recent acquisitions

NEWELL RUBBERMAID INC. $39 (New York symbol NWL; Aggressive Growth and Income Portfolios, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 269.0 million; Market cap: $10.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.newellrubbermaid.com) makes plastic storage bins, tools, window blinds, pens and many other household goods.

Newell is up 30.0% since we made it our Stock of the Year for 2014 at $30 in our February 2014 issue. That’s mainly because of its successful multi-year cost-cutting plan, which included closing plants and merging distribution centres.

...

These three information providers face a challenge from free online news and other data. However, all three are well-established leaders, which helps them hang on to their clients. They’re also keeping their costs under control, which gives them more room to maintain or raise their dividends. THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $52 (Toronto symbol TRI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 791.8 million; Market cap: $41.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.3; Dividend yield: 3.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.thomsonreuters.com) sells specialized information products in four main areas: financial (53% of 2014 revenue, 39% of earnings); legal (28%, 39%); tax (11%, 12%); and intellectual property and science (8%, 10%). (All amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars.) The Americas supplied 60% of Thomson’s 2014 revenue, followed by Europe (30%) and Asia (10%)....

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the Good Friday holiday, our next Hotline will go out on Thursday, April 2, 2015. KRAFT FOODS GROUP INC., $89.10, Nasdaq symbol KRFT, jumped 40% this week after agreeing to merge with rival food maker H.J. Heinz. The new firm—The Kraft Heinz Company—will be North America’s third-largest food and beverage company and fifth-biggest in the world. It will have $28 billion of annual revenue, including eight brands with over $1 billion in yearly sales....

POTASH CORP. OF SASKATCHEWAN, $40.70, Toronto symbol POT, fell 2% this week after the Saskatchewan government said it would change the timing of certain tax breaks for new potash mines and expansion projects. The province is also reviewing how it taxes potash producers. Potash Corp. expects the new rules to cut its pre-tax earnings by $75 million to $100 million (Canadian) in 2015. To put that in context, Potash Corp. (which reports its results in U.S. dollars) earned $1.5 billion, or $1.82 a share, in 2014. The company expects to complete its current $6-billion U.S. expansion plan in 2016, so the new rules will have little impact on next year’s earnings....

Transcontinental’s ability to keep the right assets in the fast-changing publishing industry makes it one of our top stocks to buy.

TRANSCONTINENTAL INC. $16 (Toronto symbol TCL.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 78.0 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www. tctranscontinental.com) is Canada’s leading printer of flyers, magazines, newspapers and books. It also publishes magazines and newspapers.

The company recently agreed to sell its consumer magazine division to TVA Group (Toronto symbol TVA.B). This business publishes 15 English- and French-language magazines, including Elle Canada, Canadian Living and The Hockey News. As part of the deal, Transcontinental will keep printing these magazines, as well as other TVA publications, to the end of June 2022.

Selling these magazines will let the company focus on its smaller newspapers and related websites, which serve local advertisers instead of relying on less profitable national ads.

...

Advertisers continue to shift to online ads and away from printed flyers and newspapers. That’s hurting revenue at Transcontinental (below) and Torstar (see box). But both are industry leaders and are doing a good job of controlling costs. That will let them maintain their current dividend rates. TRANSCONTINENTAL INC. $16 (Toronto symbol TCL.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 78.0 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www. tctranscontinental.com) is Canada’s leading printer of flyers, magazines, newspapers and books. It also publishes magazines and newspapers. The company recently agreed to sell its consumer magazine division to TVA Group (Toronto symbol TVA.B). This business publishes 15 English- and French-language magazines, including Elle Canada, Canadian Living and The Hockey News. As part of the deal, Transcontinental will keep printing these magazines, as well as other TVA publications, to the end of June 2022....

Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle on specific stock picks as well as questions on investment strategy and the economy. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. While we reserve our buy-hold-sell advice for Inner Circle members, these excerpts provide a great deal of information and analysis on stocks we’ve covered for members of Pat’s Inner Circle.

This week an Inner Circle Member asked us about a stock that has risen and fallen sharply in the past year. AutoCanada has almost four dozen franchised auto dealerships across Canada and continues to add more through takeovers. While the company has benefited from a rebound in car sales, it also faces several challenges in a cyclical, competitive business. Pat examines the risk of its growth-by-acquisition strategy and the potential impact of lower oil prices on Western Canadian car sales.

Q: Pat: I am a new member and I have a question. What is your current view of AutoCanada? Thanks.

...

AutoCanada Inc., $38.29, symbol ACQ on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 24.5 million; Market cap: $886.8 million; www.autocan.ca), has 46 franchised car dealerships in eight provinces. The company sells numerous brands, including Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Fiat, Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, Cadillac, Nissan, Hyundai, Subaru, Audi, Volkswagen and BMW. However, Chrysler vehicles (including Dodge, Jeep, Ram and Fiat) supply around 70% of its revenue. In 2013, AutoCanada’s dealerships sold roughly 36,000 vehicles and processed about 364,000 repair and maintenance orders in their 381 service bays....

Every Thursday we bring you one of our best U.S. stock picks. You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You will read about stocks making moves you should know about, most often from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster.

In August 2014, Gannett announced it would split into two companies. One will focus on newspapers and their associated websites, and the other will hold its TV stations and stand-alone websites.

The stock is down 11% since the spinoff announcement, mainly because investors are worried about falling advertising revenue.

Still, studies have shown that after the first few months, spinoffs tend to outperform groups of comparable stocks for several years. That’s mainly because companies will only take on the costs of a spinoff when they have reason to believe it will boost the value of both the new and remaining businesses.

GANNETT CO., INC. (New York symbol GCI; www.gannett.com) is the largest newspaper publisher in the U.S., with 82 dailies, including USAToday, its flagship paper.

...