markets

Max Knoblauch2h

There can only be one: Chili’s owner Brinker surges, Wingstop crashes following earnings

It’s a tale of two chickens. Brinker (which owns Chili’s) and Wingstop each reported earnings on Wednesday, and the two restaurant chains are moving in drastically different directions. Brinker surged more than 13%, while Wingstop fell 10%.

Chili’s logged its 20th consecutive quarter of same-store sales growth for Brinker, driving overall growth for the company. Brinker slightly boosted the lower end of its full-year 2026 guidance for both sales and adjusted earnings.

Meanwhile, Q1 domestic same-store sales at Wingstop fell by 8.7%, deeper than analysts had expected. Wingstop lowered its same-store sales forecast to the low single digits.

Both chains sell a lot of chicken, but Chili’s is generally seen as providing a better value with options like its “3 for me” value deals. According to Circana, 29% of all food service traffic in 2025 was driven by deals — a 50-year high.

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What to look for in Microsoft’s Q3 earnings report today

Like its peers, the company’s cloud business and capital expenditure will be scrutinized.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Delivers AI Tour Keynote

markets

Matt Phillips1h

Disk drive duopoly darts higher after Seagate earnings

The hard disk drive was invented back in 1956, but it’s arguably one of the sexiest technologies today — at least judging by the price increases.

Seagate Technology Holdings and Western Digital soared Wednesday after Seagate reported better-than-expected numbers for last quarter and ratcheted up its guidance for the current one, citing demand and price hikes for the once humble hard disk drive.

Bernstein Research analysts wrote of Seagate’s numbers:

“Seagate sees structurally stronger AI-driven HDD demand, with capacity largely allocated through CY27 via LTAs (long term agreements). As AI accelerates data creation, extends retention, and increases reliance on historical datasets for advanced reasoning and training, management sees significant, structural growth in HDD demand. Seagate is seeing stronger demand today than it did 6-12 months ago.”

Bernstein’s Seagate analyst, Mark Newman, also called out the “biggest demand driven QoQ price increase in a decade plus.”

Western Digital, the chief rival of Seagate in the hard disk drive market, ripped on the report as well. (It reports earnings tomorrow after the close.)

Over the last three months alone, Seagate has more than doubled and Western Digital is up more than 90%. Yowza.

Seagate soars on strong quarterly numbers, guidance far above expectations

Seagate soars on strong quarterly numbers, guidance far above expectations

Bernstein Research analysts wrote of Seagate’s numbers:

“Seagate sees structurally stronger AI-driven HDD demand, with capacity largely allocated through CY27 via LTAs (long term agreements). As AI accelerates data creation, extends retention, and increases reliance on historical datasets for advanced reasoning and training, management sees significant, structural growth in HDD demand. Seagate is seeing stronger demand today than it did 6-12 months ago.”

Bernstein’s Seagate analyst, Mark Newman, also called out the “biggest demand driven QoQ price increase in a decade plus.”

Western Digital, the chief rival of Seagate in the hard disk drive market, ripped on the report as well. (It reports earnings tomorrow after the close.)

Over the last three months alone, Seagate has more than doubled and Western Digital is up more than 90%. Yowza.

markets

Avis erases what’s left of its 390% April gain on news that major holder dumped 4.3 million shares

Oftentimes when you rent a car, you take it right back where you got it from.

Same thing for shares of Avis, apparently:

The rental car company’s stock is down about 20% this morning amid a mixed set of quarterly results thanks to the revelation that one of its biggest shareholders, Pentwater Capital Management, sold over 4.3 million shares on April 22 at very wide range of prices (from about $250 to $700).

That session, Avis traded up nearly 19% in the premarket (breaching $800) but closed down a whopping 37.8%. At its premarket lows, the stock had erased its entire monthly gain, which was 390% as of the close on April 21.

Somewhat inexplicably, not only did Avis fail to exhaust the 5 million-share at-the-market offering it launched in late March at the onset of this parabolic move, but it didn’t even sell a share!

“It is important to note that Avis has not bought or sold a share since 2024,” CEO Brian Choi said during the earnings call on Wednesday.

“We were in a quiet period,” he added, when asked about why the company didn’t take advantage of its lofty share price. “But I can tell you this much: we have no intention of issuing shares anywhere near these levels.”

The footnotes of Pentwater’s filings note that some of its sales run afoul of the mandate that insiders and over 10% holders can’t make money on trades within a six-month period, and that it has “agreed to voluntarily disgorge to the Issuer any short-swing profits realized from these matchable transactions in accordance with Section 16(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.”

markets

Claire Yubin Oh3h

Starbucks beats Q2 estimates, raises 2026 guidance

Starbucks shares ticked up as much as 6% in premarket trading on Wednesday after the coffee chain raised its full-year outlook and reported its second consecutive quarter of traffic growth.

CEO Brian Niccol, who joined from Chipotle in a high-profile deal in 2024, commented that the latest quarter “marked the turn in our turnaround as our Back to Starbucks plan drove both top- and bottom-line growth.”

During his tenure, Niccol has focused on addressing a range of customer complaints to improve the chain’s performance, from long waits to a lack of seating. And in its first positive quarter of same-store sales since the start of 2024, same-store sales jumped 7.1% in North American stores and 2.6% internationally for the quarter that ended March 29, driven by higher customer traffic, per the company’s press release. In North America, that blew past consensus expectations for 4% growth.

For the fiscal full year, Starbucks now expects its global and US same-store sales to increase by at least 5%, up from its previous guidance of 3% growth. The company also hiked its adjusted earnings-per-share outlook to a range of $2.25 to $2.45 from $2.15 to $2.40 per share. Niccol also noted that while higher gas prices have yet to change the behavior of Starbucks customers, the higher full-year guidance came with caution about the uncertainty and inflationary consequences of the war.

For the fiscal full year, Starbucks now expects its global and US same-store sales to increase by at least 5%, up from its previous guidance of 3% growth. The company also hiked its adjusted earnings-per-share outlook to a range of $2.25 to $2.45 from $2.15 to $2.40 per share. Niccol also noted that while higher gas prices have yet to change the behavior of Starbucks customers, the higher full-year guidance came with caution about the uncertainty and inflationary consequences of the war.

markets

J. Edward Moreno5h

Booking dives after slashing its guidance as Iran war weighs on its business

Booking Holdings fell as much as 5% in early trading on Wednesday after it slashed its Q2 and full-year guidance as the war in Iran weighs on its business.

The company — which owns brands like Booking.com and Kayak — expects fewer people to book travel accommodations through its sites this year than it had previously forecast, as the war in Iran leaves travel plans uncertain and jet fuel prices remain elevated.

It now expects to report 2026 gross bookings growth in the “high single digits to low double digits,” compared to its previous guidance of “low double digits.” It also forecasts annual adjusted earnings-per-share growth in the “low to mid-teens,” rather than the “mid-teens.”

For the last quarter, Booking reported adjusted EPS of $1.14, ahead of Wall Street estimates for $1.07, with revenue 0.5% higher than forecast, too. However, the company also reported room nights — a critical measure of hotel occupancy — that came in below expectations. The company attributed that miss to more people canceling trips and fewer people booking new ones.

Booking also expects the current quarter to be even more impacted by the war than the last. It expects revenue growth of 4% to 6% in Q2, compared to the 11% analysts polled by FactSet were expecting.

“The thing we absolutely are very certain of is this will end,” Booking CEO Glen Fogel told analysts. “We don’t know when, but it will. We do know travel will normalize. Now, how quickly? That also an unknown thing.”

The report also brought down its competitor, Expedia, by about 2%.

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