A humorous look at the companies that caught our eye, for better or worse, this week
SHAW COMMUNICATIONS (DOG)
It’s a good thing Shaw Communications is getting into wireless – because anything with wires attached to it isn’t going so well for the company. Hit by the struggling Alberta economy, Shaw lost 26,000 cable TV and 14,000 home phone customers in its fiscal second quarter and added just 4,000 Internet subscribers. Judging by the stock’s decline this week, some investors are also pulling the plug.
SJR.B (TSX), $23.12, down $1.52 or 6.2% over week
DAVIDSTEA (DOG)
Waiter, there’s a cockroach in my tea. Less than a month after DavidsTea co-founder David Segal resigned as “brand ambassador,” the company posted fiscal fourth-quarter results that disappointed the market as sales rose sharply but adjusted earnings per share slipped. With the stock down 59 per cent from its closing price on the day it went public last June, this might be more than a tempest in a teapot.
DTEA (Nasdaq), $11.19 (U.S.), down 87¢ or 7.2% over week
NETFLIX (STAR)
Now that spring is finally here, it’s the perfect time to stay indoors for 72 hours straight and binge watch your favourite Netflix shows. Unfortunately, it might cost you more: In a move that will affect about 17 million accounts, the streaming service is hiking the price of its standard HD plan to $9.99 a month for customers who had been grandfathered at $7.99. Judging by the rise in Netflix’s stock price, investors aren’t exactly expecting a rash of cancellations.
NFLX (Nasdaq), $111.51 (U.S.), up $7.70 or 7.4% over week
HERTZ GLOBAL HOLDINGS (DOG)
It isn’t just the taxi industry that’s getting run over by Uber. Rental car companies are also feeling the pain. Hertz’s already-battered shares fell after it projected that its U.S. car rental revenue would be flat to 1.5-per-cent lower in 2016, down from an earlier projection of 1.5-per-cent to 2.5-per-cent growth. Hertz cited “excess industry capacity,” but CNBC’s mild-mannered Jim Cramer had a different spin: “When will Hertz just own up to Uber?”
HTZ (NYSE), $8.70 (U.S.), down $1.00 or 10.3% over week
JOY GLOBAL (STAR)
Business quiz! Joy Global is:
a) a licensed medical marijuana producer;
b) an entertainment company that provides clowns, jugglers and other performers to corporate events and birthday parties;
c) a supplier of heavy machinery to the mining industry.
Answer: c. With the stock rebounding amid hopes that commodity markets have bottomed, long-suffering investors are finally sporting a happy clown face.
JOY (NYSE), $18.66 (U.S.), up $4.18 or 28.9% over week