price to sales ratio

LINAMAR CORP. $33 (Toronto symbol LNR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 64.7 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 1.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.linamar.com) gets 80% of its revenue by making engines, transmissions and other precisionmachined parts for automakers. The company has plants in North America, Europe and Asia.

The remaining 20% of Linamar’s revenue comes from its self-propelled, scissor-type elevating work platforms, which it sells under the Skyjack name, plus consumer products, such as lawn mowers and cargo trailers.

The company continues to benefit from strong car sales. Rising construction activity has also prompted contractors to replace their older Skyjack platforms.
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SHAWCOR LTD. $43 (Toronto symbol SCL; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 59.6 million; Market cap: $2.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 1.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.shawcor.com) gets 90% of its revenue by making sealants and coatings that keep oil and gas pipelines from rusting. The remaining 10% comes from manufacturing industrial products, such as electrical wire and protective sheaths.

The company continues to benefit from recent acquisitions that have increased its North American manufacturing capacity. As well, demand for its pipeline-coating services continues to rise in Asia, Latin America and Europe. Asia now supplies 39% of ShawCor’s revenue, followed by North America (38%), Europe (15%) and Latin America (8%).

In the three months ended June 30, 2013, ShawCor’s revenue jumped 39.9%, to a record $457.3 million from $326.9 million a year earlier. That’s mainly because the company paid $30 million for the 49% of Socotherm LaBarge LLC that it did not already own. Texas-based Socotherm coats and insulates pipelines for deepwater oil and gas projects. Its clients operate in the Gulf of Mexico and off Africa’s west coast.
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BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $5.08 and BBD.B $5.06; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $8.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bombardier.com) is the world’s third-largest commercial aircraft maker, behind Boeing and Airbus. It is also the world’s leading passenger railcar manufacturer.

The company has postponed the first test flight of its new CSeries passenger jet. It had planned to begin flight tests in June, but it needs extra time to upgrade the plane’s software.

Bombardier has firm orders for 177 CSeries jets, plus options for 211 more. If the buyers exercise all these options, the resulting 388 orders would be worth $26 billion (all amounts except share prices and market cap in U.S. dollars).
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ENCANA CORP. $18 (Toronto symbol ECA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 737.7 million; Market cap: $13.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 4.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.encana.com) aims to cut its exposure to low natural gas prices by producing more oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs), like butane and propane.

In the three months ended June 30, 2013, Encana’s oil and NGL output rose 68.8%, to 47,600 barrels a day from 28,200 a year earlier. But that’s still just 9% of its overall production. Encana aims to raise its NGL and oil output to 70,000 to 75,000 barrels a day by the end of 2013.

In response to weak gas prices, the company continues to expand its hedging program. For the second half of 2013, it has hedged roughly 75% of its expected production at $4.37 U.S. per thousand cubic feet. That’s 22.8% higher than today’s price of $3.56 U.S. For 2014, Encana has hedged 55% of its forecast output at $4.19 U.S. per thousand cubic feet.
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CONAGRA FOODS INC. $30 (New York symbol CAG; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 419.5 million; Market cap: $12.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.conagrafoods.com) reported that its sales rose 27.2% in its fiscal 2014 first quarter, which ended August 25, 2013, to $4.2 billion from $3.3 billion a year earlier.

That’s mainly due to private-label food maker Ralcorp, which it bought for $4.75 billion in January 2013....

Small cap stocks are companies with market caps (or the value of all their outstanding shares) below $2 billion, or some other arbitrary figure.

Many investors avoid small caps like the four we analyze below, because they’re generally more volatile than large cap stocks....

J.P. MORGAN CHASE & CO. $52 (New York symbol JPM; Income Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 3.8 billion; Market cap: $197.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.jpmorganchase.com) has agreed to pay a total of $920 million in fines to U.S....

CINTAS CORP. $51 (Nasdaq symbol CTAS; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 120.8 million; Market cap: $6.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cintas- .com) designs and makes uniforms, which it sells to over 900,000 businesses, mainly in North America....

IDEXX LABORATORIES INC. $98 (Nasdaq symbol IDXX; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 52.5 million; Market cap: $5.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.1; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.idexx.com) gets 85% of its sales by making equipment that veterinarians use to detect diseases in pets....

These two big electronics makers have seen their shares rise sharply since the start of 2013. That’s mainly because they have restructured and cut their operating costs. However, we prefer Philips for new buying, because its focus on medical equipment and lighting cuts its exposure to fickle consumer tastes.

PHILIPS ELECTRONICS N.V....