price to sales ratio
BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $4.13 and BBD.B $4.08; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $7.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bombardier.com) earned $837 million, or $0.47 a share, in the year ended December 31, 2011 (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). It earned $762 million, or $0.42 a share, in the 12 months ended January 31, 2011 (the company has changed its fiscal year end to December 31). Revenue was $18.3 billion compared with $17.9 billion.
Sales of passenger railcars supplies 53% of Bombardier’s total revenue. This business has a backlog of $31.9 billion. The company gets the remaining 47% of its revenue from its aerospace division. This division has an order backlog of $22.0 billion.
Bombardier is a buy. The subordinate-voting class B shares are the better choice, due to their greater liquidity and slightly higher dividend yield.
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Sales of passenger railcars supplies 53% of Bombardier’s total revenue. This business has a backlog of $31.9 billion. The company gets the remaining 47% of its revenue from its aerospace division. This division has an order backlog of $22.0 billion.
Bombardier is a buy. The subordinate-voting class B shares are the better choice, due to their greater liquidity and slightly higher dividend yield.
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MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $33 (Toronto symbol MBT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 66.2 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 5.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mtsallstream.com) has 1.3 million telephone and wireless customers in Manitoba. This business now accounts for 55% of the company’s revenue. The remaining 45% comes from its Allstream division, which provides integrated telephone, Internet and other communication services to businesses across Canada.
Like BCE and Telus, Manitoba Telecom continues to profit from fast-growing demand for smartphones and wireless service. It ended 2011 with 496,432 wireless subscribers, up 2.6% from a year earlier. About 41% of users under long-term contracts had data plans, up from 27% in 2010.
The company is also seeing strong demand for its fibre-optic Internet and TV services. It now has 188,946 high-speed Internet customers (up 2.9% from 2010) and 95,456 TV subscribers (up 6.1%).
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Like BCE and Telus, Manitoba Telecom continues to profit from fast-growing demand for smartphones and wireless service. It ended 2011 with 496,432 wireless subscribers, up 2.6% from a year earlier. About 41% of users under long-term contracts had data plans, up from 27% in 2010.
The company is also seeing strong demand for its fibre-optic Internet and TV services. It now has 188,946 high-speed Internet customers (up 2.9% from 2010) and 95,456 TV subscribers (up 6.1%).
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BELL ALIANT INC. $28 (Toronto symbol BA, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 227.8 million; Market cap: $6.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 6.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bellaliant.ca) sells telephone and Internet services to 2.6 million customers in Atlantic Canada, as well as rural parts of Ontario and Quebec. It also sells wireless services through an alliance with BCE; BCE owns 45% of the company.
The company continues to replace its copper-wire cables with fibre-optic lines. This lets its sell more high-speed Internet and digital TV services, and offset declining demand for its regular phone services, which still account for 60% of its revenue.
Bell Aliant’s fibre-optic systems now reach 458,000 homes. The company plans to expand this to 650,000 homes by the end of 2012.
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The company continues to replace its copper-wire cables with fibre-optic lines. This lets its sell more high-speed Internet and digital TV services, and offset declining demand for its regular phone services, which still account for 60% of its revenue.
Bell Aliant’s fibre-optic systems now reach 458,000 homes. The company plans to expand this to 650,000 homes by the end of 2012.
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TELUS CORP. (Toronto symbols T $57 and T.A $57; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 325.0 million; Market cap: $18.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 4.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) gets most of its growth from wireless services. Its 7.3 million subscribers across Canada now supply 52% of its earnings.
The remaining 48% of Telus’s earnings comes from its wireline division, which mainly consists of 3.6 million traditional phone customers in B.C., Alberta and eastern Quebec. This division also includes 1.3 million Internet users and 509,000 TV customers.
Telus added 369,000 wireless subscribers (net of deactivations) in 2011. That’s down 17.4% from a net gain of 447,000 users in 2010, mainly due to the loss of a contract with the federal government.
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The remaining 48% of Telus’s earnings comes from its wireline division, which mainly consists of 3.6 million traditional phone customers in B.C., Alberta and eastern Quebec. This division also includes 1.3 million Internet users and 509,000 TV customers.
Telus added 369,000 wireless subscribers (net of deactivations) in 2011. That’s down 17.4% from a net gain of 447,000 users in 2010, mainly due to the loss of a contract with the federal government.
