STOCKCHASE

Bond Maturing in 2015. Hold or sell? This company is a distressed credit. He feels the 2013, 2014 and 2015 are Buys at current levels. Trading too cheap relative to what he thinks the eventual work out will be. He is fairly sceptical that all of these bonds will mature. (He owns some of their debentures.)

2012-04-24

Comment

0.100

2017 debentures. It is a tough situation. Interest should be paid for a while but we will enter a restructuring phase. The print business is decaying quickly, about 15% a year. You have to look at where you are on the pecking level. Convertible debentures likely won’t get much on the dollar. The unsecured debenture holders likely will get paid.

2012-03-26

SPECULATIVE BUY

0.130

Bonds maturing in the next 3 years. He has recently engaged into the bonds. Thinks the rest of it is worthless. He thinks they will go into receivership. The bondholders get to take the asset. When it comes out of restructuring, you will have a company at 2.5 times EBITA. He thinks he is getting compensated for the risk and will get paid in full.

2012-02-23

DON'T BUY

0.195

Bonds: Owns in high yield fund. Buying one high yield bond is always a mistake because you need to be very diversified. Believes tomorrow we will learn they are earning free cash flow. They have been paying off debt.

2012-02-08

TOP PICK

0.200

7.3% bond maturing in 2015. The big issue is, is it a bankrupt company? They still have free cash flow of about $300 million and they know they have to quickly pay down debt. Thinks there's no value in the equity and very little value in the preferreds but there is some decent value in the debt.

2012-01-18

DON'T BUY

0.230

Bill Carrigan

This is something you simply stay away from. You get involved with a stock like this and all of a sudden the directors resign and then trading is suspended and you can’t get out.

2012-01-06

SELL

0.170

Gavin Graham

A Tax Loss Selling situation. If you think it is coming back you can buy it back after 31 days.

2011-12-28

SELL

0.190

Colin Stewart

Directory business is still declining at about 15% a year on an earnings basis. Significant leverage on the balance sheet.

2011-12-09

TOP PICK

0.220

7.3% bonds due 2015. Dislikes the company but their bonds are trading $.50 on the dollar. This company still makes money and has a positive EBITDA and positive free cash flow. Thinks they will survive but if they don’t, the bonds have first call on their business.

2011-12-05

DON'T BUY

0.240

Derek Webb, CFA

This business is very broken.

2011-12-01

HOLD

0.230

Hank Cunningham

Bonds are trading at $.30-$.40 on the dollar and maturity is 2014 and 2016. Buy and hold? Bonds are trading at a massive discount to Par. Did not like the credit because there was too much goodwill on their balance sheet. If there's going to be a restructuring, it will be the bondholders that do it. Too late to sell.

2011-11-28

TOP PICK

0.255

7.3% bonds. Trading at $.50 to the dollar but should be closer to $.80. Disliked this company for 6 years but bonds are ahead of the equity and preferred holders. Still have positive free cash flow. Make about $500 million of EBITDA. They are forced to pay down debt in order to survive. Even if they go into receivership, the bonds should get their money.

2011-11-16

Comment

0.360

Bonds maturing in 2013? In distress credit right now. Recently been downgraded to non-investment-grade. Outlook is negative. Reported 9% decrease in revenue and 14% decline in EBITDA. Not good numbers for bond or other investors but he believes it will have adequate liquidity to 2013.

2011-11-04

BUY

0.330

July 2013 bonds. Earnings this Thursday. Everyone is waiting to see how bad this will be. Cut dividend and that save money. May be throwing off free cash flow. 6.5% coupon.

2011-11-01

SELL

0.495

They are reporting in a couple of weeks and he would be nervous. It probably wont be a great number. There is more risk that it could be a little weak. Thinks there were millions of shares when it went under a dollar and you can't short a stock under a dollar so there was probably a lot of covering.

2011-10-26

DON'T BUY

0.200

Brian Acker, CA

Even at the $6.37 level, his research indicated there was something wrong. They just announced a $2.4 billion write-off. Thinks it is kind of hopeless. There is so much information on the web that it is hard for media companies to transition their business.

