Stantec makes its acquisitions work

Article Excerpt

STANTEC INC. $70 is a buy. The engineering firm (Toronto symbol STN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 111.1 million; Market cap: $7.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 1.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.stantec.com) is now buying Cox|McLain Environmental Consulting, Inc. for an undisclosed amount. Based in Austin, Texas, that firm helps businesses and government agencies design projects that comply with increasingly stringent environmental regulations. Those projects include roads, electrical transmission lines, oil pipelines and wastewater treatment facilities. This acquisition, combined with the recent purchase of three similar engineering firms, will let Stantec profit as its clients face pressure to improve the environmental impact of their structures. As well, sharing administrative expenses and employee benefits among its new businesses helps cut costs and the risk of using acquisitions to expand. Stantec is a buy. buy…