Finning optimistic about first quarter

Article Excerpt

FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. $30 (Toronto symbol FTT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 172.1 million; Market cap: $5.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.finning.com) is the world’s largest dealer of tractors, bulldozers and trucks made by Caterpillar Inc. (New York symbol CAT). The company sells these products to customers in the mining, forest-products and construction industries. Strong demand for Finning’s gear in Western Canada and the U.K. is offsetting weaker sales in South America. Finning now believes its revenue was $1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2014, up 8% from a year earlier. Sales of new equipment rose 8%, while revenue from maintenance and other support services gained 9%. Finning is a buy. buy…