With the $2000 in cash I had from liquidating my mutual
funds, I started a position in Prism Medical. Prism is an exciting company with
a leadership position in a terrific niche – medical equipment for the mobility
disadvantaged. Last year they moved their manufacturing facilities to the US
closer to their growth markets and made investments to operate more efficiently.
This year, earnings are on pace for double digit growth and my hope is they can
continue to grow the business in the 10-15% range for years to come. If this
happens, Prism is a very cheap stock currently. It trades at 9 times earnings,
5 times cash flow, has a 5% yield and a solid balance sheet. If they can
execute their growth plans and gain some appreciation from institutional
investors, the stock could be much higher in the coming years. It currently has
no analyst coverage. The stock also has great defensive characteristics as
their business is not correlated to economic activity; during the financial
crisis the stock was essentially flat when most stocks plummeted. Thanks to
Chris Cashflow for uncovering this little gem.
I added 2 $500 deposits to my TFSA since last update. With
those funds and funds generated from selling ARX and SAP, I added to MTY, BCI
and started a position in Melcor Developments MRD.
Melcor Developments is a play on real estate in the western
provinces of Canada. Since moving to Alberta a month ago, I have been
pleasantly surprised with the amount of economic activity and the general
feeling of economic prosperity. As a land development company mainly in Alberta,
Melcor seemed like a good way to gain exposure to the economic activity. The
fundamentals are compelling as well. Trades at 5 times earnings, has a good
balance sheet and are on pace for solid growth this year. Thanks to David the
Grouch for insight on this one.
Selling Arc Resources and some of my position in Saputo was
more about my views on where I want my portfolio to be, rather than selling
because I think their bad companies. I want to focus more on underfollowed
small cap stocks instead of blue chip dividend payers. From my perspective,
these underfollowed names have more room to grow and are generally better deals
because of their underappreciated nature. If these stocks go up in the future,
it will be because the business is executing, not because of a public recommendation
or that the stock is mentioned in lots of articles as a ‘solid blue chip’.
The best thing that can happen with these underfollowed stocks
is they themselves become blue chips over time. My hope is that getting in
before the main stream investors, while these stocks are relatively unknown,
will be very profitable.
I doubled my position in MTY as well. This stock just looks
plain cheap for a high growth company. They have proven in the past they can
execute and continue to do so. Net income so far this year is up over 30%, yet
the stock trades at 15 times forward earnings. When comparing to other names
with similar growth like Lululemon, which trades at 33 times forward earnings,
MTY is an easy buy for the long term, even at these extended levels.
| Margin Account | ||
| Company Name | # of Shares | Market Value |
| Westshore Terminals | 135 | $3,739.50 |
| Saputo | 69 | $2,831.07 |
| Asian Television Network | 2750 | $8,030.00 |
| Allied Properties REIT | 94 | $2,979.80 |
| Imperial Metals | 316 | $4,079.56 |
| Black Diamond Group | 260 | $5,733.00 |
| K-Bro Linen | 123 | $3,548.55 |
| Computer Modelling Group | 196 | $3,606.40 |
| SNC Lavalin | 53 | $2,010.29 |
| Bird Construction | 204 | $2,958.00 |
| New Look Eyeware | 100 | $924.00 |
| Tim Hortons | 30 | $1,509.90 |
| MTY Food Group | 125 | $2,406.25 |
| Melcor Developments | 150 | $2,287.50 |
| Total | $46,643.82 | |
| TFSA Account | ||
| Company Name | # of Shares | Market Value |
| New Look Eye Ware | 190 | $1,755.60 |
| SIR Corp | 105 | $1,396.30 |
| Alaris Royalty | 122 | $2,885.30 |
| Asian Television Network | 469 | $1,369.48 |
| Tim Hortons | 10 | $503.30 |
| Prism Medical | 325 | $1,982.50 |
| MTY Food Group | 136 | $2,618.00 |
| Total | $12,510.68 | |
| Margin Amount (approx) | Total | $4,600.00 |
| Margin Account | Total | $45,054.56 |
| TFSA Account | Total | $12,510.68 |
| RRSP Mutual Fund (approx) | Total | $800.00 |
| Total Invested Assets | $59,954.50 | |
I'm not sure if you’re interested in US stocks. I just picked up EZPW last week. Looks like it may have found a bottom at $22. Has pulled back because the price of gold has been soft this year and people have not been pawning their jewelry.
ReplyDeleteA consolidator of pawn shops, they own Cash Converters in Canada. A low P/E of 8; earnings growth at 30% for the last 5 yrs; and they have a low D/E ratio of 0.27. Plenty of room to expand, the industry is mostly mom & pop’s with no branding.
This is a classic Lynch stock.
30% growth, p/e of 8?! Nice. I haven't dabbled in US stocks much, but sounds like a Lynch stock with that type of growth,pe ratio. I can buy US stocks in a TFSA right? lol
ReplyDeleteLooking more at EZPW, looks very good. Its a bit of a repulsive business, which is classic lynch, yet makes money hand over fist and is growing silently. I love the name, Ezcorp, how boring and dull is that. Great pick.
