A roundup of some of the North American equities making moves in both directions today
On the rise
Kinaxis Inc. (KXS-T) increased over 3.5 per cent in early afternoon trading on Friday after it announced that Honda has selected the company to streamline its supply chain planning and response processes for its automobile business in Japan.
Kinaxis said it helps automotive companies like Honda “gain the agility to predict and respond to customer needs and global disruption like tariffs and outsourcing, and meet environmental obligations while staying profitable through end-to-end supply chain visibility.”
Laurentian Bank Securities analyst Nick Agostino said: “The win not only adds to KXS’s penetration in the automotive market with KXS now having contracts with five of the top 10 manufacturers (namely Toyota, Ford, Nissan, Honda, Volvo), but adds to its Asian presence and helps justify ongoing efforts within the last 20 months to bolster its sales presence and build out data centres within that region. .”
A day after Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB-T) plummeted almost 9 per cent following weaker-than-anticipated quarterly results, the marijuana producer rose 1.8 per cent despite the Street continuing to express doubt about its path to profitability.
Canaccord Genuity analyst Matt Bottomley said: "Although the company believes that inflecting into adjusted EBITDA territory is still a near-term event, the company appears less certain if it will be able to cross this threshold by the end of the calendar year.”
Biogen Inc. (BIIB-Q) was up 1.9 per cent after it announced with partner Eisai Co Ltd they would abandon two late-stage trials testing experimental Alzheimer’s treatment elenbecestat, months after scrapping trials of another drug for the memory-robbing disease.
The companies said the decision was based on the results of a review conducted by a data safety monitoring board, which recommended discontinuing the trials as the treatment’s benefits did not outweigh its risks.
Canadian National Railway Co. (CNR-T) sat 0.2 per cent higher despite an equity analyst at Raymond James downgrading its stock, citing traffic concerns.
Steve Hansen said: “While Canadian rail traffic continues to show modest quarter-to-date growth in the face of steep macro uncertainty, the pace of this growth has demonstrably slowed in recent weeks/months as key outsized tailwinds have dissipated — most notably crude-by-rail and potash."
Aimia Inc. (AIM-T) was up 5.3 per cent after a second set of shareholders questioned the Canadian loyalty program provider’s leadership and launched a campaign to shake up its board of directors.
See also: Mittleman files counterclaim against Aimia
On the decline
After crossing the trillion dollar valuation mark on Wednesday, Apple Inc. (AAPL-Q) slid 2.6 per cent after a Goldman Sachs analyst cut his target for its stock, expressing concern about the tech giant’s Apple TV+ trial.
“We believe that Apple plans to account for its 1-year trial for TV+ as a ~$60 discount to a combined hardware and services bundle,” said Rod Hall.
“Effectively, Apple’s method of accounting moves revenue from hardware to Services even though customers do not perceive themselves to be paying for TV+. Though this might appear convenient for Apple’s services revenue line it is equally inconvenient for both apparent hardware ASPs and margins in high sales quarters like the upcoming FQ1′20 to December."
See also: Apple TV+ may struggle to keep up with Netflix once free one-year subscriptions expire
Shares of Broadcom Inc. (AVGO-Q) were down 2.5 per cent after the company said demand for microchips had hit bottom and would remain at current levels. After reporting earnings after Thursday’s close, it also said there was no clear indication when a recover would take place.
Revenue from its semiconductor solutions business fell about 5 per cent to US$4.35-billion in the most recent quarter from a year ago. Total net revenue rose to US$5.52-billion from US$5.06-billion, but fell short of analysts’ estimates of $5.54 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Citi analyst Christopher Danely said: “We’re raising the multiple for AVGO to reflect improving business conditions across the semiconductor industry. We believe the industry has bottomed, and forecast 3Q19 and 4Q19 global semiconductor sales to be above seasonal, a sharp improvement from 1Q19 and 2Q19.”
With files from Terry Weber, Brenda Bouw, staff and wires
David Leeder