Topic: Growth Stocks

Stock Pickers Digest Hotline – Friday, November 27, 2015

Article Excerpt

ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD, $62.78, symbol ATD.B on Toronto, operates 8,006 convenience stores throughout North America and 2,217 in Europe, including Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden and Denmark), Poland, the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and Russia. In the three months ended October 11, 2015, Couche-Tard’s sales fell 5.7%, to $8.44 billion from $8.95 billion a year earlier (all figures except share price in U.S. dollars). The decline came from lower gasoline prices and the sale of its aviation-fuel business late last year. The higher U.S. dollar also cut the contribution from the company’s European operations. Without one-time items, earnings per share rose 20.0%, to $0.66 from $0.55, partly due to higher profit margins on merchandise and fuel. The company also paid less interest as it reduces the debt it took on to fund acquisitions, including its $2.7-billion purchase of Norway’s Statoil Fuel & Retail gas station chain in June 2012. As well, in March 2015, it paid $1.7 billion for the Pantry, which…