Topic: Growth Stocks

Stock Pickers Digest Hotline – Friday, November 29, 2013

Article Excerpt

ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD, $77.60, symbol ATD.B on Toronto, rose over 6% this week after reporting its latest quarterly earnings. In the three months ended October 13, 2013, the company’s sales fell 3.0%, to $9.0 billion from $9.3 billion a year earlier (all figures except share price in U.S. dollars). The year-ago quarter included 92 days of results from Norway’s Statoil Fuel & Retail ASA, which Couche-Tard bought for $2.7 billion in June 2012, while the latest quarter included just 84 days. The shorter period was due to an adjustment to align Statoil’s accounting period with Couche-Tard’s. That was the main reason for the lower revenue. Excluding that, the company benefited from higher fuel volumes and merchandise sales. Couche-Tard gets about 30% of its revenue by selling merchandise. Excluding one-time items, earnings jumped 45.6%, to $249.0 million, or $1.32 a share, from $171.0 million, or $0.91. The latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $1.22 a share. Couche-Tard is raising its quarterly dividend by…