price to sales ratio

LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $39 (Toronto symbol L; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; 280.6 million; Market cap: $10.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.loblaw.ca) aims to open 20 stand-alone “Joe Fresh” clothing and accessories stores over the next few years. It already has one store in Vancouver, and plans to open five more outlets in 2011: three in Toronto, one in Calgary and one in New York City. However, the company faces growing competition from non-food retailers like Canadian Tire that have started selling groceries. As well, Wal-Mart plans to open 40 new grocery stores in Canada this year. Rising food costs could also squeeze Loblaw’s profit margins. Loblaw is a hold....

ANDREW PELLER LTD. $8.70 (Toronto symbol ADW.A; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 14.9 million; Market cap: $129.6 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.andrewpeller.com) is Canada’s second-largest wine producer, after Vincor Canada. In the three months ended December 31, 2010, Peller’s sales rose 4.2%, to $75.0 million from $71.9 million a year earlier. The company launched a number of new products, and is seeing rising demand for its high-margin premium brands. These gains were partly offset by higher taxes on wines sold in its Ontario stores and weaker demand for home winemaking kits....

CANADIAN TIRE CORP. $62 (Toronto symbol CTC.A; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 81.4 million; Market cap: $5.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.canadiantire.ca) is in better shape than Loblaw to compete with big U.S. retailers like Wal-Mart and Target. That’s largely because its unique mix of automotive, household and sporting goods has made it Canada’s best-known retailer. The company gets 55% of its earnings and 60% of its revenue from its 482 stores across Canada. It owns 70% of these stores, but franchisees operate all of them. The company’s 272 gas stations also encourage repeat visits. Moreover, newer retail chains like its 378 Mark’s Work Wearhouse casual-clothing stores and 87 PartSource auto-parts stores are helping Canadian Tire attract more customers....

APACHE CORP. $121 (New York symbol APA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 364.6 million; Market cap: $44.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.6; Dividend yield: 0.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.apachecorp.com) gets 20% of its oil and natural gas from Egypt....

NEWELL RUBBERMAID INC. $20 (New York symbol NWL; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 290.3 million; Market cap: $5.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 1.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.newellrubbermaid.com) makes plastic storage bins, tools, window blinds, pens and a number of other household items. Its top brands include Rubbermaid, Sharpie, Paper Mate, Parker, Graco, Waterman and Levolor. The company has three divisions: Home & Family, which supplied 41% of its 2010 sales and 35% of its earnings; Office Products (30%, 34%) and Tools, Hardware and Commercial Products (29%, 31%). Newell recently finished a multi-year restructuring, which included closing plants and getting out of lessprofitable businesses. These moves will cut its yearly costs by $220 million by the end of 2011....

CHEVRON CORP. $102 (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 2.0 billion; Market cap: $204.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.chevron.com) began exploring for oil in Libya in 2005, after the U.S....

SHERWIN-WILLIAMS CO. $83 (New York symbol SHW; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 107.9 million; Market cap: $9.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.sherwin-williams.com) is North America’s largest paint producer. The company also operates 3,400 paint stores, which account for 55% of its sales. In 2010, Sherwin expanded its wood-coating operations by purchasing two European companies: In April, it paid $53.8 million for Italy’s Sayerlack. In September, it bought Sweden’s Becker Acroma for $230.4 million. These new businesses are part of the reason why Sherwin’s sales rose 9.6% in 2010, to $7.8 billion from $7.1 billion in 2009. However, integration costs will keep them from contributing to Sherwin’s earnings until mid-2011....

PROCTER & GAMBLE CO. $64 (New York symbol PG; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 2.8 billion; Market cap: $179.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pg.com) is one of the world’s largest makers of household and personal-care products. Some of its top brands are Tide detergent, Crest toothpaste, Head & Shoulders shampoo and Pampers diapers. The company gets 60% of its sales from outside the U.S. Procter is streamlining its business. That includes dropping some less-profitable brands and cutting a third of its suppliers. These moves should free up more cash for advertising and marketing. As well, lower costs will give Procter more flexibility to cut its prices without hurting its profit margins. Meanwhile, the company earned $3.3 billion in its 2011 second quarter, which ended December 31, 2010. That’s up 5.8% from $3.1 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 9.9%, to $1.11 from $1.01, on fewer shares outstanding. If you exclude an unusual tax gain and costs related to an investigation of the company by European competition regulators, earnings per share would have risen 2.7%, to $1.13 from $1.10....

MOODY’S CORP. $30 (New York symbol MCO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 234.2 million; Market cap: $7.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.5; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.moodys.com) provides independent credit ratings and other information on bonds and other securities. Credit ratings account for 70% of Moody’s revenue. It gets the remaining 30% from selling credit-assessment software to banks and other lenders. As the economy improves, more businesses are issuing new bonds to fund expansion projects. That’s pushing up demand for Moody’s credit ratings. As a result, Moody’s revenue rose 13.1% in 2010, to $2.0 billion from $1.8 billion in 2009. Revenue from the U.S. (54% of overall revenue), rose 18.3%. Revenue at the company’s international operations (46% of revenue) rose 7.5%....

MCGRAW-HILL COMPANIES INC. $38 (New York symbol MHP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 307.0 million; Market cap: $11.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 2.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mcgraw-hill.com) gets 70% of its earnings and 45% of its revenue from its Standard & Poor’s division, which provides financial information, including credit ratings on bonds. The company also publishes textbooks and magazines, and owns nine television stations. In 2010, McGraw-Hill’s revenue rose 3.6%, to $6.2 billion from $6.0 billion. Revenue from Standard & Poor’s rose 8.3%, as businesses took advantage of low interest rates to issue more bonds. The textbook division’s revenue rose 1.9%, thanks to higher college enrolment and rising demand for electronic versions of its books. That offset slower demand for new elementary and high-school textbooks. Revenue at McGraw-Hill’s media operations fell 4.9%, mainly because the company sold BusinessWeek magazine in 2009. Without this sale, this division’s revenue would have risen 6.2%....