Weber (DOG)
WEBR – NYSE
Don’t you hate it when you’re lighting a barbecue and it blows up in your face? Shareholders of grill maker Weber know the feeling. Weber’s shares had surged recently after speculators on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum – who buy heavily shorted companies to generate a short squeeze that drives up the price – started piling into the latest “meme” stock. But as traders took their profits, many investors got burned. It didn’t help that UBS reiterated a sell rating and cut its price target to $3 from $4, citing a more “subdued” earnings outlook. “Hey, what happened to your eyebrows?”
Laurentian Bank (DOG)
LB – TSX
Skiing in the Laurentians is fun. Investing in Laurentian Bank? Not so much. Shares of the Montreal-based bank lost an edge and tumbled downhill after it posted a drop in third-quarter earnings, reflecting higher loan loss provisions amid surging inflation, rising interest rates and an uncertain economy. With Laurentian’s stock dropping in 11 of the last 13 trading sessions and hitting an 18-month low this week, investors are nursing some nasty bruises.
Turquoise Hill Resources (STAR)
TRQ – TSX
Negotiating 101: When a buyer makes an initial offer, laugh loudly. When the buyer raises its offer, smile and shake your head. When the buyer raises its offer yet again, shake the buyer’s hand and – this part always goes over well – say, “Sucker! I would have taken the first offer.” That, more or less, is the strategy Turquoise Hill Resources used to squeeze out a $4.2-billion or $43-a-share bid from mining giant Rio Tinto to take Turquoise Hill private – up from Rio’s initial offer of $34, which it subsequently raised to $40. Well played, sir.
Okta (DOG)
OKTA – Nasdaq
Look. A technology stock is getting crushed. How strange. Shares of Okta plunged after the company, which provides cloud-based user authentication software, posted strong second-quarter results but said it is facing challenges integrating its 2021 acquisition of Auth0. With Okta management also casting doubt on its long-term goal of US$4-billion in revenue by fiscal 2026, and analysts cutting their price targets on the stock, investors wish they’d never gotten involved with this Okta-pus.
Chewy (DOG)
CHWY – NYSE
Bad dog! Shares of online pet products retailer Chewy soared when people were bringing home lots of pandemic pets. But now that adoptions are slowing and inflation is making life more expensive, the only thing it’s chewing through is investors’ money. Citing a pullback in spending on discretionary items such as treats and toys, the company cut its full-year revenue outlook and said customer growth slowed to just 2.1 per cent in the second quarter – down from 4.2 per cent in the first quarter, 7.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year and about 15 per cent in the quarter before that, according to Bloomberg. The trend isn’t your best friend here, even if dogs are.
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John Heinzl