price to sales ratio

C.R. BARD INC. $194 (New York symbol BCR; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 73.7 million; Market cap: $14.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.2; Dividend yield: 0.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.crbard.com) has acquired Liberator Medical Holdings for $181 million. This firm distributes a variety of medical products such as urological catheters and diabetic supplies, directly to consumers’homes. Under the deal, Bard plans to expand the availability of its own medical devices. That should add $70 million to its annual sales of $3.4 billion, and $0.05 to $0.10 a share to its annual earnings in 2017; Bard will probably earn $9.97 a share in 2016. The stock trades at a reasonable 19.5 times that forecast. C.R. Bard is a buy....

MCCORMICK & CO. INC. $93(New York symbol MKC; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 115.4 million; Market cap: $10.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.8; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mccormick.com) makes spices, herbs, seasonings and flavours. The company earned $449.5 million in the fiscal year ended November 30, 2015, up 1.8% from $441.6 million in 2014. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings rose 3.3%, to $3.48 from $3.37. Sales rose just 1.3%, to $4.3 billion from $4.2 billion. That’s a 6.4% gain when currency exchange rates are factored out. McCormick aims to save a total of $400 million over the next four years, mainly through job cuts and new, more efficient manufacturing equipment. However, the stock is expensive at 25.2 times the $3.69 a share that the company expects to earn in fiscal 2016....

FAIR ISAAC CORP. $96 (New York symbol FICO; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 31.4 million; Market cap: $3.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.5; Dividend yield: 0.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.fico.com) is best known for its FICO Scores computer program, which helps lenders make better decisions about customer creditworthiness. It also makes software that helps credit card issuers control fraud and analyze cardholders’spending patterns. The company is now applying its banking expertise to other areas of cybersecurity. It recently won a patent for a system that monitors corporate networks for suspicious activity or online attacks. It received another patent for a similar program that helps power, gas and water utilities detect unusual consumption patterns. However, the stock trades at a high 29.4 times the $3.26 a share that Fair Isaac will probably earn in its 2016 fiscal year, which ends September 30, 2016....

DUN & BRADSTREET CORP. $94(New York symbol DNB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 36.1 million; Market cap: $3.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.dnb.com) is the world’s largest provider of credit reports on individual companies. Established in 1841, its database contains information on 240 million businesses in over 200 countries. Clients use these reports to make lending and purchasing decisions and to limit their credit losses. The company gets 60% of its revenue from credit reports. The remaining 40% comes from other information products, such as software businesses use to manage websites and customer data....

MCCORMICK & CO. INC. $93 (New York symbol MKC; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 115.4 million; Market cap: $10.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.8; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mccormick.com) makes spices, herbs, seasonings and flavours. The company earned $449.5 million in the fiscal year ended November 30, 2015, up 1.8% from $441.6 million in 2014. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings rose 3.3%, to $3.48 from $3.37. Sales rose just 1.3%, to $4.3 billion from $4.2 billion. That’s a 6.4% gain when currency exchange rates are factored out. McCormick aims to save a total of $400 million over the next four years, mainly through job cuts and new, more efficient manufacturing equipment. However, the stock is expensive at 25.2 times the $3.69 a share that the company expects to earn in fiscal 2016....

DUN & BRADSTREET CORP. $94 (New York symbol DNB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 36.1 million; Market cap: $3.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.dnb.com) is the world’s largest provider of credit reports on individual companies. Established in 1841, its database contains information on 240 million businesses in over 200 countries. Clients use these reports to make lending and purchasing decisions and to limit their credit losses. The company gets 60% of its revenue from credit reports. The remaining 40% comes from other information products, such as software businesses use to manage websites and customer data....

PFIZER INC. $32 (New York symbol PFE; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 6.5 billion; Market cap: $208.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.0; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pfizer.com) is the world’s largest pharmaceutical company.

Pfizer gets about 45% of its revenue from 10 drugs, each of which generates over $1 billion in annual sales. They include Lipitor (for high cholesterol), Enbrel (rheumatoid arthritis), Lyrica (epilepsy), Celebrex (arthritis), Viagra (erectile dysfunction), Norvasc (hypertension), Prevnar (a pneumonia vaccine), Sutent (stomach cancer), Premarin (hormone replacement) and Zyvox (bacterial infections).

The company is also the world’s fifth-largest maker of overthe- counter drugs. Brands include Advil (pain relief), Centrum (vitamins) and Robitussin (cough syrup).
...

BCE INC. $58 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 865.6 million; Market cap: $49.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 4.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bce.ca) is Canada’s largest telephone provider, with 6.7 million customers in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. It also has 3.4 million high-speed Internet users and 2.7 million TV subscribers. In all, these operations supplied 56% of BCE’s revenue in 2015. The company also sells wireless services (32% of revenue) to 8.25 million cellphone users across Canada. The remaining 12% of BCE’s revenue comes from its Bell Media division, which owns CTV Television (30 stations), 34 specialty channels (including TSN, Discovery, Comedy and Space), pay TV services (including the Movie Network and HBO Canada) and 106 radio stations....

CAE INC. $14 (Toronto symbol CAE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 269.9 million; Market cap: $3.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cae.com) earned $59.4 million in its fiscal 2016 third quarter, which ended December 31, 2015. That’s up 14.0% from $52.1 million a year earlier. Earnings per share also jumped 10.0%, rising to $0.22 from $0.20, on more shares outstanding. Revenue gained 10.2%, to $616.3 million from $559.1 million. About 90% of the company’s revenue comes from foreign customers, so it’s benefiting from the lower Canadian dollar. Sales of flight simulators and pilottraining services to airlines (54% of total revenue) gained 3.9%. CAE sold nine simulators during the quarter, for a total of 39 in the first nine months of fiscal 2016. It expects its full-year total to exceed the 41 sold in fiscal 2015....

TELUS CORP. $40 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 599.9 million; Market cap: $24.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 4.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) is Canada’s second-largest wireless telephone service provider, after Rogers Communications, with 8.5 million subscribers. Wireless now supplies 56% of Telus’s revenue and 66% of its earnings. The remaining 44% of revenue and 34% of earnings come from its wireline division, which serves 1.5 million residential phone customers in B.C., Alberta and eastern Quebec. This business also has 1.6 million high-speed Internet users and 1.0 million TV clients. The stock is down 11% from its July 2015 peak of $45. That’s partly due to Shaw Communications’ (Toronto symbol SJR.B) recent deal to pay $1.6 billion for wireless carrier Wind Mobile, which operates in Ontario, Alberta and B.C....