Consumer & Retail Report #13: 10/2 Recap

Summary of the Week in Consumer and Retail

Oct 02, 2022

Welcome to our Consumer and Retail recap where we share noteworthy headlines, updates, and insights. Never spam.

In an effort to make sure you’re getting the most value from the newsletter, please take 2 seconds to answer the poll below. Your answers are anonymous.

Company Announcements

Nautilus (NLS) announces strategic review (Businesswire)
United Natural Foods (UNFI) enters into a commercial agreement with Symbotic (SYM) for warehouse robotics (Businesswire)
Walmart (WMT) enters the metaverse with Roblox (RBLX) experiences aimed at younger shoppers (CNBC)
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) will test robotic tortilla chip maker (CNBC)
Apple (AAPL) ends plans for iPhone 14 production increase as demand declines (Bloomberg)
Macy's (M) launches marketplace for sellers (Axios)
Grove Collaborative (GROV) announced the expansion of its products to 2,200 additional stores (Benzinga)
Las Vegas Sands (LVS): Macao announced its plan to allow tour groups from mainland China as soon as November (Yahoo)
Lululemon (LULU): lululemon Studio, a New Fitness Platform, Launches on October 5th (Businesswire)
Peloton (PTON) will sell Bikes, Treads at Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) in its first brick-and-mortar partnership (CNBC)
Amazon (AMZN): BMW to build its next-generation voice experience on Alexa technology (Amazon)
Altria (MO) decides to end non-compete agreement with Juul (WSJ)

Corporate Shakeups

Shoe Carnival (SCVL) CFO W. Kerry Jackson to retire (Marketwatch)
Beyond Meat (BYND) eliminates supply-chain chief role (Reuters)
Tyson Foods (TSN) names John R. Tyson CFO (Benzinga)
Dollar Tree (DLTR) names Michael Creedon, Jr. as COO (Businesswire)
Membership Collective Group (MCG) announced its COO will leave the company (Markets Screener)
Unilever (UL) CEO announces intention to retire at end of next year (Unilever)
Cracker Barrel (CBRL) and Biglari Capital (BH) enter into a Nomination and Cooperation Agreement (PR Newswire)
Blue Apron (APRN) announces CFO transition (Businesswire)

M&A Updates

Purple Innovation (PRPL) forms a special committee to evaluate an unsolicited takeover proposal from Coliseum Capital Management (PR Newswire)
F45 Fitness (FXLV) receives a non-binding offer from Kennedy Lewis Management at $4 (Filing)

Financing Updates

Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS) enters partial unwind agreement relating to portion of convertible note hedge transaction (StreetInsider)
BeautyHealth (SKIN) announces $200 mln share repurchase authorization (Hastings Tribune)
British American Tobacco (BTI) announces share buyback- non-discretionary agreement (MoneyWeb)
Groupon (GRPN) amended existing credit agreement to modify certain financial covenants and provide for additional flexibility in its operations (Filing)

Regulatory Updates

Ford Motor (F) asking for new trial following a $1.7 bln jury verdict in a truck rollover lawsuit (WSJ)
Smith & Wesson (SWBI) sued by mass shooting victims of July 4th parade (Bloomberg)
Tupperware (TUP) reaches settlement with SEC for divested entity (Yahoo)
Peloton (PTON) loses lawsuit against Lululemon (LULU) over new apparel line (Reuters)

Macro Updates

A lawsuit was filed to prevent student loan cancellation from going into effect (WSJ)

Michael Batnick @michaelbatnick

This is not the big short redux. In the third quarter of 2007, 26% of mortgage origination went to people with credit scores below 660. That number has averaged 5% over the last eight quarters. theirrelevantinvestor.com/2022/09/27/thi…

Wall Street Silver @WallStreetSilv

Holy sh*t.

Jason Goepfert @jasongoepfert

Full-on crash mode. Retail traders spent $18 billion buying put option protection last week, a record. They're holding $46 billion worth of index futures net short, a record. Leveraged traders are betting on very, very bad things happening very, very soon.

Until next time,

Paul Cerro | Cedar Grove Capital

Personal Twitter: @paulcerro

Fund Twitter: @cedargrovecm

Don’t Want A Weekly Recap?

As an avid reader and subscriber of other research myself, the last thing I want is to be bombarded with emails that I don’t actually want, i.e. spam. I never want this for you with any of the content that I make.

If you would like to continue getting all my other research (ex, equity research, charts, trade ideas, etc) but not the Weekly Recap, please follow the three-step instructions below.

Click “unsubscribe” at the bottom of this email
Then it will open your email settings and ask which section you’d like to “turn off emails” for
Select “turn off emails” for Weekly Recap - BOOM you’re done

Disclosure: All information provided herein by Cedar Grove Capital Management, LLC (“Cedar Grove Capital”) is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell an interest in a private fund or any other security. An offer or solicitation of an investment in a private fund will only be made to accredited investors pursuant to a private placement memorandum and associated documents.

Cedar Grove Capital may change its views about or its investment positions in any of the securities mentioned in this document at any time, for any reason or no reason. Cedar Grove Capital may buy, sell, or otherwise change the form or substance of any of its investments. Cedar Grove Capital disclaims any obligation to notify the market of any such changes.

The enclosed material is confidential and not to be reproduced or redistributed in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Cedar Grove Capital. The information in this material is only current as of the date indicated and may be superseded by subsequent market events or for other reasons. Statements concerning financial market trends are based on current market conditions, which will fluctuate. Any statements of opinion constitute only current opinions of Cedar Grove Capital which are subject to change and which Cedar Grove Capital does not undertake to update. Due to, among other things, the volatile nature of the markets, and an investment in the fund/partnership may only be suitable for certain investors. Parties should independently investigate any investment strategy or manager, and should consult with qualified investment, legal and tax professionals before making any investment.

Cedar Grove Capital Management