You don’t have permission to access “http://www.spglobal.com/market-intelligence/en/news-insights/articles/2025/12/ldc-exits-iglu-great-point-acquires-majority-stake-in-lenis-group-96042492” on this server.
Reference #18.daa0d517.1765422385.333cfc2a
https://errors.edgesuite.net/18.daa0d517.1765422385.333cfc2a
By Tomi Kilgore
Retention was stronger than expected, boosting key Autoship numbers, after the annual fee for Chewy+ subscription rose to $79 from $49
Chewy sees Autoship sales continuing to increase as a percentage of total sales, helped by growth in the Chewy+ subscription program.
Chewy on Wednesday reported fiscal third-quarter sales that rose above expectations, as more people than expected stayed with the online pet-products retailer’s Chewy+ subscription program despite a sharp price hike.
And that fueled continued growth in a key sales metric that the company values because it helps keep customers “pegged” to Chewy rather than moving to competitors.
The company (CHWY) reported fiscal third-quarter Autoship customer sales, which are set to automatically repeat, with a discount, that jumped 13.6% from a year ago to $2.64 billion, above the average analyst estimate compiled by FactSet of $2.59 billion.
And Autoship sales as a percentage of overall sales increased to 83.9% from 83% in the previous quarter and from 80% a year ago, to mark the seventh straight quarter-over-quarter increase.
Autoship sales are valued because they are “highly predictable” and allow for planning to cut costs and improve profitability, Chief Executive Sumit Singh explained on the post-earnings call with analysts, according to an AlphaSense transcript. The program also helps the company retain its more loyal customers.
“Autoship is a rinse and repeat product merchandise program that has high reliability and accuracy, both in terms of planning, in terms of delivery, and high satisfaction rating,” an executive said on the call.
With more than 80% of its members “now pegged” to the Autoship program, the company believes it will continue to scale and become more efficient.
Meanwhile, Chewy’s stock seesawed during the day but closed up 1.5%.
But perhaps better than the growth of Autoship sales, Singh said the Chewy+ membership program “continues to outperform expectations” and is driving higher order frequency, broader category engagement and higher adoption of the mobile app. It’s also helping boost Autoship participation.
The company launched Chewy+ at an introductory annual price of $49, with a 30-day free trial, then raised the price to $79 a year at the end of October. While some subscriber drop-off after the price increase was expected, Singh said early data shows “continued growth and strong conversion” from free to paid memberships at a rate that was higher than forecast.
Overall sales for the quarter, which ran through Nov. 2, increased 8.3% from last year to $3.12 billion, just above the FactSet consensus of $3.10 billion.
Net income rose to $59 million from $4.2 million, while earnings per share of 14 cents beat the FactSet consensus of 12 cents.
If there was a negative to the earnings report, the company said it expects revenue for the current fourth quarter of $3.24 billion to $3.26 billion, compared with analyst expectations of $3.261 billion.
The stock has gained 3.7% in 2025, while the S&P 500 index SPX has advanced 16.3%.
-Tomi Kilgore
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
12-10-25 1924ET
Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
(Bloomberg) — Asian equities echoed gains on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates and Chair Jerome Powell voiced optimism that the US economy will strengthen as the inflationary impact from tariffs fades away.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.5% in early trade, led by the tech and financial sectors. That’s after the S&P 500 closed up 0.7% on Wednesday, just short of all-time highs, while the Russell 2000 gauge of small-caps jumped 1.3% to a record. Bonds rallied as the Fed’s quarter-point rate reduction was accompanied by the authorization of fresh Treasury bill purchases to rebuild bank reserves.
Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.3% early in Asia as disappointing results from Oracle Corp. dealt the bullish sentiment a partial blow as markets closed in New York. Shares of the company, whose fate is deeply tied to the artificial intelligence boom, plunged in post-market trading. Nvidia Corp.’s stock also edged lower.
Delivering a third consecutive cut, Powell suggested the Fed had now done enough to help stabilize the threat to employment while leaving rates high enough to continue weighing on price pressures. Officials maintained their outlook for just one cut in 2026 and upgraded their median outlook for growth.
“The combination of stronger growth expectations and softer inflation forecasts has increased market expectations for Fed rate cuts,” said Tomo Kinoshita, global market strategist at Invesco Asset Management Japan Ltd. “In Asia, I anticipate a positive tone for equities and currency appreciation. Export-oriented stocks should benefit from improved US growth prospects.”
Nine out of 12 voters on the Fed’s rate-setting committee supported the decision to lower rates. The reduction and the Fed’s tone matched Wall Street expectations for a “hawkish cut” while officials left intact their outlook for a single cut in 2026.
The US 10-year yield fell around four basis points Wednesday, stalling a prior run up in yields that pushed one global gauge to its highest since 2009, while the policy-sensitive two-year yield fell eight basis points. The dollar weakened.