2011-10-11

DON'T BUY

0.550

Has never liked the construction of their business. The stock price is an indication that people are losing confidence. At current levels, it is more a speculation than an investment.

2011-09-20

BUY

0.550

Bonds & Preferred shares – could they default. He owns bonds due in 22 months time with 17% yield. In his opinion they cannot default in 22 months because of sales of auto-trader. They cut distribution to free up some free cash flow. They have the money to cover the bonds in 22 months. No default on them.

2011-09-20

HOLD

0.710

Marc-Andre Gaudreau

Feb 2016 bonds. Safe? Trading in the low $70’s in the market so you’ve already lost a lot of money. Fundamentals of the business are not going well. Looking at the different aspects, they won’t run out of cash for the next few years. You might as well keep them.

2011-09-16

DON'T BUY

0.800

Sandy McIntyre

Very difficult business. This is a migration from print to web page on the back of a company with a massive debt load and declining cash flow. This is a recipe for a share price that goes down.

2011-09-07

DON'T BUY

0.790

Jamie Horvat

Just lost their CFO. Continues to struggle with its transition from its directory type of business to online/online advertising type of business. 25% of revenues are coming from online business. There is a lot of Goodwill on the balance sheet that should be written down. Eventually they have to look at some type of restructuring.

2011-09-06

BUY

0.810

Blind-sided in every possible direction. Stock is now dirt cheap, nice yield and it is quite beaten up. Huge discount to book. Analysts think they will earn the yield 2 or 3 times over. He would average down. Has a chance to rebound.

2011-08-31

DON'T BUY

0.880

Huge yield up 15.8%. This is an avoid. Too much debt and you wonder if the old model works anymore.

2011-08-29

SELL

0.950

Has a soap opera running with this one. He bought a bunch at $0.81 but it could be a stupid average down. He thinks there may be a special dividend. Before the end of the year, he might sell for tax loss. He thinks it will survive. Management is long on promise and short on delivery – major danger signals.

2011-08-25

SPECULATIVE BUY

0.950

David Baskin

Dividend was clearly unsustainable but when they cut it, stock still dropped. It’s now undervalued and the business is not going away. They have a growing net presence. They paid down some debt and are making enough to pay the dividend. Sentiment is against company and volume is enormous. Being used as a speculative vehicle, which makes him nervous.

2011-08-24

DON'T BUY

0.930

Andy Nasr

Not worth getting into. They are skating on thin ice. Management has a huge task ahead of them. Print business is in secular decline, down about 10% a year. It is harder to solicit ad sales for only part of business. Prefers the preferred. You will get capital gain and redemption in 2017 plus the dividend as long as they don’t go under.

2011-08-23

DON'T BUY

0.930

For the last couple of years they have consistently had a YLO question. He doesn’t like their business model. An old economy stock trying to e a new economy stock and they have to sell so much more in the new economy to get the same revenue as in the old economy. Questions if the current dividend will remain stable. You have to believe an investment has a sustainable business model.

2011-08-23

DON'T BUY

1.080

David Cockfield

Market was pretty good in anticipating the falloff. Problems they have are pretty basic. Computers have done a lot of harm to this company. Doesn't know if they will survive until June of next year.

2011-08-19

Comment

1.210

Looking at this to see what to do about their preferreds and bonds. Thinks it is possible they will eliminate the dividend down the road. Expects the company will survive and will be a free cash flow generator and pay back all their debt. Go to the short-term bonds if you want to be in this company.

2011-08-15

HOLD

0.790

Barry Schwartz

Preferred Class A 4.25% Retractable Dec. 2012. Their intention is to payout this preferred shares with cash. They have the balance sheet to do it. Stock is priced as though it is going to go bankrupt but that is not going to happen. They are still paying a dividend.

2011-08-11

DON'T BUY

0.810

John O'Connell, CFA

They paid out all that income in an unsustainable environment and then yanked the dividend. Lot of debt in a challenged environment. Some one should take these guys out.

