if you believe u.s. corporations, americans are drinking less coffee, eating fewer doughnuts and taking fewer cruises, all because of the presidential election. companies have made a habit of finding excuses for their quarterly results. blaming the weather is a perennial favorite. the fear of rising interest rates is another. brexit is a newer culprit. now,<u+00a0>tuesday<u+2019>s<u+00a0>vote is front and center. starbucks corp. noted a <u+201c>high degree of uncertainty<u+201d> around the election. <u+201c>everyone is hoping that postelection, there will be a return to a natural state of affairs in terms of consumer behavior,<u+201d> chief executive howard schultz said last week on an earnings call. people apparently were avoiding doughnuts and ice cream as well. dunkin<u+2019> brands group inc., the owner of dunkin<u+2019> donuts and baskin-robbins, said consumers were on edge because of <u+201c>the overwhelming dampening effect of the presidential election.<u+201d> mcdonald<u+2019>s boss steve easterbrook said consumer confidence is muted. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re at a rather unusual stage of the election cycle,<u+201d> he said. and people apparently tend to book fewer cruises around presidential elections, according to carnival corp. chief arnold donald. at least 80 s&p 500 companies have mentioned the election in their conference calls so far this earnings season, according to john butters, senior earnings analyst at factset.<u+00a0>surprisingly, though, that is down from 100 in the similar period before the far less contentious 2012 presidential election. about 40% of them this year have talked negatively about the election. only one was outright positive<u+2014> comcast corp. , mainly because of political advertising. <u+201c>we have seen growth obviously in this election year,<u+201d> comcast boss neil smit said. companies from 10 of the 11 s&p 500<u+2019>s large-cap sectors have mentioned the election this reporting period, according to mr. butters. the telecom sector is the only one that hasn<u+2019>t, perhaps because people are talking and texting about the race. the question is whether these excuses are justified, or if they mask underlying fundamental issues. shares of starbucks, carnival and mcdonald<u+2019>s are all down for the year. investors hoping for postelection rebounds once an element of certainty returns to the market might be disappointed. blaming the election is akin to saying the dog ate<u+00a0>my homework. there is always more to the story. write to steven russolillo at steven.russolillo@wsj.com
companies blaming the election for their results is a lame excuse  - wsj
steven russolillo