Topic: How To Invest

The Successful Investor Hotline – Friday, August 16, 2024

Article Excerpt

METRO INC., $83.91, Toronto symbol MRU, remains a buy. The company operates 992 grocery stores and 640 drugstores, in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick. In the fiscal 2024 third quarter, ended July 6, 2024, overall sales rose 3.5%, to $6.65 billion from $6.43 billion a year earlier. That beat the $6.60 billion consensus forecast. Thanks partly to higher selling prices, same-store sales at Metro’s food stores rose 2.4%. Same-store sales at the company’s drugstores also improved 5.2%. That reflects a 6.3% increase in prescription drug sales, as well as a 3.0% rise in sales of other products, particularly cosmetics and beauty products. If you exclude unusual items, Metro’s overall earnings in the latest quarter fell 3.1%, to $305.0 million from $314.8 million a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share were unchanged at $1.35. That still beat the consensus estimate of $1.34 a share. The lower overall earnings are largely due to the construction and start-up of Metro’s new automated distribution centres…