Canadian Tire can handle Target

Article Excerpt

In January 2011, U.S. department store operator Target Corp. (New York symbol TGT) announced that it was expanding into Canada. The news helped push down Canadian Tire’s shares from $66 to $52 in August 2011. However, the stock quickly rebounded. After all, Canadian Tire has many years of experience competing with large U.S. retailers like Wal-Mart and Home Depot. That will help it handle Target. As well, it has been spending heavily on new stores and acquisitions. These measures have already attracted new customers and pushed up its earnings. CANADIAN TIRE CORP. $67 (Toronto symbol CTC.A; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 81.5 million; Market cap: $5.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.canadiantire.ca) gets 90% of its revenue and 80% of its earnings from its various retail stores. These outlets include 488 Canadian Tire stores, which specialize in automotive, household and sporting goods. The company owns these stores, but franchisees operate most of them. Canadian Tire…