TORSTAR CORP. $9.63 (Toronto symbol TS.B; Shares outstanding: 79.5 million; Market cap: $765.6 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 5.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.torstar.com) owns 90% of a company that publishes free commuter newspapers under the “Metro” banner in major Canadian cities; Sweden’s Metro International SA owns the remaining 10%.
The company now plans to expand Metro to Saskatoon and Regina. It will also launch Internet-only versions for four more cities: Hamilton, Kitchener and Windsor, in Ontario, and Victoria, B.C. These free publications should help the company attract more younger readers, who tend to avoid traditional newspapers.
Torstar is a buy.