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Veteran analyst John Zolidis of Quo Vadis Capital argues that transactions might have dropped 5.4%, based on his calculations, a number arrived at by modeling transactions as the difference between the price and sales increases. Zolidis, who has a Sell rating on the stock, wasn’t the only analyst raising questions about the impact of price increases on traffic. BMO analyst Andrew Strelzik, who rates the stock a Hold, noted that “[questions] about value proposition gain steam as traffic declines accelerate. Still, 72% of the 36 analysts tracked by FactSet rate the stock as Buy or equivalent.

Quo Vadis Capital President Zolidis was among the few equity analysts, who sounded the alarm on Luckin Coffee’s accounting problems early on, and he remained bearish while the company was under bankruptcy.

But he turned bullish after the company emerged from bankruptcy in April of 2022 and continues to be. Most notably, Zolidis thinks that the new company that emerged from bankruptcy early this year is a different company in many respects. First, it is almost free of debt, after redeeming $110M of 9% debt securities. “It’s a rare situation for a company that emerged for bankruptcy recently,” he told International Business Times in an email. “In addition, it’s a good indication that management feels confident about the company’s financials in the future.”

“Ms. Dillon is a leader with a strong voice and will represent a meaningful change in tone for Foot Locker. We think the ripples within the organization could be very positive,” John Zolidis, president and founder of Quo Vadis Capital, said in emailed comments. “We also believe communication to investors will be upgraded based on the significant credibility she will bring to crafting a strategy and establishing an outlook. In short, this is very good news.”

Yet, retailers such as Academy Sports and Outdoors (ASO) have painted a brighter picture. Even Walmart hasn’t warned that inventory will further hurt results. “Target’s problems definitely look to be company-specific,” says John Zolidis, president of Quo Vadis Capital.

“We’ve only really had one quarter of negative surprises,” said John Zolidis, founder of Quo Vadis Capital. “Normally in a recessionary cycle there will be several rounds of cuts before the outlook and stocks bottom. Unless we see a reversal of inflation data and a less hawkish approach from the Federal Reserve, our guess would be that we’re closer to the beginning of the pain than the end of it.”

“Professional investors don’t believe that inflation can be tamed without destroying economic demand; that’s why you’re seeing discretionary stocks under so much pressure,” says Quo Vadis Capital President John Zolidis.

John Zolidis, president of the New York-based equity research firm Quo Vadis Capital said greater transparency for US auditors would “improve investor confidence in US-listed Chinese companies” after a bruising year when the valuations of large internet giants including Alibaba and Tencent have slashed over 40 per cent following Beijing’s regulatory moves to break up their monopoly power.

“The value of a company is based on its future earnings and cash flows, adjusted for its assets and liabilities (the balance sheet), and discounted for each business’ risk profile and the time horizon to produce expected earnings and cash flow,” Zolidis said in a note on Friday. “The location of the exchange where the shares trade does not figure into this calculation (provided liquidity and investor safeguards are roughly equivalent).”

“In our view, there is enough common ground and shared interest here to support a compromise resolution,” Zolidis said. “Accordingly, we see a compromise being reached that serves regulators in both markets and maintains existing U.S. listings for the vast majority of Chinese companies.”

“FL needs to demonstrate that it can still comp and grow earnings even in the face of lower Nike allocations,” Zolidis wrote, adding that he believes the retailer can see success in the long term, given its “valuation, sentiment, cash flow, and the potential for news flow to improve incrementally from here.”

The question is “whether the fraud was hiding a permanently flawed business, or if it was lying on top of something legitimate that had long-term viability,” says John Zolidis, president of the New York-based equity research firm Quo Vadis Capital. Zolidis says Luckin’s shares are “attractively valued given the overhang of fraud”.