S&P Merval Index (STAR)
Sure, he has a strange hairdo, takes advice from his cloned dogs and often campaigned with a chainsaw. But Javier Milei’s pledge to radically overhaul Argentina’s troubled economy is resonating with investors, who pushed the country’s main stock index to its best week in decades after the far-right populist won last Sunday’s presidential election. Now, all he has to do is follow through on his promise to eliminate the central bank, slash government spending, switch the country’s currency to the U.S. dollar from the Argentine peso and crush triple-digit inflation. Sounds like a slam dunk.
Symbotic (STAR)
SYM - Nasdaq
Worried that robots will take over the world and destroy humanity? Well, if you can’t beat them, join them. Investors in Symbotic – whose AI-powered robots automate warehouses and distribution centres where carbon-based life forms used to do all the work – made a killing this week after the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter revenue soared 60 per cent to US$392-million, blowing past analysts’ estimates. With Symbotic also unveiling first-quarter guidance above Wall Street’s expectations, shareholders are enjoying the good life – while they still can.
Burlington Stores (STAR)
BURL - NYSE
Test your business knowledge! Burlington Stores is a) an association of retailers in Burlington, Ont., that is fighting the province’s plans to bulldoze several malls and replace them with foreign-owned luxury spas; b) a company that people refer to disparagingly as “B.S.” – as in, “that store is total B.S.”; c) a U.S. discount apparel and home goods retailer, formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory, whose shares soared after it posted third-quarter sales of about US$2.3-billion, up 12 per cent from a year earlier, as adjusted net income more than doubled to US$64-million. Answer: c.
American Eagle Outfitters (DOG)
AEO - NYSE
The Eagle has … crash-landed. Even as American Eagle Outfitters posted sales and earnings above expectations for its third quarter ended Oct. 28, the apparel retailer’s fourth-quarter forecast failed to put investors into the holiday spirit. For the current quarter, the company expects revenue to be “up high-single digits” on a percentage basis, but that includes a four-point boost from a 53rd week in the current fiscal year. Investors were evidently hoping for more, which explains why they were flipping the bird to American Eagle’s stock.
Goodfood Market (DOG)
FOOD - TSX
Remember during the pandemic when people were so terrified of going out that they ordered all of their food online? Goodfood Market investors sure miss the good old days. Now that everyone is shopping at stores again, however, the meal-kit delivery company’s shares have turned mouldy and stale. The stock was looking even more unappetizing this week after net sales in the company’s fiscal fourth quarter totalled just $37.2-million, down 26 per cent from $50.4-million in the same period last year. Goodfood investors are definitely not in a good mood.
John Heinzl