Macy's shares soared Tuesday morning after the company far exceeded profit estimates. The retailer also said it reached an agreement to sell some of its real estate assets to Brookfield Asset Management. Joining The Long and The Short to discuss is Melissa Gonzalez, CEO, and Founder of The Lionesque Group and Melissa Armo, Founder of The Stock Swoosh.
Armo says she's pleasantly surprised by Macy's gaining such a big lead at the beginning of the year. She believes tax reform will also help a lot of the retailers, including Macy's, throughout 2018. However, she thinks Macy's still needs to figure out a way to bring more foot traffic to the stores. Gonzalez is excited about Macy's improving e-commerce business and the decision to scale back the discounts and flash sales.
Plus, is real estate retail's next big asset? Gonzalez says it's a smart move to partner with Brookfield Asset Management and sell off some office space, similar to what Lord & Taylor did with WeWork. However, Macy's ultimately needs to bring more customer experiences to the store to compete with the elephant in the room, Amazon.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said Thursday that the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. in the current fiscal quarter will be sourced from India, while iPads and other devices will come from Vietnam as the company works to avoid the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on its business. Apple’s earnings for the first three months of the year topped Wall Street’s expectations thanks to high demand for its iPhones, and the company said tariffs had a limited effect on the fiscal second quarter’s results. Cook added that for the current quarter, assuming things don’t change, Apple expects to see $900 million added to its costs as a result of the tariffs.
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A labor rights group has alleged that Starbucks sourced coffee from a major Brazilian cooperative whose member farms were cited for keeping workers in slave-like conditions.
