Race for the EV Big 3 [mrPliskin/E+ via Getty Images]
Hey Snackers,
Delivery-only “ghost kitchens” have been cropping up everywhere, and we just got another one: DJ Khaled is launching an international chicken-wing delivery through Another Wing.
Stocks slipped today despite strong earnings from Target and Lowe’s. Visa shares slumped and pulled the Dow down after Amazon said it would stop accepting Visa cards in the UK next year.
Halle-lucid... The sedans are coming. EV startup Lucid went public via a SPAC merger in July, and began delivering its luxury sedans to driveways last month. Yesterday, the Lucid Air — aka Lucid’s first product — was crowned car of the year by auto magazine Motor Trend. It’s the first time the award has been given to a carmaker’s first vehicle (FYI: Tesla won in 2012 for the Model S). The specs:
Making Elon sweat... Lucid shares soared 23% yesterday after it won the award and dropped its first public earnings on Monday. It’s now worth more than Ford, even though it delivered zero vehicles last quarter and lost more than $500M. Investors were revved up over future sales.
We could get an EV Big 3… Just like GM, Ford, and Stellantis (fka Fiat-Chrysler) are the Big 3 Detroit car companies, we could see a Big 3 of California EV makers if Lucid and Rivian can scale like Tesla has. EV purchases in the US have nearly doubled from a year ago and growth is expected to accelerate. But consumers want more options than just Tesla. Tesla still accounts for the majority of EVs sold in the US, but it’s expected to lose market share in the coming years.
Stocked and loaded… Walmart’s holiday shopping carts. Walmart beat quarterly sales growth expectations, but profits plunged 40% from last year on higher supply and labor costs. FYI: Target, Macy’s, and Kohl’s, which face similar supply and labor crunches, also report earnings this week.
Ship, ship, hooray… US holiday spending is expected to hit a record $800B+ this season — great news for retailers with inventory, but a missed opportunity for those running short. Last month, shipments from Asia took twice as long and cost twice as much as pre-pandemic. Walmart, Home Depot, and Costco started paying for private ships as early as May to keep shelves stocked. Now...
More problems can mean more money… for companies that can afford to tackle them. Everyone’s dealing with supply and labor headaches. But Walmart has the cash and infrastructure to handle them — and gain a competitive advantage in the process. Walmart is known for keeping prices steady as inflation rises, cutting into profits to attract more customers. The cost of keeping shelves stocked is high, but it could pay off in more market share. Other companies like Amazon and Chipotle are also spending big to overcome supply and labor obstacles and win customers.
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Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Pfizer, Ford, GM, Tesla, Netflix, Walmart, and Amazon
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