Topic: Dividend Stocks

DUNDEE CORP. $9.40 – Toronto symbol DC.A

DUNDEE CORP. $9.40 (Toronto symbol DC.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 74.3 million; Market cap: $698.4 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; SI Rating: Average) is a holding company with subsidiaries in three main areas: wealth management, real estate and resources. The company’s main asset is its 49% stake (62% voting interest) in DundeeWealth Inc. (Toronto symbol DW), which provides investment-management, securities-brokerage, financial-planning and investment-advisory services. It also owns the Dynamic family of mutual funds.

In the three months ended June 30, 2009, Dundee earned $29.9 million, or $0.39 a share. That’s a big improvement over the $6.6 million, or $0.08 a share, that it earned in the year-earlier quarter.

The gain was largely driven by new floating-rate notes that Dundee received last January in exchange for illiquid asset-backed commercial paper. Based on improving conditions in the credit markets, Dundee recognized a $45.6-million, non-cash accounting gain on these notes in the latest quarter. Revenue fell 13.5%, to $245.6 million from $284 million, as lower stock-market values hurt Dundee-Wealth’s management fees and mutual-fund sales. As of June 30, 2009, DundeeWealth’s assets under management stood at $29.8 billion. That’s a 5.2% drop from $31.5 billion a year earlier.

The stock has rebounded strongly from last February’s low of $3.64. However, Dundee still holds $172.8 million of potentially illiquid securities. If market conditions worsen, it could lead to a big writedown and wipe out the recent gain.

Dundee Corp. is a hold.

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