Skip to main content

Stars and Dogs

A humorous look at the companies that caught our eye, for better or worse, this week

Canada Goose Holdings (STAR)

Signs it's really, really cold out there: 1) Sharp increase in number of kids getting tongues stuck to poles; 2) CAA guy can't come because his truck won't start; 3) Soaring demand for $1,000 Canada Goose jackets. With much of North America in a deep freeze, Canada Goose's stock took flight on expectations that sales will get a boost from the frigid weather. The lineups outside the company's new Manhattan store this week certainly warmed investors' hearts.

GOOS (TSX) $41.45, up $1.69 or 4.25% over week

Dow Jones industrial average (STAR)

Another year, another series of stock market records. Buoyed by tax-cut legislation, robust corporate earnings and solid job growth in December, U.S. indexes continued to hit new highs in the first week of 2018, as the Dow Jones industrial average breached 25,000 for the first time. Sure, valuations are stretched and the bull market is long overdue for a correction. But like that matters.

DJIA 25,295.87, up 458.36 or 1.85% over week

L Brands (DOG)

"Look, under there!"

"Under where?"

"I just made you say underwear!"

As hilarious as underwear is, it's no laughing matter for shareholders of L Brands. Hurt by growing competition and a decision to ditch swimwear and apparel, the company's struggling Victoria's Secret lingerie chain reported a 1-per-cent drop in same-store sales in December. Judging by the stock's hefty decline, investors were caught with their pants down.

LB (NYSE) $50.34 (U.S.), down $10.68 US or 17.5% over week

BlackBerry (STAR)

When its smartphone business was sinking, BlackBerry was the butt of countless jokes. Now, investors are the ones who are laughing: Having stopped making handsets to focus on software and services, the company pulled off another win this week when China's Baidu chose BlackBerry to supply the safety operating system for its Apollo autonomous driving program. With a gain of about 80 per cent in the past year, BlackBerry's stock is in the fast lane.

BB (TSX) $17.17, up $2.92 or 20.49% over week

MoneyGram International (DOG)

MoneyGram lets you send cash to more than 200 countries. But the only thing investors got this week was a large debit to their accounts. The shares plunged after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States blocked the money-transfer company's proposed $1.2-billion (U.S.) merger with Ant Financial Services, an affiliate of China's Alibaba Group Holding, citing national security concerns. MoneyGram investors are taking their money elsewhere.

MGI (Nasdaq) $12.28 (U.S.), down $1.02 US or 7.67% over week