Home Capital rebuilds its reputation

Article Excerpt

HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. $14 (Toronto symbol HCG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 80.3 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.1; Dividend suspended in May 2017; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; www.homecapital.com) is a mortgage lender serving borrowers who fail to meet the stricter standards of Canada’s big banks and other larger, traditional lenders. The company offers most of its loans through 4,000 independent mortgage brokers. In July 2015, it suspended 45 of those agents over concerns some of their mortgage applications had intentional errors. Specifically, the company alleged that the brokers falsified their clients’ annual incomes, although not their credit scores or property values. In April 2017, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) accused Home Capital and some of its executives of failing to disclose this information in a timely manner. The situation prompted depositors to withdraw their cash from Home Trust (Home Capital’s wholly owned banking subsidiary). The company relies on those deposits to fund its lending. Due to its rapidly shrinking…