Diamonds and Dogs

4/22/20

Snap (SNAP) looking good. The Snapchat parent company is up 26% to a one-month high following earnings. The company lost money, but sales rose 44% to $462.5 million ahead of estimates. Daily active users were 229 million in the first quarter, an increase of 39 million or 20% year-over-year. Snap also said that the time spent playing games on its app doubled while the daily downloads of its Snap Camera, which people use for videoconferences and live streaming rose 30-fold. Ad revenue held up in the quarter, but given the uncertainties related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, SNAP is not providing guidance.

Profit-taking in Kimberly-Clark (KMB). The stock is low even as the company beats earnings by 17 cents as sales revenues rose 7.9%  to $5 billion ahead of estimates. Kimberly-Clark benefited from stockpiling consumer behavior amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Sales in the personal care segment rose 6% to $2.4 billion, and sales in the consumer tissue business soared 13% to $1.7 billion. In addition to Kleenex, Kimberly-Clark brands include Cottonelle and Scott. The company has withdrawn its 2020 guidance due to uncertainty from the pandemic, and it has suspended its share repurchase program until at least the end of the second quarter.