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Understanding This Week’s Markets: October 13, 2024

Canadian Natural Resources is doubling down on its commitment to Canada

For a decade, major takeovers of Canadian oil and gas producers have been met with overwhelming opposition from investors. Therefore, we consider it an encouraging sign how well the markets have received Canadian Natural Resources’ (CNQ/TSX) decision Buy the upstream assets in Alberta from Chevron Corp. (CVX/NYSE) for $6.5 billion in money. CNQ shares rose 3.7% on Monday following the announcement. Chevron rose 0.7% on a day when oil prices rose.

The assets in query are a 20% interest within the Athabasca Oil Sands Project and 70% of the Kaybob Duvernay shale deposit. That should increase Canadian Natural Resource’s production by 122,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025, the corporate said. The company also announced a 7% increase in its quarterly dividend to 56.25 Canadian cents per share starting in January.

Chevron justified the asset sale by freeing up money to buy shale oil within the U.S. in addition to for targeted positions abroad, comparable to in Kazakhstan, where it believes there is healthier long-term profit potential.

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Nvidia moves as much as second place in market capitalization

Reports of the demise of Magnificent 7 technology stocks’ decade-long success story have been greatly exaggerated, Nvidia (NVDA/Nasdaq) appeared to say this week as its shares rose above $130. (All figures are in US dollars.) That did it Market capitalization before Microsoft Corp. at $3.19 trillion. That leaves only Apple, which, with a market cap of $3.4 trillion, is value greater than the AI-focused chipmaker.

Nvidia stock is up 26% within the last month, in comparison with a 6% gain for the S&P 500. Nvidia has grown tenfold in only two years. This week’s price motion seemed to be driven by a positive report from Super Micro Computer, a provider of advanced server services and products. It turned out that sales of its liquid cooling products, which work alongside Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs), could be even stronger than expected this quarter. Analysts estimate Nvidia’s adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) for the three-month period ending this month at $21.9 billion.

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Pepsi’s earnings leave a sour taste

Beverage and snack maker PepsiCo reported its second consecutive disappointing quarterly results on Tuesday lowered its forecast for the total yr for organic revenues not related to acquisitions.

Results were affected by recalls of the corporate’s Quaker Foods products related to possible salmonella contamination. PepsiCo also experienced weak demand within the U.S. and business disruptions in some overseas markets, comparable to the Middle East. Pepsi’s North American beverage sales fell 3% year-over-year, primarily on account of declining energy drink sales. Meanwhile, the Frito-Lay division suffered a 1.5% decline.

“After outperforming packaged food categories in previous years, salty and savory snacks have fallen short of expectations year to date,” executives said in a prepared statement. Overall, PepsiCo revised its 2024 revenue growth forecast to low single digits from 4% previously.

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