HST spurs cemetery plot sales

Article Excerpt

ARBOR MEMORIAL SERVICES INC. $24 (Toronto symbol ABO.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 10.6 million; Market cap: $254.4 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 1.8%; SI Rating: Average) owns 41 cemeteries, 26 crematoria, five reception centres and 82 funeral homes in eight provinces. In Arbor’s third quarter, which ended July 25, 2010, its earnings rose 8.5%, to $6.4 million, or $0.61 a share, from $5.9 million, or $0.55 a share, a year earlier. Revenue jumped 31.3%, to $81.0 million from $61.7 million. Sales of cemetery plots and headstones jumped 53.1%. That’s because the new harmonized sales tax in Ontario and B.C. prompted customers in those provinces to make their purchases before the tax took effect on July 1, 2010. Arbor Memorial Services is a hold. hold…