Elevated food prices good new for investors

Article Excerpt

These two food sellers continue to benefit from higher selling prices, which helps them offset rising costs for food, fuel and other inputs. Even though inflation is starting to ease, it’s unlikely they will significantly lower prices in response. That should continue to push their earnings higher. LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $115 is a buy. The retail giant (Toronto symbol L; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 339.1 million; Market cap: $39.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.loblaw.ca) is Canada’s largest food store operator, with 1,098 supermarkets. It also owns the Shoppers Drug Mart chain of 1,346 drugstores across Canada. In the quarter ended March 25, 2023, overall sales rose 6.0%, to $13.00 billion from $12.26 billion a year earlier. Same-store sales for its supermarkets rose 3.1% from a year earlier as both higher prices and customer traffic offset a decline in the average amount spent per visit. Shoppers Drug Mart’s overall same-store sales gained 7.4% in the quarter. Pharmacy…