#financialresults

I wonder what word salad SteveB is going to come out with on the results release - will we have new words to add to our Lingo Bingo, or just the usual ones.

Let’s see.

In my opinion we are DOA…. Catastrophic results month after month… the new leaders took a company with a chance and a heartbeat only to ki-l it and pretend it’s alive and kicking. Anyone who was worth keeping have long since gone and more going. But hey… the ceo and his new team have found ways to pay themselves well so good for them.

It’s really ridiculous reading these bragging about Q1 financial success and people excited below in the comments with peans. This results cost hundreds suddenly laid off employees, not raises, not focal for every singular worker. That’s exactly the politics - you are important, you bulid our success.

Gap continues to show signs of being on firmer footing.

On Thursday, the San Francisco-based specialty retailer reported that net sales for the second quarter ended Aug. 2 reached $3.7 billion, which were flat compared to last year, though comparable sales, a better barometer of the business, rose 1 percent year-over-year.

Operating income was essentially flat at $292 million from $293 million a year ago. Net income rose to $216 million, up from $206 million in the year-ago period.

“When we roll up all of the components of our business and we look at our quarter results, it’s really showing our strategy is working,” Richard Di-kson, president and chief executive officer of Gap Inc., told WWD. “We had another solid quarter. We overdelivered on our profit expectations, and we achieved our top-line goals. Comps were up 1 percent in total. That’s the sixth consecutive quarter of positive comps, and our three largest brands all posted positive comps for the second quarter,” Di-kson said, referring to Old Navy, Gap and Banana Republic. Gap Inc.’s portfolio also includes Athleta.

“We’ve been building a strong balance sheet. We’ve got cash balances right now of $2.4 billion, which is up 13 percent year-over-year. So this is a real story about doing what we say we’re going to do, delivering with consistency, and it’s giving us great confidence as we head into the second half.”

Despite the stronger results, the retailer’s shares fell 2.8 percent to close at $21.68.

Gap Inc. expects $150 million to $175 million in tariff impact on its fiscal 2025 operating income, which translates to 100 to 110 basis point impact on operating margin.

“What’s really important is that while there’s an impact in 2025 we do not expect the annualization of tariffs in 2026,” Katrina O’Connell, Gap Inc.’s chief financial officer, told WWD. “As we look to address tariffs this year, we’re utilizing a lot of the levers. We’ve discussed thoughtful adjustments to our sourcing. We’re looking at manufacturing, we’re looking at assortments, we are doing some targeted pricing. But we’re really focused on sustaining the momentum and market share gains that our reinvigoration playbook is driving as we pursue our tariff mitigation plans.”

Asked what’s been selling best, Di-kson said, “It’s been an exciting denim season for the industry, but I think in particular, Gap brand has been leading the way.” He cited the launch last week of the “Better in Denim” campaign featuring the Katseye girl group, and said the campaign has become the number-one search on TikTok, with 400 million total views. “It’s proving Gap is a powerful pop culture brand, but the denim category for Gap and Old Navy has been outstanding for us. Going into the back half, we will continue that momentum.”

Di-kson also cited the active category as a strong performer, particularly at Old Navy, fueled by a recent campaign with Lindsay Lohan and product innovation, and strategic partnerships. “Our Disney partnership this past quarter was very successful combination of what we call family appeal and trend-right products.”

Di-kson continues to search for a new head of Banana Republic. The position has been vacant for over a year, though Di-kson has been very involved in rejuvenating the brand.

“Banana Republic does over $2 billion worth of business. There are very few $2 billion brands in the industry so you need somebody who really understands how to operate a brand at scale. Over the last year we’ve been working very hard to reestablish the brand, the positioning, the vision, the codification, if you will, and now that we’ve evolved as a brand we’re looking for somebody who can accelerate and execute against a strategy and vision versus reshaping the brand. The brand is in very good condition now.”

Banana Republic’s second-quarter net sales of $475 million were down 1 percent compared to last year, but comparable sales rose 4 percent.

