Diamonds and Dogs

10/30/19

General Electric (GE) jumps on earnings. GE is up 11% to a three-month high following earnings and a boost to 2019 free-cash-flow guidance. Culp, the first outside CEO in the company's long history, has been in the job just over a year. He took over during a brutal stretch for the stock when shares fell from more than $30 to less than $7 between 2016 and 2018. The RBC analyst raised its full-year 2019 free-cash-flow estimate by $1 billion and maintains a Buy with a $13 price target. Let's hope he's right.

Yum Brands (YUM) not so yummy. The owner of Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell is down 7% to a five-month low following disappointing earnings.  The company's same-store sales also came in below expectations blamed on weak sales at Pizza Hut. Besides headwinds in their business, Yum Brands also had to lower their investment value in GrubHub which dropped over 40% the other day on earnings. Yum Brands took a 15 cent negative impact on the third quarter earnings from Grubhub.