Metro plans to keep stores open

Article Excerpt

METRO INC. $73 is still a buy. The company (Toronto symbol MRU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 240.9 million; Market cap: $17.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.metro.ca) operates 950 grocery stores and 650 drugstores (mainly under the Jean Coutu banner) in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick. Through their union, the 900 workers at the Metro warehouse in Toronto recently rejected a new contract and are now on strike. The facility supplies many of the company’s stores in southern Ontario. Metro does not anticipate having to close stores due this dispute. The stock has also held up well, hitting a new all-time high of $73.06 in April 2022. It now trades at 19.3 times the $3.79 a share that Metro will probably earn for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2022. The $1.10 dividend yields 1.5%. Metro is a buy. buy…