| PAST TOP PICK | 24.770 | Gavin Graham | (A Top Pick Aug 8/07. Down 13%.) Infrastructure and agriculture. Still likes. | 2008-07-07 | |
| TOP PICK | 27.080 | David Baskin | Caterpillar equipment in Western Canada is benefiting from winter Olympics and will ultimately benefit from pipelines going north and tar sands in Alberta. Tremendous business in South America where most of the world’s new mines are being built. Big recurring revenue from service and parts. | 2008-06-10 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 28.120 | Stephen Carlin | (A Top Pick April 5/07. Up 8%.) Operationally, things were great, but $0.10 of earnings got shaved because of currency swings. $1.7 billion backlog. Expecting a lot more upside. Great fundamentals. | 2008-06-03 | |
| TOP PICK | 29.600 | David Baskin | A large amount of their revenue comes from service maintenance and parts. In other words, they sell the equipment and then get to maintain it for the next 10 years. They make better margins on this than they do on selling the huge earthmover. Tremendous opportunity because of Winter Olympics, pipelines and mining in South America where they have the franchise. | 2008-05-13 | |
| Comment | 31.150 | John Zechner | Well managed and in an area that will have good secular growth, providing equipment to the mining business. In the short term, he doesn't see much earnings growth but okay for the long-term. Good over the next 5, 10, 15 years. Doesn't see a lot of excitement. | 2008-04-28 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 30.360 | Gavin Graham | (A Top Pick Apr 23/07. Up 6.7%.) A great play on resources. Still a Buy. | 2008-04-09 | |
| TOP PICK | 28.800 | Don Vialoux | Can take advantage of any infrastructure going forward. Chart shows a potential reverse head and shoulder pattern. If it gets above the line ($29.50?) it's off to the races. The company will have very strong 1st quarter results and very strong earnings for 2008. Seasonality strength seems to be between November and the end of May. | 2008-04-03 | |
| DON'T BUY | 25.120 | David Burrows | Global infrastructure play. Have really liked this company in the past. Highly economically sensitive. Have long-term contracts but their backlog is a little lower than normal. | 2008-01-18 | |
| TOP PICK | 27.600 | David Baskin | Whistler Olympics has a huge amount of development still going on. Oil sands machinery continues to need maintenance and parts. Perhaps the Mackenzie Valley pipeline will get built some time. New mines are being opened in South America. They make money on service and support. | 2007-12-18 | |
| DON'T BUY | 26.000 | Peter Hodson | Was Short this stock a few weeks ago but has now covered it. Their last quarter was pretty much a disaster. Has a premium valuation at 17X forward earnings and is not deserving of it. Would be a steal at 14X or 15X forward earnings. | 2007-11-26 | |
| HOLD | 31.080 | Bruce Campbell | Good growth outlook. Wait a little. | 2007-10-24 | |
| Comment | 32.430 | Michael Sprung | Caterpillar equipment. Do well when there is a lot of capital spending and infrastructure building. Their UK subsidiary had a bit of a problem but seems to have straightened out. If you own, consider trimming your holdings in case of a slowdown. | 2007-10-01 | |
| BUY | 28.560 | Stephen Carlin | Has finally hit its stride. Last 2 quarters have been very good. Backlog continues to be very strong. The only laggard has been the UK operations but management has been working hard on fixing it. Earnings growth continues to be very, very good. Trades at 15 X next year's numbers, which is a very reasonable multiple. | 2007-08-21 | |
| TOP PICK | 29.490 | Gavin Graham | Just blew the doors off with its earnings, even after a disappointing period in the UK. Have a backlog of $1.8 million. A leveraged play on increasing demand from emerging markets. | 2007-08-08 | |
