holding company
DUNDEE CORP. $19 (Toronto symbol DC.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 54.1 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.dundeecorp.com) is a holding company with investments in wealth management, real estate, natural resources and agriculture.
In the three months ended June 30, 2013, Dundee lost $69.3 million, or $1.32 a share. However, that’s a big improvement over the $133.6 million, or $2.47 a share, it lost a year earlier. That’s because the company had fewer losses from its investment portfolio. Revenue rose 2.0%, to $48.0 million from $47.1 million.
Dundee is a buy....
In the three months ended June 30, 2013, Dundee lost $69.3 million, or $1.32 a share. However, that’s a big improvement over the $133.6 million, or $2.47 a share, it lost a year earlier. That’s because the company had fewer losses from its investment portfolio. Revenue rose 2.0%, to $48.0 million from $47.1 million.
Dundee is a buy....
GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $30 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $33.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) earned $521 million in the three months ended June 30, 2013, up 6.8% from $488 million a year earlier....
Last week I pointed out that learning what not to do can be the hardest and costliest part of an investor’s education. In that issue, I focused on how this applies to technical analysis—the practice of trying to base investment decisions on past trading and market history. This week I want to expand on what I said, since the idea applies to a wide range of narrow approaches to investing. To succeed as an investor, you have to take a broad view in making investment decisions. Technical analysis and other narrow views do sometimes seem to “work” for lengthy periods, of course. But they only work for a minority of the time, and they never work consistently. Instead, they run hot and cold. As with all random events, their successes occur in bunches. These bunches of successes come in random lengths, with random beginning and end points. It’s easy to see how this applies with technical analysis, which has an arcane air about it. But the same principle works for something as straightforward and commonsensical as, say, value investing....
MAPLE LEAF FOODS INC., $14.44, Toronto symbol MFI, rose 8% on Friday after it agreed to sell its Rothsay rendering operations to Texas-based Darling International Inc. (New York symbol DAR). Rothsay recycles by-products from Maple Leaf’s main meat-processing operations into a variety of ingredients for other products, including animal feed, soaps, lotions, cosmetics, fertilizers and plastics. Rothsay also makes biodiesel fuels. Maple Leaf will receive $645 million when the deal closes, probably by the end of 2013. That’s equal to 32% of its $2.0-billion market cap (or the value of all of its outstanding shares)....
ATCO LTD. (Toronto symbols ACO.X [class I non-voting] $44 and ACO.Y [class II voting] $44; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 115.2 million; Market cap: $5.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.atco.com) is a holding company. Its main subsidiary is 52.9%-owned Canadian Utilities (see left). It also owns 75.5% of ATCO Structures & Logistics, which builds temporary buildings for construction companies and energy exploration firms; Canadian Utilities owns the remaining 24.5%.
In the three months ended March 31, 2013, ATCO’s revenue rose 5.6% to $1.1 billion from $1.0 billion a year earlier. That’s mainly due to the higher contribution from Canadian Utilities. Revenue at its Structures division fell 0.9% after it completed several major projects in 2012.
Earnings fell 1.7%, to $117 million, or $1.01 a share, from $119 million, or $1.03. (All per-share amounts adjusted for a 2-for-1 stock split in May 2013.)
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In the three months ended March 31, 2013, ATCO’s revenue rose 5.6% to $1.1 billion from $1.0 billion a year earlier. That’s mainly due to the higher contribution from Canadian Utilities. Revenue at its Structures division fell 0.9% after it completed several major projects in 2012.
Earnings fell 1.7%, to $117 million, or $1.01 a share, from $119 million, or $1.03. (All per-share amounts adjusted for a 2-for-1 stock split in May 2013.)
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BofI Holding, Inc., $50.94, symbol BOFI on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 13.7 million; Market cap: $710.7 million; www.bofifederalbank.com), is the holding company for BofI Federal Bank, which provides banking and lending services to 40,000 customers in all 50 U.S. states. BofI stands for Bank of the Internet. The company is based in San Diego, but it operates online and has no physical branches. That lowers BofI’s costs, and it passes the savings on to its customers by charging them fewer fees and paying higher interest rates on deposits. Excluding one-time items, BofI earned $0.75 a share in the three months ended March 31, 2013, up 15.4% from $0.65 a year earlier....
As is the case with TransCanada (see page 71), fears of higher interest rates have hurt these four power utilities. However, their high quality, mostly regulated operations will keep giving them plenty of steady cash flows for dividends.
CANADIAN UTILITIES LTD....
CANADIAN UTILITIES LTD....
DUNDEE CORP. $22 (Toronto symbol DC.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 54.1 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.dundeecorp.com) is a holding company with investments in wealth management, real estate, resources and agriculture.
The company recently completed its plan to set up 70%-owned DREAM UNLIMITED CORP. $12 (Toronto symbol DRM) as a separate, publicly traded firm. DREAM, which was formerly the company’s Dundee Realty Corp. subsidiary, develops and manages commercial and residential real estate in North America and Europe. Insiders still hold 30% of DREAM.
Dundee shareholders received one share of DREAM for each Dundee share they held. Investors are only liable for capital gains taxes when they sell their new shares.
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The company recently completed its plan to set up 70%-owned DREAM UNLIMITED CORP. $12 (Toronto symbol DRM) as a separate, publicly traded firm. DREAM, which was formerly the company’s Dundee Realty Corp. subsidiary, develops and manages commercial and residential real estate in North America and Europe. Insiders still hold 30% of DREAM.
Dundee shareholders received one share of DREAM for each Dundee share they held. Investors are only liable for capital gains taxes when they sell their new shares.
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Kansas City Southern, $109.98, symbol KSU on New York (Shares outstanding: 110.2 million; Market cap: $12.1 billion; www.kcsouthern.com), is a holding company that has railroad investments in the U.S., Mexico and Panama. Its main holding is the Kansas City Southern railway, which serves the central and south-central U.S. It also owns Kansas City Southern de Mexico, which operates in that country’s northeast and central regions, as well as the port cities of Lazaro Cardenas, Tampico and Veracruz. In addition, Kansas City Southern holds 50% of the Panama Canal Railway, which ships freight, as well as offering passenger service, from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans running alongside the Panama Canal....
DUNDEE CORP. $22 (Toronto symbol DC.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 54.1 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.dundeecorp.com) is a holding company with investments in wealth management, real estate, resources and agriculture.
The company recently completed its plan to set up 70%-owned DREAM UNLIMITED CORP....
The company recently completed its plan to set up 70%-owned DREAM UNLIMITED CORP....