Consumer products maker Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) saw nearly 6% of its share price shaved away last week. That was enough for the company to wrestle away from GE the dubious honor of being the worst-performing Dow Jones industrial average stock of the year so far. P&G’s stock has dropped 19.8% since 2018 began.
The second-worst Dow stock so far this year is General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), which is down 16.7%. That is followed by Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT), down 11.9%; Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), down 9.5%; and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), down 9.4%.
The Dow added 102.8 points over the course of the past week to close at 24,462.94, up just 0.4% for the week.
As far as investors are concerned, Procter & Gamble made two mistakes last week. First, the company said it would pay $4.2 billion for Merck KGaA’s consumer health unit. The acquisition adds vitamins and food supplements to P&G’s stable of over-the-counter products. The business generates about $1 billion in sales in more than 40 markets, not including the United States.
- [By Lisa Levin]
Kroger Co (NYSE: TIF) posted better-than-expected results for its third quarter.
Kroger posted quarterly earnings of $0.44 per share on revenue of $27.75 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.40 per share on revenue of $27.46 billion. Its comparable store sales rose 1.1 percent during the quarter.
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
Hundreds of companies have come out in support of the Paris climate agreement, sealed in December 2015. More than 300 businesses in November signed an open letter calling on Trump and Congress to stay in the pact, including Nike (NKE) , General Mills (GIS) , Tiffany & Co. (TIF) , eBay (EBAY) and Gap (GPS) . Apple (AAPL) , Microsoft (MSFT) and Facebook (FB) were among those signing onto an ad sponsored by sustainability advocate Ceres backing the agreement. The group has also gotten the support of over 280 investors representing more than $17 trillion of assets.
- [By Ben Levisohn]
Tiffany (TIF) has climbed 3.6% to $93.26 after beating earnings forecasts and offering optimistic guidance.
Caterpillar (CAT) has fallen 1.9% to $91.04 after hiring a former attorney general to handle the government investigation into the company.
- [By Lisa Levin]
Kroger Co (NYSE: TIF) posted better-than-expected results for its third quarter.
Kroger posted quarterly earnings of $0.44 per share on revenue of $27.75 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.40 per share on revenue of $27.46 billion. Its comparable store sales rose 1.1 percent during the quarter.
- [By Chris Lange]
Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) is set to release its most recent quarterly results Wednesday as well. The consensus forecast calls for $0.70 in EPS and $913.44 million in revenue. Shares ended the week at $92.92. The consensus price target is $96.72, and the 52-week range is $56.99 to $97.29.
- [By Lisa Levin]
Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter.
Tiffany reported Q4 adjusted earnings of $1.45 per share on revenue of $1.23 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.38 per share on revenue of $1.22 billion.
- [By Matthew Briar]
The phrase “over the top television” or “OTT” for short, aren’t exactly new terms. The phrase/abbreviation was coined shortly after Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) became a viable alternative to traditional cable television subscriptions a little less than a decade ago. The over-the-top battle didn’t get heated, though, until the past few months. But, now that some more gladiators are in the arena, sparks are starting to fly.
They’re still flying too, and should do so for a while if a small startup called Viva Entertainment Group Inc (OTCMKTS:OTTV) has anything to do with it it. See, while Netflix, Hulu — jointly owned by Time Warner, Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOXA) — and a whole slew of other new players in this market may want to take notice of this up-and-comer. At the same time, investors may want to take a step back and look at where the real money in the OTT business is going to be made over the course of the next several years. OTTV plays a prominent role in that picture.
Contrary to popular belief, Netflix isn’t the dominant name it used to be in the Internet-delivered television industry. Yes, it was the first on the scene as such was was able to carve out the biggest piece of the market. It’s largely become a commoditized business in the meantime though.
For example, outside of Hulu and Netflix, CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS) has jumped into the fray with a service called CBS All Access. The product allows subscribers -for a nominal monthly fee – access a variety of CBS programming via the Internet. HBO, from Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX), has found some measurable success with its subscription-based Internet television service called HBO Go.
Sling TV, from DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH), is another one of the alternatives to the alternative that’s truly made a dent in the over the top market…. by aggregating a variety of television channels into an entire package and then selling that p
- [By Matthew Briar]
The phrase “over the top television” – or its acronym “OTT” – aren’t necessarily newly-coined ones. The phrase/abbreviation materialized shortly after Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) became a viable alternative to traditional cable television services less than a decade ago. The over-the-top race didn’t really heat up, however, until the past few months. Once it did heat up though, sparks started to fly in earnest.
