Saputo jumps to a new high

Article Excerpt

SAPUTO INC. $48 (Toronto symbol SAP; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 392.3 million; Market cap: $18.8 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.saputo. com) is Canada’s largest producer of dairy products, including milk, butter and cheese. It also operates dairies in the U.S., Australia and Argentina. In its fiscal 2017 second quarter, ended September 30, 2016, the company earned $191.8 million, or $0.48 a share. That’s a 28.1% increase from the $149.7 million, or $0.38, a year earlier. The strong earnings are mainly due to higher sales volumes in Canada and the U.S. Sales in the quarter rose 1.9%, to $2.85 billion from $2.79 billion. Saputo gets 65% of its revenue from outside this country, and the unfavorable currency rates cut sales in the quarter by $56 million. The stronger earnings caused the stock to hit an all-time high in November 2016. It now trades at 25.4 times the $1.89 a share Saputo will likely earn…