STOCKCHASE

(A Top Pick Feb 18/11. Down 12.27%. (See commentary at beginning.)) Still like this one a lot. Did a special dividend and increased their dividend. Trading a good $5 below BV.

2012-01-13

TOP PICK

20.080

Gavin Graham

(A Top Pick Dec 17/10. Down 18.95%.) A mortgage insurer. Has 30% of the market with CHMC having the other 70%. Very defensive way to play Canadian housing. Just raised their dividend another 17% and paid out a $0.50 special dividend.

2011-12-28

DON'T BUY

20.070

There is a perception that they are not setting enough aside for insurance. It is hard to prove an insurance company is under funded.

2011-12-12

BUY

23.700

Joey Mack

5.68% bond maturing June 15/20? The only mortgage insurer outside of the government of Canada. Would definitely recommend this for a conservative investor. Looks pretty attractive.

2011-11-04

DON'T BUY

21.850

John O'Connell, CFA

Basically provides insurance on mortgages. Home affordability is poor, particularly in certain regions, which is dangerous for this company. A lot of people are being squeezed and if interest rates go up, there could be a big drop in home prices.

2011-11-02

DON'T BUY

20.470

Represents insurance against people that can't pay their mortgages. Feels it is a good company but is worried about what the naysayers say about it. He doesn't want to be on a stock where there is all this worry. Would prefer Home Capital (HCG-T) or if you want a pure dividend play, MCAN (MKP-T) would be the way to go.

2011-10-17

BUY

21.130

Mortgage insurance. Extraordinarily cheap. 4.75% dividend. Genworth (GNW-N) out of the US controls 57% of the company. Trades at 10X earnings, well below book. Investors are concerned that the problems in the US will infect the Canadian operations. He has a lot of faith in management.

2011-09-09

Comment

24.370

Appears cheap. Their problem is twofold. 1) There is a belief that some kind of corporate action is coming that will unlock some value and take the stock higher. 2) There is a perception that they have under provided for mortgages that they are ensuring. He doesn't want to pay the price of admission to see if this is correct.

2011-07-11

PAST TOP PICK

24.640

(A Top Pick Aug 13/10. Down 10%.) Currently trading at Book. Increase or dividend twice. Over capitalized. Still likes.

2011-07-08

BUY

26.000

Doesn’t know if they will raise the dividend. It is a good hold. A core stock that he doesn’t look at too much.

2011-03-08

TOP PICK

26.800

(A Top Pick Aug 13/10. Up 9.09%.) Trading at about 8 or 9 times PE. Have bought back stock and increased the dividend. Thinks Canadian real estate is fairly stable and expects an up tick. Almost 4% dividend.

2011-02-18

PAST TOP PICK

27.080

(A Top Pick Jan 22/10. Up 8.33%.) Extremely cheap. Quasi-oligopoly as there’re only 2 players in the space. Good margins. Did a share Buy-Back and is expecting another this year.

2011-01-20

TOP PICK

26.510

Gavin Graham

Insures mortgages for people with low down payments. Has 30% of the market. Has to be better on execution than government owned CMHC, which it is. Have bought back $325 Million of stock and raised dividends 23%. Good visibility and consistency of earnings.

2010-12-17

HOLD

26.420

Great company but has been bouncing all over the place for the last 6 months. Good dividend. Risk/reward is good. Good long-term investment.

2010-12-06

HOLD

26.340

Mortgage insurance. Has had kind of a muted performance but a lot of the market has been quiet over the summer.

2010-10-04

PAST TOP PICK

25.840

(A Top Pick May 21/10. Up 2.47%.) Still likes.

2010-10-01

PAST TOP PICK

25.800

(A Top Pick Aug 26/09. Up 13.61%.)

2010-09-24

TOP PICK

25.050

(A Top Pick May 21/10. Down 6.74%.) No debt and sitting on $5.5 billion of assets when they went public last year. Parent Genworth (GNW-N) owns 57%. Debt-free until they borrowed $275 million to trade debt/equity ratio. Instituted a share buyback in the next few weeks and will buy back 325 million shares between $24-$28, which will be accretive.

2010-08-13

PAST TOP PICK

25.100

(Top Pick Aug 26/09, Up 10% Total Return) Not happy because he has been up considerably higher. It is a buy at the moment.

2010-07-29

DON'T BUY

24.560

Hank Cunningham

5.86% bond maturing June 15/20. Doesn't understand or like this company very much and would want to own their bonds for 10 years.

2010-07-21

TOP PICK

25.300

Mortgage insurance. Dropped when it was taken off Morgan Stanley International index. Had nothing to do with fundamentals, which are still good. A duopoly with CMHC, which probably controls 96% of the market giving them pricing power. Debt-free and overtly capitalized. Excellent management.

2010-05-21

TOP PICK

25.950

Most attractive sub sector in financial services right now is anything related to the mortgage lending market. This company provides mortgage insurance. This area is an oligopoly in Canada with CMHC being in the only other player. 3.5% yield and good growth profile.

2010-01-22

BUY

25.880

(Market Call Minute.) Valuation is just slightly over BV so it is very cheap. ROE is good. Doesn't see a big cataclysm in the Canadian residential market.

2009-12-03

TOP PICK

23.500