Canadian stocks continued to decline for the third straight day on Thursday after mixed corporate earnings, falling metals prices, and slightly hotter-than-expected U.S. personal consumption expenditure figures spooked investors. The S&P/TSX Composite Index tanked by 351 points, or 1.4%, for the day to settle at 24,157 — posting its worst daily performance in over two months.
Despite a sharp increase in healthcare stocks, big losses in other key sectors, including mining, technology, and consumer cyclicals, pressured the TSX benchmark. Nevertheless, the market index still managed to end October with a minor 0.7% increase, delivering its fourth consecutive winning month.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Veren (TSX:VRN) tanked by 14.4% to $7.17 per share, making it the worst-performing TSX stock for the day. This selloff in VRN stock came after the Calgary-based oil producer announced its third-quarter financial results.
In the quarter ended in September, Veren announced its adjusted earnings of $0.45 per share, surpassing Street analyst expectations of $0.31 per share. Stronger earnings helped the company generate $114 million in excess cash flow and achieve an adjusted funds flow of $548.3 million last quarter. Despite these strong results, its stock fell sharply as Veren also updated its 2024 guidance to reflect incremental capital spending for facility improvements. On a year-to-date basis, VRN stock is now down 22%.
OpenText, Badger Infrastructure, and Spin Master were also among the bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with each diving by at least 9.6%.
On the flip side, Bausch Health Companies (TSX:BHC) jumped by nearly 13% to $12.81 per share after announcing its upbeat quarterly earnings. In the third quarter, the company’s total revenue rose 12.1% year-over-year to US$2.5 billion, with strong performance across all segments. This strong performance encouraged the management to raise Bausch’s full-year guidance, leading to a rally in BHC stock, which now trades with over 20% year-to-date gains.
Tamarack Valley Energy, Capital Power, and South Bow also climbed by at least 3% each, making them among the session’s top-performing TSX stocks.
Based on their daily trade volume, Veren, Manulife Financial, Bank of Montreal, TD Bank, and Cenovus Energy were the five most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures prices were trending upward early Friday morning, which could lift TSX energy stocks at the open today.
While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors may want to keep an eye on the important manufacturing and labour market data from the United States this morning, which could give further direction to stocks.
On the corporate events side, TSX-listed Imperial Oil, Air Canada, Magna International, and Enbridge will announce their latest quarterly earnings today.
