Earning Reports to Watch (Feb 04-08)

(A Top Pick Feb 24/20, Up 3%) It is a core position. It is one of two players in Canada. Top line growth slowed intentionally. They have done phenomenally well during the pandemic. They have done a good job reducing expenses.

Has had a huge run and is not sure he would be courageous enough to get onboard at this point. Management has done a remarkable job of building this. He would look for a little lower entry point.

A solid company with a good balance sheet and nice yield. There is a modest opportunity for upside. Since 2012 they have traded between 2.5 and 3.5 times book, with a downward basis trend. The share price is unchanged in ten years and has added no value to investors in that time. He calls these…

He doesn’t know the seasonality on this, but the technicals show that it has been in an upward trend for quite a period of time. During the last little while, it has been in a trading range between around $19 and $22. It is not unusual for a lot of stocks in the consumer staples…

Safer than a non-royalty stock? They pay out everything they earn at a 13.5% dividend yield. It's sold off sharply, because it is perceived that fast food chains will close down during this outbreak.

Very strong brand. Sales growing quickly, 33% compound rate over last 3 years, by expanding geographically and improving e-commerce channel. Margins have been improving. Lots of room to grow over a multi-year timeframe. No dividend. (Analysts’ price target is $35.31)

An amazing company over the years. The stock has come off and the valuation is the lowest it has been in 6 years. The pandemic has hurt their sales and earnings. Give it a couple of quarters and the numbers will start to look better. It is the most attractive it has been for a…

Pleasantly surprised with the business fundamentals. Aspects of their business are growing. Very undemanding valuation. Continue to hold. It's on his watch list.

(A Top Pick Nov 22/18, Up 12%)Convertible 8% 2022 bonds He owned the Yellow senior bonds, but then moved into these convertibles. Most of their revenues are in digital, but that has struggled. New management has cut costs a lot until free cash flow now stands around $100 million this year. Their EBITDA margins are…

(A Top Pick Jul 27/17, Down 6%) Volatile. It's come down a lot, but there's a lot of upside ahead. Well-managed. They can make accretive acqusitions. Their problems integrating some businesses are behind them and they now have a strong runway ahead.

(A Top Pick Jan 10/20, Up 12%) Trades at around 14x with 32% growth rate. Has done great cost-cutting measures and expects this to go higher with the recovery. It pays a nice dividend. You want to buy when there is fear like right now.

It’s under review by the government whether the takeover will take place. You’re dealing with regulatory uncertainty right now. If you bought it before the takeover, unless you’re in tune with what will happen, he wouldn’t own the stock any longer. The price is fair.

Very interesting opportunity. Automating production in healthcare and battery production. World is looking to lower costs and bring some processes onshore. Backlog is growing. Right place at right time. Stock's unreasonably down 20% this year. Great management executing well. No dividend. (Analysts’ price target is $25.50)

BIP.UN vs. BAM Strong earnings. Sale of Enwave gave them a healthy profit. BAM is also a great company to invest in, especially as it's trading at a discount to NAV. But with BAM, you get exposure to BPY, BEP, and the rest of the suite. BIP is more of an operational manager. If you…

TIH vs. CAT Instead of Caterpillar, he prefers Toromont, which has higher dividend growth and better price performance.

(A Top Pick May 10/19, Down 12%) They're effectively a private equity firm. It's doing well considering markets now. They look to generate a 15% return on their portfolio of energy, infrastructure and power. This market is lining up perfectly for someone with cash. There'll be opportunities for debt rescue or capitalizing companies or buying…

They execute brilliantly, integrating very well. They produce landing gear for airplanes. They finished absorbing a major acquisition of a Spanish company which got them into Airbus. They also work on the Boeing 777x. The capex and acquisition spend is now done, so they can pay down debt or buy more companies. HRX is one…

Cobalt is attractive but this is not a cheap producer, because they're in Canada and not Russia or Congo.

This has been quite erratic and trading in quite a wide range. He’s been seeing contraction in breadth in forest companies, so is a little cautious on this area. If he had to focus in one space, it would be on lumber which looks attractive. You can use a basket of them through the ETF…

The commodity price is the big driver. New home building is strong as is renovation. A lot of supply was take out going into COVID. It is hard for them to ramp up any capacity so the prices continue to be high. Having a very large shareholder makes them a little more focused on the…

Seasonally, forest product stocks have a history of reaching a peak around the 3rd week in April. This year is no different. Probably an opportunity to take some money off table.

If US dollar falls, or inflation starts to rise, farmers should have more income to buy fertilizer and seeds. Will benefit from rising potash and nitrogen prices. Usually happens at this stage in the economy if we truly are going to get a breakout. Yield is 3.27%. (Analysts’ price target is $73.38)

Earnings expectations are for a $0.14 loss this year per share, compared to $1.23 from last year. The company has recovered to strongly on the US housing market recovery. Based on historic valuations relative to book value he sees a range of $11 to $16 for the share price. It has a good balance sheet.…

(A Top Pick Dec 13/19, Up 6%) A steady business. It's a volume business. It's ridden through Covid with confidence and is set up very well to supply steel to the US in the coming 6 months. There'll be a surge in steel demand.

