Two aggressive buys for post-pandemic gains

Article Excerpt

Readers continue to benefit from our April 2020 decision to add these two real estate firms to our Successful Investor coverage. Since then, FirstService has jumped 48%, while Colliers has gained 32%. We feel both can go on to post more gains as businesses re-open and re-purpose their properties in response to the pandemic. FIRSTSERVICE CORP. $189 remains a buy for aggressive investors. The company (Toronto symbol FSV; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 43.6 million; Market cap: $8.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.9; Dividend yield: 0.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.firstservice.com) has two main businesses: FirstService Residential (51% of 20202 revenue) provides property management services such as collecting monthly condominium fees and cleaning/maintenance services; and FirstService Brands (49%) offers a wide variety of property management services through several franchised businesses, including Paul Davis Restoration and CertaPro Painters. Despite COVID-19 disruptions, property owners in Canada and the U.S. continue to increase their spending on home renovations. Revenue in the three months ended March…