A roundup of some of the North American equities making moves in both directions today
On the rise
Shares of Lundin Gold Inc. (LUG-T) were up 7 per cent after Australia’s Newcrest Mining Ltd said it has raised its stake in the Canadian miner to 32 per cent with an additional $79.6-million investment as it looks to increase its exposure in Ecuador.
Newcrest last year paid $250-million for a 27.1-per-cent stake in Lundin, which owns a high-potential gold mine project in Ecuador.
Newcrest said it paid $7.25 per share to acquire a further 4.9-per-cent stake in Lundin from Toronto-based Kinross Gold Corp. (K-T).
Shares of Kinross were down 2.7 per cent.
Tesla Inc. (TSLA-Q) increased 1.7 per cent after it said on Friday its Chinese-built Model 3 cars would receive state subsidies, a move that will help the U.S. electric vehicle maker’s push into the world’s biggest auto market.
China’s industry ministry had earlier said Tesla’s Model 3 cars, being built at its $2 billion factory in Shanghai, were on a list recommended for subsidies for new energy vehicles (NEVs), which include plug-in hybrids, battery-only electric vehicles and those powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
Tesla said in a statement the subsidies had been secured.
Two variants of Tesla Model 3 vehicles are on the list for the generous NEV subsidy program, according to the website of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
See also: Gamblers back Tesla in Ford tug of war as orders reach 250,000
Canopy Growth Corp. (WEED-T) was up 0.9 per cent after providing an update on its Cannabis 2.0 portfolio of products before the bell.
Noting Dec. 16 is the first date new product formats can be sold into distribution channels, the company said it expects tnew products will not be seen on shelves until early in January 2020 in most markets.
“Leveraging learnings from Cannabis 1.0, the Company will stagger its launch of various products and formats to ensure a smooth roll-out,” the company said. “As such, availability will vary by province based on their individual ordering and distribution activities.”
Ulta Beauty Inc. (ULTA-Q) jumped 11.1 per cent after it beat quarterly profit estimates on Thursday, driven by sales of higher-margin cosmetics products.
The near 30-year-old company has capitalized on booming demand for celebrity-led beauty brands, which are usually priced at a premium, and has attributed cosmetics lines from Kylie Jenner and YouTuber James Charles for driving customers to its stores.
In October, Ulta said it had secured exclusive rights to sell singer Jennifer Lopez’s new fragrance, PROMISE, in the United States.
The company’s net income fell to US$129.75-million in the third quarter ended Nov. 2 from US$131.17-million a year earlier.
On a per share basis, the company earned US$2.25 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of US$2.13 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Halliburton Co. (HAL-N) rose over 4 per cent after revealing it is laying off employees at its Bakersfield plant in California in its latest round of job cuts this year, as the U.S. oilfield services firm struggles with falling profits amid slowing oil and gas activity.
The layoffs are expected to impact about 70 employees at the plant, the company said in a filing with California authorities.
Halliburton said the move was in addition to job cuts at other plants.
On the decline
Roots Inc. (ROOT-T) slipped 1 per cent after the retailer cut its full-year sales outlook to below the previously forecast range of $358-million to $375-million and said third-quarter results fell short of expectations.
For the quarter, Roots reported earnings per share of 5 cents, down from 7 cents a year earlier. Adjusting for items, earnings per share totalled 10 cents, down from 11 cents last year. Comparable sales grew 3 per cent, although president and CEO Jim Gable noted in a release that the company’s new U.S. stores are performing “well below expectations.”
Vancouver-based Correvio Pharma Corp. (CORV-T) plummeted over 38 per cent after U.S. Food and Drug Administration staffers reviewing its heart drug said on Friday they did not believe the benefits offered by the therapy outweighed its risks.
The drug, Brinavess, approved in several other counties including Europe and Canada, aims to correct erratic heart rhythm in the upper chambers of the heart due to a condition known as atrial fibrillation or AFib.
Although Correvio has provided sufficient evidence of the drug’s benefit, Brinavess comes with “serious liabilities” including low blood pressure, irregular heartbeats in the lower heart chambers, and death, the officials said in documents released Friday.
Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER-N) slid 2.7 per cent after it said Thursday it had received more than 3,000 reports of sexual assault, including rape, related to its trips in the United States in 2018, at a time when it operated roughly 1.3 billion rides.
The ride sharing firm said the 2018 figures represented a 16-per-cent drop in the rate of incidents from the previous year in the five most serious categories of sexual assault reported.
With files from Terry Weber, staff and wires
David Leeder