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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: I've had my eye on this one for a while. Too bad I did not buy when I came upon it? I tend not to buy small companies that are valued on growth because the landscape is littered with companies that fall faster then they rise when things do not go right. This comp. seems incredibly over valued to me: TTM PE of 27, FPE of 25, 7x book value. Even with an ROE of 20 & PEG ratio over one? It's EPS is very small - so, earning on a cash basis must be a fair bit higher. I'd like to buy - maybe? I prefer dividend growers as well. How liquid is the stock which is important to me because I like to hold good size positions. I did well with BAD & ACQ which were growth stocks: 3 x my money - so, I do like a bit of growth.
Read Answer Asked by James on May 13, 2016
Q: Both companies reported recently and a commonality between the two was that the margins were slimmer. Is this the result of competition within the industry, meaning that the infrastructure story may be a bit overblown, weakness still in the industrial sector (Bird Construction sales declined here as well), from the Canadian dollar strengthening last quarter or is this simply life in the construction industry and we should stay the course?

Paul F.
Read Answer Asked by Paul on May 13, 2016
Q: Much has been written about Mr. Fernandes and his "unique" management style. I am wondering if you know him and the company well enough to answer this question. It is starting to look to me like this company may be a vanity project for him. I am all in favour of sepnding on R & D but is there any way of knowing the type of projects they are working on and whether all this research might yield profitable results one day? Is he integal to the company to the extent that his absence would leave an unfillable void? The bottom has fallen out on this stock despite a less than stellar quarter which suggest there are still a lot of believers out there.

Paul F.


Read Answer Asked by Paul on May 13, 2016
Q: The president stated in its press release that the first quarter results were "right on plan". Although I realize this is only one quarter and record results at that, my concern lies in EPS being almost 20% below street consensus and a lower number than any I could find. This seems like very poor communication between the company and the street especially after the recent money raise and only adds to unnecessary volatility. Do you agree?
Read Answer Asked by Gary on May 13, 2016
Q: Good Afternoon,
I see that you recently answered a question on the $200MM bought deal today, I would just like to expand on this a bit please. I recall when Avigilon did this a few years ago, they already had ample cash on the balance sheet with no debt but took advantage of their high share price to issue shares and raise capital. You had mentioned at the time that they likely had a large acquisition in mind but they never really did deploy that excess cash with one single large takeover that I recall. Of course AVO has unperformed and acting poorly ever since. Any read through on GUD? They now have approximately 75% of their market cap as cash, seems awfully high with now 25% more shares outstanding. Doesn't seem to make much sense? Any further thoughts? Thank-you.
Read Answer Asked by Chris on May 11, 2016
Q: Hi Peter & Ryan,

While the results looked decent at SYZ; I was caught off guard by the following statment in the the dividend release. "Jim Wilson, President & CEO of Sylogist commented "Moving forward, we can foresee that prudent capital allocation may dictate adjusting our dividend downward to allow us to invest directly in business acquisitions where the opportunity to increase our share's intrinsic value exceeds the value of a pre-tax return of cash to shareholders."

It was also noteworthy that they broke their mini streak of raises every two qtrs. Seems to me by my simple analysis that a very large acquisition is in the works that may eat in to the some or all of the cash pile. Am I reading the tea leaves correctly? Would they really cut, instead of just keeping it flat?

Part of the attraction to this company has been the way the add value to shareholders; so I would defer to management to do what they seem fit to add value; but a potential cut seems to send the wrong message.


Thanks,
J.
Read Answer Asked by JAIME on May 11, 2016
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