than sell it (supply), then the price moves up. Amazon reported a $3.8 billion loss
in the previous quarter. Much of that loss was due to its investment in Rivian Automotive, a
struggling electric vehicle manufacturer. Amazon invested in the electric van vehicle
manufacturer anticipating a more diverse delivery vehicle fleet to keep up with changing
regulations on automobiles and fuel consumption. Amazon moves an awful lot of stuff in a
whole lot of different ways. Amazon owns a fleet of planes that brings goods to its fleet of
trucks that brings goods to its warehouses which are then delivered by its fleet of third
party delivery vans. The analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Amazon.com Inc
have predicted a median target of 140.00, with a high estimate of 180.00 and a low estimate
of 80.00. The median estimate represents a +36.71% increase from the last price of 102.41.
Amazon.com announced in March 2022 that its board had approved a 20-for-1 stock split.
It's the first split of the retailer's stock since three splits in the late 1990s. Stock splits have
no effect on the fundamentals of the company, but may indicate that executives are
confident in the direction of the business. Essentially, Amazon is choosing growth over
profits. And, they're able to lose money to grow their market share because investors are
giving them the cash they need to undercut competitors, build out their infrastructure, do
more marketing, increase product development, M&A. Three years ago stocks were at
188.65 having fallen -45.19%. There has been a steady fall in the price of stocks until the
market closed today 11/01/2022 at 96.79. I looked up that shares of Costco dipped 0.09%,
or 29 cents, to last trade near $318.75 in the after-hours session. Revenue has exceeded the
expected amount of $43.8 that was anticipated. $44.77 billion was reported for the fist
quarter, it was more than than the $39.07 billion from last year. In terms of revenue, I think
that it has increased due to COVID. People are starting to see the importance of having
food at home but most importantly they feel safer going out to shop. Some people shopped
to have backup food for emergencies. Based on what I read, I think that Costco has good
financial health. Considering so many companies are going through a financially stressful
time, Costco not only seems to be doing good but they have exceeded any revenue
projections.During these difficult times, many people have lost money because of the
changes in the stock market. When it comes to investing, I think it's important to research
the financial health of a company and deciding if it's worth investing in it. I looked up that
shares of Costco dipped 0.09%, or 29 cents, to last trade near $318.75 in the after-hours
session. Revenue has exceeded the expected amount of $43.8 that was anticipated. $44.77
billion was reported for the fist quarter, it was more than than the $39.07 billion from last
year. In terms of revenue, I think that it has increased due to COVID. People are starting to
see the importance of having food at home but most importantly they feel safer going out to
shop. Some people shopped to have backup food for emergencies. Based on what I read, I
think that Costco has good financial health. Considering so many companies are going
through a financially stressful time, Costco not only seems to be doing good but they have
exceeded any revenue projections.During these difficult times, many people have lost
money because of the changes in the stock market. When it comes to investing, I think it's
important to research the financial health of a company and deciding if it's worth investing
in it.
