Loblaw ready for legal cannabis

Article Excerpt

LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $68 (Toronto symbol L; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 375.3 million; Market cap: $25.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.loblaw.ca) aims to profit from Ottawa’s plan to legalize the sale and consumption of recreational cannabis on October 17, 2018. The company has applied for a licence to sell recreational marijuana in Newfoundland and Labrador. If successful, it would sell the drug in its existing tobacco shops next to its supermarkets. Loblaw has also applied to distribute medical marijuana products through its Shoppers Drug Mart chain. As part of that plan, Shoppers has secured supply deals with several licenced medical marijuana producers, including Aurora Cannabis and Aphria. It’s possible that Shoppers stores could eventually sell recreational cannabis. Loblaw is a buy. buy…