Crafts retailer Michaels Cos. Inc. has partnered with United Parcel Service Inc. to provide locations for contactless package pickup and returns. These UPS Access Points will be at 800 Michaels stores. Customers call the store once they arrive and a Michaels worker will handle the transaction without the customer having to enter the store. Michaels has 1,200 stores across 49 states and Canada. Michaels stock has skyrocketed 87% for the month to date, but has plunged nearly 74% over the past year. UPS stock is down 8% for the last year. And the S&P 500 index has slipped 2.7% for the past 12 months.

What happened Shares of arts-and-crafts supplies retailer Michaels (NASDAQ: MIK) rose as much as 15.3% on Friday, peaking just before 3 p.m., EDT. On a generally positive day for the stock market as a whole, Michaels got an additional boost from an SEC filing that showed investment management firm BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) increased its already-huge ownership of the company.

Shares of the crafts retailer rose on the market rotation into beaten down stocks. Next week's earnings report could provide a further lift.

There are stocks to own for the short run. There are stocks to own for the long run. (MS)’s research team late Tuesday published a note called “Secularly Challenged Stocks” that lists 22 well-known companies that their analysts suggest people shouldn’t own.

The Michaels Companies, Inc. (Nasdaq: MIK) (the "Company") today announced that, in light of public health and safety precautions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including restrictions on in-person gatherings, the Company’s 2020 annual meeting of stockholders will be changed from an in-person meeting to a virtual-only meeting. The annual meeting will be held on June 10, 2020 at 8 a.m. local time, as previously announced, but stockholders will not be able to attend in person. The virtual meeting will provide stockholders with the ability to participate, vote their shares, and ask questions.

Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") downgraded Michaels Stores, Inc.'s ("Michaels ") corporate family rating to Ba3 from Ba2, its probability of default rating to Ba3-PD from Ba2-PD, its senior secured rating to Ba3 from Ba2, and unsecured rating to B2 from B1. The speculative grade liquidity rating was downgraded to SGL-2 from SGL-1.

Darden executives and directors paid $4.6 million for shares in a recent stock offering. CEO Gene Lee led the pack with $1.5 million in share buys.

In the center of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the question on income investors' minds is whether any stock can afford to pay its dividend. United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) stock can handle that load.Source: Sundry Photography / Shutterstock.com For the March quarter, UPS had net income of $935 million, $1.11 per share diluted, on revenue of $18 billion. That was higher than its quarterly dividend payout of $1.01 per share. The company also announced free cash flow of $1.6 billion, also enough to clear the dividend's cost.Analysts whined about the revenue mix, which was higher for residential than commercial deliveries, and terrible for international. But UPS opened for trading May 8 at about $93, and that dividend yield is about 4.3%.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips Income Investors Take NoteAt a time when retired investors are reaching for yield in high-risk corporate bonds, the UPS dividend should be attractive. While common stock investors are always last in line for corporate obligations, behind bonds and all other bills, UPS proved this winter it can deliver results in all economic seasons.This has not made it a stock for all investors. Those seeking capital gains will see its down 20% so far in 2020. Those seeking growth will see that March revenue was just 5% ahead of last year. Analysts are updating their models to reflect UPS' slow, steady and profitable growth. * 7 A-Rated REITs to Buy NowUPS isn't coming away from the pandemic unscathed. Home deliveries are less profitable than bulk deliveries to business. First-quarter profit was down from a year earlier, even while revenue grew.UPS is also finding new ways to compete with Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN). Its network of UPS Stores means it has a physical presence that can even take Amazon returns. This will expand through an agreement to take packages from The Michaels Companies (NASDAQ:MIK) chain of crafts stores, when retailing reopens.While longtime rival FedEx (NYSE:FDX) has gotten itself into trouble by picking fights with Amazon, UPS learned to adapt. I have speculated it's because FedEx is still led by founder Fred Smith, while UPS has recharged its management with outsiders from Home Depot (NYSE:HD), PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) and Walmart (NYSE:WMT). For them, Amazon is less an existential threat than a part of the business environment. A Trump Bump?UPS may also benefit from Trump's insistence that the U.S. Postal Service stop "subsidizing" Amazon and raise rates. Such a move would bring UPS more incremental business, cash with which to expand its own delivery network.During the current quarter, UPS drivers are hitting the road more, but making less for the company. That should change as stores and factories re-open over the next few months. UPS has also proven it can make money in a tough environment so that, if the lockdowns return, it is ready.Competition with Amazon also steeled UPS in the use of new technology. It is now delivering prescriptions to some senior centers using drones, in conjunction with CVS Health (NYSE:CVS). The pandemic is giving UPS the cash flow to move ahead in areas that had previously been theoretical. The Bottom Line for UPS StockUPS stock is not for everyone.In today's market it's the equivalent of an old-line industrial. It's a slow growth company with a steady stream of income.That means if you're looking for capital gains, look elsewhere. UPS' share price should recover as the pandemic retreats, but it will never be a high-flyer. It will continue to ride low to the ground.But at a time when high-flyers are out of fashion, with conservative investors doing triage on their portfolios against the virus' siege, UPS stands out at its current price. It will still pay you to own it, and that's saying something.Dana Blankenhorn has been a financial and technology journalist since 1978. His latest book is Technology's Big Bang: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow with Moore's Law, essays on technology available at the Amazon Kindle store. Write him at danablankenhorn@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @danablankenhorn. As of this writing he owned shares in CVS and AMZN. More From InvestorPlace * America's 1 Stock Picker Reveals Next 1,000% Winner * 25 Stocks You Should Sell Immediately * 1 Under-the-Radar 5G Stock to Buy Now * The 1 Stock All Retirees Must Own The post UPS Stock Can Handle the Load appeared first on InvestorPlace.

