Topic: Dividend Stocks

Income investing: New printing contracts boost Transcontinental results

Transcontinental Inc., Toronto symbol TCL.A, is the largest commercial printer in Canada and Mexico, and the fourth-largest in North America. It also publishes newspapers and magazines.

Transcontinental is one of the income investing stocks we analyze in our flagship newsletter, The Successful Investor.

Transcontinental also has over 300 web sites. These web sites will become more important to the company’s growth in the next few years, as advertisers spend more on the Internet than on print products.

In its 2011 second quarter, which ended April 30, 2011, the income investing stock’s revenue rose 0.9%, to $514.7 million from $510.0 a year earlier. Excluding unusual items, earnings rose 17.6%, to $40.1 million from $34.1 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 16.7%, to $0.49 from $0.42, on more shares outstanding.

Transcontinental has won a number of new printing contracts. In October 2010, the company expanded its contract to print The Globe and Mail newspaper to Alberta and B.C. This will add $25 million to its annual revenue. It also won a new contract to provide printing and marketing services to Canadian Tire. This four-year deal will begin in January 2012, and will add an additional $30 million to $40 million to Transcontinental’s revenue.

In the most recent quarter, Transcontinental partnered with Undertone, which will allow Transcontinental to sell ads in over 25 million online video clips viewed every month in Canada. Transcontinental also has a new deal to sell software and e-commerce services to the Canadian Booksellers Association. This will help them launch e-books more quickly, and expand their availability.

To increase efficiency, the company will close a printing plant in Quebec and one in Manitoba, and transfer the work to larger plants.

The company is an income investing stock. In June 2011, Transcontinental raised its quarterly dividend by 22.7%, to $0.135 a share from $0.11. The new annual rate of $0.54 yields 3.7%. This was the second dividend increase in the past six months.

We updated our advice on the income investing stock in our June 10, 2011 Successful Investor hotline, which you can immediately view when you take a 1-month free trial to The Successful Investor. Click here to get started right away.

(Note: If you are a current Successful Investor subscriber, please click here to view Pat’s recommendation. Be sure to log in first.)

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