A humorous look at the companies that caught our eye, for better or worse, this week
CAMPBELL SOUP (STAR)
Now that the cold weather is here, nothing warms you up like a bowl of Campbell’s tomato soup with wholesome ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup, flavouring and monopotassium phosphate – just like mom used to make! Investors were warming up to the stock after Campbell topped estimates for its fiscal first quarter and lifted its full-year profit outlook, helped by cost cuts. Mm, Mm, money.
CPB (NYSE), $53.10 (U.S.), up $4.28 or 8.8% over week
TIFFANY (STAR)
The world may be spiralling into chaos, but look on the bright side: Rich people can still afford expensive sparkly thingys. Even as Tiffany’s quarterly earnings fell because of the strong U.S. dollar, the jeweller’s currency-neutral sales jumped 4 per cent globally, led by gains of 34 per cent in Japan and 9 per cent in Europe. With Christmas coming, remember that it’s not the thought that counts, but the size of the diamond.
TIF (NYSE), $79.73 (U.S.), up $4.59 or 6.1% over week
ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD (STAR)
What goes up must come down? Not if you’re Alimentation Couche-Tard. The convenience store operator – whose stock has gained for six consecutive years and is on track for a seventh in 2015 – hit another record after second-quarter operating earnings jumped 20 per cent, lifted by solid growth in same-store sales of merchandise and fuel. Making money has never been more convenient.
ATD.B (TSX), $61.78, up $1.03 or 1.7% over week
GAMESTOP (DOG)
The only exercise video-game-addicted kids get these days? Walking to the store to buy a new video game. Now, they don’t even have to do that: Hit by a growing number of consumers downloading games at home instead of shopping at bricks-and-mortar stores, GameStop reported a 9.3-per-cent drop in new software sales as revenue and earnings both fell in the third quarter. Investors are pulling the plug.
GME (NYSE), $36.01 (U.S.), down $3.25 or 8.3% over week
WALT DISNEY (DOG)
Business quiz! Shares of Disney fell after:
a) A $1-billion class-action lawsuit accused the company of “making the same Marvel superhero movie over and over, just with different characters.”
b) Disney World was shut down indefinitely after a series of alligator attacks;
c) The company disclosed in a regulatory filing that its ESPN sports network lost about three million subscribers in the past year.
Answer: c.
DIS (NYSE), $115.13 (U.S.), down $4.94 or 4.1% over week