Higher Earnings Lead To Dividend Hike

Article Excerpt

ANDREW PELLER LTD. $11 (Toronto symbol ADW.A; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 14.9 million; Market cap: $163.9 million; SI Rating: Average) earned $0.65 a share in its fiscal year ended March 31, 2007, up 54.8% from $0.42 in the prior year. If you exclude unusual items in both years, income would have grown 7.3%. Sales rose 7.7%, to $228.2 million from $211.8 million. The company continues to expand its premium wine operations, which generate higher profits than its regular wines. Consequently, Peller’s gross margin rose to 41.7% in fiscal 2007 from 40.4% in 2006. That let it raise its quarterly dividend 18.5%, from $0.0633 a share to $0.075. The new annual rate of $0.30 yields 2.7%. Andrew Peller is a buy. buy…