Old Navy, the largest volume brand in the Gap Inc. portfolio, generated second-quarter sales of $2.2 billion, up 1 percent compared to last year. Comparable sales rose 2 percent. “Old Navy continues to demonstrate consistency in execution with reinvigoration efforts continuing to progress,” the company indicated in a statement issued Thursday.

Gap brand’s second-quarter net sales of $772 million were up 1 percent compared to last year. Comparable sales were up 4 percent, achieving positive comparable sales for the seventh consecutive quarter.

Athleta’s second-quarter net sales of $300 million were down 11 percent compared to last year, while comparable sales were down 9 percent. “The brand continues to focus on resetting for the long term and improving its product and marketing, which will take time,” the company noted.

In other statistics, Gap Inc.’s store sales decreased 1 percent compared to last year, but online sales increased 3 percent and represented 34 percent of total sales. The company ended the quarter with about 3,500 store locations in over 35 countries, of which 2,486 were company-operated.

Asked why store sales were down slightly, Di-kson replied, “We believe in our stores. Stores are a really important way for our customers to experience our brand. We’re also at a pivotal point with our fleet, which is positioned much more optimally. We’ve been doing a lot of coming back over the last several years. We’re also testing some new formats and experience like Gap in Flatiron and Banana Republic in SoHo,” Di-kson said, referring to the two Manhattan neighborhoods

“We believe we’ve got great opportunity to drive more business out of our stores,” Di-kson said. “But on balance, we really look at our omnichannel approach as a way to gauge our business and our consumer reaction.” Some of the decline in store sales is due to closures, particularly at Banana Republic, but traffic overall at the stores was up last quarter.

Gross margin in the second quarter came to 41.2 percent and decreased 140 basis points versus last year. Merchandise margin decreased 150 basis points versus last year, primarily driven by lapping the benefit of incremental sales in the second quarter of fiscal 2024 relating to the company’s revenue-sharing agreement with its credit card partners.

“Gap Inc. overdelivered on profit expectations and achieved our top-line goals. With positive comps for the sixth consecutive quarter, fueled by our three largest brands Old Navy, Gap and Banana Republic, it’s clear our strategy is working,” Di-kson said in his prepared statement. “Two years ago, I shared my vision for leading Gap Inc. into an exciting new chapter. Since then, we’ve built a stronger foundation with more relevant brands, a sharper operating platform, and a more unified culture while consistently demonstrating agility and resilience in dynamic environments. We are advancing our transformation with discipline, clarity, and momentum and remain committed to building a high-performing company that delivers sustainable, long-term value for our shareholders.”

The company ended the second quarter with cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $2.4 billion, an increase of 13 percent from the prior year.

This was done solely for profit. In a time of a weak job market, aggressive inflation, and the dawn of AI, they just crushed people’s lives for money. At a recent summer regional, Penny stated a few times, “over my dead body will this place be sold”. When you have to be that declarative, then you know the field and home office no longer trust you. She is the female version of Andy Sieg. She also stated she is rewriting the Partnership. To change the required age of MP retirement? Perhaps we have a dictator on our hands. Perhaps to change the by-laws to make it easier to sell? She has hired inexperienced EJ leaders for her ELT…external hires, in a sense creating a board of directors. And when she sells, guess what? The GPs get the premium or excess paid for the equity…you as a LP will only get your capital back. Reminds me of 2008 with another proud St. Louis institution - Anheuser Busch. August the 4th was incompetent Iike Penny and he too “invited the barbarians in the gate” meaning the executives from InBev which allowed them to plan the takeover.

So thank you heir dictator you truly are a “penny stock” - you bring little to no value and come with many disclaimers.

Nothing says ‘financial recovery plan’ quite like betting the company’s future on a boy-band side quest. At this rate, the only thing timeless about Fossil will be the bankruptcy papers.