2011-08-09

DON'T BUY

1.100

Randy LeClair

Preferreds due Dec 2012. Safe to hold to maturity? Just reported and results were not good. There is a big black cloud hanging over them because of 1) their sale of Trader.com, auto trader's publication and 2) they cut their common share dividend. This particular preferred is retractable in Dec 2012. There is a question if they will have enough money at that time to pay these out.

2011-08-04

DON'T BUY

1.940

Lyle Stein

Will you love that dividend when it gets cut? Market is saying it is not going to last. Avoids this stock. Need to give us better clarity on the balance sheet.

2011-08-03

DON'T BUY

2.260

Steve Carlin

Market is focused on a highly leveraged balance sheet. EBITDA is deteriorating or flattening. The company must keep its debt level below 3X the level of EBITDA that they are generating. Market is concerned that by 2012 they will have trouble meeting their covenants. Believes distributions will be cut.

2011-07-26

DON'T BUY

2.260

Doesn’t like the business they are on. Doesn’t believe they can replace what they had in print media. Yield is telling you it is not sustainable here.

2011-07-26

Comment

2.260

John Zechner

This is tempting see that it has come down so far. Has really never liked the business. Can’t see where the growth is coming from.

2011-07-25

DON'T BUY

2.300

Yield of 28%, so what does that tell you? They are trying but it is a tough business. They have a lot of debt and market doesn’t believe they can keep paying their dividend.

2011-07-21

DON'T BUY

2.170

Relatively well-managed. They should eliminate their dividends. Have way too much debt. Will be downgraded. Owns some bonds.

2011-07-14

TOP PICK

2.370

Has been beaten up by the analysts. There will come a time when people shut up about it and when that happens, the stock will take off.

2011-07-12

SELL

2.250

Mike MacBain

Are bonds still a safe investment? Had a difficult time transferring business model from print to online. 2 key issues. Management used some of the Auto Trader money to buy back equity, which has a negative effect on bondholders. Also their bonds don't have a “change of control” covenant so won't be taken out at par if company merges or is taken out. Tricky call.

2011-07-11

WEAK BUY

2.510

Barry Schwartz

Probably worth a lot more than its present price of $2.53. Will probably have to slash and dice its dividend more. Still generating strong free cash flow. Business model is dying, but it's not going to be dead next quarter but in the next few years. Okay for the speculative side of your portfolio, probably 1% only. He owns their preferred shares.

2011-07-06

Comment

2.550

Randy LeClair

6.25 convertible bond. He has been looking at this one for a while. It is convertible to equity at some point. You can convert it at $8 at which point it is like a common share. They sold their Auto Trader publication to pay down debt. This bond could get paid out at any time. There are yellow preferred shares and you get a descent dividend.

2011-07-05

DON'T BUY

2.400

Don Vialoux

Chart is disastrous. There is not even an indication that you want have a low yet. There is concern that they might have to reduce their distribution.

2011-06-30

DON'T BUY

2.690

Has not like the stock basically from the day it was issued. Their core business is a dying business. Selling their Traders business so that they can survive. Doesn't see their digital business being very successful. Very highly leveraged. Dividend is not safe.

2011-06-29

DON'T BUY

2.690

Prakash Hariharan

Preferred A shares with a retractable date at the end of Dec/12 paying 4.5% yield. Had a bad run because of poor decision-making. He is wary of them being able to cover the principal at maturity. Would prefer their bonds instead.

2011-06-29

SELL

2.280

David Burrows

Believes the market tells you things you don’t know. Trying to pick a bottom in a stock is one of the toughest things. It’s behaving worse that most stocks in a difficult market.

2011-06-28

SELL

2.440

James Hodgins

Credit Suisse had a note out cutting the target price and will likely have to cut the dividend in half and the stock dropped. He is Short the stock. Feels this company is stuck in a downward spiral. Looking at a year or two out, the cash flow will not support the dividend anymore.

