A humorous look at the companies that caught our eye, for better or worse, this week
TECK RESOURCES: STAR
As George W. Bush said: “Fool me once, shame on – shame on you. Fool me – you can’t get fooled again.” Well, shareholders of Teck Resources just got fooled again: Hammered by slumping coal and copper prices, the miner slashed its dividend by two-thirds – the first cut since Teck suspended its dividend in 2008 before reinstating it in 2010 – sending the stock down sharply. Then, just to fool all the people who sold, the stock rebounded.
TCK.B (TSX), $17.45, up 95¢ or 5.8% over week
CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL: DOG
Side effects of eating burritos: bloating, gas, heartburn. Side effect of investing in burrito chain Chipotle: severe portfolio pain. Even as the company posted first-quarter earnings above expectations, the shares – which trade at a hefty 2015 P/E of about 37 – plunged amid signs that growth is slowing. With same-store sales up “just” 10.4 per cent – about three percentage points lower than a year earlier – investors are losing their appetites for the stock.
CMG (NYSE), $637.50 (U.S.), down $46.45 or 6.8% over week
HARLEY-DAVIDSON: DOG
Riding a motorcycle is fun – until you hit a rock and go hurtling over the handlebars. Shares of Harley-Davidson had a scary wipeout of their own after the maker of iconic motorcycles posted a 1.3-per-cent drop in first-quarter retail sales, hurt by deep discounts on European and Japanese bikes. With Harley refusing to cut prices and instead trimming shipments to reduce inventories, investors might want to try a different mode of transportation.
HOG (NYSE), $57.23 (U.S.), down $3.37 or 5.6% over week
RIDLEY: STAR
Now that’s what you call bellying up to the trough. Shares of Ridley – which sells a wide range of feed and nutritional supplements to livestock and poultry producers – were looking plump and well fed after the Minnesota-based, Canadian-listed company agreed to be acquired by privately-held Alltech of Lexington, Ky., for $40.75 a share or $521-million. Shareholders are happier than a pig rolling around in $50 and $100 bills.
RCL (TSX), $40.41, up $6.69 or 19.8% over week
HASBRO: STAR
Business quiz! Which of the following is not an actual Transformers toy made by Hasbro?
a) Steeljaw;
b) Strongarm;
c) Thunderhoof;
d) Butthead.
Answer: d.
Lifted by double-digit sales growth in both the “boys” division, which includes Transformers and Nerf, and in the preschool category, which includes Transformers Rescue Bots and Play-Doh, Hasbro posted higher-than-expected revenue and earnings in the first quarter. This stock’s not toying around.
HAS (Nasdaq), $71.61 (U.S.), up $5.72 or 8.7% over week