Canada Goose shares soar 26% despite furious protestors

Animal-cruelty protests against Canada Goose aren’t ruffling feathers on Wall Street.

Shares of the high-flying Canadian outerwear company soared 26 percent, to $16.08, in their first day of trading, raising more than $250 million in cash and valuing the company at $2 billion.

That’s despite the fact that feathers were flying Thursday outside the New York Stock Exchange, where some 40 protesters led by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals were dressed up like mangled coyotes and bloodied geese.

The Toronto-based company’s parkas, which retail from $450 to $1,500, have hoods trimmed with coyote fur and are filled with goose down, which is typically plucked from geese while they’re still alive.

PETA said it bought $4,000 worth of shares — the minimum required to attend and disrupt Canada Goose’s annual meetings — in the coat-maker’s initial public offering Thursday.

“We are hoping to bring the company to the negotiating table,” said PETA spokesman Ben Williamson, adding that the shareholder strategy has “worked well for us in the past.”

In a statement on its Web site, Canada Goose said, “We understand and respect that some people think animal products should never be used in any consumer products, however we do not share that view,” adding that the company employs “ethical sourcing and responsible use of animal products.”

The controversy also has yet to reach the celebrity set. Stars like Cate Blanchett, Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez and Bradley Cooper are regularly photographed wearing the puffers. Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Kate Upton was famously shot wearing one of the coats—and barely anything else— for the publication’s 2013 cover.

Shares of the 60-year-old company — whose honking debut under the ticker “GOOS” followed last week’s IPO of Snapchat owner Snap Inc. — were also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

In a regulatory filing, the company listed revenues of $290 million in 2016 and debt of $278.1 million.