TPP will benefit these two—eventually

Article Excerpt

Canada is now negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would lower trade barriers between 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The TPP could also open Canada’s highly regulated agricultural industry to foreign competitors. That would hurt Saputo and Maple Leaf Foods (see box)—at least initially—though the deal would also help them export their products to more markets. Still, we feel both stocks will make little progress until the TPP is finalized. SAPUTO INC. $30 (Toronto symbol SAP; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 392.9 million; Market cap: $11.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.saputo.com) is Canada’s largest producer of dairy products, including milk, butter and cheese. The company also operates dairies in the U.S., Australia and Argentina. In its 2015 fiscal year, which ended March 31, 2015, Saputo’s sales rose 15.4%, to $10.7 billion from $9.2 billion in 2014. That’s mainly due to Australian dairy producer Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory; Saputo paid $449.6 million…