Finning hikes your dividend

Article Excerpt

FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. $43 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol FTT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 142.2 million; Market cap: $6.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 2.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.finning.com) sells and services Caterpillar-brand heavy equipment in Western Canada but also South America, the U.K. and Ireland. Its main customers are in the oil and gas, mining, forestry-products and construction industries. The company continues to benefit from rising commodity prices, such as copper, which are increasing demand from mining firms for its products. Revenue in the three months ended March 31, 2024, gained 8.8%, to $2.33 billion from $2.14 billion a year earlier. However, per-share earnings also fell 5.6%, to $0.84 from $0.89. That’s due to lower revenue from maintenance and repair services, which generate higher profit margins than equipment sales. Investors can expect the company to earn $3.92 a share in 2024, and the stock trades at a moderate 11.0 times that estimate. As well, with the June…