In Asia, traders will be watching an auction of 20-year Japanese government bonds and an interest-rate decision in the Philippines today.
Earlier, Bank of Canada held rates steady, saying current borrowing costs were appropriate to mitigate the trade war damage.
In commodities, gold held gains after the Fed cut while silver pushed to new highs. Oil extended an advance after the US seized a sanctioned tanker off Venezuela, deterring more shipments from the South American producer and raising the risk of a conflict.
The impact of President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff offensive has been a key consideration in how the Fed approaches efforts to bring inflation back down to its 2% target. Without the levies, inflation is probably “in the low 2s” right now, Powell said at the press conference following the decision. And their impact is likely to weaken in the second half of next year.
Powell also underscored the importance of upcoming economic reports while advising caution on assessing household jobs readouts, given technical distortions after a government shutdown caused a data blackout.
“The Fed emphasized that future moves will be data-dependent, shifting firmly to a meeting-by-meeting approach,” said Daniel Siluk, a portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors. “Chair Powell reinforced this stance in his press conference, noting that the Committee sees today’s cut as a ‘prudent adjustment’ rather than the start of a new cycle.”
Corporate News
SK Hynix Inc. fell after South Korea’s main bourse issued a higher-level warning on investing in the stock following strong gains sparked by expectations of a listing in New York. President Donald Trump signaled he’ll oppose a Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. deal that doesn’t include new ownership of CNN, a potential wrinkle for the bid from Netflix Inc. Japan’s stock market is witnessing a record wave of large private transactions known as block trades, stemming from companies reducing cross-shareholdings to improve corporate governance. Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek has relied on Nvidia Corp. chips that are banned in the country to develop an upcoming AI model, according to a new report in The Information. Coca-Cola Co. said Chief Executive Officer James Quincey is stepping down and will be replaced at the end of March by Henrique Braun, the company’s chief operating officer. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
S&P 500 futures fell 0.1% as of 9:29 a.m. Tokyo time Hang Seng futures rose 0.3% Japan’s Topix rose 0.1% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.7% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1700 The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 155.65 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.0574 per dollar The Australian dollar was little changed at $0.6672 Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 0.7% to $91,784.62 Ether fell 0.8% to $3,313.66 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 4.14% Japan’s 10-year yield declined 1.5 basis points to 1.940% Australia’s 10-year yield declined nine basis points to 4.72% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.6% to $58.83 a barrel Spot gold rose 0.3% to $4,240.47 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Winnie Hsu.
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Markets reacted positively after the Fed cut interest rates by a quarter point on Wednesday.
And part of the optimism seems to be around the Fed’s outlook for the economy, which it sees growing at a 2.3% rate in 2026 after this year’s 1.7% GDP growth.
“The take on productivity and growth is very risk-friendly,” Evercore ISI’s Krishna Guha wrote in a note on Wednesday. “The Fed chair suggests productivity may be running about 2%, allowing the economy to grow faster without generating excess inflation.”
In essence, lower rates, falling inflation, and faster economic growth is a recipe for higher corporate profits, a stabilization in the labor market, and as evidenced on Wednesday, higher stock prices.
Fed officials expected to make one more rate cut next year, the same number projected in September. As of Wednesday afternoon, markets were pricing in additional rate cuts in April and June.
Guha said Powell sounded “very upbeat on productivity and growth, including AI effects,” during his press conference on Wednesday.
Adding Powell came across with a “calm rather than edgy in tone, suggesting he is comfortable and in charge rather than on the ropes as in October.”
John LaurensonBusiness reporter, Lugano, Switzerland
AFP via Getty ImagesIn a McDonald’s by a lake surrounded by mountains, in the centre of the Swiss city of Lugano, a customer orders coffee.
“Can I pay with bitcoin?” he asks, and the person behind the counter holds out what looks like a credit card payment terminal.
It is in fact a machine for paying by crypto currency. The equipment has been distributed free to local retail businesses by the city council.
The buyer pays by contactless, from the bitcoin wallet on his mobile phone. The bill comes to 0.00008629, which is roughly $8.80 (£6.60).
Few people who have bought bitcoin would probably think about using it to purchase actual things in shops. It is instead generally seen as an investment, a bet on its value going up.
But in Lugano, in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, it’s a different story.
While you can of course still pay for everything in Swiss francs, some 350 shops and restaurants now also accept bitcoin. The local authority has even started taking payments in crypto currency for municipal services. You can, for example, pay for pre-school childcare in bitcoin.
I get talking to the McDonald’s customer, Nicolas, who comes from France. He is what you might call a bitcoin true believer.
“What’s great about paying in bitcoin is the feeling of freedom it gives you,” he says. “You are no longer dependant on a financial system with its middlemen and its costs.”
