KBR Slumps, Circle Soars on Stablecoin Bill, Kroger Beats

On this edition of Stock Movers:

- KBR (KBR) shares dropped nearly 9%, the most since early November after the engineering company announced its role in the US Transportation Command (TRANSCOM)'s Global Household Goods Contract, which is designed to improve the moving system for military service members and their families. KBR was involved in the contract in a joint venture with HomeSafe Alliance. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Scott Levine says the termination of the contract may reflect risks to government service providers due to efficiency initiatives imposed by the Trump administration.

- Circle (CRCL) shares rose as much as 17% on Friday after Seaport Global gave the stablecoin issuer its first buy rating in the wake of the US Senate’s move this week to pass legislation setting up regulatory rules for cryptocurrencies pegged to the dollar. The company behind USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market share, has seen its shares rise more than 600% since they started trading early this month. Optimism around stablecoin regulations has driven the strength. Seaport analyst Jeff Cantwell sees the global stablecoin market having the potential to reach $2 trillion at some point, from about $260 billion now. That would translate into annual revenue growth of 25%-30% for Circle, he wrote in a note to clients Friday.

- Kroger (KR) sales surpassed expectations during the latest quarter, a sign that consumers are still spending on groceries and other essentials despite economic turbulence. The nation’s largest supermarket operator said its comparable sales, excluding fuel, rose 3.2% — better than what Wall Street analysts were expecting. The company also raised its full-year sales guidance to a range of 2.25% to 3.25%. It reaffirmed the rest of its outlook. Chief Financial Officer David Kennerley told analysts on the company’s conference call that Kroger has seen an improvement in grocery volumes in recent quarters, which contributed to growth in the latest quarter. Kroger expects further volume expansion over the rest of 2025. Shares of the supermarket operator rose.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news, The.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Stock Movers podcast, your roundup of companies making moves in
the stock market, harnessing the power of Bloomberg Data. I'm
Tim Statveeck along with Carol Master.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Let's take a look at some stocks on the move
today with.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Us is a Bloomberg News reporter, Danita so Covid Denitza.
What is on your radar.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Let's look at KDR.

Speaker 4 (00:28):
That's one of the biggest decliners today. It dropped as
much as eight point six percent. So this is an
engineering company that has a lot of government contracts.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
We're talking Department of Defense, We're talking.

Speaker 4 (00:38):
NASA, We're talking a lot of those big names, and
today there was an announcement that one of the contracts
was terminated by the US Transportation Command. It's interesting because
the company says that this development is not expected to
have a material impact.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
They had a really strong earnings.

Speaker 4 (00:56):
Report, but clearly, obviously in a very low volume day,
markets are reacting quite negatively.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Investorsting differently maybe about that material impacted.

Speaker 4 (01:06):
The eye says the determination of the contract may reflect
risks to government service providers, and obviously.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
That company has a lot of exposures to government contract b.

Speaker 4 (01:16):
I was actually very bullish after the earnings report, just
because the company has stayed away from risk infrastructure contract
and relied on government contracts.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
But clearly that's a problem now.

Speaker 4 (01:27):
The stock is down more than fifteen percent year today,
and I think it's a good proxy to see with
all those companies who are relying heavily on government contracts.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
So it's an interesting name.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Agreed, agreed, and right. It looks like there are some
that will maybe do well going forward and some that
might not. And this one certainly seems under pressure.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Again.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
KBR is a ticker and it's down seven percent. Let's
go to one that has been on fire this month.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yes, I keep checking the price.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
Now it's nearly seven hundred percent, it's about six hundred
and seventy.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
It just never stops down. No, it actually went down today,
but it's so small they cannot see ticer. Please.

Speaker 4 (02:03):
C r CL today rules as much as twenty five percent,
and it's actually because they initiated a by rating at Seaport.
But the by rating was two hundred and thirty five
percent price tag, which was already reached. Today, we're a
little bit lower now, but it just tells you how rapid.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
This rally is.

Speaker 4 (02:21):
Obviously that's a name that just ipo. There has been
big legislation in the Senate that is moving setting up
regulatory rules.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
What a circle Internet doable coins? Yes, stable con thank
you crypto dude, and no, no crypto dude, I'm non
crypto man.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
You've graduate boy.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yeah, he's been upgraded, he's been upraded.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Okay, so they're going beyond stable coins.

Speaker 4 (02:49):
They have a payments network to help financial institutions. So
that's why we saw MasterCard and Visa following the other day.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
So it's a little bit more than just stable coin.
But anyway, a lot of optimism.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
They're unbelievable and believable.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
I find it convinced Carol to do one of these
as their gainer.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
I know you're like, you got it, you have to
do this, you have to do this, and you know,
once again he was right.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
Kroger, Yeah, that's a very different company. A rose as
much as ten percent on a good earning sere it could.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
Be a Kroger stable coin in our future to buy grocery.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
Do you think it's possible? And it's possible. They're not
doing it.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
We're just speculating.

Speaker 4 (03:23):
We're so yeah good earning support signed that consumers. We're
so worried about consumers, but they're still spending on those Essentially, Obviously,
Kroger has a lot of groceries, and one thing we're
seeing when consumers are pulling out, they're eating more at home.
So that's one reason perhaps a brand like Kroger is

(03:43):
not necessarily seeing so much pressure. The report was really good,
comparable sales rolls three point two percent. The company raised
its full weir sales guidance. The CEOs said that the
company h has seen an improvement in also leave volumes,
So overall pretty bullish about the consumers. Of course, this

(04:05):
is just kind of an essential uh chain, so we
cannot say that necessarily it means that the consumer is
doing so much better. But one one good sign that
consumers continue continue to spend on necessities and groceries.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
Got to eat, got to eat. I think I heard
poster you can't eat stable coins.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
That's true, that's right.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
I'm told you.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
Can eat those chocolate coins.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
Remember those little chocolate coins.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
We used to get?

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yeah, and I know who does it.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
The Stock Movers Podcast from Bloomberg Radio. Check back with
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