Harry Winston Diamond Corp. (HWD) has lost its charms. The company watched its stock price fall 23% from the beginning of July. And no end to the slide is in sight.
After first quarter results popped the stock to $30.77 in mid-June, the price fell off a cliff… possibly because investors finally read the rest of the company’s announcement by then.
Harry Winston warned that its 40%-owned Diavik diamond mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories had suffered from severe winter weather and unexpectedly lower-grade diamonds. The number of carats from the mine fell 31% for the quarter.
The company’s higher profits last quarter were only due to an increase in global diamond prices, it said. Production is down. And Harry Winston isn’t expecting it to pick up for the rest of 2008.
Diamonds aren’t your best friend right now, at least not Harry’s. Expect HWD to continue to leak value until it gets production back up.