Power Corp. is a bargain

Article Excerpt

POWER CORP. $31.00 (Toronto symbol POW; Shares outstanding: 414.0 million; Market cap: $14.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.0%; www.powercorporation.com) is a diversified holding company. It holds its financial assets through 65.7%-owned Power Financial. These financial assets include 69.5% of Great-West Lifeco, one of Canada’s largest life insurers, and 58.7% of IGM Financial, a leading Canadian mutual fund provider. As well, Power Financial owns 50% of holding company Parjointco, which holds a 55.5% stake in Switzerland-listed Pargesa Holdings SA. Pargesa has 95% of its assets in five large European firms. Power Corp. also has interests in Asia. In the three months ended March 31, 2015, Power Corp.’s earnings per share rose 45.3%, to $0.77 from $0.53 a year earlier. The stock trades at 10.6 times this year’s forecast earnings of $2.92 a share. It yields 4.0%. Power Corp. is a buy. buy…