Bombardier Wins a Big Railcar Contract

Article Excerpt

BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $4.57 and BBD.B $4.50; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $7.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; SI Rating: Extra risk) has received an order from Germany’s state-owned railway for 800 passenger railcars. The deal is worth $2.1 billion, or 10.5% of Bombardier’s annual revenue of about $20 billion (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Bombardier’s Transportation division supplies half of its overall revenue, but just 35% of its profit. However, its gross margin (gross profits as a percentage of sales) improved to 5.1% in its latest quarter from 4.2% a year earlier. It also stands to gain from further spending by governments on new public transit infrastructure projects. As well, growing demand for railcars offsets the cyclical nature of Bombardier’s aircraft division. Bombardier is a buy. The subordinate voting ‘B’ shares are the better choice due to their slightly higher dividend yield and liquidity. liquidity…