Exchange Income (EIF-T)

Business is 80% aviation, 20% manufacturing. Recent acquisition looks accretive. Trades ~12x, growing ~16%. Money's flowing into safer areas like this one. Good balance sheet. Payout ratio is 68%, will probably boost dividend in the next year or two. Real growth engine is from being in the north and having really good pricing power.

Only thing is, if we're in for rocky markets, you'll probably get a chance to buy cheaper.

Their transportation business in the far north is largely a monopoly. They've bought some fine companies and pay a good dividend, but leaves little cash. So when they buy a company, they do an equity issue. Some of their businesses are highly protected with a moat, good. But their industrial business carries economic/tariff risk. Dividend, valuation and management are all good. An income, not a growth stock.

Would be less exposed to any tariffs imposed.

Beat on aviation in Q3, raised 2025 guidance on the back of their latest acquisition of Spartan. Lumpy, not as steady a compounder as BIP.UN. Always kind of cheap, now 13x PE for 2026 and growing 17%. Nice dividend, which will probably be boosted; payout ratio is fine. 

Not for everyone. Small cap that gets forgotten, so that's a good reason to own.

Holding company, without much integration between assets. Not much value creation from acquiring and running assets. Wouldn't expect it to outperform the market by a lot. Fair value right now, a hold.

Getting into intelligence and surveillance globally. Manufacturing is weak now due to macro environment, but sees it turning around. Likes it for yield and growth.

EPS of 80c missed estimates of 85c; Revenue of $660.5M missed estimates of $678.1M. EBITDA of $157M beat estimates of $152.8M. Revenue rose 5.3%. EBITDA rose 6.8%. Guidance was largely maintained. The manufacturing segment is seeing some customer wariness and less bookings. It is a cyclical segment and we would not really consider this a red flag to the company. The stock is cheap and the payout at 61% (up from 57%) remains OK. 
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Nice little name that everyone forgets about. Aviation, industrial. Q1 strong, some manufacturing weakness. Reiterated full-year guidance. Nice organic growth. Nice dividend, low payout ratio, will probably increase dividend. Improving balance sheet. 14% growth, trading ~10x. Cheap, overlooked, some dividend growth. Can buy here.

It is a good name and operates in rural and northern areas in Canada. It is the only airline in the North Pacific region. It operates in niche businesses and is like a mini-monopoly. It has a good CEO and she wants to see if this applies to the whole team behind the CEO. Has a 5.7% yield

Good business with strong fundamentals. Continues to win large government contracts. Confident stock will perform over the long term. Would investors to hold company for the long term. 

It is unique in the commercial flying business in Canada. It has a very good track record, but there doesn't seem to be a catalyst for growth going forward. He owns it in their income portfolio since its great rate of return means that shareholders are participating in its profitability.

Really well run, proven by its track record. He needs to get comfortable with the way the company does different deals in diversified businesses, leaving management teams in place. Underlying businesses are pretty solid. Sources pilots from First Nations communities. He doesn't yet fully understand the dynamics of northern aviation. Stock doesn't fall too often, and he's looking at it.

Still likes it. They guided for 2024, about 5% below analysts' estimates, due to changes in contracts in their medevac business coming on late. Doesn't bother him, though it effected shares. Likes their transparency and sees this as a buying opportunity. They just landed a contract with Air Canada in eastern Canada. RBC just added it to their conviction list.

An historic compounder that pays a good dividend. They buy businesses, invest in them and grow them organically. Done very well this way. But shares have sold off and haven't recovered as he expected. Maybe their deals with airlines are a factor. Fine managers over 20 years ago.

We can't make short term predictions with any degree of accuracy, but EIF rose 8% with the November rally (plus a 21c dividend). It also just raised its dividend 4.8%. Much of course will depend here, and it will follow the market, but it is not typically the type of stock that 'spikes' higher. We would be OK with a tax loss/rebuy strategy with AD.UN as a short term proxy. 
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