Focus on services cuts Finning’s risk

Article Excerpt

FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. $23 (Toronto symbol FTT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 171.9 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.finning.com) is the world’s largest seller of heavy equipment, such as tractors, bulldozers and trucks, made byCaterpillar Inc. (New York symbol CAT). It sells these products to customers in the mining, forest products and construction industries in western Canada (53% of total revenue), South America (33%) and the U.K. (14%). Finning also rents and fixes equipment. These services—which are more profitable than selling this gear—now supply half of the company’s sales. Rising resource prices boosted results The company’s revenue fell 20.9%, from $5.7 billion in 2007 to $4.5 billion in 2009. That’s largely because it sold some of its U.K. operations. However, higher prices for commodities, like oil and coal, spurred heavy equipment demand and pushed up Finning’s revenue to $4.6 billion in 2010, and to $5.9 billion in 2011. Earnings…