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| PAST TOP PICK | 8.630 | Veronika Hirsch | (A Top Pick Oct 28/10. Down 28.89%.) 5.8% dividend yield and a rock solid balance sheet so there is low risk of the dividend being cut. | 2011-11-25 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 8.630 | Veronika Hirsch | (A Top Pick Oct 28/10. Down 28.89%.) 5.8% dividend yield and a rock solid balance sheet so there is low risk of the dividend being cut. | 2011-11-25 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 9.450 | Colin Stewart | (A Top Pick Oct 5/10. Down 23.58%.) Sold his holdings. | 2011-10-18 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 8.300 | Veronika Hirsch | (Top Pick Oct 28/10, Down 32.26%) Surprised because it has a brand new dividend yield. It is one of the few where the dividend has not helped the stock. A PE of about 4 and it is worth more than 4. | 2011-09-23 | |
| SELL ON STRENGTH | 12.850 | Ara Nalbandian | Recent earnings report were very disappointing. EBITDA margins are coming down quite significantly. Recently sold their CTV shares, which helped the balance sheet and paid a dividend as a result of that. Margins are aggressively declining. Two thirds of sales are newspapers and one third is publishing. If you own consider selling on any strength. | 2011-05-11 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 14.000 | Veronika Hirsch | (A Top Pick Oct 28/10. Up 13.72%.) Still likes. | 2011-03-02 | |
| HOLD | 12.880 | Michael Smedley | One day it will be an incredibly interesting asset. Long-term hold. About 3% yield. | 2010-10-29 | |
| TOP PICK | 12.850 | Veronika Hirsch | Newspapers. Sold their investment in CTV and will hopefully increase their dividend, which the market likes. Nice cash flow and low debt. | 2010-10-28 | |
| HOLD | 12.820 | James Hodgins | Will be getting a nice chunk of change from their CTV stake, which essentially will clear up all their debt. Still a business that is in decline. Highly possible there could be a major increase in the dividend in the short run. | 2010-10-07 | |
| TOP PICK | 12.500 | Colin Stewart | Newspapers in decline but this one has a community-based newspaper (versus a national) as well as Harlequin romance novels in the US. Selling their stake in CTV Globemedia, which will lead to a significant cash infusion that is worth over $4 a share. | 2010-10-05 | |
| SELL | 6.680 | Bruce Campbell | (Market Call Minute.) It survives but it's not a business he is interested in. | 2009-12-07 | |
| DON'T BUY | 7.250 | Stan Wong | (Market Call Minute.) Very cheap at 7X earnings but thinks they will struggle with the newspaper division. | 2009-11-04 | |
| Comment | 6.610 | Douglas Kee | 5.5% dividend should be sustainable even though the payout is a little high. Earnings will probably be $.95 in 2010 and a little higher in 2011. Like all newspapers, they are suffering from the advertising side. | 2009-10-01 | |
| DON'T BUY | 7.830 | Andrew Guy, CFA | 2 businesses. Harlequin romances have had challenges over the last few years but seems to be turning around. Toronto Star has the largest newspaper circulation. This is a far more challenging business. Balance sheet is somewhat stretched. | 2009-02-04 | |
| TOP PICK | 13.730 | Michael Smedley | There has been a decent recovery in the stock. Planning to expand Harlequin books outside of North America. The newspaper side is not too good but feels they can maintain the dividend. | 2008-09-15 | |
| SELL | 11.780 | Derek Webb, CFA | Medium business in general is a very tough business. Getting eroded by the Internet and other forms of media. Doesn't like anything in this space. Dividend yield of 6.25%. | 2008-07-31 | |
| PAST TOP SHORT | 10.630 | Duncan Stewart | (A Top Pick April 25/08. Down 37% giving a net 20% profit.) Pair trade going Long on Thomson Reuters (TRI-T) and Short Torstar (TS.B-T). Broke about even. | 2008-07-28 | |
| DON'T BUY | 12.560 | Peter Gibson | ROE is 11.16% and is collapsing. Stock looks expensive and will probably continue to under perform. | 2008-06-27 | |
| BUY | 12.130 | Pat McKeough | Yield of 5.6%. Investors are treating this much more roughly than they should because they look at the industry more than the individual company. Building up its Internet capabilities. | 2008-06-20 | |
