price to sales ratio

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD. $124 (Toronto symbol CP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 174.6 million; Market cap: $21.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.8; Dividend yield: 1.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cpr.ca) suffered two derailments in the past month that resulted in oil spills....

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $45 (Toronto symbol SNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 151.1 million; Market cap: $6.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.snclavalin.com) has held up well in the face of negative press coverage, beginning with $56 million U.S....

Rising production of shale gas continues to depress prices. However, new projects would let producers ship more of their surplus gas overseas, where prices can be two or more times higher than in North America. As well, many utilities are converting their plants to burn gas instead of coal....

ENBRIDGE INC. $46 (Toronto symbol ENB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 806.5 million; Market cap: $37.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.enbridge.com) has agreed to build a 50-kilometre pipeline that will connect the Hangingstone oil sands project in Alberta to its existing pipeline system....

TORSTAR CORP. $7.15 (Toronto symbol TS.B; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 79.7 million; Market cap: $569.9 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 7.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.torstar.com) owns romance novel publisher Harlequin, which recently formed a joint venture with Cosmopolitan magazine that will publish two e-books a month, starting in August 2013.

The new series, called Cosmo Red Hot Reads, will help Harlequin profit from fast-growing demand for erotica, such as the best-selling Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy....

SHAWCOR LTD. $41 (Toronto symbol SCL; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 58.8 million; Market cap: $2.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 1.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.shawcor.com) has completed its plan to convert its class A (one vote per share) and class B (10 votes per share) shares into a single class of common shares (one vote per share).

Under the plan, each class A share became one common share....

GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $27 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 950.6 million; Market cap: $25.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend Yield: 4.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s secondlargest insurance company after Manulife, with $545.8 billion of assets under administration....

CANADIAN TIRE CORP. $70 (Toronto symbol CTC.A; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 81.1 million; Market cap: $5.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.canadiantire.ca) operates 490 Canadian Tire stores, which specialize in automotive, household and sporting goods. The company owns these stores, but franchisees operate most of them. Canadian Tire also operates 299 gas stations and 87 Part Source auto parts stores.

In the past few years, the company has diversified its product lines by purchasing retailers with specialized products. These include Mark’s, which sells casual clothing though 386 stores, and Forzani Group, which sells sporting goods through 495 outlets, mainly under the Sport Chek banner. As well, Canadian Tire will soon complete its $85- million purchase of Pro Hockey Life, which sells hockey equipment through 23 stores.



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ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $63 (Toronto symbol RY; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $94.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rbc.com) earned $2.1 billion, or $1.36 a share, in the three months ended January 31, 2013. That’s up 11.6% from $1.9 billion, or $1.22 a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 4.4%, to $7.9 billion from $7.6 billion. Royal set aside $349 million to cover potential loan defaults, up 30.7% from $267 million. That’s mainly due to extra provisions on specific loans at its securities-trading division.

Low interest rates continue to spur loan demand at Royal’s retail banking operations in Canada, the U.S. and the Caribbean. Strong results from the bank’s trading and wealth management divisions also contributed to the higher results.

Royal also raised its quarterly dividend by 5.0%, to $0.63 a share from $0.60. The new annual rate of $2.52 yields 4.0%.
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POTASH CORP. OF SASKATCHEWAN $41 (Toronto symbol POT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 864.9 million; Market cap: $35.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.3; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.potashcorp.com) aims to raise its stake in Israel Chemicals Inc. from 13.9% to at least 51%.

Israel Chemicals produces potash from minerals it extracts from the Dead Sea. Based on Israel Chemicals’ current stock price, this purchase would cost Potash Corp. around $6 billion U.S.

The Israeli government considers this a strategic resource, so Potash Corp. needs permission to buy more shares. Still, this investment would give it a greater stake in a high-quality potash deposit.
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