Updates on your Conservative stocks: Molson Coors, Loblaw and BCE

Article Excerpt

MOLSON COORS CANADA INC. $60 (www.molsoncoors.com) is a hold. Many bars and restaurants remain closed or continue to operate at reduced capacity due to COVID-19. Molson’s sales in the quarter ended December 31, 2020, fell 7.7%, to $2.29 billion from $2.49 billion a year earlier (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). If you factor out currency rates, sales declined 8.3%. Earnings before unusual items dropped 60.8%, to $0.40 from $1.02. Molson Coors is a hold. LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $66 (www.loblaw.ca) is a buy. At the start of the pandemic in March 2020, consumers turned to supermarkets to stock up on a wider variety of household items. In the fourth quarter of 2020, Loblaw’s overall same-store sales rose 8.6%, with its conventional division rising 10.6%. With shopping patterns now starting to return to normal, same-store sales at its discount stores (which focus mainly on food) rose 7.4% in the 2021 fourth quarter. That’s higher than the 4.7% year-over-year gain in the third quarter. Loblaw is a buy. BCE INC…