Hart Stores Plans More Expansion

Article Excerpt

HART STORES INC. $4.89 (Toronto symbol HIS; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; SI Rating: Speculative) earned $0.24 a share in its fourth fiscal quarter ended January 28, 2006, up 33.3% from $0.18 a year earlier. However, if you exclude an insurance settlement for a fire at one of its stores, Hart would have earned $0.18 in the most recent quarter. Sales grew 10.8%, to $47.1 million from $42.5 million, mostly due to the opening of eight new stores; it now has 73. Same-store sales fell 1.1%. Based on the success of its new stores in Ontario, the company plans to open at least six more stores in fiscal 2007. That should help increase Hart’s earnings for the year to $0.53 a share, and the stock trades at 9.2 times that figure. The $0.08 dividend yields 1.6%. Hart Stores is a buy for aggressive investors. investors…