Check out the companies making headlines before the bell. VF Corp – Shares soared nearly 20% following the North Face and JanSport parent’s better-than-expected quarterly results. For the fiscal second quarter, the company posted adjusted earnings of 60 cents per share on $2.76 billion in revenue. Analysts surveyed by LSEG were looking for 37 cents per share and $2.71 billion in revenue. VF Corporation also declared a quarterly dividend of 9 cents per share. Ford Motors – Shares of the automaker slid 7% after Ford guided to the low end of its previously announced full-year earnings guidance, even as it slightly exceeded analysts’ third-quarter expectations. Ford said it now expects its adjusted EBIT of about $10 billion. Ford has been grappling with softening demand, rising inventory and worries about its ability to achieve cost cuts this year. Cadence Design Systems – The stock jumped more than 5% after the electronic design company’s third-quarter earnings beat Wall Street estimates. Cadence Design earned $1.64 per share, excluding items, on revenue of $1.22 billion, above the consensus estimate of $1.44 per share and $1.18 billion in revenue, according to LSEG. The company also raised the midpoint of its non-GAAP earnings per share outlook for 2024. F5 – The cloud services stock surged more than 10% on the heels of better-than-expected results. For the fourth fiscal quarter, F5 posted $3.67 in adjusted earnings per share on revenue of $747 million. Analysts had estimated $3.45 in earnings per share on $731 million in revenue for the period, per LSEG. BP – Shares slid more than 2% after the British oil major posted its weakest quarterly results in almost four years . The company reported third-quarter underlying replacement cost profit of $2.3 billion. While that’s better than the consensus estimate of $2.1 billion, according to LSEG, the figure is down from the $2.8 billion in net profit the company posted for the second quarter and from the $3.3 billion seen in the third quarter a year ago. McDonald’s – The fast food chain reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that beat analyst expectations, with the company reversing a same-store sales decline from the previous quarter. Still, shares dipped more than 2% in the premarket. Pfizer – Shares added 1.3% after the vaccine maker surpassed the Street’s estimates and lifted its guidance, citing sales upside from Covid-related products. Pfizer posted adjusted earnings of $1.06 per share on $17.7 billion in revenues. Trex – Shares rose 7% after the maker of composite deck materials beat the Street’s estimates. Trex posted adjusted earnings of 37 cents per share in the third quarter, above the 32 cents analysts polled by FactSet were expecting. Revenue also came in ahead of expectations at $233.7 million versus $225.4 million. Boot Barn – The western-wear retailer’s stock fell more than 7% after the company’s second-quarter earnings matched expectations of 95 cents a share, per LSEG. Meanwhile, revenue beat consensus estimates. Boot Barn also said CEO Jim Conroy is set to step down , effective Nov. 22, with digital chief John Hazen taking over as interim CEO. In December, Conroy will join Ross Stores as CEO-elect. Crypto stocks – Stocks tied to the price of bitcoin rose in premarket trading as the cryptocurrency topped $70,000 for the first time since June . Crypto exchange operator Coinbase advanced 3%. Bitcoin proxy MicroStrategy advanced 5%, after notching its highest closing level Monday since March 2000. JetBlue – Shares of the airline slid 7% after fourth quarter guidance called for shrinking revenue. JetBlue said it expects fourth quarter revenue down between 3% and 7% year over year, worse than the 1.4% decline projected by analysts, according to LSEG. JetBlue’s third quarter results did beat analyst estimates on the top and bottom lines. D.R. Horton – The stock sank 10% after the homebuilder reported disappointing fourth-quarter results. Earnings came in at $3.92 per share, below the $4.17 a share expected from analysts polled by LSEG. Revenue was $10 billion, less than the $10.22 billion consensus estimate. D.R. Horton said rate volatility may be keeping some buyers on the sidelines in the near term. Robinhood Markets – Shares rose more than 1% after Mizuho lifted its price target on the financial services platform ahead of the company’s third-quarter earnings results after market close on Wednesday. PayPal – Shares fell 3% after PayPal posted third-quarter revenue that missed expectations. Revenue of $7.85 billion was weaker than the $7.88 billion anticipated by analysts polled by FactSet. On the other hand, adjusted per-share earnings of $1.20 topped the $1.07 estimate. Xerox — The stock dropped more than 18% after the printer manufacturer reported much weaker-than-expected quarterly results. Xerox earned an adjusted 21 cents per share on revenue of $1.53 billion. Analysts polled by StreetAccount anticipated a profit of 51 cents per share on revenue of $1.63 billion. The company also cut its free cash flow guidance for the full year and now sees 2024 revenue declining 10%. Crocs – Shares tumbled around 12% despite the company’s third-quarter earnings beating estimates. Crocs earned $3.60 per share, excluding items, on revenue of $1.06 billion, above the consensus estimate of $3.10 per share on $1.05 billion in revenue, according to FactSet. Its outlook range for the fourth quarter, however, came in below analysts’ expectations. The company also narrowed its full-year forecast. — CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han, Samantha Subin, Jesse Pound, Sarah Min, Pia Singh, Tanaya Macheel and Michelle Fox Theobald contributed reporting.
