price to sales ratio
NORDSTROM INC. $61 (New York symbol JWN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 193.4 million; Market cap: $11.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.nordstrom.com) mainly sells upscale clothing, accessories and footwear.
In Nordstrom’s 2014 fiscal year, which ended February 1, 2014, its sales rose 3.3%, to $12.5 billion from $12.1 billion in 2013....
In Nordstrom’s 2014 fiscal year, which ended February 1, 2014, its sales rose 3.3%, to $12.5 billion from $12.1 billion in 2013....
CAMPBELL SOUP CO. $43 (New York symbol CPB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 315.0 million; Market cap: $13.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.campbellsoupcompany.com) is the world’s largest maker of canned soups....
BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $4.08 and BBD.B $4.04; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $7.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bombardier.com) has won a contract to build 65 railcars for a new public transit line in London, U.K. The company will build these cars at its plant in the country and deliver them from May 2017 to December 2018. Bombardier will also build a maintenance depot for the new line. The deal is worth $1.6 billion U.S., or 9% of Bombardier’s annual revenue of $17.9 billion U.S. The cheaper class B shares are the better choice because of their slightly better liquidity and higher dividend....
POTASH CORP. OF SASKATCHEWAN $37 (Toronto symbol POT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 856.1 million; Market cap: $31.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.2; Dividend yield: 4.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.potashcorp.com) earned $2.04 a share in 2013, down 13.9% from $2.37 in 2012 (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Sales fell 7.8%, to $7.3 billion from $7.9 billion. North American potash demand should rebound in 2014, because farmers will need more fertilizer to replenish their soil after last year’s record crops. However, delayed orders will likely slow exports to Asia, because buyers feel prices will keep falling after last July’s breakup of a marketing alliance between producers in Russia and Belarus. Potash Corp. is still a hold.
CAE INC. $14 (Toronto symbol CAE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 262.2 million; Market cap: $3.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cae.com) earned $46.1 million in its fiscal 2014 third quarter, which ended December 31, 2013. That’s up 22.9% from $37.5 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings rose 28.6%, to $0.18 from $0.14. Sales rose 2.5%, to $513.6 million from $500.9 million. The company sold 12 flight simulators in the quarter and three more since January 1. That brings this fiscal year’s total to 43—a new record. As a result, sales at its civilian simulator and pilot-training businesses (55% of total sales) rose 3.2%....
CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE $89 (Toronto symbol CM; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 399.3 million; Market cap: $35.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 4.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cibc.com) is the fifthlargest Canadian bank, with $398.4 billion of assets. CIBC recently launched a new credit card loyalty plan for travellers after it lost the Aeroplan contract to TD (see page 21). This plan, called Aventura, lets cardholders earn points on their purchases and redeem them for free flights and other benefits. Losing the Aeroplan business will cut CIBC’s annual earnings by $0.45 a share. To put that in context, it earned $3.6 billion in its 2013 fiscal year, which ended October 31, 2013, up 6.5% from $3.4 billion in 2012. Earnings per share gained 8.8%, to $8.78 from $8.07, on fewer shares outstanding....
BANK OF MONTREAL $70 (Toronto symbol BMO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 644.5 million; Market cap: $45.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 4.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bmo.com) is Canada’s fourth-largest bank, with $537.3 billion of assets. The bank is buying U.K.-based F&C Asset Management, which sells investment services to individuals and institutional clients, such as pension plans and insurance companies. F&C has $136 billion U.S. in assets under management, which will increase the assets that Bank of Montreal’s Global Asset Management division administers to $269 billion U.S. The purchase will also add many wealth management clients outside North America....
BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $63 (Toronto symbol BNS; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $75.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.6; Dividend yield: 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.scotiabank.com) is Canada’s thirdlargest bank, with assets of $743.8 billion. The bank continues to profit from its November 2012 purchase of ING Direct, which offers a variety of no-fee banking services. ING has 1.9 million customers and $30 billion in deposits. Bank of Nova Scotia will soon change ING’s name to Tangerine (it has to stop using the ING brand by May 2014). The change will let this business keep using the orange colour associated with ING Direct. In its 2013 fiscal year, which ended October 31, 2013, the bank’s earnings rose 3.6%, to $6.7 billion from $6.5 billion in fiscal 2012. Due to more shares outstanding, earnings per share fell 1.3%, to $5.15 from $5.22. Without unusual items, such as a gain on a real estate sale, per-share earnings rose 10.2%, to $5.08 from $4.61....
ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $71 (Toronto symbol RY; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $99.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.7; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rbc.com) is Canada’s second-largest bank, with $860.8 billion of assets. Royal recently agreed to sell its 13 branches and related operations in Jamaica. The country’s struggling economy has hurt these branches’ profits in the past few years, so selling them frees up cash for Royal to invest in its more promising Caribbean business. The bank will record a one-time loss of $60 million on the deal. Meanwhile, Royal earned $8.4 billion in its 2013 fiscal year, which ended October 31, 2013. That’s up 11.1% from $7.6 billion in 2012. Earnings per share rose 12.4%, to $5.54 from $4.93, on fewer shares outstanding....
SUNCOR ENERGY INC. $36 (Toronto symbol SU; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $54.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 2.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www. suncor.com) produced 558,100 barrels of oil equivalent (99% oil and 1% natural gas) a day in the three months ended December 31, 2013. That’s up 0.3% from 556,500 barrels a year earlier. Oil sands production rose 17.9%, to a record 446,500 barrels a day, because Suncor started up a new phase of its Firebag project. That helped offset lower conventional output following the company’s recent sale of a big part of its Western Canadian gas properties. The higher production helped push up Suncor’s revenue by 7.4%, to $10.2 billion from $9.5 billion. However, its average realized price for oil sands bitumen fell 5.2%, and a lack of pipeline capacity is forcing the company to ship more crude by rail. As a result, its earnings fell 1.5%, to $973 million from $988 million....