Opinions
Lyle Stein
High Liner Foods
HLF-T
BUY
Apr 26, 2018
Stock price when the opinion was issued
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The company is 120 years old and is the leading brand in North America in frozen value added seafood, number 1 in the Canadian retail segment and number 1 in the U.S. food services segment. Eating fish is considered a healthy alternative to eating meats and although Americans are not big fish eaters, there is good growth potential as attitudes may change. It is paying down debt as well as increasing the dividend by 30% and it recently reported record results. Trades at 7X earnings and insiders own 40%, almost unheard of.
#1 supplier to retail channel in Canada, and #1 in US to food services. Sells under own name and private label. Seafood consumption low in NA, huge potential for growth. Revenue growth stalled with consumers cutting back on higher-priced items. In rally mode again. Huge free cashflow, buying back lots of shares, increased divvie by 30%, paying down debt. Dirt cheap at 8x PE. Insiders own 40%. Feels it will be sold down the road.
HLF hit a multi-year high as the Mrs. Pauls and Van de Kamp acquisition looks solid. It continues HLF's plan to diversify its global supply chain, and it already co-manufactures for the brands. There will be a small 1c negative impact to earnings initially, but the strategic rationale makes sense for the long term. HLF is buying $75M in sales on a base of about $950 currently. The stock is up 18% YTD yet is still only 8X earnings. Debt continues to be high, however. We like the deal and the momentum. We would be OK buying this in a TFSA but for more aggressive investors only.
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He decided to keep the name because the yield is safe and good. It is a touch business. They are doing value added food processing on many types of fish. Margins have been squeezed. He thinks this might be coming to an end. The shrimp farm in Asia looks like it is fixed. The company has value at some point. It is the kind of name that private equity tends to gravitate to. He thinks it should be trading higher, but it is not a momentum name.