Loblaw preps for Amazon

Article Excerpt

LOBLAW COMPANIES $66.98 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 395.3 million; Market cap: $26.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.6%; www.loblaw.ca) is cutting 500 executive and management jobs across the company. The company plans to reinvest the savings in digital and e-commerce services. That’s in part due to reports Amazon.com will soon launch a pilot project to offer its Prime Now service in Vancouver and Toronto. It promises to deliver groceries to customers within two hours. Amazon now owns 13 Whole Foods store in Canada, most of which are located in Toronto and Vancouver. Prime Now will likely use them as a base to ship a selection of grocery items, including produce, dairy and frozen food. Prime Now would heighten the competition in Canada’s grocery market. However, Loblaw has already developed online shopping. That’s in addition to renovating its stores to improve the shopping experience and upgrading its computer and inventory systems. Loblaw is still a buy. buy…