North West Company (NWC-T)

Billy Kawasaki’s Insights - Billy’s most-liked answers from 5i Research. The company reports on Thursday. Likes the company somewhat. It’s cheap at 13x earnings and offers a nice, secure dividend. $591M in sales is expected with a $0.73 per share income. Unlock Premium - Try 5i Free

Billy Kawasaki’s Insights - Billy’s most-liked answers from 5i Research. They beat EPS estimates by 4 cents, at 70 cents. EBITDA beat estimates by 20% at $83.6M. Same store sales rose. They continue to benefit from the pandemic and have controlled costs well. Unlock Premium - Try 5i Free

Deals in staples with inelastic demand, running stores in Alaska and remote northern Canada and isolated parts of the South Pacific and Caribbean selling food and general merchandise. These areas are so remote that there is no competition from e-commerce. These are natural monopolies, so NWC enjoys higher margins than a grocer. They're rebuilding their Caribbean stores after the 2017 hurricanes. (4.55% dividend yield, Analysts; Price Target $32.40)

He held it a few years ago. It took a tumble and has started to stabilize. They have a unique business model. You have a good yield but he is cautious that they have not turned the corner yet after the pull back. It is a little expensive.

He is considering owning it. They have some short term issues, some self inflicted and some market. They just bought an airline.

It's retail in the far north. Unlike retail outside the far north, NWC has customers scattered geographically who depend on their goods. But he thinks revenue and dividend growth will be weak. You're not getting much return. He's not a fan of retail anyway. Higher costs to retail in the far north where they operate, namely transportation of goods on snowy roads.

The stock has come way down. It had a great run for many years with very little competition but today, the margins of Giant Tiger have come way down in the West because of increased competition and because they are selling a higher proportion of food, which carries low margin. The expansion to the Caribbean has brought better margins but much higher risk because of the hurricanes. It’s a well-managed company that faces headwinds right now. It’s not clear what they will or should do with Giant Tiger in the future.