canadian tire

CANADIAN TIRE CORP. $98 (Toronto symbol CTC.A; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 80.2 million; Market cap: $7.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www. canadiantire.ca) recently sold 16.9% of CT Real Estate Investment Trust (Toronto symbol CRT.UN) through an initial public offering. CT REIT holds 72% of Canadian Tire’s real estate assets, including 255 stores and one distribution centre. The company received $279.3 million for these shares.

Meanwhile, Canadian Tire earned $145.5 million in the three months ended September 28, 2013, up 10.7% from $131.4 million a year earlier. Earnings per share gained 11.2%, to $1.79 from $1.61, on fewer shares outstanding. Sales rose 4.5%, to $3.0 billion from $2.8 billion.

Strong demand for automotive and kitchen products pushed up same-store sales by 2.0% at the company’s 491 Canadian Tire stores. Same-store sales rose 6.3% at its 415 sports outlets, partly due to the Pro Hockey Life chain, acquired in August 2013. Same-store sales at the 386-store Mark’s clothing chain gained 4.3%.
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These two retailers recently set up their land and buildings as real estate investment trusts (REITs). That’s helping them fund acquisitions to better compete with U.S. retailers like Wal-Mart and Target, which are expanding in Canada.

LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD....

CANADIAN TIRE CORP. $95 (www.canadiantire.com) has developed a new all-season tire with a special sidewall that changes colour when the outside temperature falls below a certain point. That tells the driver it’s time to install snow tires. Unique products like this should give Canadian Tire an edge over big U.S....

DOMINO’S PIZZA $69.96 (New York symbol DPZ; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (734-930-3030; www.dominos.com; Shares outstanding: 55.7 million; Market cap: $3.9 billion; Dividend yield: 1.1%) is the world’s largest chain of pizza stores that offer takeout and delivery....

ENBRIDGE INC. $43 (www.enbridge.com) has raised its quarterly dividend by 11.1%, to $0.35 a share from $0.315. The new annual rate of $1.40 yields 3.3%. The company expects to start operating several new oil pipelines in the next few months. As a result, its earnings should rise from a projected $1.79 a share in 2013 to between $1.84 and $2.04 a share in 2014....

TIM HORTONS $62.68 (Toronto symbol THI; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (905-845-6511; www.timhortons.com; Shares outstanding: 147.1 million; Market cap: $9.1 billion; Dividend yield: 1.7%) operates 3,500 coffeeand- donut shops in Canada, 817 in the U.S. and 33 in the Persian Gulf.

In the three months ended September 30, 2013, Tim Hortons’ sales rose 2.9%, to $825.4 million from $802.0 million a year earlier. Same-store sales gained 1.7% at its Canadian outlets and 3.0% in the U.S. Earnings per share rose 6.9%, to $0.77 from $0.72.

The company continues to benefit from recently introduced menu items, such as panini sandwiches. It also raised its prices to cover higher ingredient costs. At the same time, it’s working on simplifying its menu displays and speeding up service, both in-store and at the drive-through.
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RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $25 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Units outstanding: 303.2 million; Market cap: $7.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 6.5; Dividend yield: 5.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.riocan.com) started up in 1993 and is now Canada’s largest REIT. It currently owns all or part of 295 retail properties, including 15 under development. These holdings account for 85% of its rental revenue. The remaining 15% comes from 51 malls in the U.S.

RioCan continues to expand beyond suburban big-box-style shopping centres. Mostly through joint ventures with other property developers, it has added mixed-use retail, office and residential buildings, mainly in densely populated urban areas.

RioCan’s revenue declined 0.8%, from $764 million in 2008 to $758 million in 2009. Some of the trust’s tenants went bankrupt during the recession, but it mostly offset that by adding new properties. RioCan’s revenue recovered to $882 million in 2010 and rose to $1.1 billion in 2012, as it took advantage of lower property values and interest rates to expand its portfolio.
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Many investors look at real estate investment trusts (REITs) as proxies for bonds. Instead, we view REITs as companies that own and manage real estate.

When you invest in a REIT, the most important thing to look at is the quality of its holdings. This includes locations, tenants and expansion opportunities....

ENCANA CORP., $19.21, Toronto symbol ECA, rose 3% this week, even though it cut its dividend as part of a major new restructuring plan. Due to depressed natural gas prices, Encana plans to narrow its focus from around 30 properties to five: Montney (B.C.), Duvernay (Alberta), DJ Basin (Colorado), San Juan Basin (New Mexico) and Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (Louisiana). These fields also produce significant amounts of oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs), such as butane and propane, and should last decades. Encana expects oil and NGLs to supply 75% of its cash flow by 2017, up from about 35% today....

RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $24.19 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Units outstanding: 300.7 million; Market cap: $7.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.8%; www.riocan.com) is Canada’s largest real estate investment trust (REIT), with interests in 348 shopping malls containing over 83 million square feet of leasable area. That total includes 50 U.S. malls with over 13.7 million square feet.

Earlier this year, RioCan ended its joint venture with Retail Properties of America (New York symbol RPAI). As a result, RioCan now holds 100% of eight malls in Texas, including the dominant shopping centres in Austin and San Antonio.

In the quarter ended June 30, 2013, RioCan’s revenue rose 9.7%, to $272 million from $248 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit increased 8.1%, to $0.40 from $0.37. The units yield 5.8%.
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