| HOLD | 29.490 | Robert Floyd | Very well managed company. With the huge developments in western Canada in mining and oil/gas, it is doing well. Stock seems to move ahead of its valuation and then pulls back to a realistic point, which is what has been happening over the last couple of months. | 2007-07-12 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 58.490 | David Baskin | (A Top Pick May 25/06. Up 54%.) Finally hitting on all cylinders. Will eventually benefit from any pipeline getting built. South America sales are going through the roof. The UK division finally got sorted out. | 2007-05-08 | |
| BUY | 56.400 | Gavin Graham | A leveraged play on the resource economy of western Canada and the emerging markets. Will keep going in the next few years. | 2007-04-23 | |
| TOP PICK | 53.420 | Stephen Carlin | Has suffered some execution issues over the last couple of years. Looks like they're finally getting through. Earnings growth has begun to show some good signs. Have oil sands and mining exposure in good areas. | 2007-04-05 | |
| DON'T BUY | 52.090 | Ross Healey | Quite fully valued. The whole sector looks a little on the pricey side. | 2007-03-07 | |
| WEAK BUY | 49.070 | Brian Acker, CA | The model price is almost $50 which is a 5% positive differential. Just sold his holdings. | 2007-02-01 | |
| DON'T BUY | 48.070 | John O'Connell, CFA | Makes money both selling equipment and has a nice consistent cash flow through servicing. Had some problems in Britain and are not completely out of the woods yet. | 2007-01-25 | |
| HOLD | 46.750 | John Zechner | Very involved in the oil sands, but also are substantially involved in South America for a lot of mining project. As long as there is global growth in the industry, it should continue to do all right. Wouldn't be surprised if growth slows down on a cyclical basis. OK for a long-term hold. | 2007-01-22 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 47.000 | David Baskin | (A Top Pick Jan 4/06. Up 27.9%.) In the last 4 years, they have taken a hit on the currency. With the Cdn$ being down, they will actually have an increase in the foreign exchange. They have big position in South American mining which is going ahead full bore. | 2007-01-10 | |
| BUY | 46.180 | Brian Acker, CA | A model price is $48.72, only a 3% positive differential, but it has huge revisions. | 2006-12-21 | |
| HOLD | 44.700 | Michael Decter | A great play on Western Canadian development and the economy. Worked through their UK problems. Started dividends although their earnings were not as good as they should be. Fairly valued. Would like it below $40. | 2006-11-24 | |
| BUY | 45.770 | David Baskin | The English operation was an albatross around their neck, which they managed to shed. Doing great in South America, Western and Northern Canada. Every time they sell a machine, they have supply and maintenance contract which is good for their revenue base. | 2006-11-21 | |
| BUY | 39.060 | David Baskin | Finally did something right, with their UK holdings. Still likes the South American operations very much. | 2006-10-23 | |
| DON'T BUY | 37.900 | David Burrows | Has been one of the best performing stocks over this cycle. Economically sensitive stocks have started to suffer. Earnings are still very good but the market is seeing some risk going forward. | 2006-09-13 | |
| Comment | 39.820 | Bill Harris | Putting it beside Toromont Industries (TIH-T) it comes out as a more high quality company. Big infrastructure needs should keep propelling both companies forward. | 2006-09-01 | |
| Comment | 38.650 | Paul Harris, CFA | Owns some of their bonds. A great company with some good international plays. Guidance has been 20% a year, which is a very high number, and this has hurt them. The market is thinking the economy boom is slowing down which has affected the price. | 2006-08-15 | |
