Williams-Sonoma joins Josh Brown's Best Stocks in the Market list. The retailer posted $1.96 billion in fiscal second-quarter revenue, up 6.7%, and raised its fiscal 2026 outlook. Published Oct 8, 2026, 11:44 AM EDT Williams-Sonoma, Inc. joined Josh Brown's "Best Stocks in the Market" list after reporting fiscal second-quarter revenue growth and raising its full-year outlook, adding a home-furnishings retailer to the investor's market selections. Discover more Trade Crypto Now Trade Forex Revenue reached $1.96 billion for the 13 weeks ended Aug. 2, 2026, up 6.7% from the year-earlier quarter. Comparable brand revenue increased 6.2%, including gains of 6.5% in e-commerce and 5.5% in retail. Comparable revenue rose 7.6% at Williams Sonoma, 6.4% at West Elm, 5.1% at Pottery Barn and 3.5% at Pottery Barn Kids and Teen. GAAP diluted earnings per share increased to $2.84 from $2.00 a year earlier. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was $2.10, while GAAP operating margin reached 22.9% and non-GAAP operating margin was 17.3%. Discover more Market trend reports Bitcoin price tracker Ethereum investment guide Brown initially rejected the idea of including a home-furnishings retailer exposed to housing conditions but later added Williams-Sonoma to the list, saying the stock was performing better than he expected. Williams-Sonoma raised its fiscal 2026 forecast to revenue growth of 4.7% to 7.2%, comparable-brand revenue growth of 4% to 6.5% and a non-GAAP operating margin of 17.8% to 18.2%. The company had $1 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of Aug. 2 and generated $695.9 million in operating cash flow during the first half of fiscal 2026. It collected $200.2 million in tariff refunds and related interest during the quarter. The company said the refunds increased GAAP gross margin by 610 basis points before offsets, including lower merchandise margins caused primarily by tariff costs. "We gained market share, continued to outperform the industry, and raised our annual outlook on both the top and bottom lines," Williams-Sonoma President and CEO Laura Alber said. Discover more Blockchain technology consulting The company operates Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn, West Elm, Pottery Barn Kids and Teen, and Rejuvenation. John Kim. John Kim reports on the digital-asset business for TokenPost. Send corrections or tips to [email protected].

Software leads as consumer resilience turns selective. The current tape supports a selective growth thesis, not a uniform one Software strength is meeting a more selective consumer tape. The opening hypothesis for this research pass was that earnings growth and resilient demand could support DDOG, SNOW, RH, WSM, ETH, LZB, LESL and TPX over the next year. The October 1 tape does not reject that idea, but it separates the evidence into two very different buckets: cloud and software demand are showing clearer momentum, while home and discretionary demand remain company-specific and more sensitive to rates, sentiment and execution. The market's first signal: growth led, but not indiscriminately. At the October 1 regular-session close, QQQ gained 0.31%, SPY gained 0.18% and DIA was nearly flat, up 0.01%.[[1]] That relative leadership is consistent with a market willing to pay for visible growth, but it is not proof that every long-duration or consumer growth story is working. The six-month QQQ series also shows a meaningful rise from the spring: the ETF closed at 588.59 on April 6 and 742.03 on October 1.[[2]] The implication is two-sided. A strong trend can confirm that investors are rewarding growth, but it also raises the bar for fresh evidence from the companies still trying to catch up. Software has the cleaner demand evidence. DDOG closed at $276.46, up 0.95%, and SNOW closed at $341.99, up 0.72%, on October 1. In post-market trading, DDOG's latest print was $277.02 at 19:55 ET, while SNOW's was $342.20 at 19:44 ET; those were modestly above their 16:00 ET closes, not a new session narrative.[[1]] The operating evidence is stronger than the one-day move. Datadog reported second-quarter 2026 revenue growth of 36% to $1.12 billion and said its $100,000-plus annual recurring-revenue customer count rose to about 4,720 from about 3,850 a year earlier.[[3]] Reuters reported that Snowflake raised its annual product-revenue forecast in September on cloud and AI demand.