Talk about August dog days: It was an especially rotten week for two Charlotte-based companies: Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, which lost 71% of its market value, and Capitala, which dropped 29%. Fortunately, another Queen City-based company, Snyder’s-Lance, had a stronger week, gaining 7%.
These were the best performers included in the Capital Investment Cos./Nottingham Index of public companies for the week ended Aug. 11 among companies with shares trading for at least $10.
Snyder’s-Lance (LNCE) 7% — $37.10 – The snack foods company raised its profit forecast and booted its chief marketing director. Brian Driscoll, who became CEO in April, is a former head of Diamond Foods, which Lance bought last year for $1.2 billion..
Primo Water (PMWR) 5.1% — $12.66 – Sales more than doubled in the most recent quarter because of the purchase of Glacier Water assets.
ChannelAdvisor (ECOM) — 3.6% — $10.45 – The electronic-commerce company lost $10 million in the second quarter, less than analysts expected.
Biggest decliners:
Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises (BW) (-71%) — 2.91 It was a stunning decline for the Charlotte-based company, which split off from parent Babcock & Wilcox Co. two years ago. It reported an unexpected $119 million quarterly loss, including a $115 million charge related to financially troubled waste-to-energy plants. The company, which produces equipment for power plants, cut its sales projections for 2018 by more than 10%. The Wall Street Journal reported that the company bought back shares from a private-equity group, Lighthouse Capital LLC, after receiving a loan from Lighthouse, one day before announcing earnings. The move saved Lighthouse from sustaining a loss of more than $30 million, the newspaper said.
Capitala Group (CPTA) (-29.7%) —$8.98 Poor earnings report sent shares of Charlotte-based business-development company to its lowest price since 2013 IPO. The state’s other big public BDC, Triangle Capital, has declined 21% in the last month.
Coca-Cola Consolidated (COKE) (-12.6%) — $208.81 Shares of the Charlotte-based bottler are thinly traded. Some investors may be cashing in profits as shares have gained 33% in the last year and nearly tripled over the last five years.
