Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc

I started buying this stock (TSX-ATD.B) in January 2006 and it has basically just gone down in price. Since then this stock has lost 6% for me. Over the last 5 years, the revenue growth at 45% and the Earnings per Share (EPS) growth at 22% look good. However, if you look closer, neither the Revenue nor EPS have grown much over the last 3 years. I got into this stock in 2006 as it had a good past record and had started to pay a dividend. It has not done much since then.

Dividend growth has not been bad, but yield is very low at less than 1%. Also, the payout ratio at an average of 12% is low.

The stock price has increased over the last 5 years at an average of 16.5%, however, the stock has only gone down over the last 3 years. If you look at the cash flow average over the last 5 years, it is good at 17%, but again, has decreased over the last 3 years. The Current Asset/Current Liability is 1.03 and that is a little low, but the Asset/Liability Ratio at 1.61 is a healthy number. The Accrual Ratio has been awful in the past, but is now not bad at .3%. Last year it was very high at 23%.

In looking at this stock, the 5 year and 10 year figures are good, but the last 3 years had been bad.

Alimentation Couche-Tard is Canada’s leading convenience store retailer under brands such as Couche-Tard, Mac’s, Becker’s and Mike’s Mart. Their sales come from fuel, lottery tickets snack food, newspapers and magazines, as well branded products such as Sunshine Joe Coffee. The company has alliances with fast-food chains including M & M Meat Shops, Pizza Pizza and Subway. They are expanding into the U.S., having bought Johnson Oil, a major gas station and convenience store operator.

Its web site is www.couche-tard.com. See my spreadsheets on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/atd.htm. I have loaded my spreadsheet with figures from recent April 2008 Annual Report.


This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on web site.