Topic: How To Invest

Hi, Pat: Please give me your opinion on Bird Construction and Aecon Group. Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Bird Construction Inc., $10.81, symbol BDT on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 42.5 million; Market cap: $459.4 million; www.bird.ca), focuses on projects in a number of markets, including industrial, commercial, institutional, civil construction and mining. The company began operating 95 years ago in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Today, it has offices in Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Seattle. Bird’s industrial projects (which supplied 57% of its 2014 revenue) include work in the petrochemical, oil sands, mining, refinery and water- and wastewater-treatment sectors. Institutional work supplies 24% of the company’s revenue and includes projects like hospitals, prisons, schools, university buildings and military projects. Commercial projects (19%) include shopping malls, big box stores and grocery stores. In the three months ended December 31, 2014, Bird’s revenue rose 7.4%, to $390.6 million from $363.7 million a year earlier. That was mainly due to higher revenue from industrial customers, partly offset by lower demand from commercial clients. Earnings jumped 125.7%, to $12.9 million or $0.30 a share, from $5.7…