CI Financial CorpCIX.TOCOMMENTApr 19, 2016Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Aug 14, 2025. Market Open.
Building US business dramatically, planning to take public sometime in the future. Canadian side is well run, but the mutual funds business hasn't grown in years, perhaps 10% a year. Big dividend. Combining both sides of the business should garner a $35 stock price easily, $50 if they really tried. Yield is 4.6%.
(Analysts’ price target is $19.25)It used to be a great stock and the earnings ratio of 20X has dropped to 5X. It pays a 5% dividend and is buying back stock. The IPO of the U.S. business part is possible. It sold off part of its business to private equity via preferred shares which have a 14% guaranteed annual minimum return.. This could cause losses to common shareholders. He would prefer IGM.
This has been a really well managed company, and managed to do what most other independent mutual fund companies haven’t. They competed very effectively against the banks, who obviously have an advantageous position with their reach. Recently they’ve gone more into redemption, meaning that some of their unit holders are exiting. Some of their bigger franchises have had slightly less good returns. Also, there is a spotlight on fees, which is an issue. If you take a long term view that equity markets are going to do very, very well over the next number of years, this company will likely be okay. Technically it is close to a 52-week low. This is a bit of a wait and see.