#profitability

I have a proposal for the BOD’s I think they will enjoy. Instead of laying off staff we should layoff the entire SLT with AI in order to drive company growth, innovation, and profitability. By now, the Board can already sense they dropped the ball hiring Enrique because he does nothing except lose market cap value. So why not save the company hundreds of millions by laying off the executives? Do you actually think AI would do worse? This company’s currently at its lowest point in history. Some people will read this as a joke but the more you think they more it actually makes sense. Also, think of all the stock comp that will be saved!! Buybacks will actually mean something now.

Did anyone else catch the call this morning talking about locations being closed (context seemed to apply to store and offices). They said they are creating ai gems to define profitability and determine if neighboring locations would absorb customers.

https://open.substack.com/pub/eshap/p/colbert-was-profitable?r=7yaly&utm_medium=ios

Teradata (TDC)
Forward P/S Ratio: 1.9x

Why Do We Pass on TDC?

— Products, pricing, or go-to-market strategy may need some adjustments as its 3.7% average billings growth over the last year was weak

— Inability to adjust its cost structure while its revenue declined over the last year led to a 7.2 percentage point drop in the company’s operating margin

— Free cash flow margin is forecasted to shrink by 20.2 percentage points in the coming year, suggesting the company will consume more capital to keep up with its competitors.

Morningstar Percentile Rankings Through 5/23.

Fund Name Percentile Rank
MoA Intermediate Bond Fund 98
MoA Retirement Income Fund 94
MoA Clear Passage 2020 Fund 93
MoA Core Bond Fund 90
MoA Clear Passage 2050 Fund 85
MoA Clear Passage 2055 Fund 85
MoA Clear Passage 2060 Fund 84
MoA Clear Passage 2045 Fund 83
MoA Clear Passage 2070 Fund 83
MoA Clear Passage 2065 Fund 81
MoA Mid Cap Value Fund 80
MoA Clear Passage 2040 Fund 79
MoA Clear Passage 2035 Fund 77
MoA Clear Passage 2030 Fund 76
MoA Clear Passage 2025 Fund 75
MoA International Fund 74
MoA Conservative Allocation Fund67
MoA Mid Cap Growth Fund 62
MoA Catholic Values Index Fund 56
MoA Small Cap Value Fund 55
MoA Moderate Allocation Fund 54
MoA Aggressive Allocation Fund 52
MoA Balanced Fund 49
MoA Small Cap Equity Index Fund 45
MoA Mid Cap Equity Index Fund 38

The higher the percentile rank, the worse the performance. MOA funds have tanked. how is overpaid capital mismanagement going to spin this

time to sell Capital Management to raise revenue & get better returns

A new study investigated the financial impact of AI-driven layoffs. Eighty percent of surveyed executives admitted to reducing staff for AI investments. These companies saw no greater financial gains than those retaining employees. Many sacrificed institutional knowledge and goodwill without detectable returns. Companies using AI to amplify employee efficiency achieved the most significant gains.

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/layoffs-ai-automation-backfire

A Gartner study challenges the expected profits from AI-driven layoffs. Many organizations reducing staff with AI found little direct return on investment. The research surveyed 350 large global enterprises. Strongest AI returns came from enhancing employee productivity, not eliminating workers. Companies often underestimate hidden costs and the need for human oversight.

Ann Arbor, Michigan

https://mitechnews.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-layoffs-may-not-be-delivering-the-payoff-ceos-expected-gartner-study-finds/

Commerzbank announced plans to eliminate 3,000 positions. This move is part of its "Momentum 2030" strategy. The bank will invest Euro 600 million in artificial intelligence. These efforts aim to boost profitability and defend against a UniCredit takeover bid. Commerzbank reported a first-quarter net profit of Euro 913 million.

https://www.latestly.com/business/commerzbank-layoffs-germany-based-bank-to-cut-3000-jobs-in-major-pivot-to-defend-against-unicredit-takeover-7423939.html/amp

CDW stock dropped 20% today after Q1 2026 earnings revealed a troubling disconnect: strong revenue growth of 9.2% to $5.68B, but shrinking margins. Gross margin fell from 21.6% to 21.0%, and operating income missed estimates by 18%. The market’s reaction wasn’t panic over one bad quarter — it was a verdict on a deeper structural problem.
CDW is fundamentally a “box sales” company — a distributor that moves IT hardware at scale. For years they’ve been trying to pivot toward higher-margin managed services and software to justify their valuation. That pivot isn’t working. Ironically, the AI hardware bo-m should be their moment, but instead of lifting profitability, it’s exposing exactly the problem: they’re selling more, but making less per dollar of revenue.
The long-term picture is concerning. Cloud providers and manufacturers are increasingly cutting out the middleman, and the managed services opportunity CDW was banking on is being eaten by AWS, Azure, and specialized competitors. With $5B in net debt, a deteriorating margin story, and a business model under secular pressure, CDW looks less like a buying opportunity and more like a potential value trap.

