Transcontinental cuts its cyclical risk

Article Excerpt

Shares of Transcontinental are down 30% in the past year on slowing demand at its commercial printing business. However, it continues to expand its packaging business, which cuts its exposure to the cyclical printing market. It’s also doing a good job controlling costs, which will let it keep paying its current dividend rate. TRANSCONTINENTAL INC. $11 is a buy for aggressive investors. The company (Toronto symbol TCL.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 86.6 million; Market cap: $952.6 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; Dividend yield: 8.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.tctranscontinental.com) is Canada’s leading commercial printer. It also makes plastic packaging. Transcontinental’s overall revenue in its fiscal 2023 third quarter, ended July 30, 2023, fell 5.5%, to $706.7 million from $747.8 million a year earlier. The lower revenues are largely due lower volumes at the packaging division (57% of total revenue) as customers use up their existing inventories instead of placing new orders. Revenue at the printing division (39%) also declined 5.6% on lower demand for books…