US Chain Krispy Kreme Donut's First Store In France

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Krispy Kreme tanks after it couldn’t sugarcoat an earnings miss

Krispy Kreme had a bad 2024, and it expects 2025 to be worse.

2/25/25 11:24AM

Doughnut giant Krispy Kreme fell more than 20% on Tuesday morning after it reported quarterly earnings that missed Wall Street expectations and gave a gloomy guidance for 2025.

The company reported an adjusted earnings per share of $0.01, compared to the $0.10 analysts polled by FactSet were expecting. Krispy Kreme has seen its profits dwindle since it went public in 2021.

Krispy Kreme’s revenue for the quarter fell to $404 million, compared to $450.9 million in the same period last year and the $414 million analysts were expecting. The company also said that a previously disclosed cybersecurity incident during the quarter ate into its revenues to the tune of $11 million, plus the $3 million it spent to fix the issue.

Krispy Kreme’s 2024 profits were less than half of what it made last year, and it doesn’t expect 2025 to be much better. For the full year 2025, Krispy Kreme said it expects adjusted earnings per share of $0.04 to $0.08, compared to the $0.30 analysts were expecting.

It also said it doesn’t expect revenue to increase from 2024.

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Plug Power jumps amid surge in call activity as CEO Andy Marsh hosts AMA

Plug Power surged on Thursday, jumping nearly 17% amid elevated call activity as outgoing CEO Andy Marsh hosted an “ask me anything” on the r/plugpowerstock subreddit.

192,581 call options changed hands, more than four times the 20-day average — call options with a strike price of $4 that expire in mid June were the most active contract.

Marsh’s appearance was aimed at building support for the board’s recommendations that their investors vote in favor of three proposals at a special meeting of shareholders slated for next week. These proposals include: allowing votes to be decided by a majority of voters rather than a majority of shareholders, enabling an increase in the company’s share count, and a third measure to delay this special meeting in the event that there aren’t enough votes for either of those two proposals to pass.

During the session, Marsh made the following points:

Management really doesn’t want to have to do a reverse stock split, but would feel forced to do so if proposal two fails to pass. Per a recent filing from Plug, “Without additional authorized shares, the Company will not be able to: meet its contractual obligations to increase authorized shares of common stock by February 28, 2026; raise capital necessary for operations and growth; and execute on its business plans and strategy.”
Plug plans to lean even more into opportunities to offer power to AI data center customers, with Marsh writing that incoming CEO Jose Luis Crespo will offer more details on this at a follow-up AMA scheduled for March.

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Stocks continue to recover from Greenland threats

Megacap tech helped drive gains.

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Meta shares rally as Jefferies says it’s a bargain relative to Mag 7 peers

Shares of Meta rallied over 5% on Thursday, as Jefferies analyst Brent Thill doubled down on his “buy” rating for the company, calling the stock a relative bargain compared to its Magnificent 7 peers. The analyst set a price target of $910, well above the $645 where the stock is trading today.

News out of the World Economic Forum this week that Meta’s first models from its revamped AI teams are “very good” aligns with Thill’s argument that the company is well positioned to get back in the AI race with the “all-star model,” which is expected to be released in the first half of the year.

Recent cuts to Meta’s Reality Labs also signal that the company is focusing its spending where it matters. The Jefferies note added that the recent monetization of Threads via ads will help boost revenue.

Next week, Meta reports its fourth-quarter earnings, and Thill expects that even if the company raises its 2026 capital expenditure outlook, investors won’t be spooked, as the company has been clear that spending may continue to be high.

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Arista Networks rips higher amid jump in call buying

Arista Networks, a maker of switches and other networking equipment used in AI data centers, was on track for its best day of the new year on Thursday as options traders went bullish on the stock.

As of around 11 a.m. ET, there was nearly twice as much call buying in Arista than its 10-day moving average for a full day of activity. Buying call options to make leveraged bets on price increases has been a favorite trading tactic of retail traders in recent years.

Otherwise, there weren’t clear headlines tied to today’s outsized move, but the stock has been getting attention lately: in a note published earlier this month, Goldman Sachs analysts spotlighted Arista as a top tactical trade for earnings season, saying the shares — which they rate a “buy” — could rise 20% over the next year.

“ANET is well positioned amidst ongoing data center spending growth, where its position as a best of breed provider of networking equipment should advantage the company, particularly as data center networks become increasingly complex,” Goldman analysts wrote in the January 8 report.

And recent reports also say Microsoft — which accounted for 20% of Arista’s revenue in 2024, according to Goldman Sachs — is planning a massive expansion of its Wisconsin data center project.

Arista stock did get a lift following the release of solid US economic numbers at 8:30 a.m. that seemed fairly specific to Arista itself. (There was no similar bounce from competitors like Cisco or Hewlett-Packard.)

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