Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. General Motors — Shares jumped 5% after the automaker said it would raise its quarterly dividend by 25% to 15 cents per share. GM also initiated a $6 billion share repurchase plan, with $2 billion in buybacks planned for the second quarter. Anheuser-Busch InBev — Shares of the world’s largest brewer surged about 9% following a fourth-quarter earnings and revenue beat . For the quarter, Anheuser-Busch InBev posted adjusted earnings of 88 cents per share on revenue of $14.84 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet had respectively penciled in 69 cents per share and $14.18 billion. Stellantis — The automaker shed 4% after posting full-year 2024 net profit of 5.5 billion euros , which was under the 6.4 billion euros analysts polled by LSEG had forecasted and down 70% from 18.6 billion euros in full-year 2023. Lowe’s — The home improvement retailer popped 3% on better-than-expected fourth-quarter results . Lowe’s earned an adjusted $1.93 per share on revenue of $18.55 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG expected a profit of $1.84 per share on revenue of $18.29 billion. Bloomin’ Brands — Shares plunged 17% after the Outback Steakhouse owner posted first-quarter and full-year earnings guidance that were under FactSet’s consensus estimates. Advance Auto Parts — The automotive parts supplier plummeted 14% after Advance Auto Parts predicted that first-quarter same-store sales would fall 2%, while FactSet consensus had called for a 0.7% drop. The company also expects first-quarter revenue to come in at $2.5 billion, below expectations of $2.62 billion. However, Advance Auto Parts delivered a fourth-quarter beat in adjusted losses and revenue. NRG Energy , GE Vernova — Shares of NRG Energy and GE Vernova respectively popped 11% and nearly 7% after the two companies announced a new partnership , together with Kiewit, to increase new electricity generation in response to rising computing power demand from artificial intelligence use cases. Super Micro Computer — Shares jumped 18% after the server company filed delayed financial documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Super Micro Computer had faced the prospect of being delisted from the Nasdaq if it did not make the filings soon. The company said in a press release it has now “regained compliance” with the exchange. Workday — The finance and human resources software maker added nearly 6% following its fourth-quarter earnings and revenue beat . Workday posted adjusted earnings of $1.92 per share, beating the LSEG consensus estimate of $1.78 per share. Revenue came in at $2.21 billion, versus the $2.18 billion expected from analysts. Axon Enterprise — Shares soared about 17% after the Taser maker reported fourth-quarter results that beat analyst expectations on both the top and bottom line. In its last quarter, Axon earned $2.08 per share, ex-items, while FactSet consensus had called for $1.40 per share. The company’s $575 million revenue also exceeded the forecast for $566 million. Intuit — The tax software provider surged 12% as earnings for the fiscal second quarter impressed Wall Street. Intuit earned an adjusted $3.32 per share on $3.96 billion in revenue, while analysts polled by LSEG anticipated earnings of $2.58 a share and revenue at $3.83 billion. Flywire — The global payments stock plunged more than 40% after the company reported a fourth-quarter miss on the top and bottom lines. Flywire also said that it would cut around 10% of its current workforce, under a new restructuring plan. AST SpaceMobile — The satellite manufacturer jumped 10% after announcing a contract award in support of the U.S. Space Development Agency through a prime contractor. The contract’s total revenue is expected to be $43 million. AppLovin — The mobile software stock tumbled 10% after short sellers Culper and Fuzzy Panda both released short reports on Wednesday. In its report, Fuzzy Panda alleged that AppLovin had used tactics such as “Ad Fraud” and stolen data from Meta Platforms. Health insurers — Health insurer stocks moved lower on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the House narrowly passed a Republican budget bill that would cut Medicaid spending. Shares of Molina Healthcare and Centene each dropped more than 7%. Lucid Group — The electric vehicle maker saw shares tumbling more than 11% after news that CEO Peter Rawlinson has stepped down . Lucid did report a narrower-than-expected loss for the fourth quarter and said it expects to more than double vehicle production this year to 20,000 units. Instacart — Shares of the grocery delivery company slid 11% after it reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue and issued soft guidance for the current quarter. The company posted fourth-quarter revenue of $883 million, below the $891 million estimate that analysts polled by FactSet were expecting. Meanwhile, Instacart expects adjusted EBITDA of between $220 million and $230 million for the first quarter, less than the consensus forecast of $237.1 million. Freeport-McMoRan — The U.S. copper miner rose about 5% after the White House started an inquiry that could lead to the imposition of tariffs on imported copper. Southern Copper and the Global X Copper Miners ETF (COPX) each advanced more than 2%. Brinks Co. — The armored car and cash handling company gained 2%. Fourth quarter earnings of $2.12 per share, excluding items, topped Wall Street estimates of $1.89 per share, according to FactSet. Revenue of $1.26 billion beat a consensus of $1.25 billion. — CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Michelle Fox, Alex Harring, Fred Imbert, Yun Li, Jesse Pound and Scott Schnipper contributed reporting.
