Topic: How To Invest

Hi: What is your current recommendation for Stella-Jones? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Stella-Jones Inc., $99.34, symbol SJ on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 17.2 million; Market cap: $1.7 billion; www.stella-jones.com), makes pressure-treated wood products, including railway ties (44% of sales), utility poles (35%), treated lumber for residential uses (15%) and treated lumber products for the industrial market, such as marine and foundation pilings and highway guardrails (6%). The company gets most of its utility poles from timberlands it leases in Quebec, B.C. and Alberta. It also buys wood for railway ties and other products from sawmills in Canada and the U.S. Stella-Jones continues to expand in the U.S., which now provides three-quarters of its sales. In April 2010, it purchased Tangent Rail Corp. for $170 million U.S. Tangent makes railway ties at plants in Alabama, Indiana, Louisiana and Pennsylvania. In December 2011, the company paid $34.9 million U.S. for Thompson Industries, an Arkansas-based company that makes treated railway ties and other products. In addition, in November 2012, Stella-Jones bought McFarland Cascade Holdings for $250 million U.S. Washington State-based…