Robert McWhirter Propel Holdings PRL-T COMMENT Jul 07, 2025

Non-prime lending is a tough business. Canada has capped interest rates on how much you can charge. They have to charge a lot to make any money. PRL has grown a lot since going public a few years ago. They raised their dividend many times. Shares climbed to $40, then sank in recent months, though their business has not changed. Why? Fundamentals are sound. Perhaps there are fears of loan defaults. But during recessions, they get more clients, people desperate for loans. Caveat: shares go down with the market in a recession. Dividend and growth are okay. The valuation is down to a low and is attractive.

Pretty solid earnings, most metrics better than expected. Missed core EPS by 2 cents. Growth names are really getting smashed here as people pull out. Enormous ability to grow, nothing wrong with it. Trades at 6x 2025 PE, with 35% growth rate.

In recessions or growth scares, people have less ability to pay back loans. So a company's PCLs are a concern. 90% of its business is in the US right now. Growing in Canada and in the UK. 

If we go into a recession (but he doesn't think we are), this name is probably going to get worse. A really good name given the setup right now on valuation, execution, and the market. If you own it in a non-registered account, try to buy more.

Great company and management. Delivers very good risk-adjusted returns, very high ROE. Likes that they can reprice loans at a very fast rate. Need to see additional diversification of funding sources; if so, would warrant a higher multiple. UK acquisition highly accretive, which will play out over 12-24 months.

Pullback is unwarranted, good time to buy. Concern about credit quality, but so far credit experience has been good. 

Very fast-growing. Fear is that if we enter a recession, how many of the borrowers won't be able to pay back loans? That's a risk. With other things on sale, he'd pass. Management's done a spectacular job.

Impressive management team, very aggressive. Earnings have shot up, and the outlook continues to do so. Economic uncertainty is a reason to be afraid. There's more noise in the economy than actual downside. Not a high-quality dividend paying stock. OK for an aggressive investor.

90% of business is in the US, so it's insulated from tariffs. He understands that they've been hiring, even in this tough environment. Growth name, which can get really smashed when there's concern about darker economic times. Holding up pretty well. Trades at a very reasonable 6.6x 2026 PE, growing at 41%. AI-powered lender. UK acquisition is accretive.

Incremental buy.

Loans mostly in the US, also a Canadian division. Recent UK acquisition. Last week, refinanced debt at substantially lower rate and upsized it. Now has lots of firepower at a lower rate. Growth, nice dividend, trades at 7x PE. Consensus growth for Q1 is 40%. Extremely well run, management owns a ton of stock. For him, a must-own. Yield is 2.27%.

(Analysts’ price target is $40.50)

Definitely. On the chart you can see the cup and the handle. Good pattern for buying, and that's happening. Stock's going higher. Great-looking pattern. He can see upside to the mid-$40s.

Is approaching its last high of February around $42. Would like to see it break above that, because a stock can always break down. It's actually better to buy higher.