A humorous look at the companies that caught our eye, for better or worse, this week
Restaurant Brands International (DOG)
Old morning routine: Hit the Tim Hortons drive-through for a coffee and a doughnut on your way to work. New morning routine: Make a cup of instant and some toast before your 9 a.m. Zoom meeting. With more people working from home and forgoing their daily Tims run, same-store sales at the coffee chain plunged 12.5 per cent in the third quarter. Even as sales fell a less severe 7 per cent at Burger King and jumped 17.4 per cent at Popeyes, parent Restaurant Brands International Inc. warned that it expects “to see a continued impact from COVID-19 on our results in the fourth quarter.” No wonder the shares have gone stale.
Harley-Davidson (STAR)
Even during the pandemic, you can still enjoy one of life’s great pleasures: riding an obnoxiously loud motorcycle that can induce hearing loss and offers zero protection in a crash. Helped by tighter inventories, higher prices and rebounding demand, Harley-Davidson Inc. posted adjusted earnings per share of US$1.05 in the third quarter, up from 70 US cents a year earlier and far ahead of the 28 US cents that analysts were expecting. With Harley’s stock up sharply on the results, investors are splurging on a new set of handlebar streamers.
Tupperware (STAR)
In the old days, if you wanted to buy Tupperware containers, you had to go to a Tupperware party. Now, you can shop on the Tupperware website – and it’s a good thing, too, because attending a Tupperware party during a pandemic sounds like a good way to die. Thanks to growing digital sales and the trend toward eating at home, the maker of food-storage and cooking products posted a 14-per-cent increase in revenue for the third quarter as adjusted earnings per share more than tripled, crushing expectations. Tupperware Brands Corp. investors are making so much money they don’t need to eat leftovers.
Pinterest (STAR)
Pinterest Inc. bills itself as a “visual discovery engine for finding ideas like recipes, home and style inspiration, and more.” In other words, it’s a website that bombards you with pictures of crap it thinks you want to buy. Apparently, it’s working: With more people cooking, decorating and doing other activities around the home during the pandemic, the company posted year-over-year growth of 58 per cent in revenue for the third quarter as earnings smashed expectations. “Look, an ugly old chair that needs to be stripped and repainted. Honey, can you get my credit card?”
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DOG)
Between soaring coronavirus cases, election uncertainty and the lack of additional government stimulus for the economy, U.S. investors aren’t exactly feeling chipper these days. And it shows in the performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which plummeted more than 1,800 points or about 6.5 per cent over four consecutive losing sessions before rebounding on Thursday – and then sinking again on Friday. Here’s another sobering stat: The Dow is down 7.1 per cent in 2020, compared with a gain of 26.6 per cent for the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 Index. Maybe we should start calling it the Down Jones instead.
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John Heinzl