Topic: How To Invest

TORSTAR CORP. $6.85 – Toronto symbol TS.B

TORSTAR CORP. $6.85 (Toronto symbol TS.B; Shares outstanding: 79.9 million; Market cap: $547.3 million; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 7.7%; www.torstar.com) publishes The Toronto Star, Canada’s largest daily newspaper by circulation. It also publishes three other daily papers and over 110 weeklies.

As well, the company owns Harlequin Enterprises, the world’s leading romance novel publisher.

In the three months ended September 30, 2012, Torstar earned $14.1 million, or $0.18 a share. That was down 44.0% from $25.2 million,or $0.32 a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 6.2%, to $355.3 million from $378.7 million.

Torstar continues to struggle with falling newspaper ad sales. Strong competition and unfavourable foreign exchange rates are also hurting profits at Harlequin.

However, sharp cost cuts now underway put Torstar in a strong position to increase earnings as the economy expands. It also plans to charge users to access The Toronto Star’s website to boost revenue.

The growing popularity of e-books will also make it easier for Harlequin to increase its sales, particularly in overseas markets, without the traditional burden of printing and distribution costs.

The stock trades at a low 4.6 times the $1.48 a share that Torstar should earn in 2012. The $0.525 dividend still seems safe, and yields 7.7%.

Torstar is a buy.

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