AGF Management (B) (AGF.B.TO)

This company has really struggled with asset flows and getting their story right. However, the dividend yield is safe. They are doing things to change the business around. They have a lot of funds, but not a lot of focus, but they are slowly getting there. You might consider looking at Aston Hill (AHF-T) instead, which is incredibly undervalued.

Feels the dividend is safe currently. Doesn’t expect the dividend to grow. Hopefully the new management will turn the company around, but they are still bleeding assets. It is a “wait and see” attitude on his part. This is a tough business and they are on the wrong side of the performance curve right now.

Feels they are going through a turnaround and putting all the pieces in place. Have a new CIO and hired some new portfolio managers. Past performance was really poor, which hurt them in growing their business. Capital markets are doing fairly well and if they continue to do so companies like this are going to do very well as they continue to scoop up and manage more assets. Thinks the 8.7% dividend yield is very safe. A year or 2 out from now, the stock will have paid you a nice dividend and you will probably have some good capital appreciation as well.

Chart shows a little bit of resistance at around $12.50. It also shows some lower lows. Stock is above all its moving averages right now, but he likes to get them in the right order with 20 above the 50, and the 50 above the 200. When a stock gets above its 200, you need the others to play catch up. Everything else is positive. Has a really nice dividend of 8.6% attached to it.

One of the few stocks he has added this year. Business had declined, but he found there is tremendous value. They are expanding internationally.

Last quarter it fell. There are concerns about its free cash flow. Paid out $22 million in dividends last quarter, and only earned $14.5 million. However, they do have $233 million in cash, so they can achieve that burn rate for 6-7 years if their business doesn’t turn around. Part of the reason for the big burn last quarter was a bit of a mismatch of capital, timing of the dividend and launch of new growth initiatives. Feels they have a pretty good shot of turning their business around, and asset management continues to be a good place to be. Pretty cheap but more for the risk tolerant.

It broke this year’s uptrend. It is waffling right now. Some of the indicators are already quite low. You want to see it break the three year down trend it is on. If it broke below $11, then there is something going on.

(Market Call Minute) Would not buy here. High yield could be cut if they don’t get their sales going.

The independent mutual fund companies are having a tough time and we have seen consolidation to the larger players in the industry, but this one was not involved. We have seen significant assets leaving this company.

This company has struggled. Has a big juicy supportable yield of 8.4%. For investors who want to give it time, they are working to rework their product line-up, which will take some time. There are probably other firms that have the captive distribution and are better positioned that don’t have the same struggles.

Has some challenges. They have been losing assets and therefore revenues. Dividend is paid out of cash flow, so they have to turn around performance.

Asset managers so they will benefit if the market in general continues to move up and funds flow back into equities. Lost a very high profile manager a couple of years ago, which led them moving out of institutional management. Has a nice yield. Owned by the family so she does not think the dividend will get cut. Asset management generates a lot of cash flow, so she would not look at earnings number as an indication of cash generation.

Valuation. Severely pummeled over the last several years. Mutual fund businesses are worth a lot. This is a turnaround and has stabilized. Huge dividend just under 9%. Most employees own stock in this company so they will not lower the dividend. It is worth double what it is trading at today.

It’s volatile. Management are making a lot of changes right now. They have a lot of good exposure to international equities. As capital moves from fixed income into equities, this where you want to be.

Has been a perennial disappointment in the Canadian mutual fund business. Had a decent run through the middle of 2013, but has come off again because it has had some fairly disappointing sales. Emerging-market’s manager and her team left 18 months ago which slowed some outflow. You are now no higher than you were in 2009. Until you actually see a substantial improvement in performance and the stock sees some big inflows…..