Strategic acquisitions add to their appeal

Article Excerpt

FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. $24 (Toronto symbol FTT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 163.5 million; Market cap: $3.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.finning.com) sells and services Caterpillar-brand heavy equipment in Western Canada, South America and the U.K. Finning recently paid $260 million for 4Refuel. That firm operates a fleet of 200 tanker trucks that provide on-site re-fuelling services to companies in the construction, transportation, oil and gas, and power generation industries. Meantime, overall revenue in the three months ended December 31, 2018, rose 9.2%, to $1.84 billion from $1.73 billion a year earlier. Revenue for the company’s Canadian operations (55% of the total) rose 17.4% thanks to strong demand for mining and construction equipment, particularly in B.C. The U.K. operations (18%) reported 13.9% higher revenue on stronger sales of new and used construction equipment. Those gains offset a 13.6% revenue decline for the South American unit (27%) on lower sales in Argentina and Chile. Despite…