CP deal reveals hidden value

Article Excerpt

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY $170.25 (Toronto symbol CP; Shares outstanding: 153.0 million; Market cap: $26.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 0.8%; www.cpr.ca) has agreed to sell a parcel of land—the Arbutus Corridor—to the City of Vancouver. Canadian Pacific stopped running trains through the Arbutus Corridor in 2001. Since then, the company has considered several options to re-develop the property. These included building a facility to store railcars. The municipal government opposed those plans. The sale price of $55 million is small next to the $1.6 billion, or $10.10 a share, that CP earned in 2015. But the deal also gives the company additional payments linked to future development of the property. As well, it draws attention to the abundant hidden assets in the company’s extensive land holdings. Some of that land is beneath railway tracks and will remain in use. However, Canadian Pacific’s offices, warehouses and terminals in urban areas are well positioned for commercial and residential development. CP…