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| SELL | 12.940 | David Baskin | Harlequin Romance is going digital and this hit the stock. Basically the ink on paper business is moribund. | 2008-05-27 | |
| TOP SHORT | 17.280 | Duncan Stewart | Pairs trade going Long Thomson Reuters (TRI-T) and Short Torstar (TS.B-T). One of the weird things happening is that people are still subscribing to newspapers but are not opening them. Contrast that with Thomson Reuters that is selling data. | 2008-04-25 | |
| DON'T BUY | 16.500 | David Baskin | Newspaper business is in a long-term decline. | 2008-04-22 | |
| DON'T BUY | 16.860 | Benj Gallander | The company has come down a ways. They are diversified which is good, they have a legacy. Not cheap enough for entry. | 2008-03-25 | |
| DON'T BUY | 20.600 | Michael Decter | Not too excited about a couple of their recent moves. Have the largest daily circulation in the country. Terrific franchise. In the past 10 or so years, a lot of their income was coming from Harlequin Books, which has been hit by currency and competition. | 2007-06-20 | |
| SELL | 22.340 | Norman Levine | Recently sold his holdings. Always viewed it as excellent value, but in the end couldn't identify what the catalyst would be to unlock the value. If you own, keep some, but also sell and diversify elsewhere. | 2007-05-30 | |
| TOP PICK | 22.990 | Bill Carrigan | Under owned and under loved. Had a long Bear and he thinks there is a low in place. Had a higher low. Might be a bit early on this one. (Doesn't own stocks, but has a relationship with them.) | 2007-05-15 | |
| SELL | 18.670 | Alex Ruus | Newspaper industry has been, and continues to be a value trap for the last 5 years. Business is slowly eroding. Multi-voting shares and would be difficult to sell it. | 2007-03-01 | |
| WEAK BUY | 18.800 | Norman Levine | Has been a poor performing stock until recently. Everybody who wanted to get out of this is pretty much out of it, so the pessimists are gone. Good dividend. Made some investments that are in higher growth areas. | 2007-02-12 | |
| DON'T BUY | 18.250 | Paul Harris, CFA | Trades at about 17 X earnings, which is a high multiple for a company that has under performed. Changed a lot of management in the Toronto Star and it will have to be seen if that will work out or not. | 2006-12-12 | |
| DON'T BUY | 18.090 | Paul Harris, CFA | There are some issues of change of management. A difficult story. | 2006-11-30 | |
| DON'T BUY | 20.800 | Norman Levine | Has been a disappointment. Earnings growth has not really been there. Good dividend. | 2006-05-30 | |
| VAGUE | 22.550 | Ron Meisels | Stock did have some potential. Now it is below 200 day average. If you are a long term holder, suggests to hold it as long as it stays above $21.00. Sell if stock goes below $21.00. Recommends jumping to a gold stock instead. | 2006-03-02 | |
| TOP PICK | 26.370 | Norman Levine | Out of favour and analysts have been down on it for some time. Has recently broken out to the upside with heavy volume. Has 2 main divisions, the newspapers and Harlequin, the romance publisher. Harlequin's results have been soft last year. There are several scenarios that could occur, such as an income trust, a spin off. 2.8% dividend. | 2005-08-30 | |
| TOP PICK | 25.400 | Norman Levine | 2.9% dividend. A stock for patient investors. Stock has come down quite a way because of 1) strong US$ and 2) Harlequin's weak sales. Harlequins earnings are in US$ and international and the strong Cdn$ has hurt. Cheap. Thinks the worst is over for Harlequin and the worst is over for the $. Earnings are going to start to go up. Buy and put away. | 2005-04-13 | |
| TOP PICK | 24.510 | Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc | Has come down from low 30's. Very free cash flow generative. Could reach 30 in 12 months | 2004-09-21 | |
| WEAK BUY | 27.050 | David Baskin | Thinks they have run into a slowdown in their book publishing business. Growth in advertising has not been as fast as expected. Still has faith in the company. | 2004-06-17 | |
| DON'T BUY | 27.650 | Mark Jackson, CFA | Has a very good brand in the Toronto Star. Doesn't see a lot of upside in terms of growth. Expects some better revenues through increased advertising. Fully valued. | 2004-03-15 | |
