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| DON'T BUY | 416.500 | Hank Cunningham | .25% bond due June 22/20 yielding 5.9%. Is this safe? Thinks it is too far out for this particular corporate. He would avoid it. | 2012-01-30 | |
| TOP PICK | 427.080 | Joey Mack | 6.4% bonds maturing May 25/21. This company has gone from non-investment grade to investment-grade. Over 6% is a good trade. Has a pretty good track record of continuing to improve its credit rating. | 2012-01-09 | |
| Comment | 424.000 | Joey Mack | Debenture maturing May 25/21. Is this safe and will the bond capital be returned if the company fails? If you're looking for pure safety, this is not the bond for you. Likes the name, but it is a BBB rated security and also 10 years to maturity. There are no real concerns about default. Moderate risk. | 2011-11-04 | |
| SELL | 395.840 | Jason Donville | Very boring. There's not a lot in the large-cap financials that gets him excited. Better places to be. | 2011-09-08 | |
| HOLD | 384.000 | Michael Smedley | Nor very exciting these days. Tracks between $380 and about $420. On a NAV it tends top be worth about $600. Marvellous investors and built their empire in property and casualty. Doesn’t see the next catapult taking it to much higher levels. | 2011-04-18 | |
| Comment | 387.900 | Michael Decter | CEO Prem Watson is one of the smartest people he knows and usually comes through things well but it has been a bit of a mercurial stock and he is a contrarian. Taken a bit of a pounding on some of their hedges. If you can be patient for 3 to 5 years he will deliver a good return. | 2011-04-13 | |
| Comment | 380.000 | John O'Connell, CFA | Property and casualty insurer and has come under some pressure because of the Japanese earthquake. Great long-term track record but tends to make big bets that don’t always pay off very quickly. | 2011-04-11 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 363.900 | Colin Stewart | (Top Pick Mar 5/10, Up 2.72%) There has been concern about the property and casualty industry as a whole. Now trades at a discount to book value. They are hedged on their portfolio. | 2011-03-24 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 391.170 | Karl Berger | (A Top Pick Jan 5/10. Up 8.35%.) Preferred shares 5.75%, series C. | 2011-02-11 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 379.580 | Colin Stewart | (A Top Pick March 5/10. Up 4.9%.) Still a Buy. | 2011-02-04 | |
| BUY | 404.490 | Michael Sprung | Good investment at these values if you are a long-term investor. Selling at about Book Value. Have had some very good returns lately. An insurance company but makes a lot of money from the investment acumen of the principal managers. | 2011-01-14 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 408.150 | Charles Lannon | (Top Pick Jan 26/09, Up 4.16%) FFH.PR.C-T Trimming holdings now. | 2011-01-06 | |
| HOLD | 405.080 | Mike MacBain | 7.5% bond due August 2019. Good company and decent spread. Likes the bond but recently sold his holdings because it has come in such a long way in terms of credit narrowing. | 2010-12-13 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 399.000 | Karl Berger | (A Top Pick Oct 14/09. Up 12.4%.) Preferred shares-series C, 5.75%. | 2010-11-19 | |
| TOP PICK | 415.100 | Mark Wisniewski | 7.5% bond due Aug 19/19. One of the largest P & C operators in Canada with the significant presence in the US. $1 billion in net debt and $5.5 billion in receipts (?). | 2010-10-13 | |
| BUY | 411.990 | David Cockfield | New issue of preferred just this week and he bought some of that. No concern about credit. | 2010-07-22 | |
| HOLD | 417.350 | Mark Carpani | One of the few financials that weathered the storm. Made a lot of money on the credit default swaps in the 08/09 mortgage meltdown. Bonds are a little higher on the risk scale and rated in the BB area, BBB splits. Fairly good yield but keep a close eye on them. | 2010-07-19 | |
| TOP PICK | 361.120 | Colin Stewart | Owned for a long time. A premier global property and casualty insurance company. Balance sheet is as strong as it has ever been. Are well positioned to benefit when the insurance industry improves. Trades below book value. | 2010-03-05 | |
| SELL | 369.700 | Brian Acker, CA | His model price is $300, which is a -18% differential. | 2010-02-03 | |
