The Successful Investor Hotline – Friday, March 8, 2013

Article Excerpt

TORSTAR CORP., $7.03, Toronto symbol TS.B, fell 11% this week after the company reported lower-than-expected earnings. In 2012, Torstar’s earnings fell 52.6%, to $103.2 million, or $1.30 a share. In 2011, it earned $217.7 million, or $2.74 a share. If you exclude writedowns and other unusual items, earnings per share would have declined 25.0%, to $1.35 from $1.80. On that basis, the latest earnings missed the consensus estimate of $1.48 a share. Overall revenue fell 4.1%, to $1.49 billion from $1.55 billion. Revenue at the newspaper division, which supplies 71% of the total, fell 2.8%. The slow economy continues to hurt advertising revenue at the company’s newspapers, particularly The Toronto Star, its flagship paper. As well, its 50%-owned Workopolis.com job-search website is facing rising competition, and employers are advertising fewer positions. As a result, Torstar has written down the value of this investment by $11.0 million. Revenue at Torstar’s Harlequin book-publishing subsidiary (29% of the total) fell 6.0%, excluding the negative impact of…