Starbucks shares have fallen nearly 40% this year as inflation and Covid-related lockdowns in China have weighed on the company's profitability and outlook. With no clear end to these economic obstacles, Starbucks has removed guidance for the back half of this fiscal year despite confidence these issues will eventually wane. While Starbucks may need to endure a [...]

Occidental Petroleum (OXY) has used the strong oil price environment to pay down nearly half of the debt it took on in 2019 to fund its pricey, ill-timed acquisition of independent oil and gas producer Anadarko. With net debt falling from about $35 billion nearly two years ago to an expected $20 billion this quarter, [...]

Shares of Walmart on Tuesday fell more than 11% after a rare earnings miss was reported along with concerns about a deteriorating retail environment, marking the company's largest single-day loss since the infamous Black Monday in 1987. The discount store operator heads into the weekend having lost around 20% of its market value in just [...]

With oil prices more than doubling since the beginning of 2021 to over $100 a barrel, Exxon has used its surging cash flow to repay practically all of the debt it took on during the pandemic. As a result, the integrated oil giant's debt to capital ratio, or gearing, has fallen from a peak of [...]

Target's stock price dropped a staggering 25% after reporting earnings this week, marking the company's largest single-day loss since the infamous Black Monday in 1987. Almost one-third of the company's market value has been wiped out this week. Adjusted earnings contracted a staggering 40% last quarter despite sales growing a modest 3%, reflecting unexpectedly high [...]

Since the start of 2021, oil has surged from $50 per barrel – around the price Chevron needs to cover both its dividend and capital expenditures – to over $100. Oil and gas producers have enjoyed swelling profits over this period, enabling many of them to significantly improve their financial strength following a historically difficult [...]

Cisco will be the latest battered tech stock when the market opens Thursday. Shares of the networking giant slumped as much as 15% in after-market trading following the firm's disappointing earnings results and guidance.At the midpoint of guidance, Cisco expects sales in the current quarter to fall roughly 3% year-over-year, missing analyst estimates calling for nearly [...]

Leggett & Platt is now trading with one of the highest yields offered by a Dividend King at over 4.5%, as fragile economic conditions have weighed on the company's stock.Stubbornly high inflation and continued supply chain disruptions have led to lower sales volumes for the manufacturer of engineered components such as mattress springs and foams, [...]

McDonald's on Monday announced intentions to sell its Russian business, two months after temporarily suspending operations in the country due to the war in Ukraine. While the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is tragic and the headlines about McDonald's exit of Russia may create some anxiety for conservative income investors, these issues should not impact the [...]

As inflation weighs heavy on consumers' pocketbooks, shares of apparel retailers have fallen nearly 30% this year, almost double the broader market decline.On top of shoppers' stretched budgets, clothing retailers continue to battle shipping and supply challenges exasperated by this year's Covid-related lockdowns in China, the world's largest textile producer.These economic headwinds have pushed shares [...]

Philip Morris on Wednesday announced plans to acquire Swedish Match in a $16 billion all-cash transaction, marking a major step in the international Marlboro maker's transition to a smoke-free company. While this deal will increase Philip Morris's leverage ratio from about 2x to 3x, its highest level in at least a decade, management reassured investors that they [...]

Shares of T. Rowe Price have slumped nearly 50% since late 2021, sending the stock's dividend yield to levels not seen since the depths of the pandemic and the 2007-09 financial crisis. As one of the world's largest money managers, T. Rowe generates most of its revenue from investment advisory fees charged for managing clients' [...]