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| TOP PICK | 25.970 | Charles Lannon | FFH.PR.C-T: Attractive alternative because of 5.5% yield and protection against inflation over the next 5 years. The pick of the litter. It’s a ‘reset’ preferred share. | 2010-01-26 | |
| TOP PICK | 403.800 | Karl Berger | Preferred shares 5.75%, series C. Wants Preferreds at this point as an option to highly cyclical, pure equity exposure. These have a reset function where every 5 years the rate will get adjusted based on government bond yields and provide some protection against inflation. | 2010-01-05 | |
| BUY | 365.050 | Ara Nalbandian | (Market Call Minute) About book value, which is decent. Thinks book value will continue to grow. | 2009-12-15 | |
| BUY | 375.960 | Don Lato | Trading below book value and is quite a bargain at these levels. Astute management. | 2009-12-09 | |
| BUY | 375.070 | Jason Donville | (Market Call Minute.) Very smart management and the track record speaks for itself. | 2009-12-03 | |
| Comment | 380.100 | Gavin Graham | De-listing from the NYSE but is not a big point. He doesn't own because it is too difficult to forecast what the earnings are going to look like. | 2009-11-23 | |
| DON'T BUY | 383.470 | David Baskin | A black box company. He can't tell what's inside. Financial statements are opaque. | 2009-11-19 | |
| BUY | 373.790 | Don Lato | (Market Call Minute) Only 1.3 times book value which has gone up dramatically over the last year | 2009-10-21 | |
| BUY | 387.790 | Jason Donville | Investment returns have been excellent but you have all the problems that come with property/casualty. A lot of those issues are now behind them but quarter-by-quarter volatility of earnings and share price will give you worries so you have to have a long-term perspective. | 2009-10-16 | |
| TOP PICK | 388.000 | Karl Berger | Preferred shares-series C, 5.75%. Alternative to holding cash. Has a reset function so that every 5 years the rate is reset, representing a nice protection against inflation. They are accumulative units meaning they get paid before common shares. | 2009-10-14 | |
| BUY | 369.750 | John Zechner | Buying subsidiaries, valuation is rich for the sector. | 2009-09-08 | |
| Comment | 367.840 | Gavin Graham | This is the management that got everything absolutely right. US housing market was a house of cards and they bet against it and it paid off in spades. Took a dive in March when the market turned around however way ahead of where they where 5 years ago. This is a play on management and the long-term strategic positioning of the stock. | 2009-08-25 | |
| Comment | 362.000 | Ross Healy | It is going to be tough for them to follow through on their staggering coup last year in the derivatives market. Historically speaking, it is not priced at its maximum but is well up. | 2009-08-13 | |
| BUY | 284.010 | Michael Decter | This was a wonderful play on the downturn. CEO did a brilliant job positioning it to benefit from the market meltdown. Now he has gone the other way i.e., from being short to being long and is making some big bets. If you can get this under $300 and you are patient, you will do very well. | 2009-06-15 | |
| BUY | 371.510 | David Burrows | When you buy this company, you are buying their ability to invest the float, in other words, how successful can they be with the money they have in their care. They have done a marvellous job. P & C companies are performing well as a whole. | 2009-02-19 | |
| HOLD | 397.500 | Michael Decter | (Market Call Minute.) Has had a huge run. Thinks money in here as a contrarian play will move back to the banks. | 2009-01-28 | |
| Comment | 353.750 | Michael Smedley | Has about $9 billion credit default swaps in their portfolio still. This is like buying a Put on the market. Very clever team of investors. | 2008-11-25 | |
| Comment | 337.000 | Michael Sprung | For some time the property and casualty insurance market has had a difficult time. Trading at about 1.5X Book, which is not a tremendously high price for it. There are times when it trades at 3 X Book. | 2008-09-23 | |
| DON'T BUY | 259.750 | Veronika Hirsch | (Market Call Minute.) Because it's in the financial sector this is in one of her favourite stocks. | 2008-07-17 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 254.000 | Colin Stewart | (A Top Pick Feb 27/08. Down 18.6%. BNN misquoted as a 10 %gain.) High quality property/casualty insurance company. Trading below BV per share. | 2008-06-25 | |
