Updating Power Corp., Pengrowth Energy and TD Bank

Article Excerpt

POWER CORP. $33.52 (Toronto symbol POW; Shares outstanding: 412.6 million; Market cap: $15.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Div. yield: 3.5%; www.powercorporation.com) is a diversified holding company. It holds its financial assets through 65.7%-owned Power Financial. These financial assets include 68.1% of Great- West Lifeco, one of Canada’s largest life insurers, and 58.7% of IGM Financial, a leading Canadian mutual fund provider. As well, Power Financial owns 50% of holding company Parjointco, which holds a 55.5% stake in Switzerland-listed Pargesa Holdings SA. Pargesa has 95% of its assets in five large European firms: Imerys (minerals), Total SA (oil), Pernod Ricard (wine and spirits), SGS (inspection, testing and certification services) and Lafarge (cement and building materials). Power Corp. also has investments in Asia. In 2014, Power Corp.’s earnings per share rose 30.7%, to $2.77 from $2.12 a year earlier. The stock trades at 11.6 times this year’s forecast earnings of $2.88 a share. It yields 3.5%. Power Corp. is a buy. …