Going green should cut its costs

Article Excerpt

LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $135 is a buy. Canada’s largest food seller (Toronto symbol L; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 316.4 million; Market cap: $42.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.loblaw.ca) recently purchased 10 Freightliner eCascadia electric trucks, which increased its total to 14. It has also ordered 25 Semi trucks from Tesla. These purchases are part of the company’s plan to replace its entire trucking fleet with electric vehicles by 2030, which will cut its greenhouse gas emissions and fuel costs. Those savings, along with new stores, should lift Loblaw’s earnings by about 9% to $8.37 a share in 2024. The stock is up 15% in the past year but still trades at an attractive 16.1 times that estimate. The $1.784 dividend yields 1.3%. Loblaw is a buy. buy. …