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| HOLD | 274.440 | Bruce Campbell | (Market Call Minute.) Has been short the market so has done better than them all. If you are positive on the economy going forward, it would be a Hold. | 2008-05-26 | |
| Comment | 283.580 | David Burrows | Haven’t looked at this for the last month or so but up to that point they had a fairly significant bet against financials by shorting a very large number of financial services companies. This is a way to participate in shorting financials. | 2008-05-06 | |
| VAGUE | 286.520 | Ross Healy | Trading around its fair market value. The stock is getting fairly rich. Indifferent to it. | 2008-03-26 | |
| BUY | 270.670 | Gavin Graham | (Market Call Minute.) Will continue to make lots of money. | 2008-03-06 | |
| BUY | 283.410 | David Burrows | Have done a great job in rebuilding their balance sheet. Made a wonderful trade and made a very good investment going against a lot of these mortgage products. The bet paid off. | 2008-03-03 | |
| TOP PICK | 303.300 | Colin Stewart | Very high quality insurance company. Has been under pressure because of some of the acquisitions but has performed very well over the last year. Strong investment team. Just reported and had grown their BV per share by 48% year-over-year. Buy for the long-term. | 2008-02-27 | |
| BUY | 287.990 | Michael Sprung | BV is around $190 and yet this is a company that is capable over a cycle, of generating a 19% return. Made a lot of money on puts last year, which shored up their balance sheet. In the long run, this has got to be more than just an investment company, but an insurance company as well. Taking steps to work out their US insurance problems. Sound management. Reasonable Buy for a long-term investor. | 2008-01-08 | |
| TOP PICK | 257.000 | Derek Webb, CFA | Best way to play meltdown in credit derivatives. Earnings are going up. | 2007-09-19 | |
| TOP PICK | 213.020 | Derek Webb, CFA | Probably the best public instrument to play the widening of bond spreads. They believed spreads were way too narrow for a lot of the corporate debt issues and they would widen massively. They were correct. Earnings are good and it is cheap. | 2007-08-28 | |
| DON'T BUY | 229.250 | Brian Acker, CA | His model price is $216.20, a negative 6% differential. If the past is any indication, it will probably go to about $176 and try to form a bottom. | 2007-05-24 | |
| WATCH | 276.000 | Ron Meisels | Had a negative pattern for quite awhile and the moving average was going down. Recently, the price managed to get above the 200-day moving average and it had a big rise. Now the stock is too far above the moving average, so it wouldn't be a surprise if the stock had a correction. | 2007-03-21 | |
| Comment | 256.000 | Michael Sprung | Good management, but at the current price, would be tempted to take some profit. Has sold his positions. Not sure that things are going well in Northbridge which is a fair chunk of their assets. | 2007-03-16 | |
| DON'T BUY | 241.950 | David Baskin | He finds it very difficult to analyze the financial statements. If he doesn't understand it, he doesn't buy it. | 2007-03-14 | |
| DON'T BUY | 194.190 | Bruce Campbell | A tough one to call. Had some recent accounting problems and losses on some claims. Always had trouble with disclosure, but better than they used to be. | 2006-11-15 | |
| DON'T BUY | 152.000 | Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc | Sold all of his holdings because of the complexity of the business. Seemed to have a continual string of bad news on acquisitions. There is now a litigation issue before the US courts. | 2006-10-10 | |
| SELL | 116.560 | David Driscoll | Having to deal with a lot of reinsurance problems. Valuation is up in the air because nobody can put a finger on it because their earnings are very opaque. Many of their claims are outstripping their premiums. | 2006-08-17 | |
| WEAK BUY | 121.090 | Michael Sprung | Launching a suit against hedge funds that are shorting the stock and driving the price down as well as putting out a lot of negative news. A well-run company with honest management. Could buy with a long-term view. | 2006-07-28 | |
