A humorous look at the companies that caught our eye, for better or worse, this week.
J.M. Smucker Co.
SJM (NYSE)
Nov. 14, 2014 close: $100.23 (U.S.)
down $4.61 or 4.4% over week
You might say Smucker is in a bit of a jam. The maker of fruit spreads, ice cream toppings and packaged coffee projected fiscal second-quarter profit well below analyst estimates and cut its full-year guidance, citing a 20-per-cent drop in volume of its Folgers java brand. Seems consumers weren’t thrilled with Folgers’ recent price hikes and are getting their morning cup of joe elsewhere. Investors are waking up and smelling the losses.
Wal-Mart
WMT (NYSE)
Nov. 14, 2014 close: $82.96 (U.S.)
up $4.19 or 5.3% over week
Nobody shops at Wal-Mart any more – too crowded. Surprising its skeptics, the retailing behemoth posted higher quarterly same-store U.S. sales for the first time in nearly two years, helped by lower gas prices that freed up more cash for consumers to spend. It wasn’t a huge gain – comparable sales rose just 0.5 per cent in the third quarter – but it was better than the lousy sales performance analysts have come to expect from Wally World.
DreamWorks Animation
DWA (Nasdaq)
Nov. 14, 2014 close: $26.02
up $3.78 or 17% over week
Move over, Ken and Barbie. The hot new couple in toyland might just be Shrek and My Little Pony. DreamWorks Animation, producer of Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and other hit film franchises, jumped on reports that the company is being pursued by Hasbro, whose products include My Little Pony, Mr. Potato Head and Monopoly. Spider-Man and Iron Man, which DreamWorks’ rival Disney licenses to Hasbro, had no comment on the potential merger.
SeaWorld Entertainment
SEAS (NYSE)
Nov. 14, 2014 close: $16.91 (U.S.)
down $1.48 or 8% over week
SeaWorld investors, watch out for that wave. Shares of the theme park operator were heavily under water after it posted an 8-per-cent drop in third-quarter revenue and 28-per-cent plunge in profit, hit by slumping attendance. Bad publicity generated by the documentary Blackfish, which alleges mistreatment of killer whales in captivity, has been keeping customers away. Competition from a second Harry Potter theme park in Florida isn’t helping, either.
Vicwest
VIC (TSX)
Nov. 14, 2014 close: $12.69
up $1.97 or 18.4% over week
Good news: Shares of steel roofing maker Vicwest surged after the company agreed to be acquired by Kingspan PLC for $12.70 a share.
Bad news: The takeover price is a long way off from the high of more than $19 that Vicwest traded for five years ago. Under the deal, Kingspan will retain Vicwest’s building products division while its grain-storage assets will be sold to Ag Growth International. Well, it beats falling off a roof.