During the week of October 20, 2014, IBM stock fell six percent. On October 20th, IBM reported disappointing numbers, and the company was forced to retract on its predicted earnings goal for 2015. Subsequently the stock fell 7.1 percent to $169.10 on the 20th and another 3.5 percent the next day, the worst two-day drop that the company has seen since the 2008 November recession. IBM’s investors are now seeking sales growth, but are not concerned with IBM cutting costs. Quarterly sales growth has shown that the demand for IBM products are extremely low, and the company is looking to greatly improve this. They have reported that the decline they have seen in revenue is a result of “streamlining the business.” The company has been cutting expenses and has had an increasing income for …show more content…
Higher menu prices and cost control measures allowed the company to counteract a decreased amount of customers in its stores and restaurants. Cracker Barrel’s fourth quarter revenue for 2014 is almost 3 percent higher than the same quarter last year. Its top line performance exceeded what was predicted by analysts. The company reported earnings of $1.63 per share, twenty cents higher than their earnings per share in the same period last year. Its earnings per share also exceeded predictions. The company is predicting to have sales increase by 2 to 3 percent for the next year, as well as its earnings per diluted share to be between $1.20 and $1.30 per share. During 2014, Cracker Barrel opened seven new stores, and plans to open an additional six to seven stores in 2015. The new stores are helping to boost sales for the company, as sales per store increased by approximately 2.6% in one quarter. The current stock is trading at the trailing price per earning of 19.36 and forward price per earning of 16.37, which shows the stock has a fair valuation and can continue to grow in the