The Wall Street Journal - 21.08.2019

B2| Wednesday, August 21, 2019 ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.**

INDEX TO BUSINESSES

These indexes cite notable references to most parent companies and businesspeople

in today’s edition. Articles on regional page inserts aren’t cited in these indexes.

A

Alibaba Group Holding

............................. B3,B

Amazon.com.....B2,B3,B

B

Baidu.........................B

Bank of America.......B

Bayer....................B1,B

Beijing Byte Dance

Telecommunications

...................................B

BJ's Wholesale Club

Holdings....................B

Boehringer Ingelheim.B

Brinker International..A

C

Charter Communications

...................................B

Citigroup....................B

Cnooc...........................B

Columbia Sportswear.B

D

Dalian Wanda Group..B

E

Elanco Animal Health

............................. B1,B

Eli Lilly......................B

Elliott Management...B

EP Energy..................B

Exxon Mobil................B

F-G

Facebook

..........A1,A5,B2,B3,B4,B

General Mills...............B

H

Hess.............................B

Home Depot

........... B2,B3,B5,B13,B

I

IWG.............................B

J

J.C. Penney..................B

JD.com.......................B

JPMorgan Chase.......B

K

Kellogg.........................B

Kohl's...........................B

L

LG Electronics.............B

Loomis, Sayles..........B

Lowe's.......................B

M-N

Macy's....................B2,B

Madison Square Garden

...................................B

Meituan Dianping.....B

Microsoft.....................B

Noble Energy..............B

Nordstrom...................B

O-P

Olympus....................B

Pacific Drilling...........B

Post Holdings.............B

Q

Qualcomm...................B

R

Ross Stores.................B

Royal Dutch Shell.......B

S

Sears Holdings..........B

Sirius XM Holdings..B

Snap.............................B

Steven Madden...........B

T

Tapestry......................B

Tencent Holdings.B3,B

Tesla............................B

The We Company.......B

Thor Industries...........A

TJX...............................B

Triple Five Group........B

Twitter...................A5,B

W-Z

Walmart.................B2,B

Weyco Group...............B

Zoetis...................B1,B

INDEX TO PEOPLE

selective as trips to center

stores go down,” said Hunter

Williams, partner at consult-

ing firm Oliver Wyman.

Retailers lowered the num-

ber of major cereal brands

available in stores in each of

the past three years, according

to Nielsen data analyzed by

Wells Fargo food-business an-

alyst John Baumgartner.

U.S. consumers purchased

about $8.49 billion of cold ce-

real last year, according to

market-research firm IRI,

down 6% from five years ear-

lier. Sales of hot cereals, a

smaller category, rose 1% over

the same period. Market-re-

search firm Mintel expects ce-

real sales to fall 5% between

last year and 2023.

Food makers, however, have

said their investment and

marketing plans can lift cereal

sales again.

Post Holdings Inc. said ear-

lier this month that North

American sales of its cereal

brands rose 2% in the first

three quarters of its current

fiscal year, helped by demand

for Honey Bunches of Oats and

store-brand cereals it makes

for retailers.

Kellogg Co., which makes

Raisin Bran, Special K and

Frosted Flakes, said sales of

its cereal brands fell 5% in the

first six months of this year,

compared with a year earlier.

Chief Executive Steve Cahil-

lane said in an interview that

Kellogg had pulled back on

promotions while transition-

ing to a more standard set of

box sizes, a move meant to

simplify factory operations

and help customers find the

company’s cereals on store

shelves. “It is a category in the

United States that is showing

a 1% decline,” Mr. Cahillane

said of cereal. “That can be

turned around.”

Kellogg is also trying to lift

sales by developing new cere-

als, including a brand focused

on gut health, and by adding

new flavors of older brands,

such as Wild Berry Froot

Loops and strawberry-flavored

Rice Krispies. Those are the

first flavors Kellogg has added

to those well-known brands in

at least a decade.

General Mills is also aiming

to jump-start U.S. cereal sales

with more marketing and new

products. It recently hired rap-

per Travis Scott to design

boxes for its Reese’s Puffs ce-

real. Boxes from the limited

run are being sold as collec-

tors’ items on eBay.

Its newer products include

a cereal that lists almonds as

its first ingredient, meant to

appeal to shoppers looking for

protein, and blueberry-fla-

vored Cheerios.

General Mills told investors

last month that U.S. demo-

graphic trends are also work-

ing in cereal’s favor. A growing

population of adults aged 55

years and older and rising

numbers of children in the U.S.

should bolster cereal demand,

executives said. Per capita

consumption of cereal is rela-

tively high among these two

groups, the company said.

at Campbell Soup Co. have

fallen for years. Kraft Heinz

Co.’s meats and cheese prod-

ucts have been hurt by store

brands from retailers and or-

ganic alternatives.

