analysts' comments

PARIS—Inflation and other economic headwinds aren’t cooling demand for high-priced handbags and other luxury baubles. On Thursday, Hermès RMS 1.00% International SCA, the French maker of $10,000 handbags, said it expects to increase its prices by around 5% to 10% after reporting sales that easily topped analyst estimates.  Sales at constant exchange rates rose 24% to 3.14 billion euros, equivalent to $3.07 billion, in the July-September period compared with a year…

Elon Musk’s electric-vehicle maker so far has brushed off worries about weakening demand. Strong vehicle pricing is forecast to have helped Tesla generate around $3.2 billion in quarterly profit for the three months ended in September, according to analysts surveyed by FactSet, up from $1.6 billion a year earlier. That would be just shy of the company’s record quarterly profit of $3.3 billion, set in the first quarter.  Tesla, after the market’s close on Wednesday, is expected to report…

J&J posted a quarterly profit of $4.46 billion, or $1.68 a share, up from $3.67 billion, or $1.37 a share, a year earlier. FILE Photo: Mike Segar/REUTERS…

UnitedHealth UNH 2.03% Group Inc. again raised its profit outlook for the year after posting a 12% increase in third-quarter revenue on a growing number of members in its health-insurance network. The healthcare and insurance giant on Friday said quarterly revenue came in at $80.9 billion, with growth of 11% from its UnitedHealthcare business, which served an additional 850,000 people in the third quarter compared with last year, and…

Amazon. AMZN -0.33% com Inc.’s latest Prime Day-like event appears to have fallen short of the company’s normal summer sales bonanzas. Analysts said Amazon’s 48-hour “Prime Early Access Sale,” which occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday, didn’t give the e-commerce company the same revenue boost, or attract as much social-media buzz, as prior Prime Days. This was Amazon’s second such shopping event this year. The previous one was in July.…

Walt Disney Co. DIS -3.20% said it has added Carolyn Everson, a veteran technology and media executive, to its board of directors one month after activist investor Dan Loeb sent a letter to Disney Chief Executive Bob Chapek asking him to “refresh” the board. Mr. Loeb’s hedge fund, Third Point LLC, and Disney said Friday they agreed to a…

FedEx Corp. FDX -2.64% said a slowdown in the global economy has hurt its business. Investors, analysts and customers of the company said they are seeking clarity on how deep the problems are and what its response will be.  The carrier is due to report its first-quarter earnings after U.S. stock markets close Thursday, a week after cutting its full-year financial outlook and revealing that package-delivery volumes in Europe, Asia and the U.S. were weaker than it…

The offering could value Porsche at between 60 billion euros and €85 billion, equivalent to between $59.8 and $84.6 billion, according to analyst estimates, injecting fresh cash into VW’s coffers that executives say will help the company bankroll its transition to electric vehicles and self-driving cars. VW plans to make just 12.5% of Porsche shares available to individual investors as part of its public listing. If the IPO comes in at the high end of analysts’ expectations that would raise about €10.6 billion, making the…

VW, Europe’s biggest auto maker by sales, said the companies’ boards would meet on Monday to discuss the private placement of common stock and whether to move forward with an initial public offering of 25% of Porsche’s nonvoting preferred shares. If approved, Porsche shares could begin trading at the end of the month or in early October, VW said. Porsche SE is an investment fund majority owned by the family of the brand’s founder, while Porsche AG is the car maker itself. Industry analysts have estimated that…

Americans spent more of their July TV-viewing time streaming content on services such as Netflix, YouTube and HBO Max than they did watching cable television, according to Nielsen data, marking the first month that streaming has overtaken cable.Streaming services captured 34.8% of total U.S. TV viewing time during the month, while cable TV attracted 34.4%, the ratings company said in a release published Thursday. People spent 23% more time streaming content than a year earlier and 9% less time watching cable, Nielsen…