Topic: How To Invest

Pat: Bombardier has annual sales of $18 billion, earnings of $600 million and cash of $3 billion. CP Rail has sales of $6 billion, earnings of $1 billion, and cash of $442 million. Why then is Bombardier’s market cap of $9.3 billion so much lower than CP’s market cap of $26.0 billion?

Article Excerpt

Bombardier, $4.97, symbol BBD.A on Toronto; $5.25, symbol BBD.B on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $9.3 billion; www.bombardier.com), is the world’s third-largest commercial aircraft maker, behind Boeing and Airbus. It is also the world’s leading passenger railcar manufacturer. Bombardier’s shares have moved up from $3 a share late last year, but are still trading below the high of over $7 they recovered to after the stock hit a low of just over $2 in early 2009 (along with stock markets in general) in the wake of the financial crisis. The company’s backlog now stands at a record $65.5 billion on June 30, 2013. The backlog is split evenly between aerospace at $33.4 billion, and transportation at $32.1 billion. The new CSeries is pushing the aerospace backlog higher, while transportation is virtually unchanged from a year earlier. Bombardier is poised to increase revenues with its offering in the narrow-body jet segment currently dominated by Boeing’s 737 series, Airbus’ A320 series, and Embraer’s…