Cleaning products were to be expected — RVs, swimming pools and new homes, not so much
One of the more striking features of the pandemic is the inequity of the pain it has inflicted. It has disproportionately affected black and Latino communities. More than 16-million Americans are unemployed, nearly triple February’s levels, but investors in the S&P’s 500 Index are back in the green for the year. And while some businesses are looking at a multi-year slump in demand, others are experiencing their best sales growth ever.
That translated to a 12% gain in monthly users on Zillow Group’s sites during the second quarter. Better-than-expected sales growth in its internet and mortgages divisions should push the company’s third-quarter operating profit above the threshold it was targeting internally before the pandemic, CFO Allen Parker said on an earnings call last week.
If you can’t drive your RV to the beach or a campsite on a lake, the next best option is to create your own personal waterfront oasis. Pool Corporation, a distributor of parts and supplies, reported record sales in the second quarter and increased its earnings guidance for 2020. The company filled most of that demand from existing inventory, but the revenue boom will eventually make its way to Pentair, which makes pool pumps, cleaners and automated control systems.
Orders for residential HVAC systems were up 100% in June compared with those in the month a year earlier and trending up more than 50% in July at Carrier Global, with similar spikes at rivals Trane Technologies and Johnson Controls International. The pandemic is prompting a “radical reappraisal” of life and work in which “health and wellness is definitely moving from what I would think of prior as a luxury to a necessity,” CEO Mindy Grossman said at a recent conference. WW’s quarterly revenue fell from a year earlier, as many of its brick-and-mortar studios were temporarily closed because of the pandemic. But digital subscriptions — a more profitable model the company is trying to pivot towards anyway — rose 23%.
Reynolds Consumer Products recorded a double-digit increase in sales in its Hefty waste and storage bags unit as people generate more trash at home. Americans are also reluctant to share homes that may already feel a bit crowded with bugs and other pests. Rollins, a pest-control company that operates under the Orkin brand, among others, said it had outpaced its previous 10 best sales days during the second quarter and the month of July, largely through inbound call volume.
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