Our Journey these past 6 years…

For those who started in 2019 and after, the firm was not this way. It ranked highly on Best Places to Work, JD Power for both client and associate satisfaction, etc. It was a place where qualifications, education, experience, and success mattered. Not your makeup at birth. It was a place where our MP didn’t get lost in creating grandiose corporate speak or buzzwords where she thinks eloquence means leadership - it doesn’t. You may not be responsible for this situation, you are not to blame but without you knowing it - you helped create it. It was a firm who took pride in the strong workforce it created.

A timeline of a cultural crisis:

2019:
January 1 - Penny becomes the 6 managing partner.
T1 - Ambitious goal setting starts on corporate and field representation on various societal, political, and cultural ideology important to her agenda. The word smithing goes into hyperdrive. The field become disenchanted with her verbiage on “our clients”. This becomes a lightening rod of contention with those who create the revenue versus those who decide to split it.
T2 - Same as above
T3 - Same as above
Penny earned $11.5 million in 2018. Her first year in 2019 as MD she received a modest increase in pay to $11.67 million.

2020: COVID

March 14th - home office associates are sent home.
March 20th - STL Business Journal publishes an article on Penny’s pick as Chief of Human Resources, Kristin Johnson. Titled “Life in Balance: Kristin Johnson runs hard at work and play”. This article lauds her zero experience in HR and how Kristin feels being an entry level c-suite executive to a new role adds confidence with those she leads and builds trust around the policy of the firm. This is a watershed mark in Penny placing mandates on hiring quotas for people unqualified for roles. Across the firm hiring requisitions are left open longer than 365 days to hit certain quotas.
March/April - Penny takes a page from 2009 and freezes wages. Only to repeal her decision a few weeks later as her public pay increase is published. Her pay raise is 25.7% to $14.7 million.
April - we have 473 general partners.
T3 - Penny, sensing continued dissatisfaction with field leadership and in line with her belief that a merit based decision process is cumbersome, invites all RLs into the GP population ballooning the number to over 700.
October an associate sends the following to Penny’s Page:
“Never have I felt so disconnected from the firm and where it seems to be headed. It's not COVID and working remotely. That part doesn't help to be sure, but it's more a divergence in mindset and philosophy. I've grown up feeling extremely aligned with the firm. The business was relatively simple, leadership was transparent, trustworthy and directional. It's not any one thing that's changed. It's all of it. And I think it's as you have described it - slowly and then suddenly. I would guess that as someone reads this, they will probably take it as affirmation that the firm is making the needed changes and that losing someone like me along the way is a necessary by-product. Might be true. But it's also precisely what I mean by what is changing at the firm. The firm I knew would have cared and truly wanted to bring everyone along. I feel like now, this might merely be an afterthought and the unfortunate but necessary exhaust fumes of a firm accelerating away from who it was.”

2021:
March - field attrition is spiking. Divisive rhetoric and policies are challenging the FA ethos “We’ll leave you alone as long as you run a sound, profitable, and ethical office”
March - industry news shares her pay is now $22.6 million and that Penny will start the $1.5 billion tech spend and buy a RIA.
Mid Year - her plans to buy an industrial bank starts to unravel.
Mid Year - yearly home office local events like Six Flags and Grants Farm are cancelled since HBAs are unable to attend.
T3- in addition to increased field attrition, home office veteran departures start to increase. Trimester bonuses start to decrease across the home office. A trend that is present today.

2022:
Billions in assets are hemorrhaging. FAs dissatisfied at the slowness of adoption is preventing them from evolving leave for other firms.
The uptick in GP departures increases. The political and DEI measures creates the liability and discrimination lawsuits that snowballs into 2025.
July 2 - Jennifer Marcontell leaves for Ameriprise
Penny makes certain FAs a partner to prevent their exodus.
Since 2022 to present the outflow of level 10s has never been this high.
Former partners go into competition with Edward Jones in creating their own firm.
2022 is the year that Penny decides internal talent are not suitable to her agenda. She hires David Chubak and others from outside of the industry and a few BDs.
The amount of capital balloons which, in turn, su-ks profit and preventing further investment back into the business.

2023:
The home office hiring spree with bloated salaries and sign on bonuses creates an overspend of the hiring budget by $20 million.

