A humorous look at the companies that caught our eye, for better or worse, this week.
J. M. SMUCKER - DOG
Investors who went into the week overweight the jelly sector likely find themselves with significantly less bread this weekend. Smucker’s stock got jammed up after the company posted a second-quarter toasting on revenues, falling short of the Street’s top-line estimate by about $70-million (U.S.). In addition to being vulnerable to puns, the company has had to contend with shifting consumer food preferences. Smucker shareholders started the week hoping to build on recent earnings strength, proving once again that hope, like jam, is a good breakfast but a bad supper.
SJM (NYSE), $138.98 (U.S.) down $15.63 or 10.1% over week
ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD - STAR
There must have been a fair number of shareholders of Texas-based CST Brands who responded to news of a merger with a company called Alimentation Couche-Tard by visiting Google Translate. They’d be doubly confused by the result: “Power Night Owls.” But what needed no translation was the $4.4-billion (U.S.) purchase price, including debt, which represented a 42-per-cent premium over CST’s share price prior to announcing a strategic review in March. The proposed deal would give Couche-Tard’s investors, meanwhile, bragging rights to shares in the continent’s largest fuel retailer.
ATD.B (TSX), $67.93 up $5.78 or 9.3% over week
BEST BUY - STAR
There are, evidently, still people using Best Buy stores not just as showrooms for stuff they later purchase on Amazon. Some, at least, were testing out goods they would later buy on Best Buy’s own site. The company’s online revenues for the second quarter soared by 24 per cent, which helped to lift the stock to its highest price in nearly a year and a half. That’s one for bricks and mortar. Or rather, bricks and mortar’s website.
BBY (NYSE), $39.48 (U.S.) up $6.89 or 21.1% over week
SPLUNK - DOG
Splunk! Apparently, the sound of disappointing the market. Anyway, Splunk splunked big-time this week. Shares of the data analytics software company gapped down on Friday morning on the company’s second-quarter financial results, which were actually positive at first glance. But a revenue beat was overshadowed by disappointing deferred revenue and a slowdown in billings growth. Whatever the opposite of splunking is, Splunk better start doing that, pronto.
SPLK (Nasdaq), $58.52 (U.S.) down $6.27 or 9.7% over week
GARMIN - DOG
Just when this company seems to have got on the right track, Garmin’s shareholders find themselves veering off into a boat launch. “Recalculating route,” their proverbial GPS tells them as the vehicle bobs in the water. Up to that point, the year to date had been a rewarding time for a Garmin investor for the first time in a couple of years. All it really took was a downgrade by Goldman Sachs, which moved in line with the consensus expectation that the stock will underperform.
GRMN (Nasdaq), $50.20 (U.S.) down $4.18 or 7.7% over week