Updating Torstar Corp., Bombardier Inc., and Nutrien Ltd.

Article Excerpt

TORSTAR CORP. $1.00 (Toronto symbol TS.B; Aggressive Growth Portfolio; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 80.7 million; Market cap: $80.7 million; Price-to sales ratio: 0.2; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 10.0%; www.torstar.com) publishes The Toronto Star, along with StarMetro commuter dailies in Toronto and four other major markets. Its other holdings include additional daily and weekly papers in Ontario and a 56% stake in VerticalScope. That firm operates over 600 online forums and a variety of websites. In response to falling advertising revenue at its newspapers, Torstar continues to expand its digital businesses. For example, it recently installed a paywall on The Toronto Star’s website. So far, it has signed up 10,000 subscribers. In 2019, the company plans to invest $8 million in those digital operations. As of December 31, 2018, Torstar had no debt, and held cash of $68.2 million, or $0.84 a share. It also continues to pay quarterly dividends of $0.025 a share (for a high annualized yield of 10.0%). Torstar is still a hold,…