Topic: How To Invest

Q: Pat: Can I have your views on MacDonald Dettwiler as a potential investment? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

A: MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, $67.14, symbol MDA on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 36.3 million; Market cap: $2.5 billion; www.mdacorporation.com), offers satellite space to a range of service providers, including television and radio broadcasters, and broadband Internet and mobile communications companies. The company is also a leading supplier of communication satellites and satellite-antenna subsystems, including related ground infrastructure and support services. Its main customers in this area are makers and operators of communication satellites and government agencies worldwide. In the three months ended September 30, 2016, MacDonald Dettwiler’s revenue fell 3.8%, to $495.9 million from $515.4 million a year earlier. The decline was because of a drop in the number of satellite contracts over the past 18 months. A revenue increase for the company’s surveillance and intelligence businesses offset most of that decline. Excluding one-time items, earnings fell 15.6%, to $46.1 million, or $1.26 a share, from $54.6 million, or $1.50 a share. A big factor in the drop was MacDonald Dettwiler’s one-time, $10…