Kroger rings up a beat, Facebook downgraded, Children’s Place slashes outlook

Here’s a look at some of the companies the Yahoo Finance team is watching for you today.

Kroger beat on earnings in Q3 and sales were in line with estimates, but lower than a year ago. The CEO says they’re focused on transforming their business model. Earlier this week, the company announced a partnership to sell groceries in some Walgreens drug stores.

Facebook under pressure this morning after a major downgrade. Stifel Nicolaus cut the social networking giant to “hold” from “buy.” Analysts there say Facebook has quote “created too many adversaries” to not suffer long-term consequences and that it will struggle to again become the company it once was in the eyes of investors.

It’s a tough go for Children’s Place too. The retailer beat on profit and sales in the 3rd quarter but slashed its outlook. The CEO says they expect to feel growing pressure from competitors through the end of the year, but digital sales should remain strong.

Apple is bringing its smart speaker to china. The company will start selling home pods there next year and it’ll cost about 17% more than it does in the US, but it does face growing competition. Chinese giants Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and Xiaomi all make their own smart speakers at a much lower price.

Tesla may be getting closer to building its huge new factory in Shanghai. Reuters says the company has started taking bids for construction and at least one contractor has started buying materials to build that Gigafactory. The $2 billion plant would be Tesla’s first in China and the country’s first entirely foreign-owned car plant.