People shop for produce at a Walmart in Rosemead, California, on April 11, 2025.
Frederic J. Brown | Afp | Getty Images
A growing number of Americans are using buy now, pay later loans to buy groceries, and more people are paying those bills late, according to new Lending Tree data released Friday.
The figures are the latest indicator that some consumers are cracking under the pressure of an uncertain economy and are having trouble affording essentials such as groceries as they contend with persistent inflation, high interest rates and concerns around tariffs.
In a survey conducted April 2-3 of 2,000 U.S. consumers ages 18 to 79, around half reported having used buy now, pay later services. Of those consumers, 25% of respondents said they were using BNPL loans to buy groceries, up from 14% in 2024 and 21% in 2023, the firm said.
Meanwhile, 41% of respondents said they made a late payment on a BNPL loan in the past year, up from 34% in the year prior, the survey found.
Lending Tree’s chief consumer finance analyst, Matt Schulz, said that of those respondents who said they paid a BNPL bill late, most said it was by no more than a week or so.
“A lot of people are struggling and looking for ways to extend their budget,” Schulz said. “Inflation is still a problem. Interest rates are still really high. There’s a lot of uncertainty around tariffs and other economic issues, and it’s all going to add up to a lot of people looking for ways to extend their budget however they can.”
“For an awful lot of people, that’s going to mean leaning on buy now, pay later loans, for better or for worse,” he said.
He stopped short of calling the results a recession indicator but said conditions are expected to decline further before they get better.
“I do think it’s going to get worse, at least in the short term,” said Schulz. “I don’t know that there’s a whole lot of reason to expect these numbers to get better in the near term.”
The loans, which allow consumers to split up purchases into several smaller payments, are a popular alternative to credit cards because they often don’t charge interest. But consumers can see high fees if they pay late, and they can run into problems if they stack up multiple loans. In Lending Tree’s survey, 60% of BNPL users said they’ve had multiple loans at once, with nearly a fourth saying they have held three or more at once.
“It’s just really important for people to be cautious when they use these things, because even though they can be a really good interest-free tool to help you kind of make it from one paycheck to the next, there’s also a lot of risk in mismanaging it,” said Schulz. “So people should tread lightly.”
Lending Tree’s findings come after Billboard revealed that about 60% of general admission Coachella attendees funded their concert tickets with buy now, pay later loans, sparking a debate on the state of the economy and how consumers are using debt to keep up their lifestyles. A recent announcement from DoorDash that it would begin accepting BNPL financing from Klarna for food deliveries led to widespread mockery and jokes that Americans were struggling so much that they were now being forced to finance cheeseburgers and burritos.
Over the last few years, consumers have held up relatively well, even in the face of persistent inflation and high interest rates, because the job market was strong and wage growth had kept up with inflation — at least for some workers.
Earlier this year, however, large companies including Walmart and Delta Airlines began warning that the dynamic had begun to shift and they were seeing cracks in demand, which was leading to worse-than-expected sales forecasts.
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading: T-Mobile — Shares pulled back 11% after the company’s wireless subscribers for the first quarter missed Wall Street estimates. T-Mobile reported 495,000 postpaid phone additions in the first-quarter, while analysts polled by StreetAccount were looking for 504,000. Alphabet — The Google parent company gained about 2% on the heels of better-than-expected first-quarter results . Alphabet reported $2.81 per share on revenue of $90.23 billion, while analysts polled by LSEG forecast $2.01 in earnings per share and $89.12 billion in revenue. Skechers — Shares fell 4.8% after the footwear maker posted weaker-than-expected revenue for the first quarter and withdrew its 2025 guidance due to ” macroeconomic uncertainty stemming from global trade policies .” The company’s earnings for the quarter came in above analysts’ estimates, however. Gilead Sciences — The biopharmaceutical stock fell 2.5% after first-quarter revenue came in at $6.67 billion, missing the consensus forecast of $6.81 billion from analysts polled by LSEG. However, the company earned $1.81 per share, excluding items, in the quarter, beating Wall Street’s estimate of $1.79 a share. Saia — Shares of the shipping company fell 31% after first-quarter results missed estimates and showed a slowdown in March. Saia reported $1.86 in earnings per share on $787.6 million in revenue. