Topic: How To Invest

I’ve been a long-term holder of Bird Construction and First Capital Realty and have been buying more of them on dips in price. Can you update me on your current views on these two dividend-paying investments? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Bird Construction, $12.81, symbol BDT on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 42.5 million; Market cap: $544.6 million; www.bird.ca), has offices in Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Seattle. The company was formed over 90 years ago in Medicine Hat, Alberta. It focuses on projects in a number of markets, including industrial, commercial, institutional, civil construction and mining. Institutional work supplies 37% of Bird’s revenue and includes projects like hospitals, prisons, schools, university buildings and military projects. Industrial projects (43% of revenue) include work in the petrochemical, oil sands, mining, refinery and water- and wastewater-treatment sectors. Bird’s commercial work (20%) includes retail projects like enclosed shopping malls, big box stores and grocery stores. In the three months ended June 30, 2013, Bird’s revenue fell 9.0%, to $312.3 million from $343.1 million a year earlier. The decline was mainly due to lower revenue from industrial customers, partly offset by higher demand from commercial and other clients. Excluding one-time items, such as a big loss on a fixed-price…