| DON'T BUY | 39.000 | David Chapman | Charity shows pretty much a straight line that it moves around. You don't want to see the lows broken, but preferably to break out through the highs. If the market goes down, the risk here is to the downside. | 2006-08-04 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 38.600 | David Baskin | (A Top Pick May 25/06. Up 3.5%.) Likes its exposure to the oil sands and base metals in South America through their trucks. Will also do well for the Olympics in British Columbia and the Mackenzie Valley. | 2006-07-27 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 39.970 | Fred Pynn | (A Top Pick Mar 3/05. Up 15.5%.) Still likes. Could still be bought. The long-term play is as Caterpillar (CAT-N) gets its equipment into the field, this company benefits from the higher margin repairs/maintenance. | 2006-07-26 | |
| HOLD | 36.920 | Bruce Campbell | Quasi cyclical with its exposure through Caterpillar. Always a little ahead of itself and has gone sideways. If you like the North American economical outlook for the next year or two you can stay in it but be ready in the next little while to sell on a move up. | 2006-07-05 | |
| TOP PICK | 38.560 | David Baskin | Just had a falloff of more than 10%, which creates a buying opportunity. Likes them for its business in the mining sector in Argentina and Chile. Likes their exposure to the winter Olympics, the oil sands and the Mackenzie Delta. | 2006-05-25 | |
| DON'T BUY | 39.640 | Laura Wallace | Has been a well-run company. Newspaper article indicated that oil sands has come up with new technology which means they wouldn't need Finning equipment anymore. That could have a big impact. Trading at 52-week high and she would be cautious at this point. | 2006-04-06 | |
| TOP PICK | 38.190 | Shauna Sexsmith | One of the largest dealers of Caterpillar equipment. One of the ways to take advantage of the resource boom without having the volatility. Over the next 8 years, they are going to see an extra $3 billion plus in revenues just as a result of parts and equipment business in the oil sands. | 2006-03-28 | |
| BUY | 38.500 | David Baskin | Caterpillar equipment dealer. Prefers over Toromont (TIH-T) because of their exposure to South America. | 2006-03-27 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 39.900 | Gavin Graham | (A Top Pick Dec 29/05. Up 7.3%.) A leverage play on the western Canadian resources boom. Still likes. | 2006-03-20 | |
| TOP PICK | 36.750 | David Baskin | A pretty good story of a Canadian company that has expanded outside of Canada. The traditional business was heavy equipment in western Canada. Making a lot of money in Latin America. Transforming itself by selling more and more services such as equipment maintenance and parts. Likes the infrastructure that is going to be going on in western Canada. | 2006-01-04 | |
| TOP PICK | 37.250 | Gavin Graham | A play on the resource boom. Distributor of Caterpillar Tractors for western Canada, the UK, and parts of Latin America, all of which, except for the UK, are doing very well. | 2005-12-29 | |
| BUY | 36.800 | Ross Healey | Has been trading between 2 and 2.5 X its book value for some period of time and has just pulled down to the 2 X book. On a trading basis, it’s worth a shot. This would potentially give you 10/15% upside if it acts the way it has been. | 2005-12-13 | |
| TOP PICK | 37.000 | David Baskin | Interesting way to play the oil sands. They'll be supplying hundreds of millions of $'s worth of equipment to people in the oil sands. Will make a lot of money on the Whistler olympics. Probably going to make a lot of money on the MacKenzie Valley pipeline. Doing great in mining in South America. Had a mediocre quarter giving a nice buying opportunity. | 2005-11-24 | |
| DON'T BUY | 37.500 | David Driscoll | Right now they are running free cash flow negative. Caterpillar news that was out today was not good because they shouldn't be having supply problems this let in the cycle. His valuation is in the $20 to $24 range. | 2005-10-21 | |
| BUY | 40.000 | Michael Smedley | A little high. Has some choice aspects supplying into the resource development arena around the world. Had some trouble getting its UK operation working properly. A blue chip. | 2005-09-27 | |
| BUY | 37.980 | Ron Meisels | An excellent stock. Strong uptrend. Has hit a new all time high which is a positive. Dividend. | 2005-07-29 | |
