Steady customer bases cut their risk

Article Excerpt

TIM HORTONS $49.70 (Toronto symbol THI; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (905-845-6511; www.timhortons- .com; Shares outstanding: 153.4 million; Market cap: $7.6 billion; Dividend yield: 1.7%) operates 3,365 coffee-and-donut shops in Canada, 755 in the U.S. and 18 in the Middle East. The company’s new menu items, such as lattes and panini sandwiches, continue to sell well. In addition, Tim Hortons now offers free Wi-Fi Internet access at its Canadian outlets. That’s helping it compete with bigger fast-food chains like McDonald’s, which is aggressively promoting its coffee in Canada. These factors pushed up Tim Hortons’ sales by 10.3% in the three months ended September 30, 2012, to $802.0 million from $726.9 million a year earlier. Same-store sales rose 2.3% at its U.S. outlets and 1.9% in Canada. Earnings rose 2.0%, to $105.7 million from $103.6 million. Because of fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 5.3%, to $0.68 from $0.65. However, costs related to a reorganization of the company’s head office and its…