The sun is still out for Alimentation Couche-Tarde

July 29, 2015 - Today we revisit Alimentation Couche-Tarde (ATD) which we last featured in our morning report on October 16th. On that day it closed at $35.25 and it is up 63.3% since then, closing at $57.56 on July 28th (and setting a new 52-week high of $58.75 on July 20th along the way). There has been some recent insider selling from the CEO and CFO which is something to keep an eye on, but at this point it may be nothing more than clearing the decks for more option grants.

Alimentation Couche-Tarde is ranked tenth on the July edition of our INK Edge Top 40 on the equally weighted basis of valuations, insider commitment and price momentum. This is up thirty spots from its rank in the June edition of the list, and it appears to be the beneficiary of the trend that has seen other grocery type companies like Empire Company (INK Edge Outlook: sunny; EMP) and George Weston (INK Edge Outlook: sunny; WN) added to this month's edition of the list.

On July 14th, Alimentation Couche-Tarde released their financial results for the quarter ended April 26th, 2015. Net earnings for the quarter were US$129.5 million (US$0.23 diluted EPS) down from US$145.1 million (US$0.25 diluted EPS) for Q4 of fiscal 2014. The bulk of this shortfall can be attributed to non-recurring costs associated with the company's acquisition of southeastern US convenience store chain The Pantry on March 16th, 2015. Going forward, Alimentation Couche-Tarde is looking to integrate the 1,500 convenience stores which make up this recent acquisition into its own network and to improve their debt level and financial flexibility so as to be able to take advantage of opportunities for further acquisitions should they arise.

Alimentation Couche-Tarde (ATD.B) Equity Filing Overview Chart

On July 16th, Alimentation Couche-Tarde (ATD) President and CEO Brian Hannasch exercised options and sold 21,639 shares at a price of $57.49 in the public market. It should be noted that he was granted an additional 76,228 options on July 22nd. 

On the same day, Vice President and CFO Raymond Paré (INO) also exercised options and sold 13,385 shares at $57.48. Mr. Paré was granted an additional 4,425 options on July 22nd.

Earlier, in the month of May, insiders spent $243,036 buying common shares at Alimentation Couche-Tarde.

Alimentation Couche-Tarde currently holds a sunny INK Edge outlook on the equally weighted V.I.P. criteria of valuations, insider commitment and price momentum which places it in the top 10% of all stocks ranked. INK outlook categories are designed to identify groups of stocks that have the potential to out- or under-perform the market. However, any individual stock could surprise on the up or downside. As such, outlook categories are not meant to be stock-specific recommendations.

The stock is a member of the INK Canadian Insider Index.

An earlier version of this article appeared in the INK Research morning report for subscribers before the market open on July 29, 2015.

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