Trending tickers: Chipotle, Autodesk, Shopify and Rentokil
Chipotle (CMG)
Shares in Chipotle were higher in pre-market trading as investors are looking forward to its upcoming 50-to-1 stock split.
Chipotle Mexican Grill announced back in March a stock split with one of the biggest multiples ever: Each current share will be split into 50 new shares.
This means that when markets open on June 26, shareholders will own 50 times as many shares as they did at the close of trading on June 25, but the price of each one will be about one-fiftieth of what it was before.
Chief financial officer and chief administrative officer Jack Hartung said the move would help the company "reward our team members and empower them to have ownership in our company."
The company has been red-hot this year, gaining about 70% since last November. TD Cowen has raised its price target for Chipotle from $3,500 (£2761.32) to $3,600, signalling a potential upside of 10%.
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Rowan Street Capital are also optimistic about the fast-food chain prospects.
“The best investment ideas are simple. We have previously written about Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. It turned out that this was our best investment idea since starting the fund. The stock is up 10x since we first invested at the end of 2017 (~47% annualized),” their analysts wrote.
Autodesk (ADSK)
Activist Starboard Value bought a roughly $500m stake in Autodesk, and is pushing for changes at the design-software maker, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
Starboard has reportedly held meetings with Autodesk executives in the past few weeks to express their concerns and suggest changes, including enhancing its margins, implementing changes to its board and the management of a recent accounting investigation that negatively impacted the stock.
Starboard criticised Autodesk in private conversations with the company for not disclosing the investigation and other material updates until after the company's window for shareholders to nominate director candidates closed in late March, according to the WSJ.
It is considering taking legal action to ask for Autodesk's director nomination window to be reopened and for the design-software maker's annual shareholder meeting, currently set for July 16, to be delayed, the report added.
Shopify (SHOP)
Shopify got a boost on Friday after an analyst at Evercore ISI said now was the time to buy stock in the e-commerce company with shares down this year but the price is being corrected as it remains in the red during pre-market trading.
Evercore has upgraded the rating of SHOP shares to Outperform, setting a price target of $75. This decision comes after a significant drop in the stock’s value, approximately 30% from its 52-week high.
Outperform at Evercore means “the total forecasted return is expected to be greater than the expected total return of the analyst's coverage sector.”
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The analyst wrote in a research note that the recent pullback in the stock provides an attractive entry point. Shares of Shopify have dropped 16% this year.
Rentokil (RTO.L)
Pest control and hygiene firm Rentokil is one of the best performing stocks in the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) this session on the back of a note from RBC Capital Markets.
Analysts updated their earnings forecasts for forex (-1% to -2%), and expect first-half results to be in line with the market's expectations, "with acceleration of US organic growth through this year".
The stock has also been boosted after activist investor Nelson Peltz amassed a “significant” stake in the company and has “reached out to discuss ideas and initiatives to improve shareholder value”.
Rentokil has been a volatile stock, with the London-listed business struggling in recent years, with its expansion into the US falling flat on softer demand for its products.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said Peltz is likely to facilitate a big shake-up at the business.
"[Rentokil] has struggled in comparison with its US peer Rollins, both in share price terms and financial performance," he says.
"Given Rentokil does have a large chunk of its business across the Atlantic this could include a push to shift its primary listing to the US."
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