Metro Inc., symbol MRU.A on Toronto, is Canada’s third-largest supermarket, after Loblaw and Sobeys. Metro has about 600 supermarkets and 250 drugstores in Quebec and Ontario under banners including Metro, Metro Plus, GP, Super C and Food Basics. In Quebec, its franchises include Brunet drugstores and Cini-Plus pharmacies.
Metro is one of the bargain stocks we analyze in our Successful Investor newsletter.
In Ontario, the company has now brought all of its Dominion, A & P, Loeb, The Barn and Ultra supermarkets under the “Metro” banner. It also opened 13 new stores and expanded 35 stores in 2010.
In the three months ended December 18, 2010, the bargain stock’s sales fell 0.5%, to $2.63 billion from $2.65 billion a year earlier.
However, earnings rose 3.7% in the quarter, to $92.0 million from $88.7 million. Earnings per share climbed 7.3%, to $0.88 from $0.82, on fewer shares outstanding. These figures exclude one-time items, such as continuing expansion costs and a one-time cut to the bargain stock’s tax bill.
The company was forced to cut its prices in the face of rising competition, including from Wal-Mart, which continues to expand its grocery offerings. Drug prices have also fallen due to the expiry of important drug patents and to new generic drug legislation in Ontario.
The stock trades at 11.2 times the $3.86 a share that Metro should earn in fiscal 2011. The company also raised its dividend by 13.2%. The new annual rate of $0.77 yields 1.8%.
You can get our full analysis, including our updated buy/sell/hold advice, on Metro in an upcoming issue of The Successful Investor. What’s more, you can get one month free when you subscribe today. Click here to learn how.
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