Dividend up despite earnings drop

Article Excerpt

SHAWCOR LTD. $26 (Toronto symbol SCL.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 70.6 million; Market cap: $1.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 1.2%; SI Rating: Average) earned $0.14 a share in the three months ended March 31, 2010. That’s down 68.9% from $0.45 a year earlier. Revenue fell 27.0%, to $224.6 million from $307.5 million, due to a slowdown at its pipeline-coating division. As well, ShawCor’s overseas operations supply 60% of its revenue, and the higher Canadian dollar hurt their contribution. However, ShawCor will begin work on three major projects later this year. These contracts are worth a total of $320 million U.S. That’s why it raised its quarterly dividend by 7.1%, to $0.075 a share from $0.07. The new annual rate of $0.30 yields 1.2%. ShawCor is a buy. buy…