One service provider to buy, one to hold

Article Excerpt

FIRSTSERVICE CORP. $20.54 (Toronto symbol FSV; SI Rating: Extra Risk) (416-960-9500; www.firstservice.com; Shares outstanding: 28.3 million; Market cap: $581.3 million; No dividends paid) serves the following areas of the real-estate market: commercial real estate; residential property management; and property improvement. FirstService has more than 17,000 employees worldwide. In the three months ended September 30, 2009, FirstService’s revenue rose slightly, to $451.1 million from $450.1 million a year earlier. (All figures except share price in U.S. dollars.) Excluding one-time items, earnings per share fell 11.8%, to $0.60 from $0.68. However, cash flow rose 5.6%, to $0.95 a share from $0.90 a share. FirstService’s long-term debt of $261.5 million is a manageable 45% of its $581.3-million market cap. Overall gains in a slow economy The slow economy pushed down revenue at FirstService’s commercial real-estate division by 16%, to $156 million. That held back overall revenue. However, that drop was offset by revenue gains at the other two divisions: residential property management was up 4% to $174.8…