Safer than it appears

Article Excerpt

HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. $43 (Toronto symbol HCG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 34.5 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; SI Rating: Average) provides residential mortgages and credit cards to borrowers who do not meet the stricter criteria of traditional banks. Its customers include the self-employed and immigrants with limited credit history. Despite its focus on riskier borrowers, Home Capital’s screening process keeps its loan losses manageable. Even so, bad loans rose to 1.2% of its total loans in the third quarter of 2009 from 0.7% a year earlier. However, that’s an improvement over 1.3% in the previous quarter. In the three months ended September 30, 2009, Home Capital’s earnings rose 36.9%, to $38.2 million, or $1.10 a share. A year earlier, the company earned $27.9 million, or $0.81 a share. Revenue rose 7.1%, to $125.3 million from $117.0 million. Like most lenders, Home Capital sells its loans to third parties. Gains from these sales added $12.1 million to…