Buzz on the Bullboards: The good and bad news around today’s stock market

From short-term energy plays to long-term industrial bets, and uncertain technology swings, small-cap investors have had their hands full over these last few months keeping up with the markets … the latest hot play is ever changing.

Even so, through all the recent volatility, consistent stocks have continued to perform well, and market fundamentals have gained strength around them. Those who have been focused on delivering results that were in the making for a long time, and now we’re starting to see those results.

Stocks on Bay Street and Wall Street fell hard this week, and this meant both good and bad news for traders.

The good news was that the economy’s bill of health scored another check when U.S. retail sales showed consumers shopped a lot more than expected in July. The bad news is that strong retail sales can raise concerns that interest rates could remain elevated for longer.

We are in the midst of a heavy earnings reporting season and in this edition of Buzz on the Bullboards, we are highlighting some of the recent performances, moves, and results that have driven share price increases and propelled stocks to the top of the charts.

Digital health care company WELL Health Technologies Corp. (TSX:WELL, Forum) has been gathering great investor attention through its work to leverage its tech to empower healthcare practitioners and their patients.

The Vancouver-based firm’s subsidiary, OceanMD signed a C$38.5 million contract with British Columbia’s Provincial Health Services Authority to provide an array of digital services, such as eReferrals, eConsults, and eOrders to help further empower providers with best-in-class digital interoperability tools.

This is the third Canadian province, along with Ontario and Nova Scotia, that has materially partnered with OceanMD to enable eReferrals, eOrders, and eConsult requests.

The Ocean Platform supports nearly 1 million eReferrals and eConsults annually and is Canada’s largest community of connected health care solutions.

The platform is out to streamline healthcare processes by integrating various clinical systems, enabling digital patient engagement, and reducing paperwork, thus improving efficiency for providers, and giving patients easier access to their health data.

This wasn’t the only significant news from WELL Health, as the company recently achieved record quarterly revenues of C$170.9 million (a 21.8 per cent increase compared to C$140.3 million in Q2 2022) and record adjusted EBITDA of C$27.8 million in Q2 2023. This was WELL’s 18tth consecutive quarter of record revenue performance.

WELL also surpassed a total of 1 million patient visits for the first time in Q2. The company had also almost achieved 1.5 million total patient interactions, which the team explained represents roughly 5.9 million patient interactions on an annualized run-rate basis.

WELL stock is trading 6.6 per cent higher than it was this time last year and is up 51.7 per cent year to date.

Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU, Forum) is continuing talks with TotalEnergies Ltd. (NYSE:TTE, Forum) about buying its stake in the Fort Hills oil sands mine.

The Calgary-based integrated energy company agreed in April to buy the French oil major’s Canadian operations for C$5.5 billion, including its Fort Hills interest and its 50 per cent share in the Surmont facility.

However, Surmont’s operator, ConocoPhillips Co. (NYSE:COP, Forum) exercised its right of first refusal to buy Total’s stake instead of Suncor, which triggered a review of Suncor’s and Total’s deal.

Total still holds a nearly one-third stake in Alberta’s Fort Hills, with the operator Suncor owning the rest.

Canada’s second-largest oil producer is looking to increase its bitumen supplies to replace its aging Base Mine.

Suncor President and Chief Executive Officer Rich Kruger said on a quarterly conference call that his team expects a resolution to these discussions later this year.

“We would prefer to operate and have 100 per cent ownership of our assets; that’s generally where we think we can add the most value and be the most competitive.”.

Suncor’s operations include oil sands development, production and upgrading; offshore oil and gas; petroleum refining in Canada and the United States; and the company’s Petro-Canada retail and wholesale distribution networks.

In the past three months, SU stock has risen 11.9 per cent and is 3.3 per cent higher than it was this time last year.

Air Canada (TSX:AC, Forum) has been recognized as North America’s favourite airline for the fifth consecutive year by Trazee Awards.

Trazee targets the sought-after under-40 traveller. A network of journalists updates travelers daily with content on subjects of unique interest to this demographic, covering a wide range of topics.

Although given the horror stories people have about U.S. airlines and the relative lack of competition among the Great White North’s airways, that may be a low-altitude bar to soar over.

Even so, Canada’s largest airline has been recognized this year by the Skytrax World Airline Awards, Global Traveler, Airline Passenger Experience Association, Freddie Awards, Mediacorp Canada, and even from Forbes, who awarded it One of Canada’s Best Employers 2023.

AC stock is trading 19.8 per cent higher than it was this time last year and is up 19.1 per cent year to date.

The most important thing for investors is to stay informed, alert, and ready for action. The lingering market uncertainty around inflation and interest rates only strengthen this need, so make sure to catch up on the latest plays on the Bullboards. For previous editions of Buzz on the Bullboards: click here.

Join the discussion: Find out what everybody’s saying about public companies and hot topics about stocks at Stockhouse’s stock forums and message boards.

The material provided in this article is for information only and should not be treated as investment advice. For full disclaimer information, click here.