Category Archives: oud

Verizon Wireline, FiOS Workers Set Strike; Wireless Non-Unionized

Two unions representing Verizon Communication ’s ( VZ ) landline workers, including FiOS TV and broadband services, announced they plan to strike Wednesday at 6 a.m. ET if they cannot negotiate a new contract with the phone company by then. Verizon’s wireless workers are not unionized, except for roughly 100 employees. Verizon’s wireline workers also walked out in 2000 and 2011. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) have been negotiating a new deal with Verizon since June. The two unions represent about 39,000 workers. Verizon has a total workforce of nearly 178,000. Verizon’s unionized workforce has shrunk from about 85,000 in 2000. Verizon now garners three-fourths of revenue from wireless services, following its divestiture of landline assets in California, Florida and Texas to Frontier Communications ( FTR ). The $10.5 billion Frontier deal closed last week. “Wireline represents only 25% of Verizon’s consolidated revenue, and 15% of EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) following the sale to Frontier,” says a UBS report. Democratic candidate for president Bernie Sanders has voiced his support for Verizon’s landline workers. “We’ve worked hard in negotiations to find common ground, but working people at Verizon and across the country have had enough of the corporate greed that is destroying our families and our economy,” Dennis Trainor, CWA District 1 vice president, said in a press release Monday. The two unions and Verizon have been bargaining to resolve changes to health care and pension benefits, as well as wage increases and other issues. “We do not take strike threats lightly,” Bob Mudge, president of Verizon’s wireline network operations, said in a statement . “We have trained thousands of non-union Verizon employees to carry out virtually every job function handled by our represented workforce — from making repairs on poles to responding to inquiries in our call centers.” Verizon is slated to report its Q1 earnings on April 21.

Fitbit Device Demand Solid; GoPro Weak; Garmin Mixed

Retail checks by Morgan Stanley showed good news for Fitbit ( FIT ), bad news for GoPro ( GPRO ) and mixed news for Garmin ( GRMN ). Fitbit’s new Blaze smart fitness watch and Alta fitness wristband appear to be selling well and could drive upside to Fitbit’s Q1 earnings and Q2 guidance, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty said in a research report Monday. “Our checks indicate demand for Blaze and Alta were ahead of expectations, and retailers are already putting in reorders for the Blaze, which shipped earlier than the Alta,” Huberty said. Fitbit reported March 31 that it had shipped more than 1 million units each of the Blaze and Alta within their first month of availability. “We expect management will remain conservative on guidance but still expect Q2 estimates to move higher post-earnings,” she said. Meanwhile, retail checks for GoPro action cameras point to year-over-year declines in sell-through, with retailers still working down channel inventory. “Our conversations suggest enthusiasm for the product category continues to wane, and the upcoming Hero 5 is unlikely to recapture retailer shelf space lost during the recent spring reset,” Huberty said. She is cautious on GoPro’s upcoming quadcopter “flying camera” product, though the market appears to be picking up. Competitors are expected to launch lower-priced drones, hurting sales of GoPro’s premium product. Fitbit rival Garmin is retaining market share in high-end sports watches, but it appears to be losing share in activity trackers, Huberty said. In afternoon trading on the stock market today , Fitbit stock was up 5.5%, above 15, while GoPro was down 3%, near 12, and Garmin stock was up 1.5%, above 40.

Airbnb Threat To Priceline, Expedia Overstated: Analyst

Though Airbnb continues to make headlines over its disruption of the travel industry , new research says that online travel agency kings Expedia ( EXPE ) and Priceline ( PCLN ) shouldn’t be as concerned as the hype suggests. In fact, Cowen analyst Kevin Kopelman says in a research report Monday that Airbnb’s competitive pressure on the hotel industry may drive such businesses to further embrace Expedia, Priceline and TripAdvisor ( TRIP ). Airbnb is an online service that lets people rent homes, rooms in homes, and apartments to travelers. The report, based on a survey of 1,400 travelers, also indicated that Airbnb customers aren’t abandoning hotels at all — quite the opposite. It found that 99% used hotels and that many respondents predicted increasing their use of hotels in the coming year. And 72% of those surveyed said that they would consider an Airbnb competitor. All the major online travel agencies are making heavy investments in so-called alternative accommodations, or Airbnb-like inventory. Airbnb has come under fire as of late in its home city of San Francisco after the municipal government released a report indicating that most of its “hosts” — what Airbnb calls people renting property on the platform — aren’t obeying regulations . It’s unclear the extent to which illegal rentals on the site — it’s an issue in other major markets such as New York City as well — will have on the privately held company’s top line. According to the Wall Street Journal , Airbnb may have hauled in $850 million in revenue last year. In 2015, Airbnb waged a campaign to fight proposed new regulations that would have further tightened the short-term rental market in San Francisco. The company spent more than $8 million in fighting and defeating the proposed measure . Airbnb’s opponents have vowed to continue to fight. In early afternoon trading on the stock market today , Priceline stock was up a fraction, near 1,281. Highly rated — its IBD Composite Rating is 92, where 99 is the highest — Priceline is forming a cup-with-handle base with a buy point of 1,371.63. TripAdvisor stock was down more than 2% Monday afternoon, while Expedia stock was flat. Those companies have weak CRs of 50 and 58, respectively. Image provided by Shutterstock .