Topic: How To Invest

Dividend Advisor Hotline – Friday, March 1, 2024

Article Excerpt

LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD., $145.13, Toronto symbol L, is a buy. The company operates 1,104 supermarkets under several banners, including Loblaws, Zehrs, Provigo, Real Canadian Superstore and No Frills. In March 2014, it purchased the Shoppers Drug Mart chain for $12.3 billion in cash and shares. Shoppers operates 1,351 drugstores across Canada. Loblaw last raised your quarterly dividend by 10.1% with the July 2023 payment. Investors now receive $0.446 a share instead of $0.405. The new annual rate of $1.784 yields 1.2%. The company continues to benefit from higher selling prices, which helps it offset rising costs for food, fuel and other inputs. Higher food prices are also spurring sales at its discount outlets. In the quarter ended December 30, 2023, overall sales rose 3.7%, to $14.53 billion from $14.01 billion a year earlier. That topped the consensus forecast of $14.52 billion. Same-store sales for its supermarkets rose 2.0% from a year earlier as higher prices offset flat customer traffic and a decline in the average amount spent…