Topic: How To Invest

Hi, I would appreciate your view on a stock: Viterra. Thanks very much.

Article Excerpt

Viterra Inc., $10.15, symbol VT on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 371.6 million; Market cap: $3.8 billion), is a Regina, Saskatchewan-based agri-business. Viterra distributes crops grown in the Prairie Provinces to markets in North America and around the world through its prairie-wide grain handling and marketing network. The company changed its name from Saskatchewan Wheat Pool following its $1.3-billion purchase of Agricore United in May 2007. Agricore’s main businesses are grain handling and merchandising, crop-production services and livestock services. Agricore also sells a wide range of goods and services to western-Canadian farmers, and markets their crops, both domestically and internationally. Viterra earned $120.7 million, or $0.51 a share, in its third quarter, which ended July 31, 2009. That’s down 27.6% from the $166.7 million, or $0.71 a share, that it earned a year earlier. Sales were flat, at $2.2 billion. The company saw lower demand for fertilizer and crop-protection products during the quarter; this was the main reason for the lower earnings. As well,…