Metro hits a new high

Article Excerpt

METRO INC. $107 is a buy. The supermarket and drugstore operator (Toronto symbol MRU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 222.0 million; Market cap: $23.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.metro.ca) continues to benefit from its broad range of food, drugs and more, as well as the “Buy Canadian” trend. As well, its new automated warehouses in Montreal and Toronto, and cutting its labour costs, will help it offset any negative impact from tariffs. As a result, the stock is up over 40% in the past year and recently hit a new all-time high of $107.05. It now trades at a reasonable 22.1 times the $4.84 a share that the company will probably earn in its 2025 fiscal year. Metro also raised your quarterly dividend by 10.4% with the March 2025 payment. The new annual rate of $1.48 yields 1.4%. Metro is a buy. buy. …