Nicolas says he’s discovered bitcoin cards in Switzerland. These are prepaid gift cards. You buy a certain sum in Swiss francs but download it in bitcoin onto a digital wallet on your phone.
I walk through the centre of Lugano, down a high street where just about all the shops sell luxury stuff. Jewellery or expensive clothes mainly.
In a shop called Vintage Nassa that sells new and second-hand bags and watches, the owner Cherubino Fry tells me he accepts bitcoin because the processing fee he has to pay per transaction is less than those charged by credit card companies.
For bitcoin it is generally below 1%, while for debit cards it can be as high as 1.7%, and up to 3.4% for credit cards. Although for the latter two it can vary from country to country.
I ask Mr Fry if he does much business in bitcoin.
“In reality, not a lot. For now, only sporadically, only some clients,” he says. “But using bitcoin will be like a tree growing, and this tree will grow very big in five, 10 years.”
A stone’s throw from Mr Fry’s shop, I visit the headquarters of Plan B, an initiative launched in 2022 by the City of Lugano in collaboration with crypto currency platform Tether.
With the B standing for bitcoin, its stated aim is to educate people about cryptocurrency, and “to make Lugano the European hub for bitcoin”.
“I want to talk about an experiment I did this July,” says Plan B hub director Mir Liponi. She explains that she had a problem with her bank, which resulted in her not being able to access her funds.
For 11 days she had no way of paying, other than with bitcoin, but she says that experiment turned out well, and that you can mostly survive just on bitcoin in Lugano.
“It’s missing public transportation at the moment… another one is fuel. Groceries are okay. I got things delivered at home, even.
“Plenty of medical places, but not a dentist. And another big thing is [energy] bills. You cannot pay bills in bitcoin yet.”
Ms Liponi adds that in the future she wants to see “circular economies where people earn bitcoin, keep bitcoin, spend bitcoin, pay for services in bitcoin”.
Yet elsewhere, similar bitcoin projects to Lugano’s have come unstuck.
In 2021, El Salvador made bitcoin legal tender alongside the US dollar. To encourage its use the government gave people the bitcoin equivalent of $30 that they downloaded via an app.
“So what people did was download the app, exchange the bitcoin for dollars and never use it again,” says Vincent Charles, head of crypto currency firm Unchain Data.
He went to El Salvador earlier this year to see how bitcoin uptake was going, and concluded that people don’t really use it, and retailers and service providers rarely accept it.
However, there are other successful bitcoin adoption examples from around the globe. Slovenian capital Ljubljana was declared the world’s most crypto-friendly city in a report back in April, followed by Hong Kong and Zurich.
Back in Lugano, not everyone is seemingly impressed with bitcoin. In a park on the lakefront there used to be a statue representing Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym used by the unknown person or persons who claim to have invented the crypto currency back in 2008.
In August, vandals broke the sculpture into bits and threw it into Lake Lugano.
“It’s interesting because not that many things get vandalised around here,” says Lucia, a passerby who lives in the city. “People are usually fairly well behaved. And you don’t see often people having very strong political opinions either.”
She adds, though, that she herself is skeptical of cryptocurrencies in general.
“At the University of Lugano where I study there’s a club to promote bitcoin and everything. I do find it surprising that institutions such as my university would promote cryptocurrencies so much. I think they are associated with crime, with the dark web and speculation.
“A lot of people lose their money because they invest in a cryptocurrency and then it crashes.”
AFP via Getty ImagesSergio Rossi is a professor of economics at Switzerland’s University of Fribourg. He says that bitcoin is a risk for shopkeepers in Lugano or elsewhere because of its volatility – its value can go sharply up and down.
So, he says it is important that they instantly convert the bitcoin they receive into Swiss francs, euros, or another currency issued by a government or central bank. These are also known as “fiat” currencies.
He adds: “There is also a reputational risk with those cryptocurrencies used in illegal transactions, which could affect the city of Lugano and its financial institutions.”
Prof Rossi also cautions that people’s bitcoin is held by a digital third party, which makes it risky. “If the platform where my digital wallet is recorded fails or goes bankrupt, my cryptocurrencies disappear instantaneously.
“And therefore, I lose the corresponding amount forever. By contrast, in Switzerland, all bank deposits are guaranteed up to the amount of 100,000 Swiss francs ($125,000; £94,000). This means that if the bank where my savings are recorded goes bankrupt, I can recover them up to this amount.”
At Lugano town hall I ask Mayor Michele Foletti if he is concerned that Lugano could be a magnet for mafia money.
“No. You can use fiat money to do something good or something bad,” he says. “The same with bitcoin.
“And mafia people are more interested to use fiat for money laundering. When they sell drugs or something like this, they receive [physical] fiat money, not bitcoin because the more anonymous way is cash,” he says.
