(1888PressRelease)
April 15, 2009 - SADIF Investment Analytics SA, today announced the release of a new equity research report covering Empire Company Limited (EMP.A). The report utilizes SADIF's powerful StockMarks™ stock rating system and is required reading for any current or potential Empire Company Limited investor.
Report Summary: Shares in Canadian food retailer Empire Company Limited greatly outperformed the broader TSX Composite Index over the past year, rising by more than 37% compared to the 32% decline in the index. The company's shares have been boosted by investors seeking safe-havens in companies with solid businesses during the economic downturn. Empire's main food retailing business has shown strong performance over the period, with its Sobeys supermarket chain boosting revenues by 9% during its fiscal third quarter ended Jan 31st compared to the year-earlier period. Comparable same-store sales rose by 7.6% and Empire's net earnings rose by 26.5% over the same period.
However, Empire saw some weakness in its real estate operations during the quarter, partly attributed to deteriorating economic conditions. While the company has improved overall during the past year, in order to assess whether the gains in the company's stock are sustainable and if there is still room for further improvement, we should focus on Empire's long-term fundamentals. We can assess the company's fundamentals through the use of the StockMarks framework. Empire currently has an overall long-term investment-attractiveness rating (Total StockMark or SMT) of 56, rating slightly above the Canadian market average. This rating places Empire seventh among ten of the company's closest Canadian-listed peers, selected on the basis of similarity of business, market positioning factors such as size and share comparisons.
The complete report breaks down the Total StockMark into its three components – business, management and price, performing a thorough analysis of Empire Company Limited for long-term investors.
A summary of the StockMarks™ ratings for Empire Company Limited is available here:
http://sadifanalytics.com/stockmarks/company.php?ticker=EMP.A&cod_country=18
The report has been distributed to Reuters, and forwarded to Yahoo Finance and FT.com. It is available under 'Analyst Reports' from these websites, from multiple professional platforms including Reuters Knowledge, TheMarkets.com and Thomson Research or directly from SADIF-Investment Analytics SA at:
http://sadifanalytics.com/stockmarks/article/hist_article.php?cod_country=18
About SADIF-Investment Analytics SA:
SADIF-Investment Analytics SA is an independent investment research company covering sixteen different markets and over 12,000 companies. The StockMarks™ system is based on proven investment principles and is designed to drive long-term shareholder returns.
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