Small lender reports big earnings jump

Article Excerpt

HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. $43 (Toronto symbol HCG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 34.7 million; Market cap; $1.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.1; Dividend yield: 1.5%; SI Rating: Average) specializes in residential first mortgages to small business owners, the self-employed and others who don’t meet the stricter criteria of larger, traditional lenders. The company earned a record $1.25 a share in the three months ended June 30, 2010. That’s up 26.3% from $0.99 a year earlier. Low interest rates continue to fuel strong demand for new mortgages. As well, Home Capital recently began offering credit cards and other types of consumer loans. Bad loans fell to 0.67% of its total loan portfolio from 1.26% a year earlier. Home Capital Group is a buy. buy…