METRO INC. $75 (Toronto symbol MRU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 85.1 million; Market cap: $6.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.metro.ca) operates 600 grocery stores and 250 drugstores in Quebec and Ontario.
In its fiscal 2014 third quarter, which ended July 5, 2014, Metro earned $144.5 million, unchanged from a year earlier. The company spent $147.2 million on share buybacks in the latest quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share gained 9.4%, to $1.63 from $1.49. Sales rose 1.4%, to $3.62 billion from $3.57 billion. Same-store sales gained 1.0%.
The company continues to benefit from the recent reorganization of its Ontario operations, including converting certain Metro outlets to the discount Food Basics banner.
As well, Metro’s share of earnings from 5.7%-owned Alimentation Couche-Tard (Toronto symbol ATD.B) rose 3.4%, to $9.1 million from $8.8 million a year earlier. (Couche-Tard, which operates convenience stores in North America and Norway, is a recommendation of Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that focuses on aggressive investing.)
The stock trades at 14.9 times the $5.02 a share that Metro probably earned in fiscal 2014. The $1.20 dividend yields 1.6%.
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