Noah Zivitz

Managing Editor, BNN Bloomberg

Archive

It will be hard to escape the Huawei issue today as BCE lands in the spotlight with its quarterly earnings. In terms of key takeaways from the quarter: 121,780 net wireless postpaid subscriber growth (vs.175,204 a year ago). Dividend going up five per cent to $3.17/share annually. Adjusted profit up 8.5 per cent to 89 cents per share, exceeding the average analyst estimate. But beyond the usual scrutiny of those and other key metrics, it stands to reason that at least some of the attention will fall on whatever the company (disclosure: our parent) says about Huawei Technologies and the future of 5G in this country. We’ll keep an ear out for that on the conference call at 8 a.m. ET.   

PMO REPORTEDLY PRESSURED JUSTICE MINISTER ON SNC

That's according to The Globe and Mail. The story says the now former justice minister, Jody Wilson-Raybould, refused to intervene as SNC-Lavalin sought to strike a remediation agreement with federal prosecutors. See the full story here.

WSP ON A ROLL

While SNC-Lavalin shares languish near their lowest level since mid-2012, one of Canada’s other engineering firms has been on a roll this year. WSP Global recently leapfrogged SNC in market capitalization, fuelled by a three-year plan that aims to grow revenue as much as 50 per cent to $9 billion by 2021. We look forward to discussing the outlook with CEO Alexandre L'Heureux on The Street.

MAJOR U.S. BANK DEAL

Can't remember the last time we saw consolidation in the U.S. banking sector of this magnitude (outside financial crisis era shotgun deals). SunTrust and BB&T announced an all-stock US$66-billion “merger of equals” that will leave BB&T shareholders owning 57 per cent of the combined institution — which is eyeing US$1.6 billion in annual cost savings.

APHRIA HINTS AT PARTNERSHIPS

Irwin Simon joined us Wednesday afternoon to explain why he’s not running into Green Growth Brands’ embrace. “If you’re taking someone else’s paper, is their paper better than yours?,” he said about the all-stock offer, going on to add “there’s a big difference between cash and someone else’s paper.” And when talking about cross-over deals from the likes of Constellation Brands, Altria and Molson, he suggested something could be in the offing for Aphria. “I’m sure there’s a lot of great strategic partners for us around the world.”

FAST FOOD ON THE AGENDA

A grab bag of news from the sector. Tim Hortons is attempting to make peace with the dissident Great White North Franchisee Association, with the two sides working toward a settlement that’s still a few months away from being cemented. Meanwhile, an analyst reckoned yesterday Domino’s Pizza is a “preeminent” takeover target for Tim Hortons’ parent company. And Chipotle will be a stock to watch today after easily exceeding fourth-quarter profit and sales estimates.

OTHER NOTABLE STORIES

-Twitter shares are down ~ eight per cent in pre-market trading. In additional to quarterly results (and a Q1 sales forecast that could miss estimates), the company announced it will stop reporting monthly active users, preferring instead to report monetizable daily active users.

-Mullen Group’s CEO painted a vivid picture of the state of Canada’s oil and gas industry in his company’s fourth-quarter release, alluding to tightening credit conditions, drilling activity grinding to a halt and the “devastating” impact from reduced spending. Murray Mullen joins us today at 4:20 p.m. ET.

-Montreal-based Lightspeed POS has filed paperwork for an initial public offering of subordinate voting shares on the TSX. No dividend is planned. And the prospectus shows Lightspeed's net loss widened to US$96 million on US$57 million in revenue in its latest fiscal year)

-Canada Jetlines said this morning Vancouver International Airport will serve as its main hub.

NOTABLE RELEASES/EVENTS

-Notable earnings: BCE, Great-West Lifeco, Saputo, Twitter, Mattel, Philip Morris International

-Bank of England releases interest rate decision (7:00 a.m. ET)

-9:00 a.m. ET: Senate Energy, Environment, Natural Resources committee holds hearing on Bill C-69 (details here)

-10:45 a.m. ET: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds media avail in Vaughan, Ont.

-12:00 p.m. ET: CMHC releases quarterly Housing Market Assessment

-12:30 p.m. ET: Finance Minister Bill Morneau holds town all at University of Guelph (plus avail at 1:30 p.m. ET)

Every morning BNN Bloomberg's Managing Editor Noah Zivitz writes a ‘chase note’ to BNN Bloomberg's editorial staff listing the stories and events that will be in the spotlight that day. Have it delivered to your inbox before the trading day begins by heading to www.bnnbloomberg.ca/subscribe.