Strong backlog a plus for Toromont

Article Excerpt

TOROMONT INDUSTRIES LTD. $118 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol TIH; Aggressive Growth Portfolio; Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 82.4 million; Market cap: $9.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.6; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.toromont.com) distributes a range of industrial equipment, including Caterpillar machinery, in eastern Canada. It also makes refrigeration systems. Toromont’s order backlog as of December 31, 2021, was $1.3 billion, up 18.2% from three months earlier. The company expects to deliver 85% of those orders in 2022 as the economy rebounds from COVID-19. Thanks to a brighter outlook, Toromont is raising your quarterly dividend by 11.4%. The new annual rate of $1.56 yields 1.3%. The company has also repurchased $50 million of its shares since September 2021. Toromont remains a buy. buy…