TORSTAR CORP. $7.15 (Toronto symbol TS.B; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 79.7 million; Market cap: $569.9 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 7.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.torstar.com) owns romance novel publisher Harlequin, which recently formed a joint venture with Cosmopolitan magazine that will publish two e-books a month, starting in August 2013.
The new series, called Cosmo Red Hot Reads, will help Harlequin profit from fast-growing demand for erotica, such as the best-selling Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. Harlequin has also hired best-selling author Sylvia Day to launch this new series, which should help attract new readers.
Torstar is a buy.