A roundup of some of the North American equities making moves in both directions today
On the rise
TSX-listed gold stocks jumped in early afternoon trading on Monday as gold prices rose to their highest in more than two month as global trade worries persist, sending investors to perceived safe havens.
Spot gold climbed 1.4 per cent to $1,323.62 per ounce, after rising as much as 1.6 per cent to its highest price since Feb. 28 at $1,325.72.
Eldorado Gold Corp. (ELD-T) was up 11.9 per cent, while Kinross Gold Corp. (K-T) and Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX-T) rose 8.4 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively.
Shares of Centerra Gold Inc. (CG-T) rose 4.8 per cent after a pair of equity analysts raised their ratings for its stock in reaction to recent tours of the company’s Kumtor mine in the Kyrgyz Republic and Oksut project in Turkey.
“Centerra shares have outperformed the GDX year-to-date, but we still see upside," said CIBC World Markets’ Bryce Adams.
AltaGas Canada Inc. (ACI-T) jumped 2.4 per cent after an equity analyst at Industrial Alliance Securities upgraded its stock, believing its “large valuation gap appears unwarranted."
“We believe that ACI trades at a relative discount to larger cap regulated utility peers (e.g., almost 14 times FY2E P/E compared with 17 times for peers, on average),” said Jeremy Rosenfield. “In addition, we believe that ACI’s high-quality renewable power assets are relatively undervalued compared to recent market precedents (i.e., they could be worth $12.00/share, standalone, based on recent precedents).”
Blackstone Group LP (BX-N) was up 2.8 per cent after revealing it is buying U.S. industrial warehouse properties from Singapore-based logistics provider GLP for US$18.7-billion, in what the companies billed as the largest private real estate transaction globally.
“Logistics is our highest conviction global investment theme today, and we look forward to building on our existing portfolio to meet the growing e-commerce demand,” said Ken Caplan, global co-head of Blackstone Real Estate.
Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (AQN-T) dipped 0.3 per cent after announcing the US$365-million acquisition of Ascendant Group Ltd., which includes major subsidiary Bermuda Electric Light Company, before the bell on Monday.
Under the deal, Ascendant's shareholders will receive US$36.00 per common share.
“The acquisition of Bermuda Electric Light Company builds materially on our international growth program through the addition of this high-quality utility, an acquisition which will be immediately accretive to earnings," said Alognquin CEO Ian Robertson. “In addition to Ascendant customer and employee benefits coming from the scale of our existing utility operations, we are confident that our demonstrated capability in renewable energy development can help Bermuda realize on its carbon reduction aspirations.”
On the decline
Enbridge Inc. (ENB-T) fell 4.7 per cent after a Minnesota court has ruled that its final environmental impact statement for its Line 3 oil pipeline replacement project is inadequate.
Corus Entertainment Inc. (CJR.B-T) was down 1.7 per cent after it announced an agreement to amend and extend the terms of its existing credit facility with its bank group, led by RBC Capital Markets and TD Securities.
“Pursuant to the amendment, the term facility under the credit facility was adjusted from $2.1-billion to $1.8-billion, reflecting principal repayments made since the facility was last amended,” the company stated. “The credit facility was originally established in connection with the closing of Corus’ acquisition of Shaw Media Inc. to partially fund the purchase price for the acquisition and to replace the company’s existing credit facilities, with the terms subsequently amended and extended in November 2017 and on May 31, 2019.”
FedEx Corp. (FDX-N) dropped 1.3 per cent after Chinese media reported that Beijing would investigate whether the company damaged the legal rights and interests of its clients, after telecoms giant Huawei said parcels intended for it were diverted.
“You could see this as a retaliation against Washington’s ban on Huawei. China could list FedEx in its black list of unreliable firms. We could see more of attacks on individual companies,” said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, told Reuters.
Centene Corp. (CNC-N) tumbled 10.3 per cent after rival Humana Inc. (HUM-N) said it would not make a proposal to combine with the company.
Humana said it was making an exception to its “no-comment policy” to confirm it would not bid for Centene “in light of the significant investor speculation and persistent market rumors”.
SVB Leerink analyst Ana Gupte told Reuters that Humana needed to respond to speculation that had been creating “undue pressure” on its stock.
“Shorter term activist shareholders of Centene may be disappointed by it, but large long-only institutional share holders of both Centene and Humana are likely relieved,” she said.
Shares of Humana jumped 2.3 per cent on the news.
With files from Brenda Bouw, staff and wires
David Leeder