Unique Buisness Mix Cuts Risk

Article Excerpt

The printing and newspaper publishing industry has fallen out of favour with investors in the past few years, as advertisers move to the Internet and away from traditional printed ads. But Transcontinental has cut its reliance on traditional printing/publishing with faster-growing operations, such as direct marketing. Recent investments in new plants and presses also cut its long-term operating costs. Much of Transcontinental’s growth in the past few years is due to acquisitions. In fact, goodwill is now a high 1.2 times equity. But the company has done a good job integrating these new assets, so the risk of a writedown is modest. TRANSCONTINENTAL INC. $22 (Toronto symbol TCL.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 85.8 million; Market cap: $1.9 billion; SI Rating: Average) is the largest commercial printing firm in Canada, and the sixth largest in North America. The company gets about half of its revenue from its marketing division, which prints catalogues, flyers and other advertising materials. Transcontinental also helps its advertisers…