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A couple walks by Estee Lauder store in Kuala Lumpur.
(Faris Hadziq/Getty Images)

Estée Lauder shares sink on weak outlook and a billion-dollar restructuring charge

Shares tumbled more than 11% on Tuesday after the beauty giant’s current-quarter forecast underwhelmed investors. It also plans to cut up to 7,000 jobs.

Nia Warfield

Estée Lauder shares tumbled more than 10% on Tuesday after the beauty giant gave a weak outlook for the current quarter, took a $1 billion restructuring charge, and said it plans to cut up to 7,000 jobs. 

Despite the shake-up, Estée’s Q2 results managed to top expectations. Sales for the quarter hit $4 billion, edging past Wall Street’s $3.98 billion forecast. Meanwhile, earnings per share came in at $0.62 — nearly double estimates. Still, the Bobbi Brown and Clinique parent continues to struggle with weaker consumer spending in North America as well as key markets like South Korea and China. Sales have declined year over year for the past two straight quarters.

For the current quarter, it said it expects to earn $0.24 to $0.34 a share, far below analysts’ expectations of $0.63, according to FactSet.

The company also unveiled Beauty Reimagined, a new restructuring program aimed at driving more sustainable sales growth and improving margins. The plan includes “unburdening smaller brands” and ramping up ad spending, among other efforts.

Estée Lauder shares are down more than 50% over the past year.

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Retail traders are “skipping the dip” this time

Here’s one noteworthy feature of the recent market downturn that has the S&P 500 poised for its worst week since reciprocal tariffs were announced in early April: retail traders seemingly aren’t eager to buy the weakness in single stocks the way they used to be.

JPMorgan strategist Arun Jain has flagged that retail traders instead appear to be “skipping the dip.”

“In contrast to the behavior observed during the post-Liberation Day selloff, retail investors did not seize the opportunity to buy-the-dip on Tuesday, with a few exceptions such as META,” he wrote of the day where the benchmark US stock index fell 1.2%. “In fact, they scaled back their ETF purchases and turned net sellers in single stocks.”

Then on Thursday, when the S&P 500 fell 1.1%, Jain projected that retail traders sold $261 million in single stocks. Through noon ET on Friday, his daily outflow estimate stands at $851 million.

With that intel, it’s little wonder why the carnage this week has been particularly intense in more speculative single stocks that had been favored by the retail community, including IREN, IonQ, Rigetti, Cipher Mining, Bloom Energy, and Oklo.

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Archer Aviation plunges on $650 million share sale following its third-quarter results

Air taxi maker Archer Aviation is deep in the red on Friday morning after reporting its third-quarter results after the bell Thursday. The stock is down more than 12%.

Investors don’t appear to be thrilled about the company’s $650 million direct stock offering, announced alongside its results.

The move marks at least the third major equity raise, and dilution, for Archer this year. The company raised $300 million from a new stock sale in February, and sold $850 million worth of shares in June.

On Archer’s earnings call Thursday, interim CFO Priya Gupta said the company came to the decision after “substantial inbound interest.” According to Gupta, the company has heard from government and commercial partners that liquidity is a “key driver to their decisions of who to partner with.” With its latest share sale, Archer said its total liquidity is more than $2 billion.

The move marks at least the third major equity raise, and dilution, for Archer this year. The company raised $300 million from a new stock sale in February, and sold $850 million worth of shares in June.

On Archer’s earnings call Thursday, interim CFO Priya Gupta said the company came to the decision after “substantial inbound interest.” According to Gupta, the company has heard from government and commercial partners that liquidity is a “key driver to their decisions of who to partner with.” With its latest share sale, Archer said its total liquidity is more than $2 billion.

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