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SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $39 (Toronto symbol SNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 150.9 million; Market cap: $5.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.snclavalin.com) fell over 20% on February 28, 2012 after it announced that its 2011 earnings will be $80 million, or 18% below its earlier forecast. In 2010, SNC earned $437.0 million, or $2.87 a share.
The earnings drop is partly due to $35 million in unusual payments related to certain construction contracts. Because of the recent civil war, SNC will also write down the value of its Libyan operations, including a prison, an airport and a water treatment system, by $23 million. The company did not say if the unusual payments are connected to its Libyan projects.
SNC is working with its external auditors and lawyers to examine these payments and certain other contracts.
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The earnings drop is partly due to $35 million in unusual payments related to certain construction contracts. Because of the recent civil war, SNC will also write down the value of its Libyan operations, including a prison, an airport and a water treatment system, by $23 million. The company did not say if the unusual payments are connected to its Libyan projects.
SNC is working with its external auditors and lawyers to examine these payments and certain other contracts.
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BCE INC. $41 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 774.0 million; Market cap: $31.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 5.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bce.ca) is
Canada’s largest provider of telephone services.
BCE’s main subsidiary, Bell Canada, has 6.1 million telephone customers in Ontario and Quebec, as well as 2.1 million high-speed Internet customers and 2.1 million TV subscribers. Bell Canada supplied 53% of BCE’s 2011 revenue.
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Canada’s largest provider of telephone services.
BCE’s main subsidiary, Bell Canada, has 6.1 million telephone customers in Ontario and Quebec, as well as 2.1 million high-speed Internet customers and 2.1 million TV subscribers. Bell Canada supplied 53% of BCE’s 2011 revenue.
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Cintas’s shares fell from $43 in 2007 to just $18 in March 2009, mainly because the recession prompted businesses to slash their spending on the company’s uniform rentals and other services. That prompted Cintas to cut its costs, mainly by closing plants and merging delivery routes. The savings helped it deal with rising fuel and cotton prices in the wake of the downturn. Cintas also made its sales force more efficient by training each employee to sell all of its products, instead of focusing on just one. These moves are starting to pay off for the company, and the stock has rebounded strongly as a result. We feel it will keep climbing as the U.S. economy continues to recover. CINTAS CORP. $39 (Nasdaq symbol CTAS; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 129.7 million; Market cap: $5.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cintas.com) provides a wide range of products and services to over 900,000 businesses, mainly in North America....
APPLE INC. $603 (Nasdaq symbol AAPL; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 932.4 million; Market cap: $562.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.4; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.apple.com) is up about 50% since the start of 2012, mainly due to strong sales of its iPhone smartphones and iPad tablet computers. The company now plans to reward its shareholders by returning some of its $97.6 billion, or $104.70 a share, in cash and investments (as of the end of 2011.) In the fourth quarter of its current fiscal year, which ends September 30, 2012, Apple will start paying quarterly dividends of $2.65 a share; the annual rate of $10.60 yields 1.8%. Apple also plans to buy back $10 billion of its shares over the next three years....
Most banks are writing off fewer mortgages and other loans, but low interest rates continue to dampen their profits. At the same time, rising competition is making it harder to attract new depositors. We feel the best way to expand your Finance sector holdings right now is with high-quality non-bank stocks, such as eBay, T. Rowe Price, Western Union and Moody’s. EBAY INC. $38 (Nasdaq symbol EBAY; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $49.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.7; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ebay.com) operates the world’s largest auction website, with over 99 million users. It also processes online financial transactions, mostly through its PayPal subsidiary....
MOODY’S CORP. $42 (New York symbol MCO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 222.9 million; Market cap: $9.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.1; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.moodys.com) continues to see rising demand for its credit ratings as the global economy improves. In 2011, the company’s earnings rose 12.1%, to $564.4 million from $503.3 million in 2010. Moody’s spent $333.8 million on share buybacks during the year. Because of fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 15.5%, to $2.46 from $2.13. Revenue rose 12.2%, to $2.3 billion from $2.0 billion. For 2012, Moody’s expects to earn $2.68 a share. The stock trades at 15.7 times that estimate. The company also raised its quarterly dividend by 14.3%, to $0.16 a share from $0.14. The new annual rate of $0.64 yields 1.5%. Moody’s is a buy.