Q: What is your assessment of the most recent results for PIF? What do you think of this company's prospects going forward and the safety of the dividend? What is the free cash flow of this company per share?
5i Research Answer:
EPS was a loss of 13 cents vs estimates of +7c; revenue of $18.8M missed estimates of $19.6M. EBITDA of $13.56M missed estimates by 1%. Energy production rose 2% but total revenue fell year over year with lower production in Nicaragua. EBITDA also fell. We do not think it is a bad company, but would simply like to see better growth, to offset its high valuation (26X earnings) and small size risk ($251M market cap). The dividend is high but has not been raised in eight years. Payout ratio (against operating cash flow) is quite decent at 36%. Free cash flow is $1.50 per share.