2011-06-27

WATCH

3.250

Gavin Graham

Really cheap stock, even if they were to cut the 20% yield. Sold Auto Trader and getting $745 million. Company says they are not concerned about the debt, but the market does not believe it. He would stand aside and wait for a couple of more quarters to see earnings and what is management doing.

2011-06-23

HOLD

3.320

Michael Simpson, CFA

Sold their trader publication to a private equity firm and the closing is sometime at the end of June. Expect the dividend will be secure for the rest of this year. Business is in decline. Transitioning from print to on-line, which is lower margin and more competitive. Dividend could get reduced in 2012. Would hold and look for a rebound.

2011-06-17

TOP PICK

3.400

David Baskin

Preferred Class A 4.25% Retractable Dec. 2012. A defensive play. Company has to buy back your shares at $25 in about 18 months. You end up with a yield of about 9%, which is tax effective with the capital gains and dividends.

2011-06-16

DON'T BUY

3.430

Business model is difficult because they are only 25-30% on line. In a slow decline. You could own it in the short term for the dividend, but it is dropping more than the dividend payment so avoid the common. Possibly you could look at the preferreds. E.g. the preferred ‘D’.

2011-06-07

Comment

3.590

An interesting situation with this one. They are moderate risk at best. Big spreads between bid and ask on the bonds. You are probably fine on 21013 or 2014 maturities but would be less comfortable going further. Would only play this company on short-term debt.

2011-06-06

DON'T BUY

3.820

Andrew Hamlin

Still some downside risk. Management just reiterated that the asset sale is going to go through and that the dividend is safe but it is a declining business. All depends on can they turn around the on line media. The preferred shares might be an attractive way to play it.

2011-06-03

HOLD

3.900

Peter Brieger

Had huge margins on their paper product but were losing out to on line search engines. They have now gone to small and mid-size companies offering to set up web sites. Great idea but will take time. Market worries the paper product is losing at a faster rate than can be offset by electronic media. Expects 17% distribution will have to come down, but if it drops to 10%, that is not a hardship.

2011-06-02

BUY

3.780

Every tie he plays it he questions why he is doing it. He goes into it for the dividend. They re-affirmed their dividend today. Thinks there is upside to the stock but there are major risk to this industry.

2011-05-31

DON'T BUY

4.300

Jason Donville

Doesn’t see any future in this one. Sometimes when you get high dividends in companies, most of the people on the street thinks the dividend is about to get cut. 15% yield.

2011-05-25

DON'T BUY

4.300

14% plus yield. Size of yield is usually for a reason. Market doesn’t believe they can continue to pay that yield. Print business is the higher margin business and is declining. Web business is growing but is lower margin. Their problem is debt. Sale of the Trader Magazine basically covered debt repayment for this year but still have a lot of debt.

2011-05-25

DON'T BUY

4.730

Yellow Media is really struggling,decaying very quickly, bond side is okay, but the equity side is problematic, risk of a dividend cut is high, having problems employing their new strategy.

2011-05-17

Comment

4.420

Ara Nalbandian

75% of their business is the print division, which is in long term decline. 25% is the on-line division. Trying to grow their on-line division faster than the decline in their print division. Until the on-line division approaches 50% of the over all revenues, you could be at risk. He likes their preferred shares.

2011-05-11

DON'T BUY

4.370

Hap (Robert) Sneddon FCSI

Has worried a lot about the business strategy for a while. Owns some of the preferred. Doesn’t think they are in danger of bankrupsy. There is a lot of competition, print side continues to go down and they can’t replace cash flow fast enough. They have cut the dividend twice. The market may think there is a third cut coming, which is possible from the balance sheet.

2011-05-10

Comment

4.440

Normally a big dividend is a danger signal. He would have liked to see it hold at the $4.80 level. Now that it is broken through that, the next level would be $3.75-$4.00. Expect there will be a lot of interest at that level. Yield may get cut but doesn’t think the story is over. Multiple is pretty decent on it.

2011-05-04

DON'T BUY

4.700

Christine Poole

This could be a value trap. 80% of their directory business is still print based and is declining very rapidly. Trying to make a transition over to digital on-line advertising. 13.8% dividend is safe for the next year based on their cash flow. A declining industry. (Owns some retractable preferred shares for clients.)