November 29 - An email is sent to all home office associates titled, “The Home Office Colleague Experience”. A 9 minute video where Penny wanted to give “timely updates around our work to improve the home office’s colleague experience”. A Mea Culpa was issued regarding the past few years and that Jennifer Kingston will prioritize both Total Rewards and morale while combating the dark cloud that became the climate. An extra vacation day was provided to all associates as the first step. Penny states that since July 2020, the firm had hired 2,700 new associates due to the past few years of attrition and new leaders trying to restructure their teams and departments because they did not understand the model they inherited. The loss of years of a culture and the brain trust of experience has created a vacuum especially with new leaders and associates trying to understand the Edward Jones ecosystem.

2024:
T1 - Penny says her husband is “afraid we’re going to run out of money during retirement”. Her 2024 total earnings get a 15.7% bump to $29 million.
T2 - The SFA feedback on the ELT is the lowest ever recorded. Weather then address it, and realizing the need to build out the UHNW area and over capitalized with GP capital. The plan for Enterprise Reimagined is hatched.
T3 - Offsourcing increases rapidly to India. Roughly 400 associates in service and operations are let go with the first set of severance packages. This marks the first time for EJ to offer severances other than to GPs.

2025:
T1 - Enterprise Reimagined is formally announced.
Attrition in the field increased to 6.4 from 5.3 one year prior.
New households drop 55% when compared to a year prior.
New assets slipped by 10% year over year.
Retirement plans and aging clients to blame. The collapse of various training departments among other areas of the firm has led to a decrease in coaching on business outcomes. Asset flows to competitors increases not due to aging but increase in fees, subpar FA service, lack of cross generational planning, and FA losses.
T2 - Enterprise Reimagine is formally launched. The next timeline begins for 2026 in sourcing and shoring and 2027 will wrap up ER with AI and automation. In 2028 the next MP will not be a MP but a CEO.

Penny’s Yearly Earnings Recap:
2019 = $11.7 million.
2020 = $14.7 million.
2021 = $22.6 million.
2022 = $21.4 million.
2023 = $25 million.
2024 = $29 million.
Total = $124,400,000.

Every time quarterly results disappoint in any way, I start worrying about cuts. It doesn’t take much for leadership to decide and pull the trigger if it helps them get out of the hot seat faster. I might be paranoid, but something tells me I’m not far from the truth.

Not that there is any direct correlation, but the last time Canon Global pulled this cr-p was the end of Q2, 2024. 8 days before the mass layoffs in Canon USA.

"On August 22, Canon announced the completion of a significant share repurchase: approximately 9.8 million shares were bought back for 42.95 billion yen through the Tokyo Stock Exchange's off-auction system (ToSTNeT-3) 1. While share buybacks are generally seen as a positive move to return value to shareholders, they can also raise concerns if investors interpret them as a signal that the company lacks better growth opportunities or if the buyback is perceived as poorly timed.

Additionally, sentiment analysis from MarketBeat shows that news coverage around Canon has been slightly negative over the past week, with a sentiment score of -0.35, below the average for manufacturing companies 2. This could be contributing to the downward pressure on the stock."

Kodak Dumps Pension Plan to Pay Off Massive $500 Million Debt.
https://tonernews.com/forums/topic/kodak-dumps-pension-plan-to-pay-off-500-million-massive-debt/

Source below. The Economist, Aug 21st 2025 - 5 min read

Donald Trump’s fantasy of home-grown chipmaking

• To remain the world’s foremost technological power, America needs its friends

How low mighty Intel has fallen. Half a century ago the American chipmaker was a byword for the cutting edge; it went on to dominate the market for personal-computer chips and in 2000 briefly became the world’s second-most-valuable company. Yet these days Intel, with a market capitalisation of $100bn, is not even the 15th-most-valuable chip firm, and supplies practically none of the advanced chips used for artificial intelligence (AI). Once an icon of America’s technological and commercial prowess, it has lately been a target for subsidies and protection. As we published this, President Donald Trump was even mulling quasi-nationalisation.

