M. Suhail/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Food costs? Up. Fuel costs? Also up. Healthcare, college, cars, haircuts, you name it. It 's all getting more expensive, and with the war with Iran dragging on, conditions are likely to get worse rather than better. I believe that 's going to translate to a slow summer remodeling and construction season, and as a result, Home Depot ( HD ) is likely to fa...
M. Suhail/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Food costs? Up. Fuel costs? Also up. Healthcare, college, cars, haircuts, you name it. It 's all getting more expensive, and with the war with Iran dragging on, conditions are likely to get worse rather than better. I believe that 's going to translate to a slow summer remodeling and construction season, and as a result, Home Depot ( HD ) is likely to face stiff headwinds. I last covered Home Depot in early January, going with a hold rating, and the stock has slid more than 8% since. Unfortunately, I don 't think that the slide is done, so I am downgrading my rating to sell. So far, it looks like there 's no end in sight for the Iran crisis. At various times, it 's been hoped that a deal could be struck to completely reopen the Strait, which should ease pressure on inflation and particularly fuel prices. Yet every step forward seems to be met with one or two steps back. Meanwhile, the housing market has cooled off a bit, which will make it less likely that people will be upgrading before trying to sell their home. The don 't hire, don 't fire economy will also likely encourage people to live conservatively in case conditions suddenly worsen. Meanwhile, various bits of evidence suggest that consumers and households are already under pressure. Everything adds up to a simple point: I think a lot of remodeling and construction projects are likely to be put on pause for right now. Ditto with home construction projects. There was a recent uptick in new housing starts, but with the Iran crisis dragging on, I 'd be surprised if the uptick proves sustained. As a result, I expect Home Depot to suffer a lean summer with stocks sliding further. Hence my sell rating. Lean Times for Housing and Consumers More and more people are tapping into their 401K and other assets right now, often incurring penalties and depleting resources they 'll one day need for retirement. Consumers have shown some resilience in regard to spending, yet there '...
Kenneth Cheung/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images DoorDash ( DASH ) has had a large fall from grace. With the incremental EBITDA margin having contracted materially in the past couple of quarters and investors having had to stomach investments in a large acquisition, there's been clear rationale for the multiple compression on the name. With that being said, I believe estimates have been reset, an...
Kenneth Cheung/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images DoorDash ( DASH ) has had a large fall from grace. With the incremental EBITDA margin having contracted materially in the past couple of quarters and investors having had to stomach investments in a large acquisition, there's been clear rationale for the multiple compression on the name. With that being said, I believe estimates have been reset, and current guidance looks conservative enough ahead of the Q1 report this week as to where the stock looks set up to beat and offer supportive Q2 guidance for shares. Business Profile DoorDash doesn't need much introduction, but there are a few things about the operating profile of the company that are worth revisiting. The company has three primary platforms - DoorDash, Wolt, and Deliveroo. DoorDash primarily operates in the United States, but the combined platforms operate in over 40 countries worldwide . The company offers premium subscription options for users to save on fees and increase speed of delivery. These are DashPass, Wolt+, and Deliveroo Plus. This helps to lower transactional friction for consumers. The company also offers advertising capabilities to restaurants, convenience, and retail stores on the platform to rank higher from an SEO standpoint such that conversion can be higher. This is a rapidly growing portion of the company's operations that is at an attractive margin. The company closed on its major acquisition of Deliveroo, a UK-based delivery company, in October. The company had initially announced the acquisition in May for an enterprise value of 2.4 billion GBP. This materially expands the DoorDash footprint into the UK market, which has historically been challenging to penetrate. The company faces competition from other merchants and has competition at the labor level with its Dashers. Merchants include large platforms like Uber Eats but also any restaurant, convenience, or retail store that offers delivery and is going outside of the DoorDash ecos...
Earnings Call Insights: American Coastal Insurance Corporation (ACIC) Q1 2026 Management View “During the first quarter of 2026, American Coastal continued to be patient and disciplined in navigating a rapidly softening commercial property insurance market,” said President & CEO Bennett Bradford Martz, adding that “most of our risk portfolio continues to produce exceptional results, evidenced by o...
Earnings Call Insights: American Coastal Insurance Corporation (ACIC) Q1 2026 Management View “During the first quarter of 2026, American Coastal continued to be patient and disciplined in navigating a rapidly softening commercial property insurance market,” said President & CEO Bennett Bradford Martz, adding that “most of our risk portfolio continues to produce exceptional results, evidenced by our fantastic loss and combined ratios.” Martz said rate pressure is affecting reported premium trends while pointing to in-force indicators: “Average account rate decreases are distorting comparability with gross premiums,” but “our policy count and exposure base actually increased at the end of the current quarter versus the same period a year ago.” On reinsurance, Martz said, “our June 1st, 2026, core catastrophe reinsurance program is effectively complete,” highlighting “risk-adjusted reinsurance cost decreases,” an “exhaustion point up to over $1.6 billion,” movement of “our lower layers to an all-perils basis,” and “more aggregate protection against frequency and severity.” “American Coastal demonstrated another strong quarter with net income of $19.3 million,” said Chief Financial Officer Svetlana Castle, adding, “our combined ratio was 66%, an increase of 1 point from 2025 and in line with our previously stated target.” Castle said capital returned via the previously declared dividend drove a quarter-end balance sheet shift: “Cash and investments decreased 7.5% from year-end to $599.4 million, driven by the payment of our previously declared special dividend of $0.75 per share of $36.6 million.” Outlook Martz said guidance was not being updated yet amid reinsurance retention decisions: “I would prefer to defer that question until we finalized our ultimate retention decisions,” and “we can still suggest and refer you to the full year guidance that remains unchanged at this time.” He flagged potential for revision later in the year: “After the second quarter, it is pos...
