price to sales ratio

BRIGGS & STRATTON CORP. $23 (New York symbol BGG; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 42.8 million; Market cap: $984.4 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 2.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www....

BOEING CO. $233 (New York symbol BA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 603.6 million; Market cap: $140.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.boeing.com) is a leading maker of passenger jets, military aircraft and satellites.


The company delivered 183 commercial jet planes in the quarter ended June 30, 2016....

MCDONALD’S CORP. $157 (New York symbol MCD; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 815.1 million; Market cap: $128.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.2; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.mcdonalds.com) is the world’s largest operator of fast-food restaurants, with 37,000 outlets in 120 countries....

All five of these firms operate businesses with specialized products and services that are hard to replace. That helps protect them from new competitors. They also fuel their growth by developing new products and making acquisitions. However, not all of them are currently buys.


MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS INC....

AMERICAN EXPRESS CO. $85 (New York symbol AXP, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; shares o/s: 893.8 million; Market cap: $76.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.6; Divd. yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.americanexpress.com) is one of the world’s largest issuers of payment cards.


Amex will increase its quarterly dividend by 9.4%....

The four financials below (including American Express— see next article) have passed the U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest “stress test.” It measures how such firms would cope with a jump in unemployment, falling stock prices and other unfavourable conditions.


As a result of their success, all four companies raised their dividends and announced new share buyback plans.


J.P....

MICROSOFT CORP. $74 (Nasdaq symbol MSFT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 7.7 billion; Market cap: $569.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 6.4; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.microsoft.com) continues to gain from its move to sell its software as a subscription service.


In its fiscal 2017 fourth quarter, ended June 30, 2017, the company’s revenue rose 13.1%, to $23.3 billion from $20.6 billion a year earlier....

Dear Client:


In July 2015, eBay spun off its PayPal business as a separate company. eBay investors received one PayPal share for each share they held.


Share prices for both have jumped since the spinoff. That’s mainly because each is now focused on the expansion of its main businesses....

Shares of Loblaw and Metro—and many other grocers— fell on news that online retailer Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq symbol AMZN and a recommendation of Stock Pickers Digest) will buy organic grocery chain Whole Foods (New York symbol WFM). It will pay $13.7 billion U.S.


Investors fear that Amazon’s e-commerce expertise will let it capture a large share of the grocery retail business in the same way it has disrupted sellers of books, music and clothing.


However, Loblaw and Metro already let their customers order groceries online and pick them up at the store....

ANDREW PELLER LTD. (Toronto symbols ADW.A $11 and ADW.B $11; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 42.6 million; Market cap: $468.6 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.andrewpeller.com) is Canada’s second-largest producer of wines, after Constellation Brands.


Peller’s sales in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017, rose 2.5%, to $342.6 million from $334.4 million in 2016....