Strong results, but the p/e is high

Article Excerpt

SAPUTO INC. $36 (Toronto symbol SAP; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 391.1 million; Market cap: $14.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.saputo.com) bought 87.92% of Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory, one of Australia’s largest dairy producers, for $449.6 million in February 2014. In April 2014, it added the fluid-milk operations of Nova Scotia dairy Scotsburn for $65.0 million. These acquisitions increased Saputo’s revenue by 20.4% in its fiscal 2015 third quarter, which ended December 31, 2014, to $2.8 billion from $2.3 billion a year ago. Higher cheese and butter prices in the U.S. also contributed to the gain. Earnings rose 7.3%, to $154.6 million from $144.1 million. But earnings per share gained just 2.7%, to $0.38 from $0.37, on more shares outstanding. The stock trades at 22.9 times the $1.57 a share Saputo will likely earn in fiscal 2015. That’s a high p/e ratio for a slow-growing dairy company that relies on acquisitions…