A roundup of some of the North American equities making moves in both directions today
On the rise
Facebook Inc. (FB-Q) was up 0.8 per cent after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said major central banks and regulators will want oversight of the social media company’s proposed new cryptocurrency Libra.
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Superior Plus Corp. (SPB-T) increased 2 per cent after S&P Global revised its outlook for the company to stable from negative. It also reaffirmed its corporate credit rating of BB.
AltaCorp Capital analyst Nate Heywood said: “The revision follows Superior’s recent success with integrating the NGL Propane and Canwest acquisitions in conjunction to capturing corporate synergies. We view the event positively as it could improve access to capital and is aligned with management’s initiative to improve balance sheet strength in 2019.”
On the decline
Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC-T) fell 0.3 per cent after announcing a joint venture with Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services Limited, aiming to “expand the depth and breadth of fund offerings and retail fund penetration” in India.
It’s Manulife Investment Management’s first foray into the country.
“The joint venture brings together Mahindra’s domestic market strength and track record of building successful businesses and partnerships, with Manulife’s global wealth and asset management capabilities and richness of experience in servicing the needs of consumers in Asia and around the world across developed and developing markets,” the company said.
Shares of Canopy Growth Corp. (WEED-T) dropped 7.6 per cent in the wake of the release of weaker-than-anticipated fourth-quarter results after the bell on Thursday.
Though the marijuana producer reported sales and prices that exceeded expectations, its adjusted EBITDA loss of $98-million fell well short of the consensus forecast on the Street of a $67-million loss.
Desjardins Securities analyst John Chu said: “Cannabis-related sales were actually down modestly quarter-over-quarter (suggesting some market share loss) as Other revenue (accessories, etc) jumped by more than 3x quarter-over-quarter. Opex costs (sales and marketing, and G&A) were both significantly higher than expected, which drove the EBITDA shortfall; we suspect these costs will remain elevated in the coming quarters.”
Canaccord Genuity’s Matt Bottomley said: “However, much like a number of other LPs that have reported early 2019 results, Canopy’s cannabis related revenues actually took a small step back QoQ. As the company continues to ramp up its infrastructure, operating losses fell a bit shy of our expectations, further deepening from FQ3 levels. But given that the industry is still in a rather steep ramp-up phase and with $4.5-billion of cash on its balance sheet, we are not overly concerned with profitability for the quarter.”
See also: Canopy aims to launch small range of edible cannabis products in December
A day after it soared in its public trading debut, shares of Slack Technologies Inc. (WORK-N) fell 4.5 per cent in New York on Friday.
On Thursday, the stock soared nearly 50 per cent, valuing the company at more than US$23-billion.
The strong performance helped validate the unusual direct listing model the company used to go public as well as underscoring investor demand for business software makers.
The stock closed at US$38.62, compared with the New York Stock Exchange’s reference price of US$26 apiece. Trade opened midday at US$38.50.
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Brookfield Business Partners LP (BBU-UN-T) fell 5.9 per cent after announcing a US$795-million equity offering on Thursday after market close.
ARC Resources Ltd. (ARX-T) was down 1.5 per cent after an after-market announcement on Thursday that it is cutting its 2019 capital expenditure budget by $75-million to $700-million, citing the deferral of the Attachie West Phase I gas processing and liquids-handling facility.
Raymond James analyst Jeremy McCrea said: “The capex cut announced shouldn’t come as much of a surprise but more importantly, helps now alleviate any uncertainty with ARC’s business strategy. This was likely weighing on the company’s share price lately (with each dividend investors, growth investors and risk adverse investors all likely trimming positions given the indecision on what they’value most’ and what ARX would ‘cut’).”
Thomson Reuters Corp. (TRI-T) was 0.8 per cent lower after announcing it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tennessee-based Confirmation, a provider of secure audit confirmation services. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“The Confirmation acquisition will strengthen offerings to our core tax, accounting and audit customers,” said president and chief executive officer Jim Smith. “We will continue to invest in solutions that help our customers automate tasks in their daily workflow. The Confirmation acquisition fits that objective.”
As oil prices continued to rise, Imperial Oil Ltd. (IMO-T) lost 2 per cent higher after announcing before the bell that it has received final acceptance from the Toronto Stock Exchange for a normal course issuer bid to repurchase up to five per cent of its 764,221,735 outstanding common shares as of June 13, or a maximum of 38,211,086 shares during the next 12 months.
Sprott Resource Holdings Inc. (SRHI-T) fell 5.2 per cent after revealing it beneficially owns and controls, indirectly 8,143,815 common shares of Virginia Energy Resources Inc., representing approximately 14.2 per cent of the outstanding shares on a non-diluted basis.
Mullen Group Ltd. (MTL-T) dipped 2.1 per cent after announcing it closed its previously announced bought deal offering of $110-million in 5.75-per-cent convertible unsecured subordinated debentures due Nov. 30, 2026.
It also announced Friday that it entered into an agreement to amend the amount available to be borrowed on its credit facility with the Royal Bank of Canada by $25-million to $150-million.
With files from staff and wires
David Leeder