Updating Molson Coors Canada Inc., BCE Inc. & Great-West Lifeco Inc.

Article Excerpt

MOLSON COORS CANADA INC. $80 (www.molsoncoors.com) is one of the world’s largest beer brewers. In the first quarter of 2019, overall sales fell 1.2%, to $2.30 billion from $2.33 billion a year earlier (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). Without currency rates, sales gained 0.6%. The company continues to cut costs following its October 2016 acquisition of SABMiller’s 58% stake in the MillerCoors brewing joint venture. Excluding restructuring costs, earnings rose 8.3%, to $0.84 a share (or a total of $112.7 million) from $0.48 (or $104.3 million). Buy. BCE INC $60 (www.bce.ca) signed 50,204 wireless customers to long-term contracts (net of cancellations) in the first quarter of 2019. That’s down 26.7% from a year earlier due to the conclusion of a contract with a federal government agency. However, the churn rate, which shows how many cancelled their service, improved to 1.07% from 1.13%. Best Buy. GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $31 (www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest insurance company, after Manulife Financial. Revenue in the most-recent quarter jumped 74.2%, to $16.9 billion…