Loblaw aims high with phones

Article Excerpt

LOBLAW COMPANIES $38.50 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 298.5 million; Market cap: $11.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 2.2%; www.loblaw.ca) started selling mobile phones and prepaid plans under the President’s Choice Mobile brand in 2005. It sells these products through self-serve kiosks in about half of its 1,000 supermarkets. Loblaw now plans to open full-service mobile phone shops in up to 200 of its stores by the end of 2012. These shops will sell more sophisticated mobile products, such as smartphones and tablet computers, in addition to the basic phones that Loblaw currently carries. They will also offer mobile service plans from national wireless providers, like Bell and Telus. The new shops should help Loblaw attract more customers to its supermarkets and increase its sales. The company aims to become Canada’s third-largest mobile phone seller by the end of 2013. Loblaw is a buy. buy…