FirstService profit slows

Article Excerpt

FIRSTSERVICE CORP. $35.15 (Toronto symbol FSV; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (416-960-9500; www.firstservice.com; Shares outstanding: 29.1 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion; No dividends paid) reported that its revenue rose 18.9% in the three months ended March 31, 2011, to $478.4 million from $402.4 million a year earlier (all figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). The company saw higher revenue across all of its divisions: the commercial real-estate division’s revenue jumped 26.9%; residential-property-management revenue rose 14.6%; and property-services revenue rose 12.9%. Despite the higher revenue, earnings per share fell 6.7%, to $0.14 from $0.15, because of costs to integrate acquisitions. As well, the company’s commercial real-estate division will need to keep hiring more workers to prepare for future growth. The stock trades at 17.9 times this year’s forecast earnings of $1.96 a share. FirstService is now a hold. hold…