They’re still flying too, and will be for a while if a small startup called Viva Entertainment Group Inc (OTCMKTS:OTTV) has anything to say about it. Netflix, Hulu [jointly owned by Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOXA)] and all the rest of the relatively new players in this space may want to look over their shoulder. In the meantime, investors may want to take a step back and look at where the real money in the OTT industry is going to be made during the next 10 years. OTTV plays a prominent role in that picture.
Contrary to popular belief, Netflix isn’t the totally dominant name it used to be in the Internet-delivered television industry. It was admittedly the first on the scene, and therefore was able to carve out the biggest piece of the market (which it still holds to this day). It’s largely become a commoditized business though.
Case in point? Aside from Hulu and Netflix, CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS) has jumped into the game with its product called CBS All Access. The service allows subscribers, for a nominal monthly fee, to access a variety of CBS programming via the Internet. HBO, from Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX), has found respectable success with its subscription-based Internet television service called HBO Go.
Sling TV, from DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH), has really broken new ground in the over the top market by aggregating a variety of television channels into an entire package and then selling that package at a rate that’s much less than what it would cost a cable subscriber
- [By Matthew Briar]
Most consumers broadly, vaguely know that so-called over-the-top television services like Hulu and Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) are slowly chipping away at traditional cable television service providers. But, the full extent of this paradigm shift may not have been fully appreciated until Paywizard published some jaw-dropping statistics about just how fast the OTT sliver of the television market was growing. Perhaps even more compelling to current and would-be owners of Viva Entertainment Group Inc (OTCMKTS:OTTV) is how possible it was for an unestablished name to break into the over-the-top television market and steal business before Netflix and Hulu even get a chance to win it.
As suggested, Viva Entertainment Group is an OTT play, but not in the conventional sense. In short, Viva Entertainment Group will allow anyone to get into the subscription-based IPTV game with their own customized version of an over-the-top service if they don’t have the technology necessary to create their own over-the-top service. See, Viva Entertainment Group is the name behind Viva Middleware… a white label app that any third party can utilize as a means of selling OTT, IPTV services to their crowd of users as a means of generating revenue.
There are multiple advantages to this platform and arrangement, including a custom-built product that can effectively target a particular demographic. Case in point? In August, OTTV entered a joint venture with Oi2 Media to create an OTT product catering to the Latino market. Oi2 Media is the United States’ biggest distributor of Latino-centric digital content, offering both music and television. It’s the name behind CNN en Espanol and ESPN Deportes Radio, just to name a few. It wouldn’t be out of line to call the joint venture something along the lines of a Latino Netflix, but with a variety of channel broadcasts — some live — along with the digital broadcasts of hundreds of Latino radio stations.
That degree of cus
- [By Matthew Briar]
If Viva Entertainment Group Inc (OTCMKTS:OTTV) seems a little perkier than usual today, you’re not imagining things – it is. At first glance it would be easy to conclude it was yesterday afternoon’s news that prodded OTTV a bit, and maybe that’s got something to do with it. More than anything though, the extra spring in the stock’s step most likely has to do with the fact that the company is hosting a pre-launch party this evening, and traders are (understandably) thinking tomorrow could be a very big day for Viva Entertainment Group shares.
If it vaguely rings a bell, that may be because the company announced the event back in mid-November, mentioning there would be special performances by Grammy Award winner Jorge Moreno, and SMG/SONY RED recording artist Soleil J. Guests would also be able to try out the over-the-top television service Viva has built right at the party. Once those attendees see first-hand what a game-changer the platform could be, odds are good they’ll want to invest the next chance they get. That would be Wednesday morning. Waiting until then, however, could be too late, so savvy traders are trickling in now.
As a refresher, Viva Middleware is a turn-key technology that allows anyone to get into the OTT business with their own customized over-the-top television service. Live broadcasts, on-demand, music channels and original programming are all possible. This means they can customize the product locally or regionally, or thematically, like an all-sports or an all sci-fi venue. The possibilities are endless, which is in stark contrast to Netflix’s “what you get is what you get” approach.
Viva Entertainment Group has been putting the pieces of the puzzle together all year long…. technology, personnel, clients, content.
The latest of the personnel additions was announced on Monday -Mr. Rory Conaway is now on the OTTV Board of Directors.
It’s a nice pickup. Rory Conaway has been in the IT and Wireless I
