Two ways to profit from Canadian consumers

Article Excerpt

LOBLAW COMPANIES $70.71 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 369.1 million; Market cap: $25.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.8%; www.loblaw.ca) operates 1,085 supermarkets and 1,337 Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacies across Canada. On November 1, 2018, Loblaw transferred its stake in Choice Properties REIT (symbol CHP.UN on Toronto) to its parent company George Weston Ltd. (see below). As a result, Weston now owns 65.3% of the REIT. As well, Loblaw investors hold 16.8% of Weston’s shares. If you exclude costs related to that transaction and other unusual items, Loblaw earned $290 million from ongoing operations in the three months ended March 23, 2019. That’s down 7.1% from $312 million a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings declined at a slower rate of 3.7%, to $0.78 from $0.81. However, if you factor out a new accounting rule related to its leases, Loblaw earned $0.84 a share in the latest quarter, a gain of 3.7%. Revenue in the latest quarter rose 3.1%, to $10.66…