2011-05-02

Comment

4.870

Peter Hodson

Starting to transition into the digital media world. Doing OK with this but is a stock that everybody loves to hate. If you have a good time frame, just collect the 13% dividend. They are not going to go away any time soon and you’ll get your investment back in dividends if the company survives, which it can easily do.

2011-04-26

Comment

4.780

Peter Brieger

Likes what he sees happening with them. Focusing on small, micro sized businesses and designing web sites for them. This is addressing a very important and critical part of the market and may help them, sustain their growth going forward. (He owns some of the preferred.)

2011-04-19

DON'T BUY

4.820

Michael Smedley

Concept of yellow pages is a bit difficult now with the way the web’s taken over. Stock has been extremely weak lately and he doesn’t know what kind of salvation there is. Not a good sector to be in and some say the 13% yield is vulnerable.

2011-04-18

TOP PICK

4.890

Analysts are forecasting that it will cover its dividend for the next couple of years. 13% plus yield. His target would be $6-$6.25.

2011-04-15

DON'T BUY

4.970

John O'Connell, CFA

12.8% yield. A classic case of don’t believe everything you see when you look at yields in stocks. At this rate there is probably something seriously wrong. Have been struggling for some time. Have some serious competitors, including Google (GOOG-Q). Recently sold a division at a huge loss that was a lot of their cash flow.

2011-04-11

DON'T BUY

5.190

Never been a fan of this company. Sold Traders, which will probably help protect their dividend, which was in jeopardy but this was the growth part of their business. Core business continues to decline and their internet business has not been able to pick up the slack. 12% distribution.

2011-04-06

BUY

5.490

Always buys at $5 and change and Sells at $6 and change. Big dividend. Just sold Auto Trader for $750 million which will guarantee the distribution for a while.

2011-04-01

DON'T BUY

5.400

Bonds: Triple B rated credit. One notch above junk. Yields are more in line with where high yield bonds trade. Don’t put a lot of money in that name. The business is challenged right now.

2011-03-21

DON'T BUY

5.400

The question is how much advertising they can bring in with the Internet side of the business. 12% yield. This means the market wonders of they can maintain it. The earnings have to catch up to what they are paying out.

2011-03-21

WEAK BUY

5.200

It has come off substantially. Shows a high yield. Business model for paper side will continue to decline. Increasingly with apps on phones you can bypass the on-line side. You can buy for the yield but he doesn’t see much growth.

2011-03-10

WEAK BUY

5.140

Never completely trusts the company. It is a real dinosaur in his way of thinking. What will it cost to get rid of the yellow pages. He put it back on the watch list a while ago and may buy back in again. This stock would be part of his diversification strategy. Has bought it twice and dumped it.

2011-03-02

PAST TOP PICK

5.350

Barry Schwartz

(Top Pick Feb 22/10, Up 7.95%) Preferred shares 4.25%. Are an excellent investment for non registered accounts. Doesn’t like company long term but likes this preferred. Thinks it will be redeemed at $25 next summer.

2011-03-01

DON'T BUY

5.570

Hasn’t liked for a long time. Doesn’t like their business model. Yesterday’s technology. Trying to move the consumer from the book to the internet but it’s not working out as well as it should have. When they converted from an income trust, the cost was 20X the average and they gave no disclosure.

2011-02-28

WEAK BUY

5.700

Don Lato

Business has two parts and moving in opposite directions. Thinks the growth in the on-line side of the business will support the dividend.

2011-02-22

HOLD

5.690

Andrew Hamlin

Very solid business and generates a tremendous amount of cash flow. Had lackluster results but feels the dividend is very sustainable. Low payout ratio. As long as small businesses are not growing, they will continue to be challenged.

2011-02-16

WEAK BUY

6.090

Colin Stewart

Very challenging business over the last few years. Advertising has gone more internet based and digital and that has been a real attack on their core Yellow Pages book. Converted a lot of their business to those media. Might be interesting. Pays quite a high yield that he thinks is sustainable.

