AtkinsRéalis Group Inc. (ATRL.TO)

A tremendous company. The real concern here is if criminal charges are brought against the company, which will exclude them from future contracts with various government agencies. They have already, more or less, proved in court that the wrongdoing was not at the high levels of the company, but more of a division situation. In fact they have won a case against one of their employees.

Feels it is somewhat fairly valued, but does feel there is a long-term value proposition to the story. A lot of the problems they had in the past look to be behind them. They have been able to demonstrate that they can still operate and win business going forward. Good long-term hold. Be prepared to add when the market sells off.

Likes the sector. It has done very well. They had some issues that are now behind them. Just bought a large construction and engineering firm.

We began a new uptrend in mid 2012. There is now no reason not to own it. You reduce at the top of the trend channel and accumulate at the bottom. It looks fine to him.

They are trying to be out of the doghouse. They got over all the lawsuits. They sold off some assets. They are getting into higher growth assets. The stock chart looks pretty decent.

(Market Call Minute.) He would participate on a pull back.

He was not worried about the scandal which was caused by employees that are gone from the company. They cleaned up the ethics of the company, lost no business and then gained more. They are monetizing non-strategic assets and are growing the company.

Company has done a good turnaround. Had some significant challenges that they got out of the way. Looks like they are selling off some of their assets, which is a good thing. They want to get back into their core business, which is good, but is a more cyclical business.

This is one of his growth stocks. Likes this under $50. Not adding to his holdings at the moment. There are some real good kickers in this. They own a chunk of the 407 and have other assets they can sell. Just sold off a chunk of their Alberta energy holdings. Thinks they are riding the wave of big, international, engineering projects, which he feels are going to go on for decades.

This is a stock that has been disliked for a long period of time. There was a reasonable Short position on it. It’s in the right space, i.e., industrial/infrastructure. It has finally broken out this year and he thinks the stock is on its way. A good place to be.

(A Top Pick Aug 6/13. Up 46.14%.) Stock had got too cheap and is now fully valued. Sold his holdings in order to Buy DIRECTV (DTV-Q).

Bought this when they got new management. New management is very big on ethical behaviour and brought in some ethics people. During that time, it didn’t lose any business because of what had happened and continued to bring in new business at a great level. In the process of selling its Alta Link in Alberta. It has highway 407 and is talking about possibly selling 20% of it. Announced a merger with an English engineering firm which the market liked very much. Still trades at a big discount to other engineering/construction companies. Thinks there is significant upside. There are still more headline risks. There is still a multimillion dollar penalty that is going to be assessed against them. It will be a big headline again, but it is old news. If it falls, that will be a buying opportunity, because it doesn’t affect the company going forward.

Has been in transition over the last couple of years. Feels all of the scandals they had, a couple of years ago are pretty much behind them. New CEO has done a very good job of weeding out that element of the company. Have been making great gains in getting contracts, particularly domestically. It is now priced at a point where it is probably close to 20X earnings and is selling at over 4X Book Value. On ROE, they are going to earn about $3 on a BV of $14, and this is a little bit rich.

Hit a rough patch awhile ago with a bribery scandal. Not a super risky company. They own a part of Highway 407, and they had really strong numbers from this. If you own, consider taking some profits.

New CEO has done a good job in cleaning house and bringing in new top level management and re-establishing trust. Management would like to re-shift the business from minority interest and infrastructure assets, to a pure E&C (energy and construction) business, and grow the oil/gas segment. If you back out the concession assets, the core E&C business trades at stub value of around 5.5X. It is going to take some time for this strategy to turn things around. He would prefer WSP Global (WSP-T) or Stantec (STN-T).