Likewise, cereal makers

must demonstrate that they

can draw higher demand as

retailers review how they

stock the shelves at the center

of their stores. Cereal is a

mainstay of those aisles. Gro-

cery stores historically took

much of their profit from this

area, and sales there have

been hit hard by trends to-

ward online shopping and

fresher foods. “Grocers are

forced to be a little bit more

Continuedfromthepriorpage

Cereal

Firms Look

For Revival

Kellogg, which operates a store in New York City’s Union Square neighborhood, is trying to improve sales by developing new cereals.

MARK KAUZLARICH FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

A

Arenas, John...............B

B

Baumann, Werner.......B

Baumgartner, John.....B

Bragdon, Peter............B

C

Cahillane, Steve..........B

Carlile, Brandi.............A

Cottle, Frank...............B

D

Decker, Ted..................B

Dimon, James...........B

Donnelly, Michael.......B

E

Eagan, Matthew.......B

F

Fischer, Seth.............B

Florsheim, Thomas Jr.

.....................................B

Fordham, Tina.............B

Fromer, Kevin............B

G

Gass, Michelle.............B

Gennette, Jeffrey.......B

H

Hainlin, Tom..............B

Heppenstall, Mark....B

Hill, Joanne.................B

K

Khoury, Jennifer.........A

Kocinski, Chris..........B

M

MacDonald, Norm.......B

Menear, Craig..............B

Milligan, Andrew........B

Miquelon, Wade..........B

N-P

Neumann, Adam.........B

Perdon, Gregory........B

R

Reith, Ryan.................B

Rosenfeld, Edward......B

S

Santo, Matrim............B

Saunders, Neil............B

Small, Jeff..................B

T

Thompson, Matt.......B

Tibone, Vince..............B

Tomé, Carol.................B

W

Weinstein, Harvey......A

Williams, Hunter........B

Wu, Jason...................B

Y

Yawger, Bob..............B

Z

Zhang, Wei..................B

Zuckerberg, Mark.......B

closed last summer as unfavor-

able verdicts in the three

Roundup jury trials have

fueled fears that the company

could face billions of dollars in

liabilities.

Bayer is appealing the ver-

dicts and argues that Roundup

and its active ingredient, gly-

phosate, are safe.

Shareholders have grown

more frustrated with every

loss in court, prompting Bayer

in June to hire a prominent

U.S. lawyer to help to advise

its board on trial tactics and

Continuedfromthepriorpage

mediation.

Amid uncertainty over how

much the lawsuits might end

up costing the company, inves-

tors have said Bayer must de-

liver on its restructuring plans.

The Elanco deal, struck ear-

lier than Bayer had forecast,

adds to a series of asset sales.

In recent months, Bayer

sold its 60% stake in industrial

park operator Currenta, Cop-

pertone sunscreens and Dr.

Scholl’s foot-care products.

The Elanco deal is expected to

close in mid-2020, pending

regulatory clearance.

Bayer shares were little

changed Tuesday. Analysts say

the Roundup lawsuits will con-

tinue to weigh on the stock un-

til they run their course or

Bayer decides to settle, allow-

ing the market to put a price

on the total liability.

—Ben Dummett

contributed to this article.

Bayer Sells

Pet-Health

Subsidiary

The combined firms would have a 13% share of the animal market.

FRANK RUMPENHORST/DPA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

BUSINESS & FINANCE

costs and steeper promotions

to clear unsold goods.

Kohl’s Chief Executive Mi-

chelle Gass said business im-

proved in the last six weeks of

the quarter, with sales at

stores open at least a year in-

creasing 1%.

She added that the positive

sales trend has continued into

August as the company got off

to a strong start for the back-

to-school season.

Other department stores,

including Macy’s Inc. and J.C.

Penney Co., reported disap-

pointing results last week for

their summer quarter, sending

their shares lower. Walmart

Inc. was one of the few stand-

outs, continuing its string of

strong growth.

Retailers are facing the

threat of high costs because of

increased tariffs on goods im-

ported from China. On Tues-

day, Home Depot Inc. lowered

its sales forecast for the cur-

rent year, citing the potential

impact of tariffs as well as

lower lumber prices.

Even retailers that posted

higher sales are being judged

harshly by investors. T.J. Maxx

parent TJX Cos. said Tuesday

that sales at stores open at

least a year rose 2% in the

most recent quarter. That is

on top of a 6% increase in the

same period a year earlier.

