CI Financial Corp

Sound bite for Twitter and StockTwits is: Dividend Growth Financial. Stock price is relatively cheap to reasonable. This industry might have seen better days, but I doubt if it will fold up anytime soon. People have been forecasting the demise of this industry for years mainly because of the high fees and mutual fund not beating the market. The industry is slowing changing, but people are still buying mutual funds. See my spreadsheet on CI Financial Corp.

I do not own this stock of CI Financial Corp (TSX-CIX, OTC-CIFAF). I started to follow this stock originally because it was a Mutual Fund company. People talked about it being easier to make money from buying a Mutual Fund company than buying Mutual Funds. When they became a Unit Trust in 2006, dividends were significantly increased, but these dividends proved to be unsustainable. They changed back to a corporation in 2009 and dividends were decreased in 2010.

Since that time, they have been increasing their dividends since 2011. In June 2014, MPL communications called this stock a Buy and advised that they were adding it to their list of Key Stock for the Investment reporter.

Currently the dividend is moderate to good and the dividend increases moderate. These have been up and down during this company's history, but that was because it became an income trust and then a corporation again. The current dividend is 5.21% which is good, but the historical median dividend yield is 3.47% which is moderate.

The dividend growth over the past 5 and 10 years is at 9% and 15.7% per year. The 9% increase is moderate and the 15.7% is good. The last dividend increase was in 2017 and it was for just 2.2% which is a low increase. The increase in 2015 was low also at 4.5%.

They can afford the dividends. The Dividend Payout Ratio for 2016 for EPS is 73.2% and the 5 year median is 69.2%. The Dividend Payout Ratio of 2016 for CFPS is a bit high at 58% with a 5 year median of 52%. I prefer to see the last one no higher than 40%.

For Mutual Fund companies, analysts tend to look at Assets under Management (AUM) rather than revenue to see if there is growth. For this company the AUM has grown by 11% and 7.6% per year over the past 5 and 10 years. This growth is quite good.

The 5 year low, median and high median Price/Earnings per Share Ratios are 16.57, 18.32 and 19.89. The 10 year values are 14.66, 16.51 and 19.08. The historical values are 15.93, 18.32 and 20.10. The current P/E Ratio is 12.64 based on a stock price of $27.05 and 2017 EPS estimate of $2.14. This stock price testing suggests that the stock price is relatively cheap.

I get a Graham Price of $17.70. The 10 year low, median and high median Price/Graham Price Ratios are 1.49, 1.69 and 1.95. The current P/GP Ratio is 1.53 based on a stock price of $27.05. This stock price testing suggests that the stock price is relatively reasonable and below the median.

I get a 10 year Price/Book Value per Share Ratio of 3.99. The current P/B Ratio is 4.16 a values some 4% higher. The current P/B Ratio is based on BVPS of $6.51 (BV of $1724.1M) and a stock price of $27.05. This stock price testing suggests that the stock price is relatively reasonable but above the median.

The historical median dividend yield is 3.47%. The current dividend yield is 5.21% a value some 50% higher based on dividends of $1.41 and a stock price of $27.05. This stock price testing suggests that the stock price is relatively cheap.

The 10 year P/S Ratio is 4.31. The current P/S Ratio is 3.48 based on 2017 Revenue estimate of $2060M, Revenue per Share of $7.76 and a stock price of $27.05. The current P/S Ratio is some 19% lower than the 10 year median ratio. This stock price testing suggests that the stock price is relatively reasonable and below the median. (If the current ratio had been 20% then the 10 year median, then the stock price test would be showing that the stock is relatively cheap.)

When I look at analysts' recommendations, I find Strong Buy, Buy, Hold and Underperform. Most of the recommendations are a Buy and the consensus recommendation would be a Buy. The 12 month stock price is $29.61. This implies a total return of 14.68% with 9.46% from capital gains and 5.21% from dividends.

Stephanie Bedard-Chateauneuf of Motley Fool likes this company better than IGM Financial Inc. (TSX-IGM, OTC-IGIFF). Sarah Dixon on Clayton News Review gives some statistics on this stock. She says that the The Piotroski F-Score on this stock is 6. Ivanka Thompson on Bangalore Weekly talks about some recent analysts' recommendations on this stock. Analysts have mixed views on Stock Chase.

CI Financial Corp. is a diversified wealth management firm and one of Canada's largest investment fund companies. CI is an Independent and Canadian-owned company. This company promotes and manages mutual funds and other investment products through its wholly-owned subsidiaries of CI Investments Inc., and Assante Wealth Management. CI became a public company in June 1994. It was then listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Its web site is here CI Financial Corp.

The last stock I wrote about was about was Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp (TSX-AQN, NTSE-AQN)... learn more. The next stock I will write about will be Computer Modelling Group Ltd. (TSX-CMG, OTC-CMDXF)... learn more on Wednesday, June 21, 2017 around 5 pm. Tomorrow on my other blog I will write about More is Not Better... learn more on Tuesday, June 20, 2017 around 5 pm.

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

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