price to sales ratio
ANDREW PELLER LTD. (Toronto symbols ADW.A $28 and ADW.B $30; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 14.3 million; Market cap: $406.4 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.andrewpeller.com) is Canada’s second-largest wine producer, after Constellation Brands. It accounts for 14.2% of the country’s wine sales, and 37.1% of wines produced in Canada. Peller continues to benefit from strong sales of its premium-priced brands. These include its 2011 deal with hockey star Wayne Gretzky to make and distribute wines under his name. This brand is now one of the best-selling wines in Canada. To keep up with strong demand for Gretzky wines, the company is building a new winery next to its existing operation in the Niagara region of Southern Ontario. This new facility will open in the spring of 2017....
In addition to TransCanada (see page 41), we like the outlook of these four utilities. Like TransCanada, Emera and Fortis are expanding in the U.S. These purchases cut their reliance on Canada, and should enhance their earnings and dividends for years to come. Canadian Utilities and ATCO have both suffered lately due to their high exposure to Alberta, where low oil prices have hurt the economy and power prices. However, their new projects should let them continue to raise their dividends....
IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $40 (Toronto symbol IMO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap: $33.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.imperialoil.ca) plans to expand its oil sands operations in the Cold Lake area of northern Alberta. In 2015, Cold Lake supplied 158,000 barrels a day, or 43% of Imperial’s average daily production of 366,000 barrels a day. This expansion will cost $2 billion. It should produce an additional 50,000 barrels a day by 2022. Imperial’s expertise with solvent assisted, steam-assisted gravity drainage technology should help cut its operating costs. That process also creates fewer greenhouse gasses than conventional extraction methods. Imperial Oil is a buy.
BLACKBERRY LTD. $9.21 (Toronto symbol BB; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 521.2 million; Market cap: $4.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; www.blackberry.com) provides secure wireless communication services, mainly to businesses and government agencies. In the fiscal year ended February 29, 2016, BlackBerry’s revenue fell 35.2%, to $2.2 billion from $3.3 billion a year earlier (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Smartphones supplied 40% of total revenue, followed by the fees it charges wireless carriers to access its networks (37%). The software it installs on its clients’ email servers contributed 23% of revenue. Without unusual items, the company lost $0.19 a share, compared to a profit of $0.08 in 2014. BlackBerry holds cash of $2.6 billion, or $5.03 a share. Its longterm debt of $1.3 billion is a manageable 27% of its market cap....
CENOVUS ENERGY INC. $18 (Toronto symbol CVE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 833.2 million; Market cap: $15.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 1.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cenovus.com) owns oil sands projects and conventional wells in Western Canada. It ships its oil to its 50%-owned refineries in Illinois and Texas. Due to low oil prices, Cenovus has shrunk its workforce by 31% since the start of 2015. These cuts should save it $200 million this year; it lost $403 million, or $0.49 a share, in 2015. The cuts should also help Cenovus quickly expand profits when oil prices recover. Cenovus is still a buy.
CAE INC. $15 (Toronto symbol CAE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 269.9 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cae.com) is a leading maker of flight simulators and operator of pilot-training schools in over 30 countries. The company recently won several contracts for flight simulators and related equipment from military clients in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Australia. In all, these deals are worth $175 million, or 7% of the company’s $2.4 billion of annual revenue. CAE’s military businesses supply 35% of its sales. That cuts its reliance on cyclical commercial airlines....
ANDREW PELLER LTD. (Toronto symbols ADW.A $28 and ADW.B $30; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 14.3 million; Market cap: $406.4 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.andrewpeller.com) is Canada’s second-largest wine producer, after Constellation Brands. It accounts for 14.2% of the country’s wine sales, and 37.1% of wines produced in Canada. Peller continues to benefit from strong sales of its premium-priced brands. These include its 2011 deal with hockey star Wayne Gretzky to make and distribute wines under his name. This brand is now one of the best-selling wines in Canada. To keep up with strong demand for Gretzky wines, the company is building a new winery next to its existing operation in the Niagara region of Southern Ontario. This new facility will open in the spring of 2017....
CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO. $81 (Toronto symbol CNR; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 786.4 million; Market cap: $63.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.0; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cn.ca) operates Canada’s largest railway. Its network stretches across the country and through the U.S. Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico. The company has agreed to repurchase up to 11.2 million of its shares from a private seller at a discount to the market price. It aims to complete this transaction by September 9, 2016. The move is part of CN’s plan to buy back up to 33.0 million of its common shares, or roughly 5% of the total outstanding, by October 29, 2016. Share buybacks raise earnings per share and other per-share calculations. That gives the remaining shareholders a larger stake in the company....
BLACKBERRY LTD. $9.21 (Toronto symbol BB; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 521.2 million; Market cap: $4.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; www.blackberry.com) provides secure wireless communication services, mainly to businesses and government agencies. In the fiscal year ended February 29, 2016, BlackBerry’s revenue fell 35.2%, to $2.2 billion from $3.3 billion a year earlier (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Smartphones supplied 40% of total revenue, followed by the fees it charges wireless carriers to access its networks (37%). The software it installs on its clients’ email servers contributed 23% of revenue. Without unusual items, the company lost $0.19 a share, compared to a profit of $0.08 in 2014. BlackBerry holds cash of $2.6 billion, or $5.03 a share. Its longterm debt of $1.3 billion is a manageable 27% of its market cap....
TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $55 (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $104.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.3; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.td.com) is the first Canadian bank to use Visa’s new tokenization technology in its mobile banking app. This system uses encrypted “tokens” instead of credit card numbers and other account information. This helps protect clients’ sensitive information from online intruders. It also speeds up mobile payments and other transactions. Better security should encourage more of TD’s customers to do their banking online. That would cut its costs, as electronic transactions are cheaper to process than those in physical branches....