Topic: Growth Stocks

Stock Pickers Digest Hotline – Friday, February 22, 2013

Article Excerpt

FIRSTSERVICE CORP., $32.12, symbol FSV on Toronto, serves the following areas of the real estate market: commercial real estate, residential property management and property improvement. In the three months ended December 31, 2012, the company’s revenue rose 6.3%, to $632.5 million from $594.9 million a year earlier (all figures except share prices in U.S. dollars). Excluding one-time items, earnings per share jumped 30.8%, to $0.68 from $0.52. Revenue rose at two of FirstService’s three divisions: commercial real estate (up 23%) and residential property management (up 10%). Property services revenue fell 48%. That’s because increased U.S. government regulations continue to slow the rate at which banks and other mortgage providers can foreclose on homeowners who are behind on their payments. As a result, there were fewer newly foreclosed houses for the property services division to manage in the latest quarter. The company’s $375.2-million debt is a somewhat high 39.7% of its $944.5-million market cap. FirstService needs a continued recovery in global real estate markets…