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

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…..

Dividend is sustainable as long as the family holds the company. They have had significant loss of assets over the last few years and that trend does not show any signs of abating. He would look for more stability before buying it.

Struggled over the years. Don’t have the distribution that other mutual fund companies have. Major redemptions and loss of portfolio managers over the years.

You don’t declare head and shoulders until it breaks through. We are marking time at this point. If you buy it, it is for the turnaround story. This is a time when wealth management does well. If it goes below here then he would be concerned. He wants to see it resolve itself one way or the other. Hold or don’t get in yet.

An embattled mutual fund company right now. They are still very large. Doesn’t own it and is not planning on buying it anytime soon. The question of it being a buyout is certainly a potential catalyst but wouldn’t buy it for this alone. If you own, he would Hold for a potential buyout, otherwise he would not own.

Thinks the 8.5% yield is safe. Management didn’t cut it last year or the year before so he doesn’t think they will be cutting at anytime soon. You would think that an asset manager should do well in this environment but this company has had some performance issues. Feels this fund company remains challenged as it continues to experience out flows. Prefers Gluskin Sheff (GS-T). If this one gets down to $11, that would represent a very compelling buying opportunity because it starts to trade at it big discount to the group.

8.3% dividend is not safe 3 years from now. They are the laggard in the asset management world. Yield keeps them safe but it is not as safe as people think it is. Fund lineup is not that exciting to investors.

Most of the money managers have done well, as they should, but this one has lagged. As long as the bull market remains intact, it will be dragged higher. Yield is a bit scary, however.

Mutual fund industry will go through big changes over the next few years. It involves full disclosure over fees. He thinks eventually the two products will be the same size. AGF is a high dividend payer and people like that.

Mutual fund business is facing a lot of competition from ETFs, which are growing very, very rapidly. This is still pretty much a passive investment approach. He is a big believer in active management. This is the 2^nd or 3^rd largest independent mutual fund, so you have a couple of things that could occur. There could be consolidation in the industry. Dividend is good.

Assets under administration are still at about where they were a year ago. They finally started to tick up over the month of October. More levered to international equities. If things continue to where they are, this is a good place to be. 7.5% yield. Payout ratio is about 180%, so it is a higher risk name.

Takeovers are always hard to predict, especially with a large family ownership. It is a tough business with regulation changes and competition. He prefers banks.

Large mutual fund complex that had some hard times in their specialties being out of international favour. They are turning that around. Not his favourite name and they are probably losing market share, but it is a cash flow producing machine that is losing market share over the long term.

Has been having a lot of problems. One of the last few publicly available mutual fund choices out there.

Seem to have found their bottom and are getting back on track. His issue would be that at this stage in a cycle, as we go through a correction, it is an asset management company so if the stock market goes down 10% asset management will go down more than that. 8.2% dividend yield is probably safe. Seems to have found their bottom and are getting back on track. His issue would be that at this stage in a cycle, as we go through a correction, it is an asset management company so if the stock market goes down 10% asset management will go down more than that. 8.2% dividend yield is probably safe.