A humorous look at the companies that caught our eye, for better or worse, this week.
BlackBerry
BB (TSX)
July 18, 2014 close: $10.76
down $1.61 or 13% over week
Business quiz! Shares of BlackBerry fell this week because:
a) the company’s new wind-up smartphone did not go over well with consumers
b) a widespread service outage affected all seven remaining BlackBerry users across North America
c) IBM is teaming up with Apple to sell iPhones and iPads loaded with security features and apps for business, taking aim at BlackBerry’s target market.
Answer: c.
Sherwin-Williams
SHW (NYSE)
July 18, 2014 close: 212.18 (U.S.)
up $9.42 or 4.6% over week
Actual Sherwin-Williams paint colours:
Comical Coral
Naive Peach
Decisive Yellow.
Colour that Sherwin-Williams shareholders were seeing this week: Jolly Green. Buoyed by strong sales at its paint stores, the maker of Dutch Boy, Thompson’s and its namesake brand reported higher second-quarter earnings and boosted its full-year forecast. With the stock posting its biggest one-day gain since 2012, you might say shareholders have a Rosy Outlook.
Mattel
MAT (Nasdaq)
July 18, 2014 close: $36.20 (U.S.)
down $2.93 or 7.5% over week
“Barbie, we have to talk.”
“What’s wrong, Ken?”
“I’m leaving you.”
“Why? What did I do?”
“Your worldwide sales fell 15 per cent in the second quarter – that’s the third double-digit drop in a row.”
“I still outsell you 100 to one, helmet hair. Now get lost.”
Time Warner
TWX (NYSE)
July 18, 2014 close: $87.23 (U.S.)
up $14.94 or 20.7% over week
Rupert Murdoch at …
Age 3: I want another cookie! I want more apple juice!
Age 83: I want more TV networks! I want more film studios!
And he’ll probably get them. The octogenarian owner of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. was rebuffed in his $80-billion (U.S.) offer for Time Warner – whose assets include CNN, HBO and Warner Bros. – but investors are betting he won’t give up so easily.
Snap-On
SNA (NYSE)
July 18, 2014 close: $123.63 (U.S.)
up $5.46 or 4.6% over week
“Our second-quarter results include broad-based organic sales growth, which we believe affirms Snap-on’s unique capabilities in providing repeatability and reliability to a wide range of professional customers performing critical tasks in workplaces of consequence,” CEO Nick Pinchuk said.
Translation: We sold more of our tools to car repair shops.