More than ever, semiconductors hold the key to the 21st century. They are increasingly critical for defence; in the ai race between America and China, they could spell the difference between victory and defeat. Even free-traders acknowledge their strategic importance, and worry about the world’s reliance for cutting-edge chips on tsmc and its home of Taiwan, which faces the threat of Chinese invasion. Yet chips also pose a fiendish test for proponents of industrial policy. Their manufacture is a marvel of specialisation, complexity and globalisation. Under those conditions, intervening in markets is prone to fail—as Intel so vividly illustrates.

To see how much can go wrong, consider its woes. Hubris caused the firm to miss both the smartphone and the ai waves, losing out to firms such as Arm, Nvidia and tsmc. Joe Biden’s CHIPS Act, which aimed to spur domestic chipmaking, promised Intel $8bn in grants and up to $12bn in loans. But the company is floundering. A fab in Ohio meant to open this year is now expected to begin operations in the early 2030s. Intel is heavily indebted and generates barely enough cash to keep itself afloat.

A factory worker in a red baseball cap holding up a shining silicon wafer
Illustration: Deena So'Oteh
The sums needed to rescue it keep growing. By one estimate Intel will need to invest more than $50bn in the next few years if it is to succeed at making leading-edge chips. Even if the government were to sink that much into the firm, it would have no guarantee of success. The company is said to be struggling with its latest manufacturing process. Its sales are falling and its plight risks becoming even more desperate.

The Biden administration failed with Intel, but Mr Trump could make things worse. He has threatened tariffs on chip imports, and may try to browbeat firms such as Nvidia into using Intel to make semiconductors for them. These measures might buy Intel time but they would be self-defeating for America. Chipmaking is not an end in itself but a critical input America’s tech sector requires to be world-beating. Forcing firms to settle for anything less than the best would blunt their edge.

What should America do? One lesson is not to pin the nation’s hopes on keeping Intel intact. It could sell its fab business to a deep-pocketed investor, such as SoftBank, which has reportedly expressed interest in buying it and this week announced a $2bn investment in Intel. Or it could sell its design arm and pour the proceeds into manufacturing. Intel may fail to catch up with TSMC even then. Either way, the federal government should not throw good money after bad. Taking a stake in Intel would only complicate matters.

That leads to a second lesson: to look beyond Intel and solve other chipmakers’ problems. tsmc is seeking to spread its wings. It is running out of land for giant fabs in Taiwan and its workforce is ageing. It has already pledged to invest $165bn to bring chipmaking to America. A first fab is producing four-nanometre (nm) chips and a second is scheduled to begin making more advanced chips by 2028. Samsung, a South Korean chipmaker that is having more success than Intel, is setting up a fab in Texas. But progress has been slow: Samsung and TSMC have both struggled with a lack of skilled workers and delays in receiving permits.

The last lesson is that, even if domestic chipmaking does make America more resilient, the country cannot shut itself off from the rest of the world. One reason is that the supply chain is highly specialised, with key inputs coming from across the globe, including extreme-ultraviolet lithography machines from the Netherlands and chipmaking tools from Japan. The other is that Taiwan and its security will remain critical. Even by the end of this decade, when tsmc’s third fab in America is due to begin producing 2nm chips, two-thirds of such semiconductors are likely to be made on the island. TSMC’s model is based on innovating at home first, before spreading its advances around the world.

To keep America’s chip supply chains resilient, Mr Trump needs a coherent, thought-through strategy—a tall order for a man who governs by impulse. No wonder he is going in the wrong direction. On Taiwan he has been cavalier, confident that China will not invade on his watch, while failing to offer the island consistent support. His tariffs on all manner of inputs will raise the costs of manufacturing in America; promised duties on chip imports will hurt American customers. He thrives on uncertainty, but chipmakers require stability.

A sensible chip policy would make it attractive to build fabs in America by easing rules over permits and creating programmes to train engineers. Instead of using tariffs as leverage, the government should welcome the imports of machinery and people that support chipmaking. Given the bipartisan consensus on the importance of semiconductors, the administration should seek a policy that has Democratic support—with the promise of continuity from one president to the next.