Tomorrow Weatherford will release the Q1 earnings. It’s going to show a strong profitable outcome. Due to the fact they laid off a bunch of people they saved money so it’s profitable. Let’s see what more lies gurish holds for us.

Snap Inc. announced a reduction of approximately 16% of its employees. This move impacts about 1,000 positions. The company anticipates expenses between $95 million and $130 million. These cuts aim to streamline operations and improve profitability. The Santa Monica-based company has made previous job cuts.

Santa Monica, California

https://www.wftv.com/news/business/snapchat-owner-cuts/QDLQ6UJRP42J7NT75Y35CFFDA4/

Kroger will stop its Oklahoma City delivery operations. The service concludes on January 31, 2026. Employees learned of job cuts via a recorded message. Many customers, especially elderly individuals, depend on this service. The company aims for faster delivery and increased profitability.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

https://www.news9.com/oklahoma-city-news/kroger-layoffs-shock-workers-and-impact-people-in-rural-communities

Panera Bread is implementing a new transformation strategy called "Panera RISE." This plan involves closing several regional Fresh Dough Facilities. The company is shifting to third-party artisan bakers for dough production. These closures have resulted in 399 employee layoffs across four states. Panera aims to improve profitability and drive sales growth with this restructuring.

https://www.thestreet.com/restaurants/40-year-old-fast-casual-restaurant-chain-panera-bread-lays-off-100s

the bloody cuts from the end of the year aren't enough.

"For 2026, the company expects normalized operating margin of 8.6-9.2%, with the midpoint representing a 50-basis-point (bps) improvement from 2025. Most of this expansion is anticipated to come from lower overhead expenses. The productivity plan is also projected to deliver more than $75 million in year-over-year savings and reduce overhead by nearly 100 bps, as a percentage of sales. These savings will support Newell to offset inflation and higher tariff costs while supporting increased investment in innovation without compromising profitability."

That's the only move Oracle management knows, apparently.

Are there layoff expected in Minimed to return to profitability, to boost share prices? Any thoughts

With the amount of business fraud these agents do and the travel required for the role I don’t see how this position can survive much longer is it really profitable

This bank barely makes any $.

Lucid Motors is reducing its US employee count by 12 percent. Marc Winterhoff, interim CEO, informed employees. The company aims for greater efficiency and profitability. Lucid seeks to become profitable amid a difficult EV market. The cuts do not impact hourly production staff.

https://www.businessinsider.com/lucid-layoffs-read-memo-us-workforce-tesla-rival-2026-2

I believe eventually either Saks or Neiman’s will close stores which are located near each other. Atlanta, Chicago, Beverly Hills, Tyson’s corner, and Bal harbor come to mind. It seems like this will be the next logical move. Whichever of the two has lower profits and higher expenses will be closed.

All health insurers are not doing great currently. Quickly look at their profit margin for the past 2-3 years and it’ll often be low single digit or negative

Medicare advantage is going to be tough again this year, so, not surprised

I do believe HC is essentially in trouble. With 2027 projected MA revenue change of 0.09% which indirectly affects 2026 projections, projected further MA membership attrition (up to 3 million), HC will inevitably shrink.

“They’re choosing profitability over membership in certain books (expecting membership attrition as they reprice / exit margin-dilutive segments).” Basically dropping millions of members where they’re supposedly losing money. It doesn’t look good at all.

Is the company profitable? The stock seemed to tank and not go up at all.

ExxonMobil's Proxxima™ systems are projected to contribute more than 40% of earnings potential by 2030, indicating a strong potential for profitability. The company aims to achieve a return on capital employed of more than 17% with no increase in capital spending, which is a testament to ExxonMobil's execution excellence and disciplined capital allocation. Additionally, the market for Proxxima™ materials could be as much as 5 million metric tons per year, suggesting a significant revenue stream for ExxonMobil.

https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/news/news-releases/2025/1209-exxonmobil-raises-2030-plan-transformation#LowCarbonSolutions

VMware didn’t need all of those employees and Broadcom runs VMware with more efficiency and profitability than most of you thought was possible.