[[3]] That combination supports the bullish side of the hypothesis: customers appear to be continuing to spend on monitoring, data and AI-related infrastructure. The counterpoint is that consumption-led software can still expose a company to usage changes, and a strong stock trend makes guidance quality and incremental acceleration more important than headline growth alone. Consumer and home: resilience exists, but it is uneven. The consumer-linked group delivered a more mixed signal. WSM rose 2.39% to $233.39, while RH fell 1.02% to $120.51 and LZB slipped 0.67% to $29.44.[[1]] ETH, interpreted here as Ethan Allen Interiors, rose 1.14% to $25.78. The available TPX quote is stale and should not be used to characterize the current tape; that is a data-quality limitation, not a directional signal.[[1]] There is company-level evidence for resilience. Williams-Sonoma reported second-quarter comparable-brand revenue growth of 6.2%, a 22.9% GAAP operating margin and a raised full-year 2026 outlook.[[4]] La-Z-Boy reported first-quarter fiscal 2027 written same-store sales growth of 3%, with increases in design sales, conversion and average ticket.[[4]] RH's second-quarter release showed revenue up 2.6% to $922.2 million, but also highlighted a 600-basis-point tariff benefit in adjusted EBITDA, which makes the quality and durability of that margin picture worth monitoring.[[4]] The balanced interpretation is not that consumers are uniformly weak. It is that brand strength, conversion, pricing and execution can still produce growth even while the macro backdrop remains demanding. That favors a company-by-company read rather than a blanket sector conclusion. Macro is supportive, but not easy. The latest macro snapshot available for August showed unemployment at 4.1%, real GDP growth at 2.1% year over year and industrial production growth at 1.42%. At the same time, CPI inflation was 3.35%, the 10-year Treasury yield was 5.17%, consumer sentiment was 51.7 and the high-yield credit spread was 3.02%.[[5]] That mix helps explain the split. Employment and GDP do not describe a recessionary base case, which can support enterprise budgets and selective household spending. But a 5.17% 10-year yield and weak sentiment can pressure housing-linked purchases, valuation multiples and financing-sensitive decisions. The macro data therefore supports "resilient, selective demand," not "easy demand." What the hypothesis has - and has not - proved. | Evidence | Read-through | What would strengthen it | | DDOG and SNOW price action | Growth leadership is being rewarded | Sustained usage and durable guidance | | DDOG customer expansion | Larger-account adoption is constructive | Continued ARR growth without usage volatility | | WSM and LZB operating results | Brand and execution can offset a soft backdrop | Broadening comparable-sales momentum | | RH margin profile | Results can be helped by specific tailwinds | Evidence that profitability is durable without one-off benefits | | Macro backdrop | No recession signal, but rates and sentiment are restrictive | Lower financing pressure or improving sentiment | The current record is strongest for the software leg and selective for the home-furnishings leg. It is not enough to claim that all eight names have the same next-year setup, and the stale TPX quote means that company should remain outside any current-tape comparison until a fresh data point is available. What to watch next. * The next software reports. DDOG's next scheduled report is November 5, 2026, before the open, and SNOW's is December 2, 2026, after the close; both dates are estimated by the earnings calendar.[[6]] The key questions are whether AI-related workloads add durable consumption, whether larger customers keep expanding, and whether management describes optimization as stabilizing or worsening. * The quality of consumer growth. WSM and LZB have supplied evidence of demand and execution. The next check is whether comparable-sales momentum broadens across brands and whether conversion and ticket gains persist without relying mainly on promotions or isolated mix benefits. * Rates and sentiment. The 10-year yield, consumer sentiment and credit spreads are the macro variables most likely to distinguish resilient brands from demand that is merely being deferred. * Data discipline. TPX needs a fresh quote before it can be meaningfully compared with the rest of the scope; stale data should narrow the conclusion rather than be silently filled with an assumption. The base-rate conclusion is measured: earnings growth and resilient demand can support parts of this group, but the evidence currently favors visible software demand and carefully selected consumer operators over a uniform basket thesis. The next round of earnings should determine whether that gap closes or widens. Sources. * Quote: SPYFN2 market data * Quotes: QQQFN2 market data * Datadog Announces Second Quarter 2026 Financial Resultsglobenewswire.com * Williams-Sonoma, Inc. announces strong second quarter 2026 ...ir.williams-sonomainc.com * FRED: UnemploymentFN2 market data * Get earnings scheduleFN2 market data

