Home Capital defends disclosure

Article Excerpt

HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. $26 (Toronto symbol HCG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 64.3 million; Market cap: $1.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.9; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.homecapital.com) is a mortgage lender that serves borrowers who fail to meet the stricter standards of larger, traditional lenders such as banks. Home Capital offers most of its loans through 4,000 independent mortgage brokers. In July 2015, it suspended 45 of them over concerns some of their mortgage applications had intentional errors. Specifically, the company alleged that the brokers falsified their clients’ annual incomes but not their credit scores and property values. The Ontario Securities Commission recently accused Home Capital of failing to disclose this information in a timely manner. The company feels it met its obligations and has fully cooperated with the commission and its staff. Meantime, Home Capital has now reviewed all of the loans in question and found no irregularities. Home Capital Group is still a buy. buy…