acquisition

Kroger Co., $74.42, symbol KR on New York (Shares outstanding: 491.1 million; Market cap: $36.5 billion; www.kroger.com), started up in 1883 and is now the largest grocery store operator in the U.S. by sales. The company has 2,625 locations (1,330 of which also sell gasoline), mainly in the southern, Midwestern and western U.S. In addition to Kroger, the company’s banners include City Market, Dillons, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, Harris Teeter, Jay C, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith’s. Kroger’s other operations include 782 convenience stores, 326 jewellery stores and 37 plants that make its private label baked goods and dairy products....

Slate Office REIT, $7.48, symbol SOT.UN on Toronto (Units outstanding: 15.0 million; Market cap: $112.2 million; www.slateofficereit.com), owns 35 retail, industrial and office properties, mostly in Toronto (61%) of square footage and Winnipeg (32%). Slate changed its name from FAM REIT in March 2015. In the three months ended March 31, 2015, acquisitions increased the trust’s revenue to $14.1 million from $8.2 million a year earlier. Overall cash flow jumped 73.5%, to $3.6 million from $2.1 million, while cash flow per unit rose 5.9%, to $0.18 from $0.17, as the trust issued more units to fund its recent acquisitions. Slate now plans to sell off its 12 retail and office properties and focus on the office market. It also aims to improve on its 91.7% occupancy rate, which is below the industry average. However, a seven-property, $190-million suburban Toronto office portfolio Slate acquired in late 2014, which had an average occupancy rate of just 86%, has dragged down that figure....

AIMIA INC, $14.19, symbol AIM on Toronto, owns and operates Aeroplan, Canada’s largest loyalty program, with over 4.8 million members who collect Aeroplan miles from participating companies. Members can exchange miles for flights, car rentals, hotel rooms and merchandise. The company also owns Nectar, the U.K.’s biggest loyalty program. In addition, it has interests in Air Miles Middle East and Nectar Italia, as well as Club Premier, Mexico’s leading loyalty program. On January 1, 2014, TD Bank replaced CIBC as Aeroplan’s main credit card issuer. Under a 10-year deal, TD is now launching new cards under the Aeroplan banner, including cards for frequent flyers and small businesses. The agreement also let CIBC hang on to Aeroplan accounts held by customers who also bank at CIBC, which was about half of the Aeroplan portfolio....

INTACT FINANCIAL $89.80 (Toronto symbol IFC; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-341-1464; www.intactfc.com; Shares outstanding: 131.5 million; Market cap: $11.8 billion; Dividend yield: 2.4%) is Canada’s largest provider of property and casualty insurance. Its brands include Intact Insurance, Canada BrokerLink and belairdirect. In the three months ended March 31, 2015, Intact’s revenue rose 5.3%, to $1.57 billion from $1.50 billion a year earlier. The company earned $186 million, or $1.37 a share, up 44.2% from $129 million, or $0.94. The latest results reflect a $64-million reduction in catastrophic losses, mostly related to weather. That helped Intact report an improved combined ratio, or claims paid out divided by premiums taken in (the lower, the better) of 93.4%, down from 97.1%....

WYNDHAM WORLDWIDE $86.49 (New York symbol WYN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (973- 753-6000; www.wyndhamworldwide.com; Shares outstanding: 120.0 million; Market cap: $10.4 billion; Dividend yield: 1.9%) is one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, with 7,670 franchised hotels worldwide. Wyndham also manages vacation resorts, rental properties, luxury clubs and time-shares. The company now has 109,000 vacation-rental properties in 100 countries. In the three months ended March 31, 2015, Wyndham’s revenue rose 5.8%, to $1.26 billion from $1.19 billion a year earlier. The company gets most of its revenue from vacation rather than business travel, and vacation bookings rose in the latest quarter. That helped increase its occupancy rate by 0.6%....

TOROMONT INDUSTRIES LTD. $31.87 (Toronto symbol TIH; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (416-667- 5511; www.toromont.com; Shares outstanding: 77.5 million; Market cap: $2.5 billion; Dividend yield: 2.1%) distributes a broad range of industrial equipment, including machinery made by Caterpillar Inc. It also makes refrigeration systems through its CIMCO division. The company completed the spinoff of Enerflex Ltd. (see right) in 2011. Shareholders received shares of both the new Toromont Industries and Enerflex. In the three months ended March 31, 2015, revenue rose 9.1%, to $340.2 million from $311.7 million a year earlier. Earnings gained 8.1%, to $20.1 million, or $0.26 a share, from $18.6 million or $0.24. The first quarter is typically Toromont’s slowest because of winter shutdowns in the construction industry....

Patient Home Monitoring, $1.69, symbol PHM on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 231.8 million; Market cap: $391.7 million; www.phmhometesting.com), plans to keep buying small firms that serve chronically ill patients in their homes. It then aims to raise its per-patient revenue by offering these companies’ services to its growing client base. In the three months ended March 31, 2015, Patient Home Monitoring’s acquisitions boosted its revenue by 255% from a year earlier, to $10.0 million. Preliminary results show the company earned $1.6 million in the latest quarter. Patient Home Monitoring recently sold 39 million shares at $1.50 each to raise $58.5 million. It will use these funds to make more acquisitions....

AGT FOOD & INGREDIENTS INC., $28.51, symbol AGT on Toronto, buys and processes a range of pulses—which include peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas—as well as other specialty crops. The Saskatchewan-based company owns 13 processing plants in Canada, nine in Turkey, four in Australia, two in the U.S., one in China and one in South Africa. Before one-time items, AGT earned $0.42 a share in the quarter ended March 31, 2015, up 162.5% from $0.16 a year earlier. Revenue gained 23.7%, to $385.2 million from $311.3 million. The increases came from recent acquisitions and higher processing activity....

SYMANTEC CORP., $24.48, Nasdaq symbol SYMC, sells computer-security technology, including antivirus and email-filtering software, to businesses and consumers. In its fiscal 2015 fourth quarter, which ended April 3, 2015, Symantec earned $299 million, or $0.43 a share. That fell short of the consensus estimate of $0.44. The latest earnings are also down 10.2% from $333 million, or $0.48 a share, a year earlier. The decline is partly because Symantec is hiring more programmers as it expands its cybersecurity operations. However, the company’s restructuring, which includes cancelling unprofitable deals to pre-install software on new computers and simplifying its product lines, saved it $150 million in fiscal 2015....

MCKESSON CORP. $239 (New York symbol MCK; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 231.6 million; Market cap: $55.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; Dividend yield: 0.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.mckesson .com) paid $4.5 billion for 75.4% of Celesio AG in February 2014. Celesio is a German firm that distributes prescription drugs in Europe and Brazil. McKesson’s stake now stands at 76.0%.

This acquisition increased McKesson’s revenue by 30.3% in its 2015 fiscal year, which ended March 31, 2015, to $179.0 billion from $137.4 billion in fiscal 2014. Excluding unusual items, earnings per share rose 29.2%, to $11.11 from $8.60.

The company now expects to earn $12.20 to $12.70 a share in fiscal 2016, and the stock trades at 19.2 times the midpoint of that range. That’s a somewhat high p/e ratio, particularly if Celesio fails to meet expectations. As well, the upcoming launch of cheaper hepatitis C drugs could slow McKesson’s revenue growth.

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