McDonald's, Tesla, Disney: Stocks That Defined the Week
May 14 2021 - 6:45PM
Dow Jones News
By Francesca Fontana
McDonald's Corp.
Businesses are shelling out more in wages and perks to woo
hourly workers. McDonald's said it would boost pay for employees at
company-owned U.S. restaurants. Amazon.com Inc. announced plans to
hire 75,000 more workers and offer $1,000 signing bonuses at some
locations. The retail company said its openings offer average pay
of $17 an hour, more than its typical hourly starting wage of $15.
McDonald's shares rose 0.8% on Thursday.
Marriott International Inc.
Newly vaccinated travelers apparently are ready to be hotel
guests again. Marriott said demand is rising in the U.S. and Canada
as Covid-19 vaccine rollouts accelerate. Despite losing money in
the first quarter, the hotel chain said it saw leisure travel pick
up momentum, especially in ski and beach resort destinations, as
well as in special corporate and group bookings. Marriott expects
demand from business travelers to accelerate in the fall as
businesses reopen, though leisure bookings remain the main driver
of recovery in the U.S. Marriott shares fell 4.1% on Monday.
Kinder Morgan Inc.
A shutdown of the largest U.S. fuel pipeline bottled up the East
Coast. Colonial Pipeline, which transports about 45% of the fuel
consumed in the region, was the target of a ransomware attack that
forced it to shut the conduit down. The stoppage caused thousands
of gas stations to run out of fuel and helped push prices to their
highest levels in 6 1/2 years. In the aftermath, shares of other
energy pipeline companies such as Kinder Morgan rose Monday.
Closely held Colonial restarted pipeline operations Wednesday, and
the company was said to pay a ransom in cryptocurrency worth about
$5 million to the criminal hackers. Shares of Kinder Morgan climbed
2.3% on Monday.
Novavax Inc.
A Covid-19 vaccine contender has to wait longer for its shot.
Novavax said Monday that it had pushed back plans to seek
regulatory clearance for its vaccine while shortages in raw
materials are slowing the increase in production of doses. The
delays might set back efforts to increase vaccinations in
developing countries, which have been dealing with limited doses of
currently available shots and are looking forward to Novavax's
offering. The company said previously that it expected to complete
requests for regulatory authorizations of its Covid-19 vaccine in
the U.S., the U.K. and other countries by the end of June. Now the
company says it expects to complete those filings by the end of
September. Novavax shares lost 14% on Tuesday.
Domino's Pizza Inc.
The billionaire investor Bill Ackman owns a stake in Domino's
Pizza. During The Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything
Festival, Mr. Ackman said his Pershing Square Capital Management LP
holds nearly 6% in the pizza chain and saw a buying opportunity
when shares dipped recently. He said he likes that the pizza chain
has its own delivery infrastructure and doesn't rely on services
such as DoorDash Inc. Though Mr. Ackman is best known as a
shareholder activist, he has lately taken stakes such as these in
companies he regards as well-run and hasn't publicly advocated for
change. Domino's shares added 0.7% on Wednesday.
Tesla Inc.
Tesla hit the brakes on bitcoin. Chief Executive Elon Musk said
Wednesday on Twitter that the company has suspended accepting the
cryptocurrency as payment for its vehicles because of concern about
the use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining and transactions. Mr.
Musk said bitcoin will be used for transactions once mining
"transitions to more sustainable energy." Tesla shares fell 3.1% on
Thursday.
Walt Disney Co.
The streaming boom is running into more interference. Disney
said Thursday that its flagship streaming service, Disney+, added
fewer users than Wall Street had expected after months of
torrential growth. More than a year of quarantines and stay-at-home
orders accelerated an industrywide shift toward direct-to-consumer
services that made subscriber growth -- and not box-office sales --
the leading metric of studios' success. The end of lockdowns and
mask mandates is good news for Disney's lucrative parks division
and studio releases, but presents new challenges for its
18-month-old streaming operation. Earlier this year, Netflix Inc.
announced its subscriber sign-ups had slowed during the reopening.
Walt Disney shares lost 2.6% on Friday.
Write to Francesca Fontana at francesca.fontana@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 14, 2021 18:30 ET (22:30 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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