SAPUTO INC. $30(Toronto symbol SAP; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 392.9 million; Market cap: $11.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.saputo.com) is Canada’s largest producer of dairy products, including milk, butter and cheese. The company also operates dairies in the U.S., Australia and Argentina.
In its 2015 fiscal year, which ended March 31, 2015, Saputo’s sales rose 15.4%, to $10.7 billion from $9.2 billion in 2014.
That’s mainly due to Australian dairy producer Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory; Saputo paid $449.6 million for 87.92% of this business in February 2014. Warrnambool’s contribution helped offset lower cheese prices in fiscal 2015.
Excluding costs related to this purchase and a gain on the sale of its bakery business, Saputo’s earnings rose 2.0%, to $577.5 million, or $1.46 a share. In 2014, it earned $566.1 million, or $1.43.
The company aims to keep expanding internationally, particularly in emerging markets like Brazil. It can easily afford more acquisitions: its long-term debt of $1.5 billion is just 13% of its market cap, and it holds cash of $72.6 million.
Meanwhile, Saputo is realizing more savings from the Warrnambool acquisition and is cutting costs at its U.S. and Canadian plants.
It also plans to spend $210 million to $250 million on new computer systems over the next five years. Once it completes these upgrades, it expects them to save it $20 million to $25 million annually. As well, Saputo is benefiting from the higher U.S. dollar; its American operations supplied 50% of its fiscal 2015 sales and earnings.
Higher savings and the strong U.S. dollar should increase Saputo’s fiscal 2016 earnings to $1.54 a share. The stock trades at 19.5 times that forecast. That’s a high p/e ratio in light of the company’s aggressive growth-by-acquisition strategy, which adds risk. The $0.52 dividend yields 1.7%.
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