Topic: How To Invest

LOBLAW COMPANIES $44.75 – Toronto symbol L

LOBLAW COMPANIES $44.75 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 281.8 million; Market cap: $12.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 2.0%; www.loblaw.ca) is Canada’s largest food retailer, with about 1,000 stores.

In the three months ended March 23, 2013, Loblaw’s sales rose 3.8%, to $7.2 billion from $6.94 billion a year earlier. Overall sales at its supermarkets rose 3.4%, while same-store sales rose 2.8%. Revenue from its financial services division, which mainly issues credit cards, rose 27.9%. Before one-time items, earnings rose 11.6%, to $0.48 a share from $0.43.

As mentioned, Loblaw has announced a plan to form a REIT that will hold $7 billion of its properties. Right now, the company owns 47 million square feet of real estate with a market value of $9 billion to $10 billion. After this transaction closes in mid-2013, Loblaw will sell units of the REIT to the public. It will hang on to a majority stake.

Even with its price rise, the stock trades at a reasonable 15.7 times Loblaw’s forecast 2013 earnings of $2.65 a share. As well, the company has just raised its quarterly dividend by 9.1%, to $0.24 a share from $0.22. The new annual rate of $0.96 yields 2.0%.

Loblaw is a buy.

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