North West Company (NWC.TO)

Recent addition to their portfolio. Operates 225 stores in the Canadian north and Caribbean. Kind of immune to the influence of e-commerce given its logistics. Acts like a natural local monopoly. Trades at 14.5 times earnings (Analysts’ price target is $33.80)

Giant Tiger Stores and original HBC stores in Northern Canada. They also have operations in the south pacific and in Alaska. It has been a very well managed company with limited competition. Giant Tiger is not a huge part of their operation. It is well managed and pays a good dividend. It is a pretty safe stock and you pay a premium for it.

This is in retail, but in remote areas. It was once a very good dividend yielder, but was forced to cut their dividend. It is going to be a steady company, and one he would look at, but just not quite large enough or stable enough on a long-term basis. A decent company.

(A Top Pick Nov 4/16. Up 23%.) Still considers this as a Buy. It is nice if you can get it under $30. They will be impacted a little by the hurricane as they had 12 stores in the islands, which would have represented about 10% of pre-tax profit. Giant Tiger has been lagging, but they have been doing some tremendous adjustments in their management of product in the far North, and margins and market share have been going up. Has a new delivery system with the air transport that they purchased. Good company and good dividend.

This is in an upward trend and has gone to new highs, so technically it looks very, very good.

The business model has always been a really good one. They tend to sell in markets where competition has been more limited and prices high. Looking long term, the structure of those markets might be changing, but they have diversified. They own a number of Giant Tiger stores. They have operations in the Caribbean. He would prefer to buy this when it is under $30, and closer to $25 if it was available. It is not cheap now, trading at 4X BV.

This has the double whammy that it is consumer, which is out of favour a little, but this came down too much, and it is also basically a yield play. Over time, it has done relatively well, but there has been some profit taking. It has a near monopoly up north where its stores are. Not a big growth company, but you can get the yield plus a little over.

It is one of the oldest companies in Canada. It is a no growth situation. There are far more interesting names to own in the food distribution space.

This has pulled back considerably from its highs. A leading retailer, particularly in Northern Canada, plus they offer a chain of discount stores called Giant Tiger and Cost U Less. They are also in the Caribbean, Alaska and South Pacific. Dividend yield of 4.93%.

They own a whole bunch of specialty food stores in the Northeast. He just sold his holdings earlier this month. It is holding in at around $26 and he is looking for a re-entry at around $25.83. The bottoming process however, can take several months.

(Market Call Minute) He likes the sector but does not know the economy of the North at present.

They meet his criteria. He likes the company. They are exposed to the cyclical nature of the resource space. The dividend yield is attractive. He would look at holding it for a long time. Get it below $30.

This is in a very unique niche. They serve parts of remote locations and are the only player in town. A very good business, but he is being very cautious on how much he is willing to pay. Hopes he gets it into his fund when he thinks he is getting paid to take the risk.

He has had it for some time. He likes it longer term, but does not think it is a buy at today’s levels. Things have slowed down in the economy of the north. The dividend is safe. If the price of the stock went too much higher he would consider taking some off the table.

(A Top Pick June 16/14. Up 4.61%.) Has pulled back a little bit recently and at current price levels, he would almost consider adding more.