CSeries set for takeoff

Article Excerpt

BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $4.06 and BBD.B $4.01; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $6.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bombardier.com) has traditionally been a maker of smaller aircraft, such as business jets and regional planes. The company is now adding larger models, such as its upcoming CSeries jets, which seat between 100 and 150 passengers. Bombardier is still developing and testing the CSeries, but it aims to deliver the first plane in the next 18 months. Even with the current economic uncertainty, the company recently announced new orders for a total of 35 CSeries planes. In all, these deals are worth $2.6 billion, or 13% of Bombardier’s annual revenue of $20 billion (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Before these new sales, Bombardier had 138 firm CSeries orders, plus options for 179 more planes. It aims to have 300 firm orders by the end of…