Gaining From Foreclosures

Article Excerpt

FIRSTSERVICE CORP. $21.07 (Toronto symbol FSV; SI Rating: Extra Risk) (416-960- 9500; www.firstservice.com; Shares outstanding: 28.6 million; Market cap: $602.2 million) operates in the expanding service sector, providing services in commercial real estate, residential property management, integrated security services, and property improvement services. FirstService’s revenues rose 34% in the three months ended December 31, to $502.2 million from $374.8 million. Excluding onetime items, earnings per share rose 31.8%, to $0.29 from $0.22. Cash flow per share rose 35.3%, to $0.92 from $0.68. FirstService now trades at 5.7 times cash flow. Since November 2007, the stock has dropped from $36 to its current price along with falling markets, plus investor concerns that the U.S. subprime crisis would hurt FirstService’s revenues. However, increased foreclosures would likely boost demand for its property management services from banks and other creditors. FirstService is a buy. buy…