Molson savings to shore up profits

Article Excerpt

MOLSON COORS CANADA INC. (Toronto symbols TPX.A $125 and TPX.B $126; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 215.3 million; Market cap: $27.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.molsoncoors.com) acquired the remaining 58% of the MillerCoors brewing joint venture in October 2016 for $12 billion (all amounts except share prices and market cap in U.S. dollars). It now owns 100% of this business. MillerCoors was formed in 2008, when Molson and SABMiller—its joint-venture partner—combined their U.S. brewing operations. On a comparable basis, Molson Coors earned $165.6 million in the quarter ended March 31, 2017. That’s down 9.7% from $183.3 million a year earlier. Due to more shares outstanding, per-share earnings fell 12.6%, to $0.76 from $0.87. The decline is partly due to weaker beer volumes in the U.S. (70% of total sales). Overall sales in the quarter slipped 0.5%, to $2.45 billion from $2.46 billion. Molson Coors’s earnings should improve as it begins to realize…