| TOP PICK | 30.390 | Gavin Graham | Has come out of the newspaper wars looking fairly good. Also has a good asset in Harlequin books. Could possibly be getting the Toronto media Station which it has made a bid for. New management will probably cut costs. 2.1% dividend yield. | 2004-02-24 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 30.000 | Norman Levine | (Past top pick December 4, up 2.8%) Like the outlook. Had management stages. Costs will come down. Very positive feeling. | 2004-02-11 | |
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| PAST TOP PICK | 29.000 | Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc | (A past top pick Sept 26/03. Up 13%.) Advertising revenues should continue to grow. Harlequin publishing continues to do well. | 2003-12-12 | |
| TOP PICK | 29.180 | Norman Levine | The best way to play the Southern Ontario recovery. New management is very focused. Dividend will probably go up. | 2003-12-04 | |
| BUY | 28.390 | Laura Wallace | We are in an environment where there is an improving economy and expects to see an increase in advertising revenues. A cyclical play. | 2003-12-01 | |
| TOP PICK | 26.000 | Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc | They have solid underlying businesses. Good cash flow generators. Pick away on weakness. | 2003-09-26 | |
| TOP PICK | 27.500 | David Burrows | Churns out a lot of cash. Starting to move up. | 2003-07-22 | |
| BUY | 25.500 | Michael Smedley | A good holding. Advertising is rising. | 2003-03-31 | |
| BUY | 25.080 | David Burrows | Media sector is interesting. Should go higher. | 2002-12-16 | |
| BUY | 26.000 | David Burrows | Likes media sector. | 2002-10-28 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 23.640 | Martin Hubbes, CFA | (Was a top pick on June 12. Down 1.6%) Still likes. Will benefit from any economic recovery. | 2002-10-09 | |
| TOP PICK | 24.750 | David Burrows | A leader in the media sector. Had a good quarter. | 2002-09-10 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 24.100 | David Burrows | (Was a top pick on May 31. Down 5%) Still owns. | 2002-06-28 | |
| TOP PICK | 25.000 | David Burrows | Advertising's starting to rise. Have done some cost cutting. | 2002-05-31 | |
| DON'T BUY | 24.350 | Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc | Has gone up well. Not much upside left. | 2002-04-05 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | 22.180 | Rob Callander | (Was a top pick on Nov 15 up 24%) Still likes. Good dividend yield. | 2002-03-20 | |
| WEAK BUY | 21.900 | Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc | Advertising should grow, so could go a little from there. | 2002-03-15 | |
| TOP PICK | 21.500 | Martin Hubbes, CFA | (Was a top pick on Dec 5 up 12.4%) Still likes. A safe investment. | 2002-03-06 | |
| WEAK BUY | 21.600 | Steven Wippersteg | Advertising is down. Newspaper wars have been a problem. May pick up in the latter half of 2002. | 2002-01-11 | |
| DON'T BUY | 20.850 | Gordon Higgins, CA, MBA | Approaching its highs. | 2002-01-07 | |
| BUY | 20.100 | Gavin Graham | Should go up with the economy. | 2001-12-13 | |
| TOP PICK | 19.000 | Martin Hubbes, CFA | When economy goes up, ad rates will rise. 3% dividend. | 2001-12-05 | |
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| TOP PICK | 17.950 | Rob Callander | Very stable dividend. Good price. | 2001-11-15 | |
| BUY | 16.700 | Brendan Caldwell | Very low now, but still likes. Ownership questions will work themselves out. | 2001-10-25 | |
| BUY | 16.400 | Ray Steele | Ad revenues are down. Expects some consolidation. At a low. | 2001-10-23 | |
| WEAK BUY | 18.750 | David Baskin | Advertising is down. New CEO who is untested. Revenue will stay down until economy picks up. OK as a speculative. | 2001-08-31 | |
| BUY | 18.500 | Rob Callander | Can now get into convergence at a good price. 3% dividend yield. | 2001-08-08 | |
| TOP PICK | 19.400 | Rob Callander | Good dividend yield. Seems to be winning newspaper wars. | 2001-05-30 | |
| TOP PICK | 18.800 | Brendan Caldwell | Was a TOP last time. A lot of good hidden assets. Look for a merger or some spin-off. Good dividend | 2001-03-15 | |
| BUY | 18.200 | Pier Donnini | Likes. Expect consolidation down the road. | 2001-03-06 | |
| TOP PICK | 19.800 | Rob Callander | Good assets. Possible that they'll combine with other media too | 2000-12-21 |
