Cleanup in the shampoo aisle
Drugstore downturn
Good morning, my jagged little pills. This is your Stock Market Rundown for June 29th, 2023. Thanks for joining me. Let’s dig in:
TODAY’S TOP STORY: WE HAVE THE CVS RECEIPTS🧾
Drugstore stocks could do with some help from the Pepto-Bismol aisle lately: the end of the pandemic is giving them an upset tummy.
While you may be a loyal customer of your local CVS for your supply of Trojan condoms and Muscle Milk, overall front-of-the-store sales haven’t been enough to make up for the steep drop-off in COVID tests and vaccines.
Walgreens slashed its full year outlook and vowed to step up cost-cutting. On its most recent earnings call, the CEO moaned that shoppers are “feeling the strain” of higher inflation and interest rates. Translation: they’re cutting back on everything from Lemon Lime Gatorade, to Old Spice aftershave, to extra-strength Tylenol. (After a Friday night out, I personally could use all three.)
Competing drugstore CVS is known for both being #1 in number of retail locations, and doling out receipts as long as Vanilla Ice’s rap sheet.
Earlier this year CVS spent billions to buy an operator of primary-care clinics for seniors. Will providing prescription refills to Carl and Irma help the chain buck the negative trend? We’ll have to wait for its Q3 report to find out.
Some drugstore trivia to entertain your friends: CVS stands for “Consumer Value Stores”. Best acronym glow-up since KFC.
SO WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
A C-list celebrity was involved in a crypto scam? Wow. I didn’t know that. You’re telling me now for the first time.
Hasbro is rebooting Furby, the “hamster-owl-creature-thing” toy that annoyed parents in the 90s and sold 40 million units. They should give it an AI brain so it can do your taxes too.
A startup that uses AI to mine for the metals needed for electric vehicles and cell phones just raised $200 million from Bill Gates and other elite investors. Tech that gives you “X-ray specs” to view through rock is an old timey prospector’s fantasy made real.
A li’l ray of sunshine: the chief economist of a leading bond rating agency bucks consensus to say “odds are fading” that a recession is nigh. OK, cool. Whatever keeps me enjoying free bubble tea in our workplace cafeteria.
That’s it for today, see you bright and early tomorrow. Yours in capitalism, The Axe