Loblaw Companies (L.TO)
Consumer · TSX · Canada
Fundamentals
Valuation and ratings
Loblaw Companies trades at C$65.12, which is 31% below the C$85.08 our discounted cash flow model puts on the business. On that measure alone it screens as undervalued, though a DCF is an argument rather than a measurement, and the market is frequently right about why something is cheap.
Our moat model scores it 50 out of 100, which is a moat, but not a deep one. A moat is a structural reason competitors cannot take the profits away, and it matters more to a long holding period than any single quarter's numbers do.
It changes hands at 29.0 times earnings. Be careful reading that in isolation: for a cyclical business a low P/E arrives at the top of the cycle, when profits are peaking and about to fall, which is exactly when the shares look cheapest and are not.
About Loblaw Companies
Loblaw Companies Limited, a food and pharmacy company, provides grocery, pharmacy and healthcare services, health and beauty products, apparel, general merchandise, financial services, and wireless mobile products and services in Canada and the United States. It operates through two segments, Retail and Financial Services. The Retail segment operates corporate and franchise-owned retail food, and associate-owned drug stores. This segment also includes in-store pharmacies, health care services, other health and beauty product stores, apparel stores, and other general merchandise stores. Its Financial Services segment provides credit card and banking services, the PC Optimum loyalty program, insurance brokerage services, and telecommunication services. The company offers PC Health app, which provides healthcare resources and support services; and outpatient physiotherapy, massage and occupational therapy, chiropractic, mental health, and other rehabilitation services. It sells its products and services under the President's Choice, PC, Life Brand, no name, Farmer's Market, and Joe Fresh brands through its hard discount format stores under the No Frills and Maxi brands; supermarket format stores under the Loblaws, Zehrs, Your Independent Grocer, Real Canadian Superstore, Real Atlantic Superstore, Provigo, City Market, brands; and stand-alone drug stores under the Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmaprix brands. The company also operates T&T Supermarket stores serving Asian grocery markets; provides online grocery ordering and pickup services through PC Express; and offers banking and financial services through PC Financial. The company was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Brampton, Canada. Loblaw Companies Limited is a subsidiary of George Weston Limited.
L.TO passes 1 of our 30 screens today
Each screen prints the exact criteria it used, and the circumstances in which it is wrong.
Common questions
Is Loblaw Companies (L.TO) undervalued?
Against our discounted cash flow estimate of C$85.08, L.TO at C$65.12 is 31% below fair value. That is one model's answer, not a recommendation, and most of a DCF's output sits in a terminal value nobody can forecast.
What is L.TO's P/E ratio?
L.TO trades at 29.0 times earnings. A low P/E is not automatically cheap: on a cyclical company it is usually a warning that earnings are at a peak.
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Data from company filings, exchange quotes and SEC EDGAR 13F disclosures. Quotes are delayed. Metrics we do not have are left out rather than estimated. Educational information, not financial advice.