stock pickers
AASTRA TECHNOLOGIES, $19.82, symbol AAH on Toronto, develops and markets products and systems for accessing communication networks, including the Internet. Its technology is centred around business telephone systems and includes products that integrate land lines and mobile phones. In the three months ended December 31, 2012, the company’s sales fell 12.3%, to $175.2 million from $199.7 million a year earlier. Sales declined in all regions, including Western Europe, where Aastra gets the majority of its revenue. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates, sales declined 7.1% from a year earlier. Earnings per share rose sharply, to $2.42 from $1.30, due to a number of one-time items, including income-tax recoveries. Without those items, Aastra would have earned $1.15 a share in the latest quarter....
METRO INC. $64 (Toronto symbol MRU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 96.2 million; Market cap: $6.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.metro.ca) is Canada’s third-largest supermarket operator after Loblaw (see page 21) and Sobeys. The company has about 600 supermarkets in Quebec and Ontario. It also operates 260 drugstores under the Brunet, The Pharmacy and Drug Basics banners.
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Couche-Tard sale brings a windfall
The company recently sold roughly half of its stake in Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (Toronto symbol ATD.B), which operates convenience stores in North America and Norway. (Couche-Tard is a recommendation of Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that focuses on aggressive investing.) That left Metro with a 5.7% economic interest and a 17.0% voting interest in Couche-Tard....
INTUITIVE SURGICAL (Nasdaq symbol ISRG; www.intuitivesurgical.com) makes the da Vinci, a computerized surgical system a computerized surgical system for use in prostate surgery and other procedures. Guided by a miniature camera connected to a 3-D monitor, surgeons use the da Vinci to operate by remotely manipulating tiny robotic arms. This process is safer and much less invasive than regular surgery and helps cut a patient’s recovery time and post-operative discomfort. It also reduces scarring and infection risk....
FIRSTSERVICE CORP., $32.12, symbol FSV on Toronto, serves the following areas of the real estate market: commercial real estate, residential property management and property improvement. In the three months ended December 31, 2012, the company’s revenue rose 6.3%, to $632.5 million from $594.9 million a year earlier (all figures except share prices in U.S. dollars). Excluding one-time items, earnings per share jumped 30.8%, to $0.68 from $0.52. Revenue rose at two of FirstService’s three divisions: commercial real estate (up 23%) and residential property management (up 10%)....
METRO INC. (Toronto symbol MRU; www.metro.ca) has moved up sharply in the past few months. That’s mainly because it is taking steps to unlock some of its hidden value, including selling some of its investments....
TIM HORTONS (Toronto symbol THI; www.timhortons.com) operates 3,365 coffee-and-donut shops in Canada, 755 in the U.S. and 18 in the Middle East. The company’s new menu items, such as lattes and panini sandwiches, continue to sell well. In addition, Tim Hortons now offers free Wi-Fi Internet access at its Canadian outlets. That’s helping it compete with bigger fast-food chains like McDonald’s, which is aggressively promoting its coffee in Canada....
WESTJET AIRLINES, $21.88, symbol WJA on Toronto, is our “Stock of the Year” for 2013. The company serves 81 destinations in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Its fleet of 100 modern Boeing 737s are 30% more fuel efficient than older jets. WestJet plans to take delivery of 35 more 737s through 2018. WestJet continues to add ticketing and baggage-transfer alliances with other airlines, including Cathay Pacific, British Airways, Delta Airlines and American Airlines. This lets it reach new markets while limiting its risk. The company has also invested heavily in a state-of-the-art computer reservation system....
Alimentation Couche-Tard $53.33, symbol ATD.B on Toronto, was our #1 pick for 2012 in Stock Pickers Digest at $30.55. Its shares are now up 74.6%.
WestJet, our #1 pick for this year (see left), was trading at $14.10 when we made it our #1 Stock of the Year for 2011....
WestJet, our #1 pick for this year (see left), was trading at $14.10 when we made it our #1 Stock of the Year for 2011....
INTACT FINANCIAL CORP., $63.55, symbol IFC on Toronto, is Canada’s largest provider of property and casualty insurance, based on premiums. Its brands include Intact Insurance, Canada BrokerLink, belairdirect and Grey Power. In the three months ended December 31, 2012, Intact’s revenue rose 7.2%, to $1.69 billion from $1.58 billion a year earlier. Part of the gain came from Jevco Insurance, which Intact bought from the Westaim Corporation (symbol WED on Toronto) for $530 million in early 2012. Jevco sells insurance to high-risk drivers, as well as owners of motorcycles, snowmobiles, recreational vehicles and tow trucks. It operates in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta....