Small lender reports big earnings jump

Article Excerpt

HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. $57 (Toronto symbol HCG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 34.6 million; Market cap; $2.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.homecapital.com) earned $222.0 million, or $6.38 a share, in 2012. That’s up 16.8% from $190.1 million, or $5.46 a share, in 2011. Low interest rates continue to fuel mortgage demand: revenue rose 12.3%, to $887.7 million from $790.3 million. The company caters to borrowers who don’t meet the stricter standards of larger banks. Even so, it continues to do a good job of identifying problem loans before borrowers fall behind on their payments. Bad loans rose in 2012, but they still made up just 0.33% of its total loans, up from 0.25% a year earlier. Home Capital Group is a buy. buy…