price to sales ratio

TORSTAR CORP. $1.83 (Toronto symbol TS.B; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 80.6 million; Market cap: $147.5 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.2; Dividend yield: 14.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.torstar.com) recently paid $178 million for 56% of Vertical- Scope, a private firm that operates over 600 online forums and a variety of websites. The company has also launched a digital version of The Toronto Star, its flagship newspaper, for tablet computers. It will take a year or so for these new operations to begin contributing to Torstar’s sales. But they should help reduce its reliance on slower advertising revenue at its newspapers. Meantime, in the first quarter of 2016, Torstar’s losses worsened to $53.5 million, or $0.66 a share, from $459,000, or $0.01, a year earlier. Excluding unusual items, it lost $0.40 a share in the quarter, compared to a profit of $0.02. Revenue fell 9.1%, to $174.8 million from $192.3 million. Job cuts and other restructuring actions should save the company $20.7 million for all of 2016. It remains debt free, and holds cash of $32.5 million, or $0.40 a share. The $0.26-a-share dividend yields a high 14.2%. The company may reduce that payout, but is unlikely to completely eliminate it....

RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $53 (Toronto symbol QSR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 429.3 million; Market cap: $22.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.1; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.rbi.com) operates 4,438 Tim Hortons coffee and donut locations and 15,008 Burger King outlets in 100 countries. If you exclude restructuring costs and other unusual items, Restaurant Brands earned $142.1 million in the three months ended March 31, 2016 (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). That’s up 92.3% from $73.9 million a year earlier. Due to more shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 87.5%, to $0.30 from $0.16. The higher profits came mainly from lower costs and the introduction of more high-profit menu items. Sales fell 1.6%, to $918.5 million from $933.3 million. However, if you exclude the negative impact of the U.S. dollar on Restaurant Brands’ overseas operations, sales in the quarter gained 6.0%....

TRANSCANADA CORP. $52 (Toronto symbol TRP; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 702.4 million; Market cap: $36.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.2; Dividend yield: 4.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.transcanada.com) has received the final permits necessary for its $4.8 billion Coastal GasLink pipeline. It would pump natural gas from northeastern B.C. to a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Kitimat, B.C. From there, tankers would ship the LNG to Asia. The companies behind the LNG plant will make a final decision by the end of 2016. If they proceed, TransCanada will begin building the pipeline and related facilities in early 2017. TransCanada is a buy....

RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $28 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Units outstanding: 324.8 million; Market cap: $9.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 8.1; Dividend yield: 5.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.riocan.com) owns all or part of 303 shopping centres in Canada, including 16 under development. The trust cuts its risk to online shopping and declining mall traffic in several ways. For example, It focuses on Canada’s six largest cities—Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. They account for 75.0% of its rental revenue. High-quality tenants draw shoppers ...

RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $53 (Toronto symbol QSR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 429.3 million; Market cap: $22.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.1; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.rbi.com) operates 4,438 Tim Hortons coffee and donut locations and 15,008 Burger King outlets in 100 countries. If you exclude restructuring costs and other unusual items, Restaurant Brands earned $142.1 million in the three months ended March 31, 2016 (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). That’s up 92.3% from $73.9 million a year earlier. Due to more shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 87.5%, to $0.30 from $0.16. The higher profits came mainly from lower costs and the introduction of more high-profit menu items. Sales fell 1.6%, to $918.5 million from $933.3 million. However, if you exclude the negative impact of the U.S. dollar on Restaurant Brands’ overseas operations, sales in the quarter gained 6.0%....

RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $28 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Units outstanding: 324.8 million; Market cap: $9.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 8.1; Dividend yield: 5.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.riocan.com) owns all or part of 303 shopping centres in Canada, including 16 under development. The trust cuts its risk to online shopping and declining mall traffic in several ways. For example, It focuses on Canada’s six largest cities—Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. They account for 75.0% of its rental revenue. High-quality tenants draw shoppers ...

PROCTER & GAMBLE CO. $80 (New York symbol PG; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 2.7 billion; Market cap: $216.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield: 3.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pg.com) is one of the world’s largest makers of household and personal care goods. It began operating in the U.S. in 1837, and now sells its products in over 180 countries. Overseas markets account for 60% of its total sales. The company has five main business lines: fabric and home care products such as Tide laundry detergent (29% of fiscal 2015 sales, 24% of earnings); baby and family care goods, including Pampers diapers (27%, 26%); beauty items such as Olay cosmetics (24%, 23%); grooming products, including Gillette razors (10%, 16%); and health care items such as Crest toothpaste (10%, 11%). Wal-Mart accounts for 14% of the company’s sales. In response to rising competition from generic products, Procter is narrowing its focus from 166 different brands to 65. Of those remaining brands, 21 have annual sales of over $1 billion. Another 11 have annual sales of between $500 million and $1 billion....

GANNETT CO., INC. $18 (New York symbol GCI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector: Shares outstanding: 116.5 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 3.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.gannett.com) publishes daily newspapers in 107 U.S. markets, including its flagship newspaper, USAToday. It also has 19 papers in the U.K., and over 200 magazines and other publications. The company has offered to buy Tribune Publishing Co. (New York symbol TPUB). This firm owns 11 daily papers, including the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, as well as 160 weekly papers and 120 websites. Including Tribune’s debt, the offer is worth $815 million. Eliminating overlapping operations would let Gannett cut $50 million from its annual costs; it earned $209.1 million, or $1.79 a share, in 2015....

KRAFT HEINZ CO. $79 (Nasdaq symbol KHC; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $94.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.2; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.kraftheinzcompany.com) makes condiments and sauces (such as Heinz Ketchup) as well as other packaged foods. These include Velveeta and Philadelphia Cream Cheese, processed meats (such as Oscar Meyer hot dogs) and beverages (such as Maxwell House coffee). Kraft Heinz took its current form on July 2, 2015, through the merger of Kraft Foods Group and H.J. Heinz. The combined firm is the fifth-largest food and beverage producer globally. The new company’s sales fell 5.8%, to $27.5 billion in 2015 from $29.1 billion in 2014. Adjusting for currency exchange rates and businesses it sold, sales for 2015 fell just 1.6%....

MONDELEZ INTERNATIONAL INC. $44 (Nasdaq symbol MDLZ; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.6 billion; Market cap: $70.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.mondelezinternational.com) makes cookies and biscuits (Oreo, Chips Ahoy!, Ritz), chocolate bars (Cadbury, Toblerone), gum and candy (Trident, Chiclets) and Halls cough drops. In the first quarter of 2016, Mondelez’s revenue fell 16.8%, to $6.5 billion from $7.8 billion a year earlier. Factoring out currency rates, sales rose 2.1%. Due to savings from plant closures and better efficiency, earnings per share jumped 23.1%, to $0.48 from $0.39. As of March 31, 2016, Mondelez held cash of $1.3 billion. Its long-term debt of $13.8 billion is a moderate 20% of its market cap....