Transcontinental has a bright outlook

Article Excerpt

Transcontinental continues to benefit from its 2018 purchase of a U.S.-based plastic packaging firm. That cut its reliance on its traditional commercial printing operations, particularly as advertisers and publishers shift to online platforms. A new cost-cutting plan should also push its earnings higher in the next few years and support its high yielding dividend. TRANSCONTINENTAL INC. $17 is a buy for aggressive investors. The company (Toronto symbol TCL.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 84.1 million; Market cap: $1.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 5.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.tctranscontinental.com) is Canada’s leading printer of newspapers, advertising flyers, in-store displays, magazines and books. To cut the cyclical risk of its commercial printing business, in May 2018 Transcontinental paid $1.7 billion for Chicago-based Coveris Americas. That firm makes plastic packaging for food, medical and industrial products at plants in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and New Zealand. Thanks to that purchase, the company now gets 58% of its revenue from packaging and 38%…