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stars and dogs

A humorous look at the companies that caught our eye, for better or worse, this week

PARTY CITY (DOG)

It’s my Party City stock and I’ll cry if I want to, cry if I want to, cry if I want to. You would cry, too, if your shares got crushed like Party City’s did following lousy third-quarter results. Hit by a 3.6-per-cent drop in same-store sales, the party supplies retailer that went public in April cut its full-year forecast, sending the stock into a four-day skid that erased 24 per cent of its value before a partial rebound. Party’s over, folks.

PRTY (NYSE), $12.30 (U.S.), down 83¢ or 6.3% over week




VALEANT PHARMACEUTICALS (STAR)

Valeant’s new female libido pill isn’t getting anyone excited, with only a few hundred prescriptions for Addyi – a failed anti-depressant – written so far. Still, investors are suddenly randy for Valeant’s stock: The shares surged after a Citigroup analyst initiated coverage of the drug maker with an “overweight” rating, saying Valeant’s recent plunge amid controversy over drug pricing has been “largely overdone” and most of the bad news is baked in.

VRX (TSX), $121.06, up $20.53 or 20.4% over week




WAL-MART (STAR)

There once was a business called Wal-Mart

Whose shares did make one ugly stock chart

’Til its Q3 report

Cut the pessimists short

And the stock got a much-needed jump-start.

WMT (NYSE), $60.07 (U.S.), up $3.65 or 6.5% over week




DICK’S SPORTING GOODS (DOG)

Lovely fall weather, isn’t it? Not if you’re a shareholder of Dick’s Sporting Goods: Hurt by record warm temperatures that hammered sales of outerwear and other seasonal goods, the largest U.S. sporting goods retailer posted lower third-quarter profit and cut its full-year forecast. With the company sitting on a mountain of unsold merchandise, the only sport Dick’s will be playing in the fourth quarter is a game of markdownball.

DKS (NYSE), $38.98 (U.S.), down $2.19 or 5.3% over week




AIRGAS (STAR)

Business quiz! Airgas is:

a) what you get after eating a Burrito Supreme at Taco Bell;

b) Another name for airplane fuel;

c) A U.S. company that sells industrial and medical gases, safety equipment, tools and welding products.

Answer: c.

With France’s Air Liquide SA agreeing to acquire Airgas for $10.3-billion (U.S.), or $143 a share, shareholders are having more fun than a bunch of college kids with a cylinder of nitrous oxide.

ARG (NYSE), $138.81 (U.S.), up $36.99 or 36.3% over week