Good time to buy more Finning

Article Excerpt

FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. $22 (Toronto symbol FTT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing& Industry sector; Shares outstanding:171.4 million; Market cap: $3.8 billion; Price-to-salesratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating:Above Average; www.finning.com) started up in1933 and is now the world’s largest dealer of tractors, bulldozers and trucks made by Caterpillar Inc. (New York symbol CAT). It also sells heavy equipment made by other firms. Finning’s clients are mainly in the mining, forest products and construction industries. Western Canada (B.C., Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories and parts of Nunavut) supplied 53%of Finning’s revenue in 2014, followed by South America (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia),which contributed 32%, and the U.K. and Ireland(15%). Big growth in services In the past few years, Finning has expanded its repair and rental businesses, which are more profitable than selling new equipment. In 2012, it acquired Bucyrus’s distribution and support businesses in Canada, South America and the U.K.(Bucyrus makes gear for mining and the oil sands.) Finning now gets 49% of its revenue by fixing…