| SELL | 38.750 | Danny Tomka | This is a play on the oil sands. They have the CAT dealership in western Canada, England and in S. America. At this point, when they do sell new equipment, the margin is very low. Where they make their money is on the service side. Looks fully valued. | 2005-07-20 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 36.520 | Ron Meisels | (A Top Pick Apr 11/05. Up 7%.) Broke the trend line in May and started a new upside. | 2005-07-07 | |
| BUY | 35.000 | Peter Hodson | A fabulously run company in the right industry at the right time. Too big for his portfolios. | 2005-06-13 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 33.450 | David Baskin | (A Top Pick Feb 28/05. Up 2%.) Benefiting from the world wide boom in mineral extraction. They'll do well with the Olympics, northern pipeline, etc. Still likes. | 2005-04-21 | |
| TOP PICK | 34.080 | Ron Meisels | All 3 Top Picks are in a major uptrend and all have significantly higher targets and nobody follows them. Sitting right on the 200 day moving average. A major breakout is about due on this stock. | 2005-04-11 | |
| BUY | 32.880 | Norman Levine | Affected more by the mining/forestry cycle rather than an energy crisis. Have had a good time in this period and the outlook continues to be good. | 2005-03-31 | |
| BUY | 33.990 | Fred Pynn | Back door way to participate in commodity boom. | 2005-03-03 | |
| BUY | 34.700 | David Baskin | A currency hedge as a lot of revenues are from outside of North America. A lot of their equipment is in South America, one of the fastest growing mining segments in the world. A conservative way to get exposure to Westport. Spending a lot of time and energy in England trying to get their rental business back on track. Good long term buy. | 2004-12-16 | |
| DON'T BUY | 33.300 | Veronika Hirsch | Ha downed, but replaced it with Toromont Industries (TIH-T) because they are worried about what is happening in the UK. | 2004-11-04 | |
| BUY | 31.000 | Paul Harris, CFA | Has done some very good acquisitions. Strong company. Hitting on all cylinders. A good solid story. | 2004-09-17 | |
| HOLD | 32.770 | Michael Smedley | Like the stock. Strong company, long term good hold. | 2004-06-16 | |
| BUY | 32.800 | Ian Nakamoto | Good company . | 2004-06-14 | |
| BUY | 31.450 | Robert Floyd | A well managed company. Growth comes from late cycle characteristics such as big mining projects. Revenues should stay strong. | 2004-06-01 | |
| BUY | 29.400 | David Baskin | Just announced a big contract in Chile. A good stock for short and long-term. | 2004-04-27 | |
| WEAK BUY | 29.400 | Laura Wallace | Great brand name. Very strong company. Has quite a cyclical bias to it. Performance is going to be a function of what use the in the economy. Prefers others. | 2004-04-12 | |
| BUY on WEAKNESS | 29.700 | Bruce Campbell | Well-run. Had a nice run, but now looking at less than 10% growth. Would consider at$25/26. | 2004-04-01 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 30.350 | David Baskin | (A top pick Dec 9/03. Up 3%.) Didn't do as well as they had hoped. Had some foreign exchange problems, didn't sell as much equipment as they would've liked. Expect they will grow based on metal prices, pipeline development, Olympics. | 2004-03-01 | |
| BUY on WEAKNESS | 29.940 | Laura Wallace | Earnings reported were a little disappointing. Very exposed to a strong Canadian dollar. An extremely good company. | 2004-02-25 | |
| DON'T BUY | 30.000 | David Chapman | Chart indicates a negative. Has two tops and is beginning to turn down. Has sell signals on it. | 2004-02-13 | |
| HOLD | 30.260 | John Sinkins, CFA | A good name to hold. Hopefully there will be some upside. | 2003-12-29 | |
| DON'T BUY | 28.400 | David Burrows | Likes the machinery stocks in general. It looks like the earnings momentum has slowed in this stock and the estimates are not rising as quickly as they where in the past. | 2003-12-16 | |
| BUY | 28.860 | Gavin Graham | A really well run the company. Good price. | 2003-12-15 | |
| BUY | 29.870 | Gavin Graham | Big growth in Alberta oil sands, infrastructure projects in B.C., UK, Paraguay, etc. 1.2% dividend yield. | 2003-12-10 | |
