Russel Metals is better for new buying

Article Excerpt

STUART OLSON INC. $7.66 (Toronto symbol SOX; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (780-454-3667; www.stuartolson.com; Shares outstanding: 27.5 million; Market cap: $211.0 million; Dividend yield: 6.3%) provides governments and businesses with construction, electrical contracting, earthmoving and insulation services. It mainly operates in Western Canada, but recently expanded into Ontario. In the three months ended March 31, 2018, revenue rose 20.8%, to $265.9 million from $220.1 million a year earlier. The increase came mainly from oil sands and power projects in Western Canada, plus contracts in its new Ontario market. Stuart Olson made $1.6 million, or $0.06 a share, during those three months. The earnings are a big improvement over the year-earlier loss of $178,000, or $0.01. The strong performance reflects the company’s higher revenue in the quarter, but also the success of last year’s cost-cutting. Alberta is still a weak spot for the company The company ended the quarter with a solid backlog of $1.6 billion. Moreover, it keeps winning contracts. Stuart Olson now holds cash of $32.0…