stock split

HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. (Toronto symbol HCG; www.homecapital.com) gets around 90% of its revenue by making residential mortgage loans to borrowers who don’t meet the stricter standards of larger, traditional lenders, like banks. Its clients include recent immigrants with limited credit histories, and self-employed people....

HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. $44 (Toronto symbol HCG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 69.5 million; Market cap; $3.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www. homecapital.com) gets around 90% of its revenue by making residential mortgage loans to borrowers who don’t meet the stricter standards of larger, traditional lenders, like banks. Its clients include recent immigrants with limited credit histories, and self-employed people.

The remaining 10% of Home Capital’s revenue mainly comes from credit cards and other loans to consumers and businesses.

Low interest rates continue to fuel loan demand. As a result, Home Capital’s revenue rose 7.0% in 2013, to $949.5 million from $887.7 million in 2012. Earnings gained 14.8%, to $257.7 million, or $3.68 a share, from $224.6 million, or $3.23. (All per-share amounts adjusted for a 2-for-1 stock split in March 2014.)

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HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. $44 (Toronto symbol HCG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 69.5 million; Market cap; $3.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www. homecapital.com) gets around 90% of its revenue by making residential mortgage loans to borrowers who don’t meet the stricter standards of larger, traditional lenders, like banks....

Trying to buy a stock you like at a lower price can actually expose you to unnecessary risk. For a number of investors, there are two steps to buying a stock.

TD Bank recently overtook Royal Bank as Canada’s largest bank by assets. That’s partly because it has spent about $20 billion in the past three years buying other businesses.

Growth by acquisition is riskier than internal growth, as acquisitions carry an above-average chance of unpleasant surprises....

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CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO. $58 (Toronto symbol CNR; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 836.0 million; Market cap: $48.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.6; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cn.ca) operates Canada’s largest railway. Its 32,350- kilometre network stretches across the country and through the U.S. Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico.

Manufacturers are shipping more goods by rail, thanks to the improving North American economy. At the same time, a lack of pipeline capacity is prompting oil producers to ship more of their product by train.

As a result, CN’s earnings rose 9.0% in the three months ended September 30, 2013, to $724 million from $664 million a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share gained 13.2%, to $0.86 from $0.76 (all per-share amounts adjusted for a 2-for-1 stock split in December 2013).
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CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO. (Toronto symbol CNR; www.cn.ca) operates Canada’s largest railway. Its 32,350-kilometre network stretches across the country and through the U.S. Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico....

CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO. $58 (Toronto symbol CNR; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 836.0 million; Market cap: $48.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.6; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cn.ca) operates Canada’s largest railway....

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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