Topic: Dividend Stocks

HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. $36

HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. $36 (Toronto symbol HCG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 70.0 million; Market cap; $2.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.2; Dividend yield: 2.7%; 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 cut ties with 45 of them after it uncovered inaccurate information on loan applications. Specifically, these brokers falsified borrowers’ annual incomes but not their credit scores and property values.

So far, Home Capital has reviewed 40% of these loans. Based on the results, it could renew 90% of these mortgages. The company expects to complete these reviews by the end of 2016.

These questionable mortgages, which now total $1.55 billion, add to Home Capital’s risk. The company keeps its credit losses down by identifying problem loans early and adjusting the repayment terms. In 2015, it set aside $8.9 million to cover potential loan losses, down 32.0% from $13.1 million in 2014.

Home Capital’s earnings in 2015 fell 0.1%, to $288.9 million from $289.2 million. That’s partly due to extra costs to strengthen its loan review procedures. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings were unchanged at $4.11. Revenue fell 1.6%, to $993.7 million from $1.0 billion, on weaker demand for home mortgages.

The company recently paid $19.6 million for Canadian First Financial Bank, which offers a variety of services, such as deposits, mortgages and wealth management, through 37 branches across the country. Home Capital also injected $35 million of additional capital to help stabilize this business.

The purchase gives Home Capital access to more funding for its lending activities. It will also help it become a Schedule 1 lender. That designation would let it accept deposits and have them insured by the Canada Deposit and Insurance Corporation.

Home Capital recently raised its quarterly dividend by 9.1%; the new annual rate of $0.96 yields 2.7%. In addition, it plans to buy back $150 million of its shares.

The company will likely earn $4.42 a share in 2016; the stock trades at 8.1 times that estimate.

Home Capital Group is a buy.

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