Topic: How To Invest

Q: Pat, I would like to know more about SiteOne, traded on New York. Thank you.

Article Excerpt

A: SiteOne Landscape Supply, $87.86, symbol SITE on New York (Shares outstanding: 40.2 million; Market cap: $3.4 billion; www.siteone.com), is the biggest national wholesale distributor of landscaping supplies in the U.S. and has a growing presence in Canada. Formerly known as John Deere Landscapes, SiteOne has a network of 477 branches across 44 states and five provinces. Those locations offer more than 100,000 products including irrigation supplies, fertilizer and control products, nursery goods, hardscapes, landscape lighting, drainage and erosion control products, tools, and other landscaping accessories and supplies. The company’s customers are primarily residential and commercial landscape professionals. SiteOne employs over 2,700 people. In December 2013, Deere & Company (symbol DE on New York) sold John Deere Landscapes to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice—one of the oldest private-equity investment firms in the world. After 18 months under new management, the business was rebranded as SiteOne Landscape Supply in December 2015. (Deere & Company continues to operate as an unrelated manufacturer of agricultural and…