Good quarter for Torstar

Article Excerpt

TORSTAR CORP. $8.90 (Toronto symbol TS.B; Shares outstanding: 79.9 million; Market cap: $711.1 million; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.6 %; www.torstar.com) continues to see strong growth at its web sites. That’s helping its offset weaker advertising revenue at its newspapers. In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Torstar’s earnings before one-time items rose 2.7%, to $0.38 from $0.37. That beat the consensus estimate of $0.36 a share. The company’s restructuring plan, which includes job cuts and closing certain facilities, should lower its yearly costs by $4.6 million. It expects to realize $2.1 million of these savings in 2011. Revenue rose 7.1%, to $378.7 million from $353.7 million. Revenue from its newspaper operations (which account for 69% of its total revenue) rose 9.4%, mainly due to improved results at this business’s TV shopping channel web sites. Excluding the negative impact of foreign exchange rates, revenue at Harlequin (31% of overall revenue) rose 0.5%. Strong e-book sales offset lower sales of printed…