Here’s our Pick of the Month – September 2010

Article Excerpt

TIM HORTONS $37.27 (Toronto symbol THI; SI Rating: Average) (905-845-6511; www.timhortons.com; Shares outstanding: 174.3 million; Market cap: $6.5 billion; Dividend yield: 1.4%) operates 3,040 coffee-and-donut shops in Canada, and 587 in the U.S. Franchisees operate 99.5% of its stores. In the three months ended July 4, 2010, Tim Hortons earned $94.1 million. That’s up 21.0% from $77.8 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 25.6%, to $0.54 from $0.43, on fewer shares outstanding. Tim Hortons continues to add new restaurants and menu items. That helped lift its sales by 5.7%, to $639.9 million from $605.5 million. Same-store sales rose 6.4% in Canada, and 3.1% in the U.S. The company is selling its half of its jointly held Maidstone Bakeries business to Aryzta AG of Switzerland for $475 million. Maidstone will continue to supply donuts and other baked goods to Tim Horton’s stores in Canada and the U.S. at least through 2016. Tim Hortons could use the proceeds to pay a special dividend,…