The Successful Investor Hotline – Thursday, May 13, 2016

Article Excerpt

CANADIAN TIRE CORP., $141.12, Toronto symbol CTC.A, owns 499 Canadian Tire stores. They sell automotive, household and sporting goods. Franchisees run most of these outlets. The company’s other operations include 296 gas stations and 91 PartSource auto parts stores. More recently, Canadian Tire acquired Mark’s, which sells casual and work clothing through 381 stores. It also purchased the Forzani Group, which sells sporting goods and athletic wear through 432 stores, including Sport Chek and Sports Experts. In the three months ended April 2, 2016, Canadian Tire’s sales rose 1.8%, to $2.56 billion from $2.51 billion a year earlier. That matched the consensus forecast. Overall same-store sales improved 2.4%. Same-store sales at the company’s Canadian Tire outlets rose 1.0%. Higher sales of kitchen and home decor items offset slower demand for seasonal merchandise such as snow shovels. Same-store sales at the Forzani stores jumped 7.6% on strong demand for shoes and clothing. The Mark’s chain reported 0.8% higher same-store sales. That increase is despite…