Symbol: BCB (TSE)
| Stock Profile: Cott
Corporation Symbol: BCB (TSE) |
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| Stats as of 7/26/01 |
| • H/L Ratio:
2.86 • RS: 98.7 • Shares: 60,108,492 • P/E: 23.62 • Price: $20.50 |
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Cott Corporation is the world's largest manufacturer of house branded soft drinks with 15 plants in Canada, the U.S. and Britain. Founded in 1952, the company started as an importer of American brands into Quebec, but soon started bottling and canning their own drinks. After 1976, the company expanded into the rest of Canada and beyond.
The company went public in 1986 and a few years later, the stock became a dynamo, growing from $0.35 (split adjusted) at the beginning of 1991 to $49.63 on Oct. 19, 1993, a gain of 14,080%. $10,000 invested in Cott would have grown to $1,418,000. But then the roof caved in. The stock plummeted as fast as it went up - sort of a dot-com of the early 90's. By March of 1999, it hit a low of $3.00.
The company was on the skids with mounting problems when it brought in Frank Weise, a former executive with Campbell's Soup, as CEO. Weise turned the company around with gross margins increasing from 10.3% to 16.7% in the last three years. Cost cutting measures turned the company around to profitability. Cott is now embarking on expansion and acquired Concord Beverage, the largest private label bottler in the U.S. in October 2000 and bought the Royal Crown beverage division of Cadbury Schweppes in July 2001. The company was named Supplier of the Year for 2000 by Wal-Mart in April 2001.
Cott first hit our radar in November 2000 when it started hitting 52 week highs. It was then at $11.05 a share, but the EPS year-over-year growth wasn't strong enough for us to cover. By the fourth quarter to Decmeber 30th it was, but with so many other companies also qualifying, we never got around to profiling it. The stock has now almost doubled since November, but growth is accelerating and is likely to continue.
The company now has ten consecutive profitable quarters under its belt and has shifted from a turnaround to a growth strategy.
Quarterly Earnings per Share (US$)
| 1999 | 2000 | % Change | |
| To June 30th | $0.15 | $0.24 | 60.0% |
| Revenues (000s) | $288,900 | $305,600 | 5.8% |
Annual Earnings per Share (US$)
| to Dec. 31st | 1998 (48 weeks) | 1999 | % Change | 2000 | % Change |
| EPS | -$1.74 | $0.28 | n/a | $0.38 | 35.7% |
| Revenues (000s) | $961,900 | $993,700 | 3.3% | $990,600 | -0.3% |