He rarely talks about Gold. He thinks it is a strong sector bet. It is been out of favor for so long that mines have closed, productions have closed, mergers and acquisitions happened. Central Banks are now massive buyers of Gold. they want to get out of the US dollar. The Fed is not raising…

Uses their GPS system to figure out where trains are, and to more accurately schedule trains and service vehicles for people working on the rails. Reported on Aug 14 and earnings were down 10%. That was against a 32% increase in sales. In the coming quarter, earnings are expected to be down 75% year-over-year. Great…

It is a well run company. He got out of it. They paid out a lot of special dividends and the stock did well, but he got out because most of the catalysts are out of it.

A US company that's consolidating in the medical market (home lifts, ventilators, oxygen, etc.). He continues to like it. It was a past pick and since they made an acquisition. The stock has increased, though not as much as he expected. He predicts the valuation will be pretty attractive. This could be a takeover target…

They make life easier for large diagnostic test companies. It automates the testing process. They did a final financing. They've been working on this technology for 5 years.

Making changes to be able to invest more in foreign stocks. Wait to see how they do.

Share price on the path to recovery. Scores well on valuation, but held back by price momentum. Trades cheaply. Solid yield. Beat most recent quarter. Housing markets have been incredibly resilient. Could see himself as a buyer as they rotate into financials.

The stock has been a high performer in recent years, so it's cooling down now and testing support levels. That is not the worst thing, though. It remains well-run and continues to dominate market share. As it consolidates with this European acquisition, watch it. As Intact touches the 50- or 200-day moving average, buy it.

Owned it a few years ago and cut his losses. Now, cut your losses. This business is struggling as an asset manager, specifically to retain and attract new clients. Also, their key managers, including the CEO, have been leaving. They won't generate much in performance fees, which has been an attraction for investors in the…

BAM has been a saviour with its takeover offer. For REITs, he zeros in on two areas: multi-residential and industrial. Look at IIP.UN. It's a pretty good place to park capital for the long term. Industrial REITs are still attractive, even with their bounce off the lows.

GWO vs. MFC Likes Great West because of its strong yield of about 4.76%. CMF dividend is 4.63%. Both have performed well since March 2020. Quite similar. MFC provides more foreign exposure, especially Asia. Insurers are doing well now, and benefit from steepening yield curves.

Stockchase Research Editor: Michael O'Reilly CIX is a Canadian financial asset management company who manages mutual and various hedge funds. It trades a just over 7x earnings, compared to a sector average of 14x. There has been a sizable increase in insider buying over the past three months. It pays a good dividend backed by…

IGM-T vs. MIC-T. He would prefer MIC-T. He likes the underlying fundamentals, but has always worried about a real estate downturn and how it would affect it. He prefers it to IGM-T where he does not see how the fee structure would be sustainable in the long run.

If oil is going to do better then this one is going to do better. The oil space in Canada is starting to heat up. You have demand coming back and some of the Canadian egress issues are no longer a factor going forward. There are a lot of positives going forward in the space.…

Generally not a fan of the Chinese inter-listed companies. He has a Short position in this one. There are better places to be.

(A Top Pick Oct 28/19, Up 3%) MTL.DB-T Convertible Bonds Maturing 2026, 5.75%. He sold them out of his equity portfolio but still owns them in his bond portfolio. He is very familiar with the company and they have a very consistent track record. There is an imbedded call option in the share that triggers…

A conglomerate and he isn’t a big fan of this model. A well-known catalyst investor has just purchased about 19%. May sell of some weaker units.

A heavy oil pick pipelines down the coast with 66% of volumes. At $60 oil. Generates $900 million in fresh cash flow before hedges. They can delever quickly--and heavy debt has long been a knock against MEG. It trades at 4x 135% upside. He wants only oil stocks offering at least 100% upside. It's a…

Stockchase Research Editor: Michael O'Reilly With the economy looking to get back on its feet, this is a good entry for a high-quality energy producer. Trading at 85% of book value and with a PEG of 0.34, it is strong value now. We would buy with a stop-loss at $4.50, looking to achieve $8.75 --…

We are moving into a period when there has been very little new uranium mines and contracts are coming up for renewal. There are 55 reactors under construction around the world. Eventually supply constraints will catch up. (Analysts’ price target is $186.67)

They sell energy contracts. They have under gone several management changes over the years. He is not a great fan of this business model.

One of his favourite Canadian names for renewables. It's pulled back because renewables are taking a breather after soaring earlier his year, driven by Pres. Biden pro-green energy stance; U.S. investors jumped on the bandwagon. Harsh winter weather in Texas shows that renewables can be effected and around the same time BEP issued more shares,…

A lot of success is tied to Gaz Metro in Québec, but they also have some wind farms that have recently come online in the last year or 2, and giving good returns to the company. Recent earnings were solid and they raised the dividend by 3.7%, and plan to raise it 4% next year.…

Billy Kawasaki’s Insights - Billy’s most-liked answers from 5i Research. It’s one of the safest blue chip stocks, although it is not completely risk-free. It is a good choice for conservative investors. An allocation of around 10% for telecom would be good depending on your risk tolerance. Unlock Premium - Try 5i Free