Leading analyst Craig Moffett suggests any plans to move U.S. iPhone assembly to India is unrealistic.
Moffett, ranked as a top analyst multiple times by Institutional Investor, sent a memo to clients on Friday after the Financial Times reported Apple was aiming to shift production toward India from China by the end of next year.
He’s questioning how a move could bring down costs tied to tariffs because the iPhone components would still be made in China.
“You have a tremendous menu of problems created by tariffs, and moving to India doesn’t solve all the problems. Now granted, it helps to some degree,” the MoffettNathanson partner and senior managing director told CNBC’s “Fast Money” on Friday. “I would question how that’s going to work.”
Moffett contends it’s not so easy to diversify to India — telling clients Apple’s supply chain would still be anchored in China and would likely face resistance.
“The bottom line is a global trade war is a two-front battle, impacting costs and sales. Moving assembly to India might (and we emphasize might) help with the former. The latter may ultimately be the bigger issue,” he wrote to clients.
Moffett cut his Apple price target on Monday to $141 from $184 a share. It implies a 33% drop from Friday’s close. The price target is also the Street low, according to FactSet.
“I don’t think of myself as the biggest Apple bear,” he said. “I think quite highly of Apple. My concern about Apple has been the valuation more than the company.”
Moffett has had a “sell” rating on Apple since Jan. 7. Since then, the company’s shares are down about 14%.
“None of this is because Apple is a bad company. They still have a great balance sheet [and] a great consumer franchise,” he said. “It’s just the reality of there are no good answers when you are a product company, and your products are going to be significantly tariffed, and you’re heading into a market that is likely to have at least some deceleration in consumer demand because of the macro economy.”
Moffett notes Apple also isn’t getting help from its carriers to cushion the blow of tariffs.
“You also have the demand destruction that’s created by potentially higher prices. Remember, you had AT&T, Verizon and T. Mobile all this week come out and say we’re not going to underwrite the additional cost of tariff [on] handsets,” he added. “The consumer is going to have to pay for that. So, you’re going to have some demand destruction that’s going to show up in even longer holding periods and slower upgrade rates — all of which probably trims estimates next year’s consensus.”
According to Moffett, the backlash against Apple in China over U.S. tariffs will also hurt iPhone sales.
“It’s a very real problem,” Moffett said. “Volumes are really going to the Huaweis and the Vivos and the local competitors in China rather than to Apple.”
Apple stock is coming off a winning week — up more than 6%. It comes ahead of the iPhone maker’s quarterly earnings report due next Thursday after the market close.
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In a year that hasn’t been kind to many big-name stocks, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is standing near the top. Berkshire shares have posted a 17% return year-to-date, while the S&P 500 index is down 6%.
That performance places Berkshire among the top 10% of the U.S. market’s large-cap leaders, and the run has been getting Buffett more attention ahead of next weekend’s annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. It’s also good timing for the recently launched VistaShares Target 15 Berkshire Select Income ETF(OMAH), which holds the top 20 most heavily weighted stocks in Berkshire Hathaway, as well as shares of Berkshire Hathaway.
“It’s a really well-balanced portfolio chosen by the most successful investor the world has ever seen,” Adam Patti, CEO of VistaShares, said in an appearance this week on CNBC’s “ETF Edge.”
Berkshire’s outperformance of the S&P 500 isn’t limited to 2025. Buffett’s stock has tripled the performance of the market over the past year, and its 185% return over the past five years is more than double the performance of the S&P 500.
Berkshire Hathaway is one of 2025’s top performing stocks.
In addition to this long-term track record of success in the market, Berkshire Hathaway is getting a lot of attention right now for the record amount of cash Buffett is holding as he trimmed stakes in big stocks including Apple, which has proven to be a great strategy. The S&P 500 has experienced extreme short-term volatility since President Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20. Even after a recent recovery, the S&P is still down 8% since the start of Trump’s second term.
“The market has been momentum driven for many years, the switch has flipped and we’re looking at quality in terms of exposure, and Berkshire Hathaway has performed incredibly well this year, handily outperforming the S&P 500,” said Patti.
Berkshire Hathaway famously doesn’t pay a dividend, with Buffett holding firm over many decades in the belief that he can re-invest cash to create more value for shareholders. In a letter to shareholders in February, Buffett wrote that Berkshire shareholders “can rest assured that we will forever deploy a substantial majority of their money in equities — mostly American equities.”
The lack of a dividend payment has been an issue over the years for some shareholders at Berkshire who do want income from the market, according to Patti, who added that his firm conducted research among investors in designing the ETF. “Who doesn’t want to invest like Buffett, but with income?” he said.
So, in addition to being tied to the performance of Berkshire and the stock picks of Buffett, the VistaShares Target 15 Berkshire Select Income ETF is designed to produce income of 15% annually through a strategy of selling call options and distributing monthly payments of 1.25% to shareholders. This income strategy has become more popular in the ETF space, with more asset managers launching funds to capture income opportunities and more investors adopting the approach amid market volatility.
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.