AP TORONTO -- BlackBerry (BBRY) said Friday that it will lay off 4,500 employees, or 40 percent of its global workforce, as it reports a nearly $1 billion second-quarter loss a week earlier than expected. The stock dropped 23 percent to $8.11 after reopening for trading. Shares had been halted earlier pending the news. BlackBerry had been scheduled to release earnings next week. But the Canadian company said late Friday afternoon that it expects to post a staggering loss of $950 million to $995 million for the quarter, including a massive write down of the value of its inventory due to increasing competition. Revenue of $1.6 billion is only about half of the $3 billion that analysts expected, according to FactSet. The company's expected adjusted loss of 47 cents to 51 cents per share falls far below the loss of 16 cents per share projected by Wall Street. BlackBerry said it wants to slash operating costs in half by the first quarter of 2015 so cutting its global headcount to 7,000 total employees is necessary. "We are implementing the difficult, but necessary operational changes announced today to address our position in a maturing and more competitive industry, and to drive the company toward profitability," Thorsten Heins, President and CEO of BlackBerry, said in a statement. The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, was the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people and other customers before Apple debuted the iPhone in 2007. Since then, BlackBerry Ltd. has been hammered by competition from the iPhone as well as Android-based rivals like Samsung. In January, the company unveiled new phones running a revamped operating system called BlackBerry 10. The Z10 and Q10 were designed to better compete for customers and rejuvenate the brand. But vendor marketing was uneven and BlackBerry's market share continues to lag its rivals. BlackBerry said last month that it would consider selling itself. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company reiterated Friday that a special committee of its board of directors continues to evaluate all options. It also seemed to say that it would shift its focus back to competing mainly for the business customers most loyal to its brand. "Going forward, we plan to refocus our offering on our end-to-end solution of hardware, software and services for enterprises and the productive, professional end user," said Heins. "This puts us squarely on target with the customers that helped build BlackBerry into the leading brand today for enterprise security, manageability and reliability."
Top 5 Canadian Companies To Own In Right Now: Agrium Inc.(AGU)
Agrium Inc., together with its subsidiaries, produces and markets agricultural nutrients, industrial products, and specialty products worldwide, as well as involves in the retail supply of agricultural products and services in North and South Americas. The company?s Retail segment markets crop nutrient products, including nitrogen, phosphate, potash, sulphur, and micronutrients; crop protection products, such as herbicides, fungicides, adjuvants, and insecticides; and seeds. This segment also offers agronomic services, as well as product application, soil and leaf tissue testing and analysis, and crop scouting services. This segment operates 1,192 outlets in the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. The company?s Wholesale segment produces, markets, and distributes nitrogen, phosphate, potash, sulphate, and other crop nutrient products for agricultural and industrial customers. This segment also owns and operates facilities that upgrade ammonia t o other nitrogen products, such as urea, nitric acid, and ammonium nitrate, as well as provides Rainbow plant food products. Agrium?s Advanced Technologies segment produces and markets controlled-release crop nutrients and micronutrients for the agriculture, specialty agriculture, professional turf, horticulture, and consumer lawn and garden markets. The company was formerly known as Cominco Fertilizers Ltd. and changed its name to Agrium Inc. in 1995. Agrium Inc. was founded in 1931 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Taylor Muckerman]
Drought and malnutrition can wreak havoc on a farmer's crop production. That's why fertilizers, such as potash, are so vital, especially as available, arable land continues to decline. Potash does more than just aid in water retention and enhance a plants ability to withstand extreme climates. It also contributes mightily to the revenue and profits of companies like PotashCorp (NYSE: POT ) and Agrium (NYSE: AGU ) .�
- [By Chris Damas]
Uralkali is special in that it is a pure potash mining and selling company unlike competitors, who often sell other fertilizers or chemicals. Uralkali's results are instructive, and the numbers released this morning were particularly so. They were ugly. And they could be a glimpse of what kind of potash numbers members of the Canadian potash marketing agency Canpotex could be facing in the future, the members other than Potash Corp being Mosaic and Agrium Inc. (AGU).
- [By Neha Chamaria]
Investors in the fertilizer industry have something serious to think about. One of the leading nutrient producers, Agrium (NYSE: AGU ) , is hanging up on two expansion projects -- It has suspended development work on a greenfield project in the U.S. Midwest area, while dropping plans�to expand an existing plant in Alberta.
- [By Taylor Muckerman]
When assessing the benefits of the three most common fertilizer components -- nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium -- potassium leaps out as the clear-cut choice when hoping to protect against arid conditions. The nutrient produced by companies like PotashCorp� (NYSE: POT ) and Agrium� (NYSE: AGU ) allows for more efficient utilization of water by corn, soy beans, and any number of other crops or plants. According to PotashCorp, treating an acre with 100 pounds of potassium has the potential to boost yields up to 50%.
Top 5 Canadian Companies To Own In Right Now: Castle (A.M.)