Anyone drinking the Kool-Aid still? Read this: https://simplywall.st/community/narratives/us/diversified-financials/nasdaq-fisv/fiserv/puwknbpq-tech-giants-blockchain-and-fee-pressures-will-erode-profitability-e9qo/updates/3-3-analysts-have-slashed-our-fiserv-fair-value-estimate-from-ab?utm_source=Braze&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CommunityDigest

Annual sales declines of 2.6% for the past five years show its products and services struggled to connect with the market

Earnings per share decreased by more than the revenue over the last five years, showing each sale was less profitable

8× net-debt-to-EBITDA ratio shows it’s overleveraged and increases the probability of shareholder dilution if things turn unexpectedly

When do the Board declare no confidence in them ?

There’s no real plan. Just cutting into oblivion won’t magically make the company better, more efficient, or more profitable. And no, AI can’t replace people, unless someone is aiming for an epic fail.

Oracle made $125M on $900M worth of rev from renting out data centers powered by Nvidia GPUs... this works out to a 14% profit margin. That’s a sh---y profit margin in a normal business, it’s VERY modest in a highly volatile industry like this one. It’s much smaller than the roughly 70% gross margin Oracle gets on non-AI services…

There are plans for laying off the remote employees w/o poss relocation to HQ in December. They think it will be too messy to offer remote workers option to move.

These may get pushed back to Jan/Feb.

The board has been coming into the office several days a week even during the pandemic. This is not about productivity, it’s about satisfying an unfounded perception from the board that also meets the cut numbers they want for profitability.

Profits Over People

https://www.investing.com/news/transcripts/earnings-call-transcript-phoenix-education-partners-reports-q4-2025-growth-stock-dips-93CH-4371849

“Another fire broke out Thursday at Novelis’ aluminum plant in Oswego, New York — marking another setback for one of Ford Motor Company’s major aluminum suppliers.

The F-150 can’t carry your paychecks anymore.

Rent a center has shifted its collection processes for the worst. How you ask? They have taken the attitude that it's better to get something other than nothing at all. Here is an example, customer gets a brand new 85"tv. Makes a $10 online transaction and comes due. Never pays, never communicates with the store. Now the customer is 40 days past due. They are sent an email or text, apologizing for us bothering them ,but wanting to help them. The company then offers a payout settlement of $300 , for a brand new $1000 TV mind you. Customer takes the deal , and can reapply and do it all over again. Now think of that on a scale company wide. Why has profit dropped off, why are collections higher year over year? That process right there. And don't think for a minute that customers don't encourage others to follow this process. Get a brand new ps5 for $150!!!
All the while store staff stays till 8pm everyday trying to hit collection numbers that are now impossible to hit. Thanks to the ivory tower think tank!

This business, just spun out, was responsible for just 10% of HON revenues, but the market prices it’s stock at 25% of the remaining Honeywell. How did VK and SV let go of this profitable segment? Could they not see the potential?

Anyone else catch that 7% of our Q2 “adjusted” EBIT 8% margin is non-operational fluff? Strip that out and we’re running on fumes. Once management wraps up their usual end-of-quarter buyback of 10 to 12 million shares, the stock’s going to dip right back down. DXC engine’s smoking, all gauges are red and management’s still smiling for the cameras on LinkedIn. This place is toast.

"Cash generation stood out: cash from operations improved to $409 million and free cash flow rose to $240 million, enabling a $75 million buyback."

Whilst revenues keep shrinking they made $240 last quarter, and forecast $640million for the year. Plenty of money for raises if they want to give them.

Seems like 3 mutually exclusive aims but maybe I’m wrong

Hearing that both offshore and onshore have recently had process and controls integrity issues. On the onshore Eagleford shale appears galvanic corrosion and poorly designed kit is resulting in production deferment and significant retrofit costs.

Does chinook/cascade have operational challenges? How long will these assets be profitable?

Another busy black Friday shopping season for Sears is almost near. With the possibility of big possible sales this holiday season, do you think this is the time that Sears will bounce back? Could they potentially turn a profit and become profitable again to the point where they open more stores?