Metro (MRU) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Metro is one of the largest grocery retailers in Canada. With its 2018 acquisition of Jean Coutu, it also boasts a meaningful drugstore footprint. Noteworthy grocery banners include Metro, Metro Plus, Super C, and Food Basics, while its pharmacies primarily operate under the Jean Coutu and Brunet trademarks. It utilizes an array of business models, but it most frequently acts as either a retailer, operating individual stores, or a franchiser, licensing its trademarks and supplying merchandise to franchisees. The firm also acts as a distributor, leveraging its supply chain capabilities to service smaller neighborhood grocery stores. The preponderance of its operations is in Quebec, which houses over 70% of its owned and franchised food and drug outlets.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: C$97.37 to C$98.49
• 50-Day Range: C$97.72 to C$107.06
• 52-Week Range: C$81.01 to C$109.20
• Volume: 512,905 shs
• Average Volume: 480,612 shs
• Market Capitalization: C$21.61 billion
• P/E Ratio: 22.56
• Dividend Yield: 1.37%
• Price Target: C$110.13
• Consensus Rating: Hold

Metro Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Metro scored higher than 29% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.2 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Hold

Consensus Rating

Metro has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 2.43, and is based on 3 buy ratings, 4 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Metro has only been the subject of 3 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 0.6 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: N/A

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Metro is 22.56, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 28.74.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Metro is 22.56, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Consumer Defensive sector average P/E ratio of about 13.45.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Metro has a PEG Ratio of 4.06. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Metro has a P/B Ratio of 3.04. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: N/A
• Short Interest Level: N/A

Short Interest

There is no current short interest data available for MRU.

Dividend

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Weak

Dividend Yield

Metro pays a meaningful dividend of 1.85%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Metro does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Metro is 30.93%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: N/A
• Environmental Score: N/A

Short Interest

There is no current short interest data available for MRU.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.6 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.67

News Sentiment

Metro has a news sentiment score of 0.67. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This news sentiment score is similar to the average news sentiment of Consumer Defensive companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 5 news articles for Metro this week, compared to 2 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

2 people have searched for MRU on MarketBeat in the last 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 0.8 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Metro insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 0.14% of the stock of Metro is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

46.80% of the stock of Metro is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

MRU Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have MRU shares performed this year?

Metro's stock was trading at C$90.15 at the start of the year. Since then, MRU stock has increased by 8.4% and is now trading at C$97.72.

How do I buy shares of Metro?

Shares of MRU stock and other Canadian stocks can be purchased through an online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the Canadian stock market include BMO InvestorLine, CIBC Investor's Edge, Desjardins Online Brokerage, HSBC InvestDirect, Laurentian Bank Discount Brokerage, National Bank Direct Brokerage, Qtrade Investor, Questrade, RBC Direct Investing, Scotia iTrade, TD Direct Investing, and Virtual Brokers.

What other stocks do shareholders of Metro own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Metro investors own include Enbridge (ENB), BCE (BCE), Royal Bank of Canada (RY), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), TELUS (T) and Canadian National Railway (CNR).

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: TSE
• Sector: Consumer Defensive
• Industry: Grocery Stores
• Sub-Industry: N/A
• Current Symbol: TSE:MRU
• CIK: N/A
• Web: www.metro.ca
• Phone: +1-514-6431000
• Fax: N/A
• Employees: 97,000
• Year Founded: N/A

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Metro: C$110.13
• High Price Target: C$118.00
• Low Price Target: C$105.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +12.7%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.43
• Research Coverage: 7 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): C$4.33
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 22.56
• Forward P/E Ratio: 20.28
• P/E Growth: 4.06
• Net Income: C$957.36 million
• Net Margins: 4.50%
• Pretax Margin: N/A
• Return on Equity: 13.80%
• Return on Assets: 6.40%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 62.29
• Current Ratio: 1.35
• Quick Ratio: 0.41

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: C$21.29 billion
• Price / Sales: 1.02
• Cash Flow: C$0.07 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 1,364.56
• Book Value: C$32.14 per share
• Price / Book: 3.04

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 221,151,131
• Free Float: N/A
• Market Cap: C$21.61 billion
• Optionable: Not Optionable
• Beta: 0.08