A. M. Castle & Co., together with its subsidiaries, distributes specialty metals and plastics worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Metals and Plastics. The Metals segment distributes engineered specialty grades and alloys of metals, as well as provides specialized processing services. It offers alloy, aluminum, nickel, stainless steel, carbon, and titanium in various forms, such as plate, sheet, extrusions, round bar, hexagon bar, square and flat bar, tubing, and coil. This segment also performs various specialized fabrications for its customers through pre-qualified subcontractors that thermally process, turn, polish, and straighten alloy and carbon bars. The Plastics segment distributes various plastics in forms that include plate, rod, tube, clear sheet, tape, gaskets, and fittings. The company serves Fortune 500 companies, as well as medium and smaller sized firms in the retail, automotive, marine, office furniture and fixtures, safety products, life scienc es applications, general manufacturing, producer durable equipment, oil and gas, aerospace and defense, heavy industrial equipment, industrial goods, and construction equipment industries. It has operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, France, the United Kingdom, China, and Singapore. The company was founded in 1890 and is headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois.
5 Best Bank Stocks For 2014: Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc.(POT)
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. produces and sells fertilizers and related industrial and feed products primarily in the United States and Canada. The company mines and produces potash, which is used as fertilizer. It also offers solid and liquid phosphate fertilizers; animal feed supplements; and industrial acids that are used in food products and industrial processes. In addition, the company produces nitrogen fertilizers, as well as nitrogen feed and industrial products, including ammonia, urea, nitrogen solutions, ammonium nitrate, and nitric acid. Further, it holds the right to mine 785,759 acres of land in Saskatchewan; and 58,263 acres of land in New Brunswick in Canada. The company sells its fertilizers primarily to retailers, dealers, co-operatives, distributors, and other fertilizer producers; industrial products primarily to chemical product manufacturers; and purified phosphoric acid directly to consumers of the product. Potash Corporation was founded i n 1953 and is based in Saskatoon, Canada.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Dan Caplinger]
On Thursday, PotashCorp (NYSE: POT ) will release its latest quarterly results. The key to making smart investment decisions on stocks reporting earnings is to anticipate how they'll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you'll be less likely to make an uninformed knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.
- [By Robert Ciura]
As a result, valuations of industry leaders Potash Corp. (NYSE: POT ) , The Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS ) , and Intrepid Potash (NYSE: IPI ) have compressed dramatically, leaving each stock looking very cheap on the surface.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
Yet even with those sizable gains, SQM has faced large macroeconomic challenges. The financial crisis in Europe has hurt its business, with the company citing the weakness in European markets as having an impact on SQM's prospecst. Moreover, as a producer of potash-based fertilizers, the company has suffered from weak fertilizer prices. That's consistent with what we've seen from North American giants PotashCorp (NYSE: POT ) and Mosaic (NYSE: MOS ) , both of which have struggled from competition from cheaper nitrogen-based fertilizer producers have that capitalized on extremely cheap natural-gas input prices to offer their products at a much more competitive price.
Top 5 Canadian Companies To Own In Right Now: Yamana Gold Inc.(AUY)
Yamana Gold Inc. engages in gold and other precious metals mining, and related activities, including exploration, extraction, processing, and reclamation. It also explores for copper, molybdenum, zinc, and silver metals. The company's portfolio includes 7 operating gold mines namely Chapada; El Pen Advisors' Opinion:
- [By Ben Levisohn]
As a result, Chidley and team upgraded Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM) and�Yamana Gold (AUY) to Neutral from Underweight, and raised Barrick Gold (ABX), Goldcorp (GG) and Iamgold (IAG) to Overweight from Neutral.�Gold Fields (GFI) was downgraded “due to increased risk and also reduced expectations for the South Deep operation,” Chidley says.
- [By Holly LaFon]
In 2008, when most of the market was crashing, Passport�� returns when down with it, like most funds. They posted a 50.9 percent loss that year. Though 13Fs from the period are not available, a Forbes article from April 2008 says that a quarter of the fund was invested in basic materials such as iron ore and gold miners, with other large positions in Indian financial exchange firm Financial Technologies, Asian education company Raffles Education, Yamana Gold (AUY) and Transocean (RIG).
- [By Jim Jubak]
At a minimum of 163.5 million shares, the offering represents 16% dilution for current shareholders. (Earnings would have to be spread over 16% more shares.) And that has raised fears across the sector, as traders and investors try to figure out which company might be next. Of course, as is usual, the initial reaction is to sell first and figure out the danger to any specific company later.
Shares of Barrick Gold fell 11.2% on November 1. Want an example of collateral damage? Shares of Yamana Gold (AUY) dropped 5.6% on the day. (Yamana Gold is a member of my Jubak's Picks portfolio.) - [By Sean Williams]
Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY )
Even if you're not the biggest fan of metal stocks, if you're going to add one to your Watchlist, make it Yamana Gold.
Top 5 Canadian Companies To Own In Right Now: Tim Hortons Inc.(THI)
Tim Hortons Inc. develops, franchises, and operates quick service restaurants primarily in Canada and the United States. Its restaurants serve coffee and other hot and cold beverages, baked goods, sandwiches, soups, and other food products. As of April 03, 2011, the company and its restaurant owners operated 3,169 restaurants in Canada and 613 restaurants in the United States under the Tim Hortons name; and had 274 primarily self-serve licensed locations in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom Tim Hortons Inc. was founded in 1964 and is based in Oakville, Canada.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rich Duprey]
Canadian restaurant chain�Tim Horton's� (NYSE: THI ) �declared today�its regular quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, slightly higher than the $0.2534 per share it paid back in February.�
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