High debt load still a big risk factor

Article Excerpt

BOMBARDIER INC. remains a hold for aggressive investors. The company (Toronto symbols BBD.A $0.44 and BBD.B $0.295; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares o/s: 2.4 billion; Market cap: $744 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.05; Divd. suspended in February 2015; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; www.bombardier.com) delivered 24 private jets in the third quarter of 2020. That’s down from 31 jets a year earlier due to the pandemic. Even so, revenue from private jets rose 10.0% as the company’s new, higher-priced Global 7500 aircraft accounted for a third of those deliveries. Meantime, Bombardier still expects to sell its passenger railcar business to France’s Alstom SA in early 2021. The company owns 67.5% of that unit, while the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec—manager of the province’s public pension plan—holds 32.5%. The sale will hand Bombardier between $4.2 billion and $4.5 billion for its stake (all amounts except share prices and market cap in U.S. dollars). It will use the proceeds to pay down…