Updating Saputo Inc., Canadian Tire Corp. and Atco Ltd.

Article Excerpt

SAPUTO INC. $46 (Toronto symbol SAP; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 390.2 million; Market cap: $17.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.saputo.com) is Canada’s largest producer of dairy products. It also operates dairies in the U.S., Australia and Argentina. The company continues to expand outside of Canada. It recently agreed to pay $1.7 billion for U.K.-based Dairy Crest Group plc. It makes cheese, butters, spreads and oils under various brands such as Cathedral City, Clover, Country Life and Frylight. Purchases like that help cut Saputo’s reliance on Canada’s slow-growing dairy operations. However, using acquisitions to expand adds risk. As well, the stock is somewhat expensive at 27.9 times the projected 2019 earnings of $1.65 a share. Saputo is a hold. CANADIAN TIRE CORP. $146 (Toronto symbol CTC.A; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 66.8 million; Market cap: $9.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.canadiantire.ca) owns 501 Canadian Tire stores. They sell automotive parts and…