| DON'T BUY | 104.150 | John Zechner | The property/specialty insurance market is very cyclical in nature. It has had a decent cyclical run in the past few years, upwards but pricing is now starting to soften up a little. | 2006-06-27 | |
| DON'T BUY | 103.310 | Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc | He prefers to go for the leaders in the insurance business. Those with strong balance sheets and not overly levered. Made a lot of acquisitions and they got hit with a number of catastrophic events and some regulatory issues. | 2006-06-23 | |
| DON'T BUY | 125.160 | Jean-Francois Tardif | Not a fan of this company. Insurance is a very tough business to analyse. | 2006-06-05 | |
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| DON'T BUY | 126.730 | David Baskin | Their problem is that their reinsurance business is opaque, i.e., it is impossible to know what is going on there. Would prefer Kingsway Financial (KFS-T). | 2006-05-25 | |
| DON'T BUY | 152.710 | Paul Harris, CFA | They bought a lot of assets at book value, but the assets are long term liabilities, so in his view, they didn't pay book value, but paid higher then book value. As this is an insurance company (and the type of insurance) they've had hurricanes etc that have hurt them. | 2006-03-18 | |
| HOLD | 175.500 | Laura Wallace | Likes the property/casualty sector, but prefers the much larger company Allstate (ALL-N). This company has problems with suppoennas floating around which reflects some of the activities with other companies that have taken place. Difficult to evaluate if they are a serious threat. | 2005-10-19 | |
| DON'T BUY | 201.000 | David Driscoll | Basically what they are taking in in premiums is going right out the door. | 2005-06-28 | |
| WEAK BUY | 174.360 | Bruce Campbell | Has traded down with the other insurers in the last little while. Doesn't find it that attractive. A good defensive holding. | 2005-05-16 | |
| DON'T BUY | 172.660 | Matt Baillie | Property and casualty market on the commercial side has probably peaked out. Has sold off parts of its jewels Odyssey Re Holdings (ORH-N) and Northbridge (NB-T). That's always a negative when a company has to sell off its best assets. | 2005-04-08 | |
| DON'T BUY | 212.530 | Ross Healy | Prem Watsa remains a very clever and capable money manager. The stock is priced to assume that he's going to do a good job. Can't see very much upside. | 2005-02-04 | |
| HOLD | 203.590 | Bill MacLachlan | Feels it has been climbing so dramatically because of the valuations of the investments it holds. A tremendously volatile stock. Relatively illiquid. | 2004-12-17 | |
| DON'T BUY | 190.000 | Ron Meisels | Had a wonderful run because it was over sold in the early part of 2003. Fell below the 200 day moving average. Recent moves have been without momentum. | 2004-11-16 | |
| VAGUE | 150.900 | Brian Acker, CA | Hates this company and doesn't touch it. Model price is a little bit higher than the current price. | 2004-10-26 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 159.020 | Michael Sprung | (A Top Pick Aug 17/04. Down 14%.) Still likes. Hurricanes had a huge impact. Hoping management will be able to get return on equity back up to around 10%. Good price now. | 2004-10-21 | |
| DON'T BUY | 164.000 | James Cole, BA, CFA | Significantly overpriced. If looking at it, look at it on a basis of "earnings excluding investment gains and pre-tax". On a book value basis strip out deferred tax assets and good will. | 2004-10-18 | |
| VAGUE | 161.750 | Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc | Going to buy this stock, of your a deep value investor. Great investment team. | 2004-09-21 | |
| DON'T BUY | 156.570 | Laura Wallace | Unlikely to split. Has been a poor performer in the last while because of concerns of liquidity. Not great disclosure. | 2004-09-20 | |
| WAIT | 158.550 | Ross Healy | Fair market value is about $210/220. Stock has already discounted any good news and has now settled back from a fully valued situation. Let it find lower levels. | 2004-09-17 | |
| BUY | 169.190 | Blair Wilson | Last third quarter, there have been sell-off. Comfortable with balance sheet. Target of 270 dollars CAN. | 2004-08-31 | |
| TOP PICK | 185.930 | Michael Sprung | The stock price is well below book value. Property and casualty business is starting to look a little better. | 2004-08-17 | |