FIVE, WOOF stocks rise premarket: Five Below and Petco get fresh Wall Street price target boosts ahead of earnings. Published: Sep 02 2026, 03:20 PM IST * FB * TW * Linkdin * Whatsapp * GNFollow Us Analysts' positive views lifted Five Below and Petco stocks as investors looked at growth, value shopping, and debt concerns. * Deutsche Bank increased Five Below's price target to $334 from $318 and kept its Buy rating. * Evercore ISI raised Petco's price target to $4 from $3.50 but maintained its In Line rating. * Five Below has gained about 30% this year as shoppers seek value, while Petco has fallen 8% due to weaker discretionary spending. Five Below Inc. (FIVE) and Petco Health and Wellness Co. (WOOF) stocks rose premarket on Wednesday as investors responded to fresh Wall Street price target increases ahead of its fiscal second-quarter (Q2) 2026 earnings. Deutsche Bank raised its price target for Five Below while Evercore ISI lifted Petco's price target. Five Below stock traded over 1% higher in Wednesday's premarket, while Petco Health stock climbed over 3%. Five Below, Petco in focus. Deutsche Bank analyst Krisztina Katai increased the price target for Five Below to $334 from $318 while maintaining a 'Buy' rating. The move suggests the analyst sees 36% additional upside from the discount retailer's last closing price. Evercore ISI also raised its price target for Petco Health and Wellness to $4 from $3.50. The firm kept its 'In Line' rating, signaling a more measured outlook on the pet retailer. The updates put the two retailers in notably different positions. Deutsche Bank remains constructive on Five Below, while Evercore ISI's unchanged In Line stance indicates that the higher Petco target does not necessarily reflect a stronger bullish view. Five Below rides value-shopping, Petco faces debt concerns. Five Below has gained about 30% this year, outperforming specialty retail peers including Ulta Beauty (ULTA), Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS) and Williams-Sonoma (WSM) as inflation pressures push more middle- and upper-income consumers toward value retailers. The company's growth has been fueled by strong sales and earnings, along with its "Five Beyond" concept, which adds merchandise priced above $5 and increases average spending. The retailer is set to report its Q2 results on Sept. 2, with Wall Street expecting revenue of about $1.22 billion and EPS of $1.41, according to Fiscal.A\ai data. Investors will also look for discussion of store expansion, with Five Below targeting more than 3,500 locations, while tariff management and supply-chain improvements remain key to protecting margins. Petco Health and Wellness is down about 8% in 2026 as customers spend less on non-essential pet items and shop more online. Demand for pet food and veterinary care remains steady, but weaker sales of toys, accessories, and premium products have hurt growth. Petco is also working through significant debt and margin pressures while competing with online rival Chewy. Its debt refinancing pushed maturities to 2031, but interest costs remain a concern. Analysts see $1.49 billion in revenue and $0.07 EPS for Q2. FIVE, WOOF stocks: retail view. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around FIVE stock improved to 'bullish' from 'neutral' territory, while sentiment around WOOF stock turned 'neutral' from 'bearish'. FIVE stock has surged 63% in the past year, while WOOF stock has cratered 28%. For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com Stay updated with all the latest Business News, including market trends, Share Market News, stock updates, taxation, IPOs, banking, finance, real estate, savings, and investments. Track daily Gold Price changes, updates on DA Hike, and the latest developments on the 8th Pay Commission. Get in-depth analysis, expert opinions, and real-time updates to make informed financial decisions. Download the Asianet News Official App from the Android Play Store and iPhone App Store to stay ahead in business. 0 Comments / 0 New