Earnings Call Insights: Veeco Instruments (VECO) Q1 2026 Management View "Veeco executed well in the first quarter and believe we're strategically positioned to benefit from the evolving semiconductor landscape, driven by artificial intelligence and high-performance computing," said CEO William Miller, adding that Q1 results were "all within our guidance ranges" with revenue $158M, non-GAAP operat...
Earnings Call Insights: Veeco Instruments (VECO) Q1 2026 Management View "Veeco executed well in the first quarter and believe we're strategically positioned to benefit from the evolving semiconductor landscape, driven by artificial intelligence and high-performance computing," said CEO William Miller, adding that Q1 results were "all within our guidance ranges" with revenue $158M, non-GAAP operating income $9M, and non-GAAP diluted EPS $0.14. Miller highlighted order momentum and longer visibility: "Order activity that accelerated in the second half of 2025 continued into the first quarter of 2026," and "we've increased visibility with significant orders for delivery well into 2027." On silicon photonics/indium phosphide lasers, Miller said "a stronger-than-expected opportunity has emerged" and described it as "a growth opportunity of approximately $2 billion over the next several years." He also disclosed, "we received over $250 million in orders from multiple customers for our MOCVD, wet processing and Ion Beam Deposition tools... with delivery starting in 2026 and significantly accelerating in 2027." On the pending Axcelis transaction, Miller said, "all regulatory approvals have been received other than antitrust approval in China," and "continue to expect the transaction to close in the second half of 2026." CFO John Kiernan said, "Revenue came in at $158 million, slightly below the midpoint of our guidance and previous quarter," and reported Q1 non-GAAP gross margin of 36%, OpEx of $49M, and diluted EPS of $0.14. Outlook Kiernan guided Q2 revenue to "between $170 million and $190 million" and diluted non-GAAP EPS to "between $0.20 and $0.32," with gross margin "between 38% and 40%" and OpEx "between $52 million and $55 million." Kiernan said, "we're reiterating our full year 2026 revenue guidance between $740 million and $800 million" and "reiterating our diluted non-GAAP EPS between $1.50 and $1.85," while expecting "growth accelerating in the second half of ...
Earnings Call Insights: Myriad Genetics (MYGN) Q1 2026 Management View "We reported revenue in the first quarter of just over $200 million, coming within our Q1 revenue guidance range" (President, CEO & Director Samraat Raha). "We delivered 385,000 test results in the first quarter" and hereditary cancer testing grew "10% and 16%" year-over-year in affected and unaffected populations, respectively...
Earnings Call Insights: Myriad Genetics (MYGN) Q1 2026 Management View "We reported revenue in the first quarter of just over $200 million, coming within our Q1 revenue guidance range" (President, CEO & Director Samraat Raha). "We delivered 385,000 test results in the first quarter" and hereditary cancer testing grew "10% and 16%" year-over-year in affected and unaffected populations, respectively (President, CEO & Director Raha). "We are reaffirming our 2026 financial guidance" and management said it is expecting "sequential revenue growth in the low single digits in the second quarter and accelerating through the remaining quarters" as the expanded commercial team contributes (President, CEO & Director Raha). "The big news in Q1 was March launch of Precise MRD for breast cancer patients for a select set of customers" (President, CEO & Director Raha). He added, "we're moving up the launch of Precise MRD for colorectal cancer and renal to a select set of customers into Q3" (President, CEO & Director Raha). "We're investing $35 million over the next several years to strengthen our commercial capabilities" and "expanded our sales team by over 100 account executives compared to last year" (Chief Commercial Officer Brian Donnelly). "For the first quarter, we reported revenue of $200.4 million" and "we generated gross margins of 68.7%" (CFO & Principal Accounting Officer Ben Wheeler). Outlook "We are reaffirming our full year 2026 financial guidance, including revenue of $860 million to $880 million, adjusted gross margin of 68% to 69% and adjusted EBITDA of $37 million to $49 million" (CFO & Principal Accounting Officer Wheeler). "We expect quarterly revenue to grow sequentially from first quarter" with Q2 in the "low single-digit range" and acceleration thereafter as the company realizes "early contribution from the addition of over 100 account executives" (CFO & Principal Accounting Officer Wheeler). Compared with the prior quarter’s call, management kept the full-yea...