alimentation couche-tard
Toronto symbol ATD.B, is the largest convenience store operator in Canada, with over 2,000 stores. It also has more than 3,000 U.S. stores in 28 states.
ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD $58.75 (Toronto symbol ATD.B: TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1-800-361-2612; www.couche-tard.com; Shares outstanding: 179.4 million; Market cap: $10.5 billion; Dividend yield: 0.6%) 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 February 3, 2013, Couche-Tard’s sales jumped 75.2%, to $11.6 billion from $6.6 billion a year earlier. The gain mostly came from Norway’s Statoil Fuel & Retail ASA, which Couche-Tard bought for $2.7 billion in June 2012 (all figures except share price in U.S. dollars). Excluding one-time items, earnings rose 72.3%, to $153.2 million, or $0.81 a share, from $88.9 million, or $0.49 a share.
Couche-Tard’s outlook is positive. It continues to introduce more-profitable products at its North American stores, including new drinks and improved fresh and takeout food. There is lots of potential for it to sell similar items at the Statoil gas station chain.
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In the three months ended February 3, 2013, Couche-Tard’s sales jumped 75.2%, to $11.6 billion from $6.6 billion a year earlier. The gain mostly came from Norway’s Statoil Fuel & Retail ASA, which Couche-Tard bought for $2.7 billion in June 2012 (all figures except share price in U.S. dollars). Excluding one-time items, earnings rose 72.3%, to $153.2 million, or $0.81 a share, from $88.9 million, or $0.49 a share.
Couche-Tard’s outlook is positive. It continues to introduce more-profitable products at its North American stores, including new drinks and improved fresh and takeout food. There is lots of potential for it to sell similar items at the Statoil gas station chain.
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ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD, $53.63, symbol ATD.B on Toronto, reported sharply higher sales and earnings in its 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 February 3, 2013, Couche-Tard’s sales jumped 75.2%, to $11.6 billion from $6.6 billion a year earlier. The gain mostly came from Norway’s Statoil Fuel & Retail ASA, which Couche-Tard bought for $2.7 billion in June 2012 (all figures except share price in U.S. dollars). The company also benefited from higher fuel prices and merchandise sales. Couche-Tard gets about 30% of its revenue by selling merchandise....
BELLATRIX EXPLORATION (Toronto symbol BXE;www.bellatrixexploration.com) produces oil and natural gas in Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan. Gas makes up about 69% of its output; the remaining 31% is oil. In the three months ended December 31, 2012, Bellatrix’s production rose 32.1%, to 18,763 barrels of oil equivalent per day (including natural gas) from 14,209 barrels. Cash flow per share rose 7.1%, to $0.30 from $0.28....
AMAZON.COM (Nasdaq symbol AMZN; www.amazon.com) is a major online retailer. It gets about 33% of its sales from books, music and videos. Other products, including electronics, computer games and toys, make up the other 67%. Amazon Marketplace lets other companies sell their products through Amazon’s websites....
METRO INC. $64 (Toronto symbol MRU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 96.2 million; Market cap: $6.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.metro.ca) is Canada’s third-largest supermarket operator after Loblaw (see page 21) and Sobeys. The company has about 600 supermarkets in Quebec and Ontario. It also operates 260 drugstores under the Brunet, The Pharmacy and Drug Basics banners.
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Couche-Tard sale brings a windfall
The company recently sold roughly half of its stake in Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (Toronto symbol ATD.B), which operates convenience stores in North America and Norway. (Couche-Tard is a recommendation of Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that focuses on aggressive investing.) That left Metro with a 5.7% economic interest and a 17.0% voting interest in Couche-Tard....
METRO INC. (Toronto symbol MRU; www.metro.ca) has moved up sharply in the past few months. That’s mainly because it is taking steps to unlock some of its hidden value, including selling some of its investments....
Alimentation Couche-Tard $53.33, symbol ATD.B on Toronto, was our #1 pick for 2012 in Stock Pickers Digest at $30.55. Its shares are now up 74.6%.
WestJet, our #1 pick for this year (see left), was trading at $14.10 when we made it our #1 Stock of the Year for 2011....
WestJet, our #1 pick for this year (see left), was trading at $14.10 when we made it our #1 Stock of the Year for 2011....
Both Loblaw and Metro have moved up sharply in the past few months. That’s mainly because they are taking steps to unlock some of their hidden value, including selling real estate and other investments.
The companies will likely use the cash from the sales to keep improving their stores and other operations....
The companies will likely use the cash from the sales to keep improving their stores and other operations....
Alimentation Couche-Tard $53.33, symbol ATD.B on Toronto, was our #1 pick for 2012 in Stock Pickers Digest at $30.55. Its shares are now up 74.6%.
WestJet, our #1 pick for this year (see left), was trading at $14.10 when we made it our #1 Stock of the Year for 2011. It was a year late getting started, but it’s now up 58.1% since then.
Even with that jump, we think WestJet has big gains ahead. In an industry that thrives on passenger satisfaction and trust, the company’s non-unionized workforce is a huge plus.
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WestJet, our #1 pick for this year (see left), was trading at $14.10 when we made it our #1 Stock of the Year for 2011. It was a year late getting started, but it’s now up 58.1% since then.
Even with that jump, we think WestJet has big gains ahead. In an industry that thrives on passenger satisfaction and trust, the company’s non-unionized workforce is a huge plus.
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