Topic: How To Invest

Hi Pat: Do you recommend Altus Group? Thank you.

Article Excerpt

Altus Group, $20.20, symbol AIF on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 29.1 million; Market cap: $587.8 million; www.altusgroup.com), provides consulting services and software for the commercial real estate industry. The company has five divisions: ARGUS Software; Research, Valuation and Advisory; Property Tax Consulting; Cost Consulting and Project Management; and Geomatics. ARGUS, a leading provider of real estate valuation software, is a recent acquisition. Altus has about 2,200 employees around the world, including in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Clients include financial institutions, private and public investment funds, insurance companies, accounting firms, real estate investment trusts, health care organizations, private investors, oil and gas companies and real estate developers. In the three months ended June 30, 2014, Altus’s revenue rose 15.0%, to $90.3 million from $78.6 million a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, earnings per share rose 3.7%, to $0.28 from $0.27. Altus holds cash of $13.6 million, or $0.47 a share. Its $112.8 million of long-term debt is a low 19.2%…