AtkinsRealis Group (ATRL.TO)

Wait for a pullback, as optimism of whole world on uranium is at fever pitch right now (but for very good reason). Need uranium and nuclear to be part of the power solution. Proxy for uranium market (illiquid and opaque), and spot uranium prices are very strong.

Has come back a lot from its SNC Lavalin days. Recent talk of them moving into nuclear was a boost. Are shifting money from share buybacks to more M&A is a sign of them seeing opportunity. They've had a good rally. The price now vs. future growth looks all right, okay.

Over 12 months, Aecon could do better. It's more exposed to Canada, more revenues from Canada, whereas Atkins sees more global revenues. But 20% of Atkins' revenues come from nuclear which is booming. Atkins trades at a discount to peers. Aecon's backlog will expand a lot from Build Canada.

Is still growth ahead. Good that they sold the 407 ETR to pay down their debt. Are a pure engineering company, no longer saddled with fixed contracts they'd have to pay for cost overruns on projects. Margins have risen. Are well positioned for new demand for nuclear energy. Is no longer trading at discount to peers, but growth will continue.

Trades close to WSP multiple of ~40x PE. That's one of the reasons she doesn't own it. Likes exposure to nuclear and to the public sector. Doesn't like dividend yield of less than 1%. International exposure brings risk.

She'd prefer to own (and does) ARE, with a higher dividend and more reasonable valuation.

The nuclear space is much needed and this is their area of expertise. Buy in chunks.

Still owns, but lightened up recently. Huge move on engineering for global nuclear expansion. Good story, but big run.

Sold recently on the great run. New CEO has done a good job cleaning up past scandals. Good price on recent sale of stake in Hwy 407. Benefits from nuclear buildout. Not super-expensive, but not cheap.

They have a great opportunity on the nuclear energy side. Nuclear energy is needed as a stable energy source to power data base centres. As the nuclear component develops they are making decent money in the interim with its engineering services business. Has an internal free cash flow of 7.4%, much greater than the average and almost 7 times greater than the present TSX stock market. Also has an attractive PEG ratio. There was a 10% earnings surprise.
Buy 12  Hold 1  Sell 1

The former SNC Lavalin which had a checkered history. He likes professional services companies, because there will always be a demand for them. The problem is that occasionally a CEO will take a fixed-price contract that could make a nice margin or lose 5-years' profits. ATRL has been through that. He likes where ATRL is heading. The market isn't afraid of its near-30x PE. Strong growth with 9% margins, which lag its peers like Stantec, but there's little margin of safety here.

Rebranded. Becoming a very large, global player in engineering and project management. Asset light. Not in construction anymore. Reasonable margins. Huge backlog. About $10B in revenue a year. Big infrastructure spending has to happen globally. Interest rates coming down is a good thing. Expertise in nuclear. Yield is 0.12%.

Not the part of the segment you want to be in.

When it comes to Canadian infrastructure investment, there are some good companies out there and already trading at attractive multiples. And that's before accounting for any additional investments. This company has really transformed. Nuclear is ~20% of its business and growing at 30% annualized.

Hard business to value. Not a good option for investors. Better for investors to avoid. 

Canadian engineering firms have a strong business model in Canada, and they're continuing to expand outside Canada; lots of opportunities to do well. He holds STN instead. Buy a bit now. If price goes up, you'll be happy you got in earlier. If price goes down, buy a bit more to average down.