Winners and Losers:

Stock surges and setbacks for the week ending June 18

Shopify rises on Stripe investment, while an acquisition at Secure Energy Services left investors eager to off-load holdings.

Winners Shopify Inc. (SHOP.TO) +19.9%

Shopify confirmed rumours on Monday that it has a stake in payment processor Stripe by disclosing its roughly $350-million (U.S.) investment in the San Francisco-based company. Investors seemed pleased, sending the share price up 4.5 per cent on Monday and almost 20 per cent by end-of-day Thursday. Shopify’s first quarter 2021 results were strong with revenue up to $989 million from $470 million in 2020. Net income from operations also increased to $119 million, from a $73 million loss last year.

Payfare Inc. (PAY.TO) +18.2%

Payfare is an international financial technology company that specializes in banking and payment solutions for the gig economy. Its clients include Lyft, Uber, DoorDash and Uber Eats. The company released its first quarter 2021 results on May 14 which indicates an increase in revenues to $5 million, from $4.3 million in 2020. Despite the increase, the company continues to report a net loss of $7.8 million, up from $7.6 million in 2020. On Tuesday, Payfare disclosed that Kingsferry Capital Management Group Limited intended to make a share purchase that would bring its holdings to 10.26 per cent of outstanding shares.

Score Media and Gaming Inc. (SCR.TO) +3.5%

Bill C-218, which would legalize single game sports betting, was scheduled for a third and final reading this week in the Senate after passing the Senate Standing Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce on June 4. The share price has increased more than 15 per cent over the past week which suggests investors are optimistic about the bill passing in the Senate. In its second quarter 2021 results, the company reported $5.6 million in revenue, down from $6.7 million in 2020 driven by negative revenue in its gaming division.

Losers Secure Energy Services Inc. (SES.TO) -13.6%

SES announced on Tuesday that its shareholders and Tervita Corporation securityholders voted in favour of an acquisition by SES for all outstanding shares of Tervita. The offer by SES was first proposed on March 9, whereby the company offered to buy Tervita in an all-stock deal valued at $478 million. At the offer price, each share has an implied value of $4.13, which is a roughly four per cent discount to Thursday’s closing price. The almost eight per cent drop in the share price on Thursday suggests investors were eager to off-load their holdings.

Andrew Peller Limited (ADW-A.TO) -13.1%

Peller released its fiscal 2021 results on Wednesday which indicated a growth in revenues to $393 million, from $382 million in 2020. Overall net income for the year is $27.8 million, up from $23.5 million in 2020. Despite the strong fiscal 2021 results, investors pushed the stock price down more than eight per cent on Thursday suggesting that investors expected better results from the company.

Ovintiv Inc. (OVV.TO) -6.2%

Natural gas prices have taken a tumble in the past week from a high of $3.352 (U.S.) on June 14 to $3.195 on June 17. The decrease in natural gas prices has negatively impacted Ovintiv which has seen its share price drop more than six per cent on Thursday alone. The company released its first quarter 2021 results on April 28 with revenues down to $1.8 billion (U.S.) from $2.6 billion in 2020. Overall net income was down slightly to $309 million, from $421 million in the prior year.