Foot traffic to its stores has

increased for 20 consecutive

quarters. Its shares fell

slightly to $51.51 on Tuesday.

Analysts are concerned that

T.J. Maxx and sister chain

Marshalls might be facing

more competition as depart-

ment stores offer deeper dis-

counts and resale sites such as

The RealReal Inc. and thredUP

Inc. gain popularity.

Mr. Saunders of GlobalData

said the above-average levels

of discounting across many

apparel retailers “gave those

shoppers looking for bargains

more choice and more reason

to shop around, something

that had a tangible impact on

both T.J. Maxx and Marshalls.”

Kohl’s has been trying to

combat sluggish sales with ini-

tiatives such as one that lets

shoppers return items they

bought on Amazon.com Inc.

to any of its more than 1,

stores—no box required.

Ms. Gass said the Amazon

returns partnership is bring-

ing both new and existing cus-

tomers into Kohl’s stores, par-

ticularly at off-peak times.

She said the venture is ex-

pected to be a profitable one

for Kohl’s.

The retailer is also working

with designers to launch ex-

clusive collections, such as one

from Jason Wu that will arrive

in stores for the holiday sea-

son. And it is working with

Facebook Inc. to find emerg-

ing digital brands to showcase

in its stores.

Kohl’s Corp. reported its

third consecutive decline in

quarterly sales, though the re-

tailer said business improved

toward the end of the period

and it maintained its guidance

for the year.

The results prompted con-

cern by analysts and investors

that the strong growth Kohl’s

enjoyed for most of last year—

helping it buck a downward

trend among department

stores—has come to an end.

The company’s shares fell 6.9%

on Tuesday and are down 43%

over the past year.

“There can be no doubt that

Kohl’s has been blown off

course,” said Neil Saunders, a

managing director with

GlobalData PLC.

The company’s total sales

fell 3.1% to $4.4 billion for the

fiscal second quarter ended

Aug. 3. Sales at stores open at

least a year fell 2.9% Net in-

come dropped to $247 million

from $292 million a year ear-

lier on higher online shipping

BYSUZANNEKAPNER

Kohl’s Slumps but Notes Upturn

Retailer maintains

outlook, but trend for

department stores

worries investors.

as evolving consumer tastes

in recent reports.

Home Depot warned that

tariffs could weigh on

growth, but its quarterly

profit still topped analyst ex-

pectations.

Options traders are fore-

casting a roughly 11% move in

Nordstrom Inc. shares after

the retailer reports its latest

financials Wednesday, above

the average 6.7% over the

past eight earnings releases,

according to data provider

Trade Alert.

The stock has been volatile

over the past month, falling

roughly 24% in August.

That projection is based on

a trade known as a straddle,

which measures the size of

the swing in either direction

rather than the direction of

the move itself.

The trade involves buying

both bullish and bearish op-

tions contracts that allow in-

vestors to buy or sell stock at

a specific price.

Similarly, options traders

are also betting on up to a

13.6% move in BJ’s Whole-

sale Club Holdings Inc.

shares after the company re-

ports results on Thursday.

Historically, the stock has

swung an average of 4.7%,

Trade Alert data showed.

Traders are wagering on big-

ger moves than historically

recorded for Ross Stores

Inc., too, according to Trade

Alert.

Retailers are undergoing a

volatile earnings season that

has separated some strong

winners from losers.

The latest earnings reports

have been punishing to com-

panies that investors weren’t

pleased with, such as Tapes-

try Inc. Investors have

cheered other companies like

Walmart Inc. after their

earnings, driving some share

prices higher.

It has been a wild earnings

season for retailers and op-

tions traders are bracing for

bigger stock swings for some

shops.

Shares of big retailers such

as Home Depot , Inc. and

Kohl’s Corp. recorded large

moves in trading Tuesday

and were some of the biggest

winners and losers in the S&P

500.

Home Depot climbed 4.4%

after the home-improvement

retailer reported second-

quarter earnings, for its larg-

est single-day jump this year.

Meanwhile, Kohl’s lost 6.9%

after it released quarterly re-

sults, making it one of the

biggest losers in the S&P 500

Tuesday.

Some investors expect this

type of volatility in the sector

to continue, forecasting big

movesupordownforretail

companies reporting earnings

in coming days.

Investors have had to

parse the impact of escalat-

ing tariffs with China as well

BYGUNJANBANERJI

Options Trades Show Swings in Retailers’ Stocks

Traders are betting on up to a 13.6% move in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings.

JOSH REYNOLDS/AP IMAGES FOR BJ’S WHOLESALE CLUB

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