p>WAJAX CORP. $20.60 (Toronto symbol WJX; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (905-212-3300; www.wajax.ca; Shares outstanding:20.0 million; Market cap: $414.1 million; Dividend yield: 4.9%) sells and services cranes, forklifts and other heavy equipment. It also provides related parts (such as bearings, motors, hoses and fittings) and power systems (including diesel engines and transmissions). The company’s customers are in the natural resource, construction, manufacturing and transportation industries.
In the three months ended March 31, 2015, Wajax’s revenue fell 4.3%, to $317.2 million from $331.4 million a year earlier, as mining, oil and gas and oil sands firms made fewer purchases.
Earnings declined 14.0%, to $5.7 million, or $0.34 a share, from $6.7 million, or $0.40. The first quarter is typically Wajax’s slowest, as some of its clients have winter shutdowns.
Share issue will cut debt
The company needs sustained growth in Canadian mining and oil and gas drilling to keep its revenue and earnings rising, but its long-term outlook is positive.
Wajax’s long-term debt of $236.1 million is a high 57% of its market cap, but it has just raised $74.8 million in a share issue to pay down some of that debt.
The stock trades at just 11.4 times Wajax’s forecast 2015 earnings of $1.80 a share, though that estimate could prove optimistic if commodity prices are slow to recover. The stock yields 4.9%, and the dividend looks sustainable.
Wajax is still a buy.
