Diamonds and Dogs

3/3/17

Snap (SNAP) is the newest and hottest IPO. The Internet chat website is up over 10% after jumping 44% yesterday from their IPO price of $17. The biggest IPO since Alibaba now has a market cap of $31 billion even though they lose over $500 million a year. Some investors question whether the company will ever make a profit and where the big ad dollars will come from. Google and Facebook eventually figured it out, but others like Twitter still have not. Time will tell if Snap can figure it out.

Costco (COST) is costing shareholders money. The big box retailer is down 4% after missing earnings and sales estimates. Earnings came in at $1.17, below the $1.36 expected by Wall Street analysts. Revenue came in at $29.13 billion, below expectations for $29.86 billion. Same-store sales were also a disappointment, rising 3% against expectations for a 3.5% increase. To add insult to injury, the wholesale retailer announced it would raise the price of its Goldstar membership by $5 per year to $60. Its Executive membership fee will rise by $10 a year to $120.