George Weston (STAR)
WN - TSX
Do you enjoy baking? Are you looking for a new challenge? Well, here’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own your very own bakery! George Weston Ltd., parent of Loblaw Cos. Ltd., announced plans to sell its Weston Foods division, which bakes everything from pies, doughnuts and cupcakes to breads sold under the Country Harvest, Wonder Bread and D’Italiano brand names. As the new owner of Weston Foods – which had sales of $2.1-billion in 2020 – you’ll be responsible for supplying baked goods to thousands of grocery stores across Canada and the United States. So grab your baker’s cap and make an offer!
Rite Aid (DOG)
RAD - NYSE
Face masks, hand sanitizer and physical distancing are effective ways to reduce transmission of COVID-19. Unfortunately for Rite Aid investors, they’re also effective ways to reduce the company’s share price. With sales of cough, cold and flu-related products tumbling by nearly 37 per cent in the fourth quarter as Americans took steps to avoid getting sick, the U.S. pharmacy chain forecast a net loss of US$90-million to US$100-million for the year ended Feb. 27. Lousy weather and a drop in prescriptions also put a damper on sales, causing the stock to come down with a bad case of the sniffles.
Dolphin Entertainment (STAR)
DLPN - Nasdaq
Multiple choice quiz! Dolphin Entertainment is a company that: a) brings live dolphins, sharks, piranhas and other aquatic animals to perform at children’s birthday parties; b) is best known for the hilarious reality TV series, I’m Dating a Dolphin; c) is engaged in marketing, public relations and content development, and whose shares jumped after it announced plans to get into the fast-growing non-fungible token (NFT) market that uses blockchain technology to represent digital works of art. Answer: c.
ViacomCBS (DOG)
VIAC - Nasdaq
Keen to pay for yet another streaming service? Didn’t think so. With Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Max and others already vying for a share of consumers’ wallets, analysts expressed skepticism that Paramount+ – the newly rebranded streaming service from ViacomCBS – will be able to compete with larger, more entrenched players. AllianceBernstein warned that the company – which announced US$3-billion of stock sales to fund streaming content – could “waste billions on streaming offerings that we believe will struggle to carry their own weight.” Investors aren’t sticking around to see how this movie ends.
Koss (DOG)
KOSS - Nasdaq
Listening to headphones at high volume can lead to hearing loss. It’s also true that investing in headphone maker Koss can lead to financial losses. Despite posting revenues of just US$18.3-million in fiscal 2020, the company’s market cap soared to nearly US$1-billion in January as Koss was swept higher by the Reddit-fuelled rally that propelled “meme” stocks such as GameStop and AMC Entertainment to unsustainable heights. Now that reality has set in, Koss investors who bought near the top have ringing in their ears.
A humorous look at the companies that caught our eye, for better or worse, this week
Be smart with your money. Get the latest investing insights delivered right to your inbox three times a week, with the Globe Investor newsletter. Sign up today.
John Heinzl