| DON'T BUY | 9.070 | Michael Simpson, CFA | Furniture retailer across Canada. Good results from western Canada where the economy is quite strong. A lot of their revenues come from extended warranties. A little concerned about the consumer being weak in most of Canada. | 2008-05-14 | |
| DON'T BUY | 9.120 | Michael Sprung | The concern with the Brick Group would be consumer spending. Unfortunately, they are positioned in the mid to lower middle-income strata, which is going to feel the pinch. His concern would be with the stability of cash flow over the next couple of years. Also, they will have to convert back in 2011. | 2008-04-30 | |
| Comment | 8.630 | Ben Cheng | Yield of 13.9%. Has had a difficult time raising interest amongst the institutional investors. Real estate has been separated, so what you are buying is essentially a pure play retailer. Given all that is happening in the US housing market, the weakness could transfer to Canadian retailers, particularly southern Ontario. The strength in Western Canada is supporting their Ontario and Quebec cash flow. | 2008-04-16 | |
| BUY | 8.250 | Som Seif | (This is his own fund.) This was the #1 performing fund in Canada last year. Likes the segment of the Brazil, Russia, India and China. The economies of these countries are great places for long-term investors. | 2008-02-13 | |
| SELL | 9.900 | Ben Cheng | Tried to move up to more expensive furniture and also tries to compete with Sleep Country. Benefited from having most stores in western Canada. Expecting problems in 2008 because of the weakening economy in southern Ontario. Would buy if the price dropped below $9.00. | 2007-07-23 | |
| WEAK BUY | 9.000 | Chris Rankin, MBA, CFA | A marginally good place to put money. Has some basis for appreciation here. | 2007-02-09 | |
| HOLD | 8.600 | Michael Sprung | Have been expanding and are doing fairly well in some of the new markets that they've gone into. They are a competitive force. Has been fairly steady in its ability to pay distributions. | 2007-01-29 | |
| DON'T BUY | 8.280 | Michael Simpson, CFA | National retailer across Canada. Doing OK in western Canada but not as well in central and eastern Canada. Struggling in Québec. Would prefer a better quality retailer. | 2007-01-04 | |
| SELL | 7.980 | Ben Cheng | Has had a couple of stumbles and could continue to do so. Doing well in Alberta and B.C., but Ontario will come under some pressure. Payout ratio is pretty much 100%. Would take some profits or move money elsewhere. | 2006-12-01 | |
| DON'T BUY | 9.240 | Leslie Lundquist | Not spending enough capital, so they reported decent results but are not maintaining their operations. Good operations in the west, but having no difficulty in the east. | 2006-05-17 | |
| DON'T BUY | 8.800 | Leslie Lundquist | Furniture retailling started out West and then expanded to Eastern Canada. Retail is a tough business and their margins are paper thin. They make their money in their financing programs. They don't own it and would tend to avoid it. | 2006-03-04 | |
| DON'T BUY | 8.660 | James Leung | Has concerns that they have a number of businesses in addition to their core Brick stores. They should focus on their core business without distraction of other activities. Distribution is tight. | 2006-01-27 | |
| DON'T BUY | 9.500 | Michael Sprung | This is a retailer and their cash flow can be variable over time. What worries him on the consumer sector is whether they can maintain the spending patterns that they've had. That is really a big unknown. | 2006-01-06 | |
| HOLD | 8.010 | Ravi Sood | Doesn’t care for it based on price. A good company and well run, but had some issues since becoming public. Was overpriced. Housing market in Ontario is having a negative affect. | 2005-12-09 | |
| DON'T BUY | 10.950 | Michele Robitaille | Not particularily favourable on the retail space. Very hard to obtain a competitive advantage. Can be quite cyclical as consumer preferences can change quickly. Felt this company was too aggressive on their IPO forcasts. Had a very soft 1st quarter this year. Same store growth was down about 5%. Higher fixed costs also. | 2005-09-16 | |
| WAIT | 10.100 | Dan Bastasic | Has about 70% market share in Canada. In a highly fragemented, very competitive furniture industry. Poor results last quarter because of margins being squeezed. Launching a mattress brand and the market is concerned on how they'll do relative to Sleep Country (Z.UN-T). Wait for the 2nd quarter results. | 2005-08-05 | |
| WAIT | 10.960 | Michele Robitaille | Tends not to play in the retail space, so didn't participate in the IPO. This space is quite cyclical. Very difficult to maintain their competitive advantage longer term. At the time of the IPO, they had just taken over United Wharehouse and expanded into Quebec. Had concerns on their forcasts which included some pretty strong numbers regarding those operations. Same store sales down 5%. | 2005-07-15 | |
| BUY | 11.300 | Patrick Kim | Have come off significantly after they released their last quarterly results. Just a hiccup. Same store sales growth was a little soft and they did have some one time charges. Trading at about 1.5 X foreward EBITDA. Distribution is not at risk here. Fairly conservative balance sheet. Expects an increase in margins. | 2005-06-10 | |
| HOLD | 11.850 | Norman Levine | A fine furniture retailer, but not as good as Leon's Furniture (LNF-T). Part of the problem with this trust is that they've had some top management changes and investors are worried about it. Getting into the mattress specialty business where there is a lot of competition. | 2005-05-17 | |
| DON'T BUY | 12.100 | Sandy McIntyre | Came out with relatively disappointing numbers in the 1st quarter. On trusts, would like to see execution over an extended period of time which requires financial results. Prefers North West Company (NWF.UN-T) as a retailer which has characteristics that he keeps pushing for. | 2005-05-13 | |
| VAGUE | 13.800 | Michele Robitaille | Performance has been quite strong since the IPO. Recently announced launch of a national bedding chain which is an attractive business, but will put pricing pressure on them and competition. Her firm tends not to own retail. | 2005-04-15 | |
| BUY | 14.150 | Sandy McIntyre | Dependent upon, household formation, consumer spending and people moving also on lower middle class. | 2005-03-04 | |
| TOP PICK | 14.100 | Bill Shaw | Expect them to grow quite significantly, probably 10 stores in the next couple of years. Not cheap right now, but on a longer term basis, they have a target price of $16. | 2005-02-22 | |
| DON'T BUY | 13.830 | Kevin Hall BComm, CFA | Tends to stay away from the more retail oriented part of income trusts. Has had a great run, but this sector is cyclical and competitive. A lot of pro forma numbers that they want to get their head around. Prefers other sectors. | 2005-02-04 | |
| VAGUE | 13.590 | Michele Robitaille | Retail is an area that she is cautious on. Paid out a special distribution in December, but was tax driven as opposed to excess cash. The one quarter they had was quite strong with a conservative payout ratio of 73%. A seasonal business and stronger results are usually in the 2nd half of the year. | 2005-01-28 | |
| HOLD | 13.830 | Robert Lauzon | Retail is a very competitive business, so tends to stay away fro this sector. Makes a lot of its money from its financing arm and this can be quite volatile in negative economic times. Right now is pretty good. so they should be OK for the next year or so. | 2004-12-24 | |
| DON'T BUY | 12.600 | Dean Orrico | Intensely competitive business. Very little wiggle room if things go wrong. 100% payout ratio. | 2004-11-19 | |
| BUY | 10.800 | Steve Gold | Likes this income fund. It is a sustainable business. A solid company with solid cash flows. | 2004-08-11 | |
Experts that have talked about Brick Group Income Fund
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