Winners and Losers:
Stock surges and setbacks for the week ending Feb. 12
E-commerce revenue and a new president lift Indigo stocks while new shares dilute the value of Ballard Power Systems.
WINNERS Indigo Books And Music Inc. (IDG)
Bricks and mortar don’t seem to matter all that much to the country’s biggest book retailer. Indigo has been on an upward ride since reporting fiscal third quarter earnings this month. Despite a five per cent slide in revenue because COVID-19 lockdowns kept the bulk of its stores closed, Indigo saw profit jump 19 per cent to $30.7 million. E-commerce revenue, including click and collect, delivery through Instacart and Canada Post, soared 92 per cent. The company also appointed long-time retail executive Peter Ruis as president.
Shopify Inc. (SHOP)
The biggest company on the TSX got even bigger after announcing a deal with the world’s biggest social media network. Shopify will be rolling out its ShopPay program to merchants who sell their wares on Facebook or Instagram. Shopify claims its ShopPay checkout system is 70 per cent faster than competing systems. Creating a better, faster user experience on a network with billions of users — all of them potential customer’s for Shopify’s network of merchants — is bound to be good for business. Shopify’s already stratospheric share price jumped even higher, and ended the week well over $1,800.
SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. (SNC)
Investors gave a big thumbs-up this week after SNC-Lavalin sold off a major chunk of its troubled resources division. The Montreal-based engineering giant’s shares shot up after it agreed to sell its oil and gas services business to Kentech Corporate Holdings Ltd., a private company based in the United Arab Emirates. The deal will allow SNC-Lavalin to focus on its core engineering consulting business while it winds down its mining operations. While financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, SNC-Lavalin pretty much gave the division away, admitting there would be minimal net cash impact.
LOSERS Ballard Power Systems Inc. (BLDP)
Ballard decided to cash in on a wave of optimism surrounding the fuel cell industry, announcing a new equity issue aimed at raising up to $350 million (U.S.). The decision to sell up to 16 million new shares diluted the value of existing shares, and markets reacted accordingly. Burnaby, B.C.-based Ballard wasn’t the only fuel cell company doing it last week, either; American competitors Bloom Energy and Plug Power also announced they were issuing new shares.
Canopy Growth Corp. (WEED)
You could forgive investors in Canopy for feeling a little queasy after the roller-coaster ride the shares went on last week. The stock soared almost 20 per cent mid-week after the company forecast that it would finally be turning a profit by the second half of 2022. The stock came back down to earth, perhaps as markets began to remember that despite the optimistic forecast, Canopy had actually lost $829 million in its most recent quarter. (It was an equally wild week for much of the rest of the cannabis sector, prompting suggestions that it just might be the next darling of Reddit investors who sent GameStop and BlackBerry on a crazy ride recently).
Molson Coors Canada Inc. (TPX)
This might not come as a surprise to most people, but it turns out closing bars and restaurants and keeping sports and music fans out of arenas and stadiums is bad for the beer business. Molson Coors reported it had lost a whopping $1.37 billion (U.S.) in the fourth quarter. The brewing giant blamed continued COVIDrelated restrictions on arenas and other entertainment venues for the loss. In the same quarter last year, the company turned a $163.7-million (U.S.) profit.