These industrials are still going strong

Article Excerpt

These three industrial stocks are more volatile than our more conservative picks, like CP Rail and CN Rail (see page 61). Even so, their rising sales, healthy balance sheets and strong reputations in niche markets help temper their risk. All three also trade at attractive multiples to earnings. Moreover, they all kept paying dividends during the recession. However, we only see two as buys right now. SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $39 (Toronto symbol SNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 161.1 million; Market cap: $6.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 2.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.snclavalin.com) is a leading Canadian engineering and construction company. It specializes in large-scale public works projects, such as roads, bridges, transit systems and water-treatment plants. SNC’s shares fell from around $48 in February 2012 after the company discovered $35 million of unusual payments related to certain construction contracts. A panel of independent directors and lawyers later found another unusual payment, bringing the total to around $56 million…