Walmart (DOG)
WMT – NYSE
You’re still worried about inflation? Try to keep up, people: It’s all about deflation now. “In the U.S., we may be managing through a period of deflation in the months to come,” Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart, said on the retailer’s third-quarter conference call, adding that prices for many grocery basics are already falling. While the comments – which came two days after a tame U.S. inflation report for October – are great news for consumers, they didn’t do much good for Walmart’s stock price. The shares tumbled as the company sounded a cautious note about consumer spending even as it posted third-quarter sales and earnings above expectations. With Walmart recently hitting a record high, maybe a little deflation in its stock price isn’t such a bad thing.
True North Commercial REIT (DOG)
TNT.UN – TSX
TNT: An abbreviation for trinitrotoluene, better known as dynamite. TNT.UN: An office real estate investment trust whose units look like they were brought down by dynamite. Hammered by falling occupancy levels and rising interest rates, True North Commercial REIT suspended its distribution and plans to use the cash to purchase its units, which have plunged more than 80 per cent from their prepandemic high and are trading at a “significant discount” to their intrinsic value, the REIT said. If misery loves company, True North investors can take comfort knowing that two other office landlords, Inovalis REIT and Slate Office REIT, also suspended their payouts this week. The trend is not your friend here.
Gap (STAR)
GPS – NYSE
Tired of wearing the same old grey hoodie over a denim shirt and a pair of khakis? Why not switch things up with a khaki hoodie over a grey shirt and denim pants? Or a khaki shirt and a … you get the idea. Thanks to The Gap and its sister chains Old Navy and Banana Republic, you can find endless combinations and permutations of denim, khakis and hoodies – with zippers, without zippers, with logos, without logos – that will keep you rocking the casual look all year long. Folks love their casual clothing, judging by the huge rise in Gap Inc.’s share price after the retailer crushed Wall Street’s third-quarter sales and earnings expectations. Do they make a hoodie with a big dollar sign on the front? They should.
Fisker (DOG)
FSR – NYSE
Investors in 2021: “Electric vehicles are going to take over the world and make people like me rich!” Investors in 2023: “I’m dumping these stupid EV stocks and putting my money into nice, safe guaranteed investment certificates.” Shares of Fisker skidded to a record low after the EV maker slashed 2023 production targets for a third time, just weeks after cutting prices of its high-end Ocean Extreme SUV. Adding to investors’ anxiety, the company posted a wider-than-expected loss for the third quarter and said its 10-Q filing will be delayed after the company discovered “material weaknesses” in its internal financial controls. Now we know what EV really stands for: Erasing Value.
Li-Cycle Holdings (DOG)
LICY – NYSE
Business quiz! Shares of lithium-ion battery recycler Li-Cycle Holdings, already down about 90 per cent in the past two years, extended their losses after: a) the company took a US$10-million charge to dispose of several thousand tonnes of glass bottles, aluminum cans and cardboard that thoughtless consumers had dumped at its battery recycling facility in Kingston; b) Elon Musk said he plans to send used Tesla batteries into space instead of recycling them; c) the Toronto-based company announced a third-quarter loss of US$130.5-million as Li-Cycle took a US$96.5-million charge related to soaring costs at a new plant in Rochester, N.Y., where the company recently paused construction work pending a “comprehensive review.” Answer: c.
John Heinzl