| TOP PICK | 29.700 | David Baskin | Has a lot of things going for it with a lot of global activity. Very reasonable price. | 2003-12-09 | |
| BUY | 29.610 | Fred Ketchen | Down about 10%. Good management. Expects this industry will continue to grow. | 2003-11-28 | |
| DON'T BUY | 31.320 | Brian Acker, CA | Has had a nice run, but their model price is where it's selling at now. Fully valued. Well-run company. | 2003-10-17 | |
| TOP PICK | 32.320 | David Baskin | A steady performer. Particularly likes their prospects in South America because of demand for base metals. Should also do well in the Canadian north. Well-managed. Good price. | 2003-10-08 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 32.050 | David Baskin | (A top pick August 19/03. Up 3.3%.) Very solid company. Still likes. | 2003-09-29 | |
| BUY | 32.300 | Gavin Graham | Mining and oil sands projects are expanding. Also have distributions in Europe and South America. Very attractive price. | 2003-09-18 | |
| HOLD | 32.050 | Michael Sprung | Has had a good run, but expects more good news to come. Will probably continue to be one of the primary suppliers to the Oil Sands project. International operations have improved. | 2003-09-11 | |
| BUY | 30.870 | Mike Weir | Have long-term hold stock.Tremendous growth rate.Have never lost money. | 2003-08-19 | |
| TOP PICK | 30.870 | David Baskin | Caterpillar has been in strong demand.With all the infrastructure being built, it should do great. | 2003-08-19 | |
| TOP PICK | 31.200 | David Burrows | Great acquisitions globally. Growth is coming world wide so economies should do well. | 2003-07-22 | |
| BUY | 29.900 | David Baskin | Terrific management and nice strategy. Should do very well in operations in the Canadian north. Global organizations are strengthening. | 2003-07-08 | |
| BUY | 29.340 | Andrew McCreath | A quality company. Well managed. Steady growth. A long term hold. | 2003-05-29 | |
| TOP PICK | 27.780 | Gavin Graham | Exoanding globally. Record profits. | 2003-05-22 | |
| HOLD | 27.900 | Glenn Paradis, BA, CFA | Getting near full value. As the economy improves, it will be posiive for the company. | 2003-05-01 | |
| WAIT | 27.000 | Ross Healey | Upside potential is not too bad. Meeting some major technical resistance. If it broke through the $28/29 level, he would be interested. | 2003-04-28 | |
| BUY | 26.650 | Robert Floyd | Good organization. | 2003-04-25 | |
| BUY | 26.810 | David Baskin | Good stock. | 2003-04-22 | |
| BUY on WEAKNESS | 25.900 | Ted Macklin | Good company. Has never lost money. Strong balance sheet/management. | 2003-03-20 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 24.850 | David Baskin | (Was a top pick on Oct 31. No change.) Still likes. | 2003-01-14 | |
| TOP PICK | 24.400 | David Baskin | 3rd quarter was good. Making as much in services, parts and maintenance as they did in sales.Well managed. | 2002-10-31 | |
| DON'T BUY | 24.280 | Gordon Higgins, CA, MBA, CFA | Capital equipment selling is a question mark. | 2002-10-30 | |
| TOP PICK | 24.250 | Ted Macklin | Will do well in a global economic recovery. Well diversified. 14 X earnings. | 2002-10-03 | |
| TOP PICK | 25.220 | Clos Olsson | Strong growth rate. | 2002-09-13 | |
| WEAK BUY | 24.500 | Roger Mortimer | Well run. Have to believe the economy will recover. | 2002-07-29 | |
| BUY | 23.810 | Michael White | Should benefit from economic growth. | 2002-07-16 | |
| HOLD | 23.750 | Ian Nakamoto | Excellent company. Well diversified. | 2002-07-04 | |
| TOP PICK | 28.850 | Ted Macklin | Company has never lost money. Good balance sheet. Big in the oil sands. | 2002-06-05 | |
| BUY | 28.600 | Ray Steele | Will benefit from continuing oil production. | 2002-06-04 | |
| HOLD | 28.210 | Richard Stone | A premier leasing company. Well managed. | 2002-05-30 | |
| BUY | 25.140 | Mark Jackson, CFA | Good company. Wait for the next leg. Looking for something to acquire. | 2002-05-01 | |
| BUY | 27.050 | David Baskin | May do very well in the oil sands. | 2002-04-12 | |
Experts that have talked about Finning Int
