Torstar Offers Good Value

Article Excerpt

TORSTAR $11.26 (Toronto symbol TS.B; SI Rating: Above average) earned $0.47 a share in the three months ended June 30, 2008, up 23.7% from $0.38 a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, Torstar’s earnings in the latest quarter grew 15.8% to $0.44 a share. Revenue rose slightly to $399.5 million from $397.0 million. If you exclude the negative impact of the higher Canadian dollar, revenue rose 1.5%. Profits at Torstar’s community papers and Internet operations continue to expand. That’s helping to offset the effect of the slowing economy and rising newsprint costs at Torstar’s daily newspapers in southern Ontario. Earnings at the company’s Harlequin book publishing subsidiary grew 44% in the second quarter, mainly due to a stronger publishing schedule. The stock now trades at just 9.2 times its forecast 2008 earnings of $1.22 a share. The $0.74 dividend yields 6.6%. Torstar is a buy. buy…