SNC aims to cut your risk

Article Excerpt

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $27 is still a hold. The engineering company (Toronto symbol SNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares o/s: 175.6 million; Market cap: $4.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Divd. yield: 0.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.snclavalin.com) is following a new strategy that mainly involves exiting lump-sum, turnkey construction projects that expose investors to the added risk of cost overruns. As of December 31, 2019, lump-sum projects accounted for $4.0 billion of its $15.3 billion contract backlog. SNC also announced that it has decided to hang onto its resources-related businesses. However, it continues to cut its exposure to oil and gas projects to protect investor value. As part of that plan, SNC will close its money-losing Valerus midstream oil and gas processing facility in Houston. Factoring out all unusual items, SNC earned $0.56 a share in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared to a loss of $1.31 a year earlier. Due to asset sales, revenue fell 5.0%, to $2.44 billion from $2.56…