A roundup of some of the North American equities making moves in both directions today
On the rise
Imperial Oil Ltd. (IMO-T) was up 0.7 per cent after announcing chief executive officer Rich Kruger plans to retire at the end of year and the appointment of Brad Corson as chairman, president and CEO on Jan. 1, 2020.
Mr. Corson had previously been president of ExxonMobil Upstream Ventures and vice president of ExxonMobil Corp.
“On behalf of the Imperial board of directors, I would like to thank Rich Kruger for his outstanding leadership and dedication over the last almost seven years. During his tenure, Rich has led the organization through a period of record upstream growth, exceptional downstream financial and operational performance, and unprecedented returns to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividend growth,” said board member Krystyna Hoeg in a release. “That said, perhaps Rich’s greatest legacy to the company and its employees is his work to successfully ignite and foster cultural change within Imperial to enhance competitiveness and position it well for the future.”
On the decline
Slang Worldwide Inc. (SLNG-CN) slid 1.2 per cent after it announced an investment from Bruce Linton, co-founder and former CEO of Canopy Growth Corp., which Slang CEO Peter Miller called a “vote of confidence in the fundamental strengths of the Slang business model.”
Mr. Linton has, through an affiliate purchased 347,222 units of Slang at 72 cents per unit, the company said. Each unit is comprised of one common share of Slang and one common share purchase warrant. Each warrant is exercisable at a price of 89 cents and expires on September 17, 2024.
Shopify Inc. (SHOP-T) fell 2.6 per cent after pricing its public offering of 1.9 million class A subordinate voting shares at US$317.50. The offering was earlier marketed at US$317.50 to US$320.50.
The expects to use the proceeds to strengthen its balance sheet, which it said will providie flexibility to fund its growth strategies.
Before the bell, the Ottawa-based company also announced new features on its platform to help U.S. merchants sell hemp and hemp-derived Cannabidiol (CBD) products online or in brick-and-mortar retail locations, where permitted by law.
See also: Shopify buys warehouse robotics company 6 River Systems for $450-million
Shares of Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC-Q) dipped 4.3 per cent after its second-largest investor, 3G Capital, sold over 25 million shares in open market at a discount.
Following the filing with the SEC, the Brazilian firm indirectly controls 245,028,716 shares of company stock,or an almost 9-per-cent stake, with a market value of US$7.167-billion.
Home Depot Inc. (HD-N) was down 0.4 per cent after an equity analyst at Guggenheim downgraded the home improvement chain’s shares to “neutral” from “buy," seeing it a difficult path to earnings growth given a rise in investment spending stemming from its strategic plan laid out in 2017 and associated D&A “drag."
Bloom Energy Corp. (BE-N) hit a record low after short seller Hindenburg Research said the California-based green energy company is “wilting to its demise" and called it an “obvious bankruptcy candidate.”
“We believe that Bloom Energy, once touted as a prospective 'holy grail’ of clean energy, is instead likely to wind up in history alongside failed companies like Theranos or Solyndra,” the firm said.
Bloom Energy issued a statement in response to the short seller, saying it strongly disagrees with its conclusions.
With files from Brenda Bouw, staff and wires
David Leeder