Alimentation Couche-Tard

ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD, $31.94, symbol ATD.B on Toronto, reported sharply higher sales and earnings in the latest quarter. The company is the largest convenience store operator in Canada, with over 2,000 outlets. It also has nearly 3,700 U.S. stores. The Canadian stores operate under the Couche-Tard and Mac’s banners, while the U.S. stores mainly use the Circle K brand. In the three months ended January 29, 2012, Couche-Tard’s earnings rose 24.7% to $86.8 million from $69.6 million a year earlier (all figures except share price in U.S. dollars). Earnings per share rose 28.9%, to $0.49 from $0.38, on fewer shares outstanding....

Casey’s General Stores, $54.05, symbol CASY on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 38.1 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion; www.caseys.com), operates over 1,700 convenience stores under the Casey’s General Store and Just Diesel brands. The company’s stores are located in eleven Midwestern states, but they are mainly concentrated in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois. Casey’s gets 71% of its revenue by selling gasoline, but its stores also offer food, including freshly prepared pizza, donuts and hamburgers, as well as beer and other beverages....

ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD, $29.85, symbol ATD.B on Toronto, is our “Stock of the Year” for 2012. Next week, Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on high-quality U.S. stocks, will reveal its #1 pick for 2012. We’ve had great success with Alimentation Couche-Tard since we recommended it in our December 2008 issue at $15.50. That’s a gain of 92.6% in just over three years. We said then that the company’s growth-by-acquisition strategy was risky, but Couche-Tard lowered its risk by aiming to acquire profitable, well-managed chains with room for expansion and profit improvement....

ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD $30.55 (Toronto symbol ATD.B: TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1-800-361-2612; www.couchetard.com; Shares outstanding: 179.4 million; Market cap: $5.5 billion; Yield: 1.0%) is the largest convenience-store operator in Canada, with 2,000 outlets. It also has over 3,700 U.S. stores. The Canadian stores operate under the Couche-Tard and Mac’s banners, while the U.S. stores mainly use the Circle K brand. The company sells fuel at 72% of its stores. Couche-Tard’s revenue continues to rise rapidly. Revenue jumped 86.7% between 2006 and 2010, to $19.0 billion from $10.2 billion (all figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Much of the rise comes from a steady stream of acquisitions. But the company was also able to boost profits with those acquisitions. Earnings per share jumped 106.2% over the same five years, to $2.00 from $0.97. Revenue will likely reach almost $24 billion this year. Couche-Tard’s earnings per share rose 6.9% in the three months ended October 9, 2011, to $0.62 from $0.58. Sales rose 24.1% to $5.2 billion from $4.1 billion. The gains came from a rise in fuel prices, the stronger Canadian dollar and higher merchandise sales....

ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD $30.55 (Toronto symbol ATD.B: TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1-800-361-2612; www.couchetard.com; Shares outstanding: 179.4 million; Market cap: $5.5 billion; Yield: 1.0%) is the largest convenience-store operator in Canada, with 2,000 outlets. It also has over 3,700 U.S. stores. The Canadian stores operate under the Couche-Tard and Mac’s banners, while the U.S. stores mainly use the Circle K brand. The company sells fuel at 72% of its stores.

Couche-Tard’s revenue continues to rise rapidly. Revenue jumped 86.7% between 2006 and 2010, to $19.0 billion from $10.2 billion (all figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Much of the rise comes from a steady stream of acquisitions. But the company was also able to boost profits with those acquisitions. Earnings per share jumped 106.2% over the same five years, to $2.00 from $0.97. Revenue will likely reach almost $24 billion this year.

Couche-Tard’s earnings per share rose 6.9% in the three months ended October 9, 2011, to $0.62 from $0.58. Sales rose 24.1% to $5.2 billion from $4.1 billion. The gains came from a rise in fuel prices, the stronger Canadian dollar and higher merchandise sales.

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ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD $30.76 (Toronto symbol ATD.B: TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1-800-361-2612; www.couche-tard.com; Shares outstanding: 242.4 million; Market cap: $7.5 billion; Dividend yield: 1.0%) is the largest convenience-store operator in Canada, with over 2,000 outlets. It also has over 3,900 U.S. stores. The Canadian stores operate under the Couche-Tard and Mac’s banners, while the U.S. stores mainly use the Circle K brand. Couche-Tard sells fuel at over 68% of its stores. In the quarter ended October 9, 2011, Couche-Tard’s earnings per share rose 6.9%, to $0.62 from $0.58 a year earlier (all figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Sales rose 24.1%, to $5.2 billion from $4.1 billion. The gains came from higher fuel prices, the stronger Canadian dollar and higher merchandise sales. The company gets 30% of its sales by selling merchandise....

AMERIGO RESOURCES, $0.53, symbol ARG on Toronto, processes copper and molybdenum from the waste rock from Chile’s El Teniente, the world’s largest copper mine. This contract runs through 2021. Amerigo has a further agreement to process material from the nearby Colihues tailings pond. The company gets 94% of revenue by processing copper. The remaining 6% comes from molybdenum. In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Amerigo’s revenue rose 6.8%, to $42.0 million from $39.3 million a year earlier (all figures except share price in U.S. dollars). Higher copper prices offset lower production and molybdenum prices....

Alimentation Couche-Tard, symbol ATD.B on Toronto, is the largest convenience-store operator in Canada, with over 2,000 outlets. It is also one of the Canadian investments with the biggest presence in the U.S., at nearly 3,700 U.S. stores. The Canadian stores operate under the Couche-Tard and Mac’s banners, while the U.S. stores mainly use the Circle K brand. Last month, Couche-Tard announced that it has agreed to buy 33 On the Run convenience stores in southern Louisiana from ExxonMobil (symbol XOM on New York) for an undisclosed amount. Couche-Tard will buy the land and buildings for 27 of these locations and will assume or enter into leases for the six remaining sites. According to the company, these stores are all highly visible and are located on well-travelled roads....

ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD $28.34 (Toronto symbol ATD.B: TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1-800-361-2612; www.couche-tard.com; Shares outstanding: 242.4 million; Market cap: $6.9 billion; Yield: 0.9%) is the largest convenience-store operator in Canada, with over 2,000 outlets. It also has nearly 3,700 U.S. stores. In the three months ended July 17, 2011, Couche-Tard’s earnings rose 9.9% to $139.5 million, or $0.76 a share. A year earlier, it earned $126.9 million, or $0.68 a share (all figures except share prices in U.S. dollars). Sales rose 23.9%, to $5.2 billion from $4.2 billion. The gains came from higher fuel prices, the stronger Canadian dollar and higher merchandise sales. Couche-Tard continues to introduce new products with higher profit margins, including new drinks and improved fresh and take-out food....

CAMECO CORP., $22.23, symbol CCO on Toronto, has launched a hostile takeover bid for Hathor Exploration (symbol HAT on Toronto). Cameco is offering $520 million, or $3.75 a share. Hathor’s main exploration properties are on the east side of the Athabasca Basin. This region contains all of Canada’s producing uranium mines, and accounts for 23% of global production. Right now, Hathor is exploring for uranium at its Midwest Northeast project, which is close to producing properties owned by Cameco and AREVA of France....