Topic: How To Invest

Dividend Advisor Hotline – Friday, September 25, 2020

Article Excerpt

NORTH WEST COMPANY, $36.18, Toronto symbol NWC, is a buy. The retailer sells food, and everyday products and services through 244 stores. Those locations are mainly in northern communities across Canada and Alaska. Through your shares, you also tap the company’s operations in remote regions of Hawaii, the wider South Pacific and the Caribbean. North West will raise its quarterly dividend by 9.1%, to $0.36 a share from $0.33, with the October 2020 payment. The shares will now yield a high 4.0%. In its fiscal 2021 second quarter, ended July 31, 2020, overall sales jumped 23.0%, to $648.5 million from $527.3 million a year earlier. The rise was due to higher spending by customers in the wake of COVID-19. As well, the company lowered prices for the food it sells in northern Canada. This was aimed at capturing more local spending dollars and to lessen the impact of COVID-19 on customers. At the same time, that price cutting ended up contributing to the…