Big earnings jump for Finning

Article Excerpt

FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. $31 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol FTT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 153.7 million; Market cap: $4.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.finning.com) sells and services Caterpillar-brand heavy equipment in Western Canada, South America, the U.K. and Ireland. Its main customers are in the oil and gas, mining, forestry-products and construction industries. Higher prices for oil and other commodities continue to spur demand for Finning’s equipment and services. Revenue in the three months ended September 30, 2022, rose 20.5%, to $2.11 billion from $1.75 billion a year earlier. Per-share earnings also jumped 59.0%, to $0.97 from $0.61. Finning’s improving order backlog also cuts your risk. At the end of the third quarter, it was a record $2.5 billion, up 56% from a year earlier. For all of 2022, the company’s earnings will probably rise 44% to $3.13 a share. The stock trades at just 9.9 times that forecast. The $0.944 dividend…