Opinions
Paul Harris, CFA
Fiera Capital Corp
FSZ-T
COMMENT
Sep 26, 2019
Stock price when the opinion was issued
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It is in the field of asset management and manages $164 billion in assets. It has grown by acquisition in the last while but the stock price is too low now for them to use it as currency for more acquisitions. It needs to be bigger in this type of business and there are better places to be.
The $4B withdrawal is fairly serious, though FSZ does have $166B, and it continues a trend of some assets leaving the company (including money that earlier flowed out to Pinestone following Nadim Risk's departure in 2021). On the plus side, it is coming at a time of good markets, and FSZ has seen some positive momentum recently (we have comments on its quarter posted). The 10% drawdown seems a bit much on the news, but any large $$ exit is never good for sentiment. But the drop may have been partly profit-taking as well, as shares have been on a roll prior to this event.
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Pays nearly a 7% yield. Cheap PE, too. They've grown by acquisition, owning hedge funds,. private equity, etc. But can they grow organically and increase margins? If they acquire, they must buy big companies to make enough of an impact. They also face heavy competition from ETFs and companies like Blackrock.