TORSTAR CORP. $9.40 - Toronto symbol TS.B

TORSTAR CORP. $9.40 (Toronto symbol TS.B; Shares outstanding: 79.9 million; Market cap: $751.1 million; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.6 %; www.torstar.com) continues to expand its online operations.

This week, it agreed to buy a 14% stake in shop.ca, a new website that sells a wide variety of products from Canadian retailers. These sellers ship their products directly to customers who buy through the site, so shop.ca does not need to invest in costly distribution centres.

Torstar plans to increase its interest to 30% over the next 30 months. In all, Torstar will pay $6 million in cash and provide $12.4 million of promotional support, mainly free ads in its newspaper and on its websites.

Torstar is a buy.

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