Cosmo deal a plus for Torstar

Article Excerpt

TORSTAR CORP. $7.49 (Toronto symbol TS.B;Shares outstanding: 79.9 million; Market cap:$598.5 million; TSINetwork Rating: AboveA v e r a g e ; D i v i d e n d y i e l d : 7 . 0 % ;www.torstar.com) has a great hidden asset in itsownership of romance-novel publisherHarlequin Enterprises.Harlequin’s earnings should benefit from anew joint venture with Cosmopolitan magazinethat will publish two e-books a month, starting inMay 2013. Cosmopolitan is the world’s largestwoman’s magazine.Called “Cosmo Red Hot Reads”, these30,000-word e-books aim to profit from fastgrowingdemand for erotica, such as the bestsellingFifty Shades of Grey trilogy. Harlequinwill use its own popular authors, which cuts therisk of this new venture.Torstar is still a buy. buy…