Stock price when the opinion was issued
Still adding for new clients. Key has been that it has very little competition, unlike US counterparts. You pay up for that position, at 35x forward PE, but you get 15% earnings growth going forward.
Beneficiary of cumulative effects of inflation and uncertainty in Canadian economy. Recession-resilient business model. Outpaced the TSX since its IPO in 2009.
Wouldn't buy now. Has benefited from the economic uncertainty, and so valuation has come up dramatically. North of 35x PE, so risk that could contract over the long term. Wonderful business, well positioned with price points to capture a larger portion of wallets in tough times.
Last conference call referenced a small impact from sourcing from China, with the hit to margins yet to be seen.
One way to judge management is to think about capital costs versus their return on invested capital. How are they allocating capital and making over and above that, because that translates into free cashflow. FCF in 2021 was $700M; at the end of January 2024, it was $1.2B. So FCF has gone up 60%, a very good sign. Allows them to open new stores, with each new store adding revenue.
He looks for ROICs of 15% or greater. In terms of ROIC, they're making 20% on their money with cost of capital at 8.5%. That's a difference of 12%, and a whole lot of free cashflow. Lets them be flexible, continue with their growth plan, and stock price is performing as it should be.