Economic nationalists should also see the progress of chipmakers in allied countries as a contribution to America’s security. Samsung is aiming to start producing 2nm chips in South Korea later this year. Rapidus, a well-funded chipmaking startup in Japan, is making impressive progress. Both countries have a tradition of manufacturing excellence, and may have a better shot at emulating Taiwan.

The chipmaking industry took decades to evolve. It is built for an age of globalisation. When economic nationalists build their policies on autarky, they are setting themselves a needlessly hard task—if not an impossible one.

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/08/21/donald-trumps-fantasy-of-home-grown-chipmaking

Does Intel need $ ?
Is this true? How does Jim Cramer see what others can't?

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jim-cramer-says-intel-needs-033717705.html

Massive layoffs in November to pay for their $1 Billion share repurchase program? Or will it be your raise is so small it won't even get you a hamburger at the local restaurant. Would you like fries with that?

News article titled, 'Thomson Reuters Announces $1.0 Billion Share Repurchase Program.'

If you were part of the layoff, you received 8 weeks of severance, unless you worked at F5 for 13 years or more. Eight weeks. For up to twelve years service. For a company that has had multiple back-to-back record setting quarters.

You're welcome, I guess, for creating product, over the years, that generated those revenues. For a company that claims to care for its employees (and in the past, actually did), this is more aligned with the Jelly of the Month Club.

Is this really the best they could do?

These numbers have to be fudged.

https://www.wsj.com/business/earnings/kyndryl-posts-higher-profit-as-businesses-keep-spending-on-tech-becda043

Company reaffirmed its full-year outlook and said its latest results keep it on track to meet long-term targets

By: Connor Hart
Aug. 4, 2025 4:35 pm ET

Businesses are continuing to invest in technologies that boost productivity and shore up operations, according to Kyndryl Chief Executive Martin Schroeter.

“Customers are completely willing to engage in discussions to help them take advantage of opportunities like AI, or prepare for challenges such as cybersecurity and new regulatory environments,” he said Monday.

Demand for the company’s consulting services, as well as its cloud and AI partnerships, has remained strong, Schroeter added. That strength helped Kyndryl deliver sharply higher profit in its latest quarter, as companies continued spending on technology despite economic uncertainty.

Consulting revenue rose 30% in the quarter, while signings over the past 12 months climbed 36%. The company’s pipeline is stronger than a year ago, and Schroeter said he expects consulting to keep expanding as clients prepare for new regulatory environments and integrate AI more deeply into operations.

Artificial intelligence is also at the center of Kyndryl’s long-term growth strategy.

Companies are increasingly turning to the firm to ready their infrastructure and workforces for AI, from strengthening security to improving day-to-day operations. Kyndryl is investing heavily to support those efforts, Schroeter said, pointing to partnerships with major players such as Nvidia, Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise as part of its bid to stay at the forefront of AI adoption.

Revenue tied to work with cloud hyperscalers, such as Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google was about $400 million in the recent quarter, an 86% year-over-year increase that the company said puts it on track for its target of $1.8 billion this year.

Kyndryl, spun off from International Business Machines in 2021, provides information-technology infrastructure services. The New York company designs, builds and manages information systems for thousands of clients in more than 60 countries.

The company posted a profit of $56 million, or 23 cents a share, for its fiscal first quarter, which ended June 30, compared with $11 million, or 5 cents a share, a year earlier. Adjusted earnings were 37 cents a share, just ahead of the 36 cents analysts polled by FactSet had expected.

Revenue was roughly flat at $3.74 billion, below Wall Street’s $3.8 billion estimate.

Kyndryl reaffirmed its fiscal 2026 outlook, guiding for adjusted pretax income of at least $725 million and free cash flow of about $550 million. Schroeter said the latest quarter’s results keep the company on track to meet its long-term fiscal 2028 targets, which call for tripling cash flow and doubling profit.