Low-cost stores should spur Loblaw

Article Excerpt

LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $177 is a buy. Canada’s largest food retailer (Toronto symbol L; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 306.0 million; Market cap: $54.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 1.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.loblaw.ca) aims to tap into rising demand for lower-priced products with a new store format based on its popular “no name” private label brand. The company has now opened two no name stores in Ontario. These outlets are much smaller than its regular stores and carry a smaller selection of frozen and canned goods, packaged bakery items, and others. Note—there are no refrigerated foods like dairy or fresh meat. Innovations like this have helped lift the stock by over 50% in the past year. Despite that jump, the shares trade at a reasonable 20.7 times the company’s projected 2024 earnings of $8.54 a share. The $2.05 dividend yields 1.2%. Loblaw is a buy. buy…