The Successful Investor Hotline – Friday, March 5, 2010

Article Excerpt

TORSTAR CORP., $9.03, Toronto symbol TS.B, rose 40% this week. That’s because the company reported greatly improved results. In 2009, Torstar earned $35.6 million, or $0.45 a share. That’s a big improvement over the $158.7 million, or $2.01 a share, it lost in 2008. However, the 2008 results included a $136.9-million writedown of Torstar’s 20% stake in CTVglobemedia, which owns the CTV television network, several specialty-TV channels and The Globe and Mail. If you exclude all unusual items, per-share earnings fell 4.3%, to $0.66 from $0.69. That beat the consensus earnings estimate of $0.64 a share. Torstar’s 2009 revenue fell 5.4%, to $1.45 billion from $1.53 billion. Revenue at the newspaper division (which accounts for 66% of Torstar’s total revenue) fell 9.7%. However, revenue at the Harlequin book-publishing division (34% of revenue) rose 4.3%. The company continues to enjoy the benefits of an aggressive cost-cutting plan, which included layoffs and plant closures. These moves will lower Torstar’s annual expenses by $58.2 million…