| VAGUE | 189.500 | Laura Wallace | Feels that management is very credible. Company is subject to what is happening in the US in insurance rates and its investment portfolio. Earnings were disappointing. | 2004-08-09 | |
| DON'T BUY | 200.700 | Matt Baillie | A very complex company. Has some issues in the US. You don't want to be in the stock when the Property/Casualty business is so high. | 2004-07-30 | |
| DON'T BUY | 207.080 | Gavin Graham | Runs some nice businesses, but has no idea what's in there or where the earnings are coming from. Prefers relatively straightforward stories. | 2004-07-29 | |
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| TOP PICK | 204.610 | Michael Sprung | A little more discipline is coming into pricing in the property/casualty business. Getting the balance sheet cleaned up. Selling at a good discount to book value. | 2004-07-26 | |
| BUY | 221.000 | Blair Wilson | The insurance companies to date have been one of the best performing financial subsectors so valuation becomes a concern. Relatively cheap compared to its peers. | 2004-07-22 | |
| DON'T BUY | 220.100 | Michael Smedley | Doesn't really understand this company. Would prefer smaller associate or subsiduary. | 2004-07-14 | |
| DON'T BUY | 199.530 | Ross Healy | Fair market value is about $240 so, it's difficult to say that there is anything much here for an investor. | 2004-05-20 | |
| TOP PICK | 210.370 | Michael Sprung | Likes what's happening in the property/casualty market right now. Selling at a significant discount to book value right now. Profitability is likely to go up. | 2004-05-05 | |
| DON'T BUY | 201.000 | Ron Meisels | Had a big decline and got to the point where it became major oversold which then gave a knee-jerk reaction. Hardly any base on the stock so it's hard to build on this. It will have to drop back to finish its base building. | 2004-03-17 | |
| WATCH | 244.400 | Ron Meisels | A break out above $250 would be very positive. Price is too high | 2004-02-02 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 239.300 | Andrew McCreath | (A top pick Oct 20/03. Up 238.35/203.02 %.) Will probably end up with a $260 book value. Still likes. | 2004-01-26 | |
| BUY | 218.400 | Larry Berman CFA, CMT, CTA | Thinks it can break through the technical barrier of $240. | 2003-12-15 | |
| SELL | 221.850 | David Driscoll | Sold out because there are more risks than rewards. Pretty fully valued. The up side might be 10%, but the down side could be 70%. | 2003-12-11 | |
| DON'T BUY | 198.000 | David Baskin | They have always had a lack of transparency. Somewhat inherent in the business. Have to understand before you buy. | 2003-11-26 | |
| TOP PICK | 203.020 | Andrew McCreath | Trading below book value. Believes it is turning around its problem businesses in the US. Conservatively managed. No longer have a liquidity problem. | 2003-10-20 | |
| DON'T BUY | 212.080 | Laura Wallace | Still has some accounting controversy surrounding it. Prefers others. | 2003-10-15 | |
| DON'T BUY | 213.110 | Ross Healy | At full fair market value. Good company. | 2003-10-09 | |
| WEAK BUY | 213.730 | Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc | Good management. Pulled it through some rough times. Look for good organic growth. Sees better opportunities with others that have a better track record. | 2003-09-26 | |
| SELL | 237.600 | Ross Healy | Over priced now. Had a good run. | 2003-09-04 | |
| DON'T BUY | 216.750 | Laura Wallace | On a roller coaster ride.It might be time to take a pause.The casualty insurance cycle should start to do better as the economy recovers.Higher interest rates would also be positive. | 2003-08-18 | |
| DON'T BUY | 216.750 | Bruce Campbell | Has had a nice recovery from its bottom.Not a favorite.Its cheap compared to the book value.The history has been that they make money on the bond portfolio.Not confident of the bond market. | 2003-08-18 | |
| DON'T BUY | 213.500 | Gavin Graham | Insurance companies are a large black box, and you don't know whats going on inside.Too difficult to analyze.Would prefer a life insurance Company. | 2003-08-06 | |
| DON'T BUY | 236.000 | Brian Acker, CA | Not a fan of these types of insurance like Kingsway and Fairfax. | 2003-07-14 | |
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| PAST TOP PICK | 208.000 | Bill Shaw | Was a top pick on Feb 21. Sold. Not sure of future earnings. | 2003-07-09 |
