Buy FirstService, hold off on Stantec

Article Excerpt

FIRSTSERVICE CORP. $21.69 (Toronto symbol FSV; SI Rating: Extra Risk) (416-960-9500; www.firstservice.com; Shares outstanding: 28.9 million; Market cap: $627.0 million; No dividends paid) serves the following areas of the real-estate market: commercial real estate; residential property management; and property improvement. FirstService has more than 17,000 employees worldwide. FirstService’s revenue rose 11.6% in the three months ended March 31, 2010 (all figures except share price in U.S. dollars), to $402.4 million from $361 million a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, earnings per share jumped 87.5%, to $0.15 from $0.08. Cash flow jumped to $0.35 a share from $0.02 a share. The big gains in earnings and cash flow came from a turnaround in results in Firstservice’s commercial real estate division. The improving economy pushed up revenue at that division by 30% in the latest quarter, to $154.1 million. Revenue at the property-improvement division rose 6%, to $104.4 million, and residential property-management revenue was virtually unchanged at $146.9 million. FirstService’s long-term debt of $291.8 million is…