Their rising backlogs cut your risk

Article Excerpt

The re-opening of the economy is spurring strong demand for heavy equipment from these two Caterpillar dealers. Their strong order backlogs also help cut any short-term risk new COVID-19 variants may pose. FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. $33 is a buy. The company’s (Toronto symbol FTT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 159.7 million; Market cap: $5.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.finning.com) sells and services Caterpillar-brand heavy equipment in Western Canada but also Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, the U.K. and Ireland. Its main customers are in the oil and gas, mining, forestry-products and construction industries. The re-opening of the world’s economies is now spurring demand for used and new equipment. Finning’s revenue in the three months ended September 30, 2021, rose 21.1%, to $1.75 billion from $1.44 billion a year earlier. That was mainly due to strong demand for new equipment (up 45.1%), equipment rentals (up 28.3%) and product support services (up 10.7%). Excluding one-time items, Finning’s earnings in…