2011-02-04

DON'T BUY

6.130

Trading below book value. Why? A lousy industry will beat management any time. Both of these things apply to this company. Gone from a monopoly business when they were Yellow Pages to transitioning to an online business that has an infinite number of competitors. $3 billion in debt and earnings barely cover their $0.80 dividend. 13% yield but expects a dividend cut in the next 2-3 years.

2011-01-24

DON'T BUY

6.230

Ara Nalbandian

In a long-term decline. They are transitioning into an Internet based business. Prefers the preferred shares.

2011-01-19

PAST TOP PICK

6.120

Ben Cheng

(A Top Pick Feb 12/10. Up 28.86%.) Took profits late 2010.

2011-01-11

TOP PICK

6.150

Mark Carpani

Yellow Media 7.75 % 3/2/2020. High investment grade, generating good free cash flow. Deleveraging and paying down debt. Converted from income trust in November without any fall out. Doesn’t have a problem with the equity. Biggest risk is a big slowdown in the economy.

2011-01-10

HOLD

6.270

Not big fans. Yield is attractive but not sure they can maintain it. Doesn’t have much.

2010-12-21

DON'T BUY

6.170

Michael Simpson, CFA

(Market Call Minute.) Far too much debt and have cut their dividend once this year.

2010-12-02

DON'T BUY

6.060

Bill MacLachlan

For a long term business plan, he just doesn’t see it. Information they provide is available free on line. A shrinking business that will have shrinking margins.

2010-11-17

BUY

6.100

Mark Carpani

He owns 2020 bonds. It’s a fairly valued credit.

2010-11-16

HOLD

6.110

Don Lato

Owns a little in income accounts but wouldn’t buy its growth profile. 7%-8% dividend will be safe. Have some new ventures going including building web sites for companies and expanding their on-line presence.

2010-11-15

DON'T BUY

6.400

Never been a fan of this. The fundamentals of the business were not good. Grew through acquisitions. Are trying to change their paper business to one of many on-line businesses. Would not be a shareholder. It’s not cheap here.

2010-11-09

DON'T BUY

6.130

Worries about the business structure and whether they can maintain their yield.

2010-10-25

HOLD

5.730

Peter Brieger

Thinks distributions can be maintained. If you have a half position, you could average down.

2010-10-12

BUY

5.540

Jim Huang

Reasonable entry point. Advertising is recovering in the economy, so they should benefit. Threat to printed material is real so they are trying to sell more online. Yield should be sustainable.

2010-09-30

DON'T BUY

5.510

David Baskin

In an industry that soon won't exist anymore. Turn into an Internet company but not sure they can be successful. Doesn't like the trust units, but owns Reset Preferred Shares instead.

2010-09-28

DON'T BUY

5.520

(Market Call Minute.) Doesn't like the longer-term fundamentals.

2010-09-22

Comment

5.520

Recently bought this one back but is still not completely clear in some ways because Yellow Pages as paper is pretty much done. Have gravitated to the web and seem to be doing a pretty good job with it.

2010-09-17

Comment

5.400

Tony Demarin

Will convert on Nov 1st to a dividend paying company. Will reduce cash payments from about $.80 to $.65 in the form of a dividend. Distributable cash next year will be close to $1. Fantastic yield. Trying to transition from old media print style company to an on-line web based advertising. Would hold this only if you are interested in the yield.

2010-09-15

DON'T BUY

5.300

Current share price is supported by the 12% yield, which can’t go on forever. Hopefully over time there will some growth but their record over the last couple of years has not been great.

2010-09-09

BUY

5.360

Fairly cheap. With a decent yield going forward, feels it represents pretty decent value. FMV is quite a bit higher so he doesn't think there is a lot of risk.

2010-09-07

SELL

5.190

Jason Donville

Wouldn't own this one based on how the whole Yellow Pages phenomena is being eradicated by the Internet.

2010-08-30

DON'T BUY

5.130