ReplyDeleteI only hold 2 US stocks cause the f/x fees are so high on every trade. I should open an account in US$?
ReplyDeleteThe fundamentals for EZPW looks real good but it has to hold support at $22.
The other one is SCI, Lynch spoke briefly about it. Fundamentals are good but the valuation is not that attractive and it has a lot of insider selling. I only have a small position.
Oh ya Service Corp from his books. Very cool. Arbor Memorial on the TSX was taken private. It was one I legitimately wanted to buy.
DeleteI noticed GBCI Glacier Bancorp has done well. Lynch mentions that in Beating the Street I think.
Got stopped out on EZPW this morning at $21.50, too much selling pressure on increased volume. Looking at adding WJA and GLN or MTY.
DeleteI also sold SAT on friday and bought ATD.b. The stock popped sharply on this news with increase volume. Lol.
GLN looks interesting but last few quarters have been negative growth, could be temporary? WJA is just awesome, I wish I owned this one.
DeleteSAT has bad comparisons this year because the cricket world cup last year increased their revenue on a one time basis. Late next year should be a good one for SAT.
Normally I wouldn't be interested in the airlines, too much reinvestment required.
DeleteWJA is in a two horse race and the other horse has to carry 500lbs (unions, pensions, etc). Every several years AC declares bankruptcy and restructures the debt, in other words, they get a new horse but they still have to carry the 500lbs around. It must be easy to make a profit when your only competition sucks.
I think the negative growth for GLN is temporary. They just acquired 83% of Australia's largest multi-carrier mobile phone retailer and signed an agreement with Target Canada. Should have bought this one instead of EZPW, hindsight is always 20-20.
DeleteThat's a great way of thinking about WJA. I used them flying back east this summer and it was a pleasant experience all around.
DeleteI've heard of ITP but never realized it was such a good performer. Seems like they have a niche market in industrial packaging.
Great post! Very informative!
ReplyDeleteI had a couple questions for you if that's ok?
Why have you decided to put more into your margin account, as opposed to maxing out your TSFA?
Could you briefly describe how you use margin? Does using margin cost something? Should a young investor look at using small amounts? is it worth it?
(Maybe your next topic? haha ;)
Thanks in advance! Your posts have been absolutely invaluable, keep up the great work!
Hey Josiah,
DeleteThanks for the nice comments man. Much appreciated.
I decided to add a bit more margin since I just got a new job (better job, more income). I am putting as much cash as I can into my TFSA now, but the way the TFSA works is you can't have any margin in a TFSA. In other words, I am unable to use margin to max out my TFSA - I can only use margin in my margin account. When I first started investing, I didn't really know what a TFSA was. So thats why I haven't maxed out my TFSA yet. I just got it about a year ago now.
I've decided to use margin under a stict guideline - margin will be no more than 10% of my total invested assets. Right now its at about 7.5% of assets and I don't plan to increase it from here.
I can only use margin in my margin account. How it works is, my cash balance in my margin account right now is about minus 4600. I pay about 4.5% annual rate on that margin. Basically margin is borrowing money from your broker with your stocks as collateral.
For new investors I would not recommend it at all. Once you establish a decent portfolio, say atleast 20k, then you could look into it. I would stick to the 10% rule tho. Margin should not be more than 10% of invested assets. So if you have a 20k portfolio, margin should be no more than 2000.
In some ways I wish I never used margin, but since Im responsible with my money and have no other debt, it does make sense to borrow a small amount to buy more investments. Depends on you risk tolerance and any other debts you may have.
That helps a ton. I'll definitely need to do some more research on it. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond, thanks again!
ReplyDeleteNot expecting much price movement in MRD until the beginning of November when they report third quarter results. Hoping for a breakout above $16 on a positive earnings surprise.
ReplyDeleteYa who knows. I'm in for the long haul with this one. Great value and I want to own a homebuilder in Alberta. GDC is tempting as well.
DeleteSee CLK lately? Large insider ownership like SAT. Yet worse ROE, growth outlook. Was surprised by this move higher.
With a move like that you need to be careful, the pullback could be just a sharp. Check out ITP.
DeleteI'm going to have to take a look at the fundamentals.
I'm in for the long haul too, just not expecting much until we get some news.
DeleteSee top picks from Jason Donville this past week. This guy picks only winners. If you stick to his best ideas your portfolio will outperform.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/3-top-stock-picks-from-fund-manager-jason-donville/article4589714/
It seems every time he has a pick its relatively unknown and it has double digit growth, single digit p/e. Nice picks this time around too. I follow BAD.
DeleteI bought BAD about a month ago, a nice defensive name.
DeleteCarfinco increased its monthly dividend 14.3% today. They will most likely issue a special dividend in December as well.
I saw that divy increase. Very nice considering it already has a good dividend. Ive been way wrong on this one
Delete