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting $2.76 in earnings per share on $812.8 million in revenue. BMO Capital Markets downgraded the stock to market perform from outperform and said the issues were “company specific.” Intel — The chipmaker declined 7% after Intel’s current quarter missed investors’ expectations. Intel forecast revenue in the June quarter of $11.8 billion at the midpoint, while consensus forecasts called for $12.82 billion, per LSEG. Management anticipates earnings will break even. Intel also announced plans to reduce both its operational and capital expenses. Boston Beer — Shares of the Samuel Adams brewer were more than 1% higher after better-than-expected first-quarter results. Boston Beer notched earnings per share of $2.16 on revenue of $453.9 million, while analysts polled by FactSet were looking for 56 cents per share on revenue of $435.6 million. Boston Beer cautioned that tariffs could hurt full-year earnings. Tesla — The Elon Musk-helmed electric vehicle company surged 10%. Shares have advanced more than 17% this week as the broader market tries to recover from a steep sell-off for much of April. — CNBC’s Jesse Pound, Alex Harring and Sean Conlon contributed reporting. Get Your Ticket to Pro LIVE Join us at the New York Stock Exchange! Uncertain markets? Gain an edge with CNBC Pro LIVE , an exclusive, inaugural event at the historic New York Stock Exchange. In today’s dynamic financial landscape, access to expert insights is paramount. As a CNBC Pro subscriber, we invite you to join us for our first exclusive, in-person CNBC Pro LIVE event at the iconic NYSE on Thursday, June 12. Join interactive Pro clinics led by our Pros Carter Worth, Dan Niles and Dan Ives, with a special edition of Pro Talks with Tom Lee. You’ll also get the opportunity to network with CNBC experts, talent and other Pro subscribers during an exciting cocktail hour on the legendary trading floor. Tickets are limited!
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell: Meta Platforms — The Facebook and Instagram parent jumped about 3%. Meta cut staff in its Reality Labs division, CNBC reported. Alphabet — The Google and YouTube owner climbed more than 4% after first-quarter results topped Wall Street expectations. Alphabet earned $2.81 per share on $90.23 billion in revenue for the quarter, while analysts surveyed by LSEG had estimated $2.01 per share and $89.12 billion in revenue. T-Mobile — Shares of the telecommunications company fell 5.5% after it reported fewer first-quarter wireless phone subscribers than the Street expected, seeing 495,000 postpaid phone additions versus analysts’ call for 504,000, according to StreetAccount. Earnings and revenue for the first quarter topped Street estimates. Intel — The chipmaker fell 7.2% after the outlook for the current quarter disappointed investors. Intel guided for revenue in the June quarter to come in at $11.8 billion at the midpoint, less than consensus calls for $12.82 billion, according to LSEG. Management anticipates earnings will break even. Intel also announced plans to reduce its operational and capital expenses. Gilead Sciences — The biopharmaceutical stock slid 3.9% after posting first-quarter revenue of $6.67 billion, missing the consensus estimate of $6.81 billion from analysts polled by LSEG. Gilead earned $1.81 per share, excluding items, in the quarter, while Wall Street penciled in $1.79. Skechers — The footwear maker slumped 6% after reporting lower-than-expected first-quarter revenue and withdrew its 2025 forward financial forecasts on account of ” macroeconomic uncertainty stemming from global trade policies .” Skechers’ bottom-line results came in above analysts’ forecasts. Charles Schwab — The financial services provider advanced 1.4% after Goldman Sachs upgraded shares to buy from neutral, calling Schwab a resilient growth stock amid an uncertain backdrop. Hasbro — The toy company rose about 1% one day after soaring 15%. Citigroup raised its investment opinion to buy from neutral, saying Hasbro’s stronger-than-expected Wizards of the Coast business outweighs any uncertainty stemming from tariff policy, according to analyst James Hardiman. Boston Beer — Shares of the Samuel Adams brewer rose nearly 3% after first-quarter results beat expectations. Boston Beer generated $2.16 in earnings per share on $453.9 million of revenue, while analysts surveyed by FactSet looked for 56 cents per share on $435.6 million in revenue. Boston Beer warned in its outlook that tariffs could hurt full-year earnings. — CNBC’s Alex Harring and Jesse Pound contributed reporting. Get Your Ticket to Pro LIVE Join us at the New York Stock Exchange! Uncertain markets? Gain an edge with CNBC Pro LIVE , an exclusive, inaugural event at the historic New York Stock Exchange. In today’s dynamic financial landscape, access to expert insights is paramount. As a CNBC Pro subscriber, we invite you to join us for our first exclusive, in-person CNBC Pro LIVE event at the iconic NYSE on Thursday, June 12. Join interactive Pro clinics led by our Pros Carter Worth, Dan Niles and Dan Ives, with a special edition of Pro Talks with Tom Lee. You’ll also get the opportunity to network with CNBC experts, talent and other Pro subscribers during an exciting cocktail hour on the legendary trading floor. Tickets are limited!