Vital Farms, an Austin-based "ethical" egg producer, made its Wall Street debut Friday, with shares soaring 68 percent after trading began.
Husband and wife team Matt O'Hayer and Catherine Stewart founded the company in 2007 as a small urban farm in south Austin with 20 hens. It has since expanded distribution into 13,000 stores, including Target, Whole Foods Market, and Walmart, and become the number one producer of pasture-raised eggs and butter.
"They saw an opportunity to bring food to Americans in a more ethical way with better outcomes for all stakeholders, most notably the animals that produce the food," CEO and president Russell Diez-Canseco told Cheddar shortly before the closing bell.
The pasture-raised label is not officially recognized by the USDA, but it generally refers to the amount of space afforded to livestock. Vital Farms' hens are provided 108 square feet of space and "plenty of fresh air and sunshine year-round," according to the company.
Diez-Canseco noted that Vital Farms is currently in just 2 percent of U.S. households and that the company plans to expand beyond its main product categories of eggs and butter.
"Beyond that, you could certainly imagine us continuing to expand within value-added dairy, which is a really big and growing market," he said. "Consumers we've talked to would love to have lots of different kinds of food produced by Vital Farms."
Vital Farms' high price point compared to competitors does present a challenge amid the ongoing economic downturn brought on by coronavirus.
"We certainly put a lot of thought into that every day," Diez-Canseco said. "The truth is, producing food in a way that's sustainable for all stakeholders, meaning that delivers on better outcomes for small family farms (who often lose at the end of the movie in this country), for consumers, for our employees, for communities, and for shareholders, isn't a cheap endeavor."
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
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