He adds that bitcoin continues to be positive for Lugano, and that 110 crypto-sector companies have now moved to, or started up, in the city.
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Raistone, one of the largest middlemen in First Brands’ financings, is nearing a deal to sell itself to investment firm Marblegate Asset Management, according to people familiar with the matter.
Raistone, which runs a technology platform that helped connect the car parts company with larger investors, became heavily dependent on arranging financing for First Brands, which has since filed for bankruptcy.
Seaport Global, an investment banking and trading firm that also owns a stake in Raistone, has been running a sales process.
A spokesperson for Greenwich, Connecticut-based Marblegate declined to comment. Raistone did not immediately respond.
The deal had yet to be finalised and could still collapse, the people said.
Lawyers representing First Brands in bankruptcy have disclosed that billions of dollars of borrowings by the car parts company, secured through off-balance sheet financings from groups such as Raistone, cannot be accounted for.
They have told a judge that the borrowings were in many cases tied to assets that never existed or were already pledged to other creditors.
First Brands’ new management has since accused founder and owner Patrick James of engaging in “fraudulent conduct” and investors expect to take painful losses on some $12bn of debt the company has amassed. James has denied the allegations.
Raistone alleged in October that as much as $2.3bn had “simply vanished”, as it pushed for the appointment of an outside examiner as part of the bankruptcy proceedings. In its complaint, it said it was owed at least $172mn.
Filings show Raistone also helped arrange hundreds of millions of dollars in loans, which investors are claiming they are owed in the bankruptcy.
Raistone founder David Skirzenski at a conference last week said “a lot of people made a lot of money” lending to the bankrupt car parts maker, as they chased the high yields that it paid on its debt.
Skirzenski said that Raistone had “adjusted staff” levels and was still busy on deals. The Financial Times earlier reported that Raistone had laid off 60 people as a result of the First Brands debacle, keeping 40 in total.
A UBS investment vehicle holds an equity stake in Raistone, the FT previously reported. Soros Fund Management, the $25bn family office of billionaire investor George Soros, also holds a small minority stake, according to people familiar with the matter.
Marblegate is known for going after thorny investment opportunities, typically in mid-sized distressed debt situations.
The firm is the biggest owner of New York City’s taxi medallion loans — which at one point were worth more than $1mn each — and bought up hundreds of millions worth before the pandemic. It eventually partnered with New York City and the taxi driver advocacy group on a bailout package, amid falling medallion prices.
Andrew Milgram, who founded Marblegate in 2008, has been a vocal critic of excessive risk taking in private credit. He told the FT in an interview earlier this year that there had been a “grudging recognition” on Wall Street that a series of credit problems “could be dangerous to the overall economy”.
If you have been wondering whether Danaher at around $230 a share is a bargain in disguise or a quality name priced for perfection, you are not alone. This breakdown is designed to give you a clear, calm answer.
Over the last month the stock has climbed about 9.1%, even though it is only up 0.3% year to date and is still roughly flat over three years. This tells us sentiment has shifted recently even if long term returns have been muted.
That renewed interest has come as investors refocus on Danaher’s role in life sciences tools and diagnostics, where its portfolio spans everything from bioprocessing equipment to lab automation. At the same time, headlines around portfolio reshaping and ongoing integration of past acquisitions have reminded the market that Danaher is still actively fine tuning its mix of businesses rather than standing still.
Despite that backdrop, Danaher currently scores just 0/6 on our valuation checks, which suggests the market is not obviously underpricing its cash flows or assets based on standard models. Next we will unpack those methods in detail, then circle back to a way of thinking about valuation that ties the numbers to Danaher’s long term narrative.
Danaher scores just 0/6 on our valuation checks. See what other red flags we found in the full valuation breakdown.
A Discounted Cash Flow model estimates what a business is worth today by projecting its future cash flows and then discounting them back into current dollars. For Danaher, the model used is a 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity approach, built on cash flow projections rather than earnings.
Danaher generated about $5.0 billion in free cash flow over the last twelve months, and analysts see this figure rising to roughly $7.0 billion by 2028. Beyond those analyst years, Simply Wall St extrapolates further growth out to 2035, with free cash flow approaching about $10.0 billion, before discounting each future year back to today in dollar terms.
Putting all of those discounted cash flows together gives an estimated intrinsic value of about $218 per share, compared with a current market price around $230. On this view, the stock screens as roughly 5.7% overvalued, which is a relatively small gap and well within the normal margin of error for any model.
Result: ABOUT RIGHT
Danaher is fairly valued according to our Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), but this can change at a moment’s notice. Track the value in your watchlist or portfolio and be alerted on when to act.
Head to the Valuation section of our Company Report for more details on how we arrive at this Fair Value for Danaher.
