J. Michael Jones/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Dillard’s, Inc. ( DDS ) reported the company’s fiscal Q1 results from the February-April period on the 14 th of May. The department store operator’s sales improved significantly from 2025, and margins stabilized through a good gross margin gain. Ultimately, improved sales merely reflect tariff-related inflation instead of a strong operational perf...
J. Michael Jones/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Dillard’s, Inc. ( DDS ) reported the company’s fiscal Q1 results from the February-April period on the 14 th of May. The department store operator’s sales improved significantly from 2025, and margins stabilized through a good gross margin gain. Ultimately, improved sales merely reflect tariff-related inflation instead of a strong operational performance; Q1 strength shouldn’t be extrapolated. Ecommerce continues to take share from department stores, and the consumer sentiment is low, weakening the outlook. I initiated the stock at a Hold rating in my previous August 2024 article on the stock, titled “ Dillard's: Sales Worsen Worryingly In Q2.” The stock has since returned 70%, significantly outperforming the S&P 500’s 35% gain. My Rating History on DDS (Seeking Alpha) Dillard’s Q1 Review Dillard’s Q1 report has to be put into a longer context. Contrary to the stock’s strong performance, Dillard's financial performance hasn’t been pretty in the past couple of years, as I already noted in my previous article. Revenues have continued to decline at a slow pace, as Dillard’s traffic has been slowing and the company has slowly shrunk its store count from 280 stores at the end of FY2021 to 272 at the end of Q1. Weaker sales have also pressured margins; Dillard’s operating margin has declined by 580 basis points from 16.0% in FY2022 to 10.2% in FY2025. Weak comparable sales continued during FY2025. A secular trend in department store traffic weighs on Dillard’s as e-commerce continues to take share from brick-and-mortar retailers. Kohl’s Corporation ( KSS ) latest reported a -2.8% comparable sales decline, whereas Macy’s, Inc. ( M ) reported better but still modest 1.8% comparable growth. Kohl’s guides a slight decline in FY2026 comparable sales, and Macy’s guides a flat performance in the metric. Department Store Sales (FRED) The context makes Dillard’s start to FY2026 quite strong. First quarter revenues reached $1.57 bi...
lcva2 Billionaire investor Bill Ackman on Friday said Pershing Square ( PS ) will disclose a new position in Microsoft ( MSFT ) in its upcoming 13F filing, calling the tech giant “highly compelling” at current valuations and revealing that his newly launched fund, PSUS ( PSUS ), has also recently made Microsoft a core holding. "We believe Microsoft's recent share price decline has been principally...
lcva2 Billionaire investor Bill Ackman on Friday said Pershing Square ( PS ) will disclose a new position in Microsoft ( MSFT ) in its upcoming 13F filing, calling the tech giant “highly compelling” at current valuations and revealing that his newly launched fund, PSUS ( PSUS ), has also recently made Microsoft a core holding. "We believe Microsoft's recent share price decline has been principally driven by investor concerns around two key issues: i) the competitive positioning of M365 against increasingly capable AI lab offerings (notably Anthropic's Claude Cowork), and ii) the durability of Azure's growth, especially in light of Microsoft's evolving relationship with OpenAI ( OPENAI )," Ackman said in a post on X . "In our view, investors underestimate the resilience of the M365 franchise given its deeply embedded role across enterprises and highly attractive price-value proposition." Unlike point software solutions, which may be "vulnerable to disintermediation by better-performing AI alternatives," M365 is tightly integrated into the daily workflow of nearly every large enterprise and is supported by Microsoft's identity, security, compliance, and data governance infrastructure, which would be nearly impossible to replicate, he added. Talking about Microsoft's increased 2026 capital expenditure budget to roughly $190B, Ackman said the spending should be viewed as growth capex tied to future revenue generation, similar to investment trends seen at hyperscaler peers Amazon ( AMZN ) and Google ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ), as demand for AI and cloud infrastructure continues to accelerate. "Like our purchases of $GOOG, $AMZN, and $META, we believe that $MSFT offers analogous and compelling long-term value at today's valuation," he said in the post. More on Microsoft, Pershing Square USA, Ltd. Microsoft Stock Is Now A Table-Pounding Buy Microsoft: Death Of SaaS Has Been Overly Exaggerated - Reiterate Strong Buy Wall Street Lunch: Does AT&T's History Help Ease AI Capex Fears? T...
lcva2 Billionaire investor Bill Ackman on Friday said Pershing Square ( PS ) will disclose a new position in Microsoft ( MSFT ) in its upcoming 13F filing, calling the tech giant “highly compelling” at current valuations and revealing that his newly launched fund, PSUS ( PSUS ), has also recently made Microsoft a core holding. "We believe Microsoft's recent share price decline has been principally...
lcva2 Billionaire investor Bill Ackman on Friday said Pershing Square ( PS ) will disclose a new position in Microsoft ( MSFT ) in its upcoming 13F filing, calling the tech giant “highly compelling” at current valuations and revealing that his newly launched fund, PSUS ( PSUS ), has also recently made Microsoft a core holding. "We believe Microsoft's recent share price decline has been principally driven by investor concerns around two key issues: i) the competitive positioning of M365 against increasingly capable AI lab offerings (notably Anthropic's Claude Cowork), and ii) the durability of Azure's growth, especially in light of Microsoft's evolving relationship with OpenAI ( OPENAI )," Ackman said in a post on X . "In our view, investors underestimate the resilience of the M365 franchise given its deeply embedded role across enterprises and highly attractive price-value proposition." Unlike point software solutions, which may be "vulnerable to disintermediation by better-performing AI alternatives," M365 is tightly integrated into the daily workflow of nearly every large enterprise and is supported by Microsoft's identity, security, compliance, and data governance infrastructure, which would be nearly impossible to replicate, he added. Talking about Microsoft's increased 2026 capital expenditure budget to roughly $190B, Ackman said the spending should be viewed as growth capex tied to future revenue generation, similar to investment trends seen at hyperscaler peers Amazon ( AMZN ) and Google ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ), as demand for AI and cloud infrastructure continues to accelerate. "Like our purchases of $GOOG, $AMZN, and $META, we believe that $MSFT offers analogous and compelling long-term value at today's valuation," he said in the post. Microsoft shares erased earlier declines and turned positive in premarket trading. More on Microsoft, Pershing Square USA, Ltd. Microsoft Stock Is Now A Table-Pounding Buy Microsoft: Death Of SaaS Has Been Overly Exaggerated - Reit...
undefined China’s net new yuan loans turned negative in April for only the third time on record, underscoring weak credit demand as households continued to cut debt and bond financing played a bigger role in supporting the economy. April is a seasonally weak month for lending in China, but net new yuan loans rarely turn negative. Net new yuan loans came in at negative 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion...
undefined China’s net new yuan loans turned negative in April for only the third time on record, underscoring weak credit demand as households continued to cut debt and bond financing played a bigger role in supporting the economy. April is a seasonally weak month for lending in China, but net new yuan loans rarely turn negative. Net new yuan loans came in at negative 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) in April, according to People’s Bank of China data released Thursday. That missed economists’ average forecast of 358.3 billion yuan in a Caixin survey. Previous negative readings were recorded in July 2025 and July 2005. Unit: billion yuan China’s New Yuan Loans Turn Negative Sources: People’s Bank of China, CEIC -1,000 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6 , 000 April July -10 The weak data pointed to persistent pressure from China’s prolonged property downturn, which has dampened household borrowing appetite and pushed consumers to deleverage.