Stock price when the opinion was issued
It is still growing by over 20% per year and trailing less than 20 X earnings. He is looking for a stock price 20 to 25% higher a year from now. It is getting international notice. Acquisitions are generally small and not big company changing ones. It is the best roll-up stock in Canada and one of the most attractive companies for new investors to buy. They don't do analyst calls.
Awesome compounder, strong uptrend. Only concern is that if we are, indeed, late cycle, infotech is going to be at risk. Don't put too much new $$ to work here. Wait for the bigger correction of a hefty 15-20%, likely later this year.
This name has a higher beta, and beta tells you how sensitive a stock is compared to the market.
He targets $4,900. It hasn't been hit like Shopify or Celestica, because CSU has so many horizontals. Microsoft has a software that is applied in many ways, but CSU is different. CSU applies their various software to specific industries, like a healthcare vertical/software. This diversification lowers volatility. Likes it.
One of a kind. One of the best compounders in the world. Big misconception is that the total addressable market is not that big. Fear that can't deploy capital for the same rate of return going forward as it has in the past. He very much disagrees with that.
The addressable market is huge. Of course with a larger acquisition, you can't expect the same 25-30% after-tax rates of return. But on a blended basis, can still compound at very high rates of return. Yield is 0.13%.
Claim to fame, and with tremendous success, has been to buy stable and cash-growing assets at the right price. One potential negative is whether it's hitting the law of large numbers? Now it needs larger deals to run the same playbook, and at a time when sophisticated private equity is starting to do the same thing.
Valuation is not cheap by any stretch, but you have to look at free cashflow per share and compare the growth. PE tends to be a bit messy with depreciation. Not as exorbitant as the PE ratio would suggest. Core position in Canadian portfolios.
Probably one of the best capital compounders in the world. But the secret's out. Very few years that it hasn't had a positive return. (Research reveals that going back to 2006, 2022 was the only year not positive.) Excels at small deals that private equity firms won't do, and this lets them keep growing. Spins off lots of cash. Loves it. Valuation is rich.
Don't focus on PE. There are some nuances to amortization that make earnings look quite low, and PE look in excess of 100x. Look at price-to-cashflow or FCF yield. Trades somewhere around 30-32x cashflow, fairly reasonable multiple, comparable to a MSFT. Wait for a pullback, if you can get it.
Everyone wants it, so they pay up for it. There hasn't been a year in his career that he hasn't been able to add it to client portfolios. Take advantage of volatility on a bad quarter or headline news. Don't chase, just be patient.