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The Michaels Companies, Inc., (NASDAQ: MIK) the largest arts and crafts retail chain in North America, is launching a month-long initiative to recognize consumers who are crafting, constructing and creating for the greater good during COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic strikes again. Retailers may need to stay closed far longer than previously expected.

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Stores have closed en masse, inventory has piled up, and retailers have been forced to tap credit lines and debt financing in order to stay afloat. Like many retailers, Michaels (NASDAQ: MIK), the arts-and-crafts purveyor, has seen its stock plunge during the pandemic. Michaels stock actually hit an intraday low of just $1 on March 18 in the aftermath of its fourth-quarter earnings report, but since then, the stock has rebounded back up to close to $3.

Right now, Michaels Companies Inc. (NASDAQ: MIK) share price is at $2.77, after a 8.88% decrease. Over the past month, the stock went up by 59.20%, but over the past year, it actually decreased by 75.38%. With questionable short-term performance like this, and great long-term performance, long-term shareholders might want to start looking into the company's price-to-earnings ratio.The stock is currently above from its 52 week low by 177.01%. Assuming that all other factors are held constant, this could present itself as an opportunity for investors trying to diversify their portfolio with Specialty Retail stocks, and capitalize on the lower share price observed over the year.The P/E ratio measures the current share price to the company's earnings per share. It is used by long-term investors to analyze the company's current performance against its past earnings, historical data and aggregate market data for the industry or the indices, such as S&P 500. A higher P/E indicates that investors expect the company to perform better in the future, and the stock is probably overvalued, but not necessarily. It also shows that investors are willing to pay a higher share price currently, because they expect the company to perform better in the upcoming quarters. This leads investors to also remain optimistic about rising dividends in the future.Most often, an industry will prevail in a particular phase of a business cycle, than other industries.Compared to the aggregate P/E ratio of the 19.3 in the specialty retail industry, Michaels has a lower P/E ratio of 1.71. Shareholders might be inclined to think that they might perform worse than its industry peers. It's also possible that the stock is undervalued.Price to earnings ratio is not always a great indicator of the company's performance. Depending on the earnings makeup of a company, investors may be unable to attain key insights from trailing earnings.See more from Benzinga * 15 Consumer Cyclical Stocks Moving In Friday's Pre-Market Session(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Investors need to pay close attention to Michaels (MIK) stock based on the movements in the options market lately.

The Michaels Companies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIK) today announced that the Company plans to report first quarter fiscal 2020 results on Thursday, June 4, 2020, before the opening of U.S. financial markets. In connection with the announcement, the Company will host a conference call at 8:00 a.m. CT on Thursday, June 4, 2020, to discuss its financial and operational results.

UPS AND MICHAELS LAUNCH CONTACTLESS CURBSIDE PICKUP OF PACKAGES AND RETURN DROP-OFFS AT UPS ACCESS POINT LOCATIONS

GameStop (NYSE: GME), Foot Locker (NYSE: FL), and The Michaels Companies (NASDAQ: MIK) plunged today with only Foot Locker avoiding a 10% intraday drop, after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell shook the markets. Retailers, among other hard-hit industries during the COVID-19 economic slowdown, were hoping for a swift rebound in consumer activity as some states slowly reopen parts of the economy.