We recently completed a survey of lighting agents across the country. The feedback from our survey confirms our view that: Revenue growth in the lighting industry has started to slow Pricing pressure on LED products...
READ MORE >“I've got depth of perception in my text y'all I get props at my mention 'cause I vex y'all So what'cha...
READ MORE >“It's just that I've never seen people celebrate mediocrity the way you do.” Jack Byrnes (Robert DeNiro). Meet the Fockers. Dir. Jay Roach. Universal Studios 2004. For...
READ MORE >“As cooler weather starts driving up heating costs, Calgary distress centres are finding more people who once earned steady incomes are now struggling to pay their bills and seeking relief with...
READ MORE >We recently conducted a survey of 148 mortgage brokers located across Canada. The key findings from our survey include: Home price weaknes is becoming more broad based The underlying bid for housing remains...
READ MORE >Zillow management did it again. The company guided down for the forward quarter and “talked down” margin expectations for the out year. This has become a tried and true practice for...
READ MORE >“….but I do want to remind everybody that CoStar has shown again and again and again that we are able to reduce costs after an investment initiative. We are very good at that and we need credit for that.” Andy...
READ MORE >Yes, it’s true that AYI does not provide earnings guidance for investors, but the manner in which the company handled its latest earnings release has to be viewed as troubling. AYI missed by a wide margin on both the top...
READ MORE >Will Monday, October 3, 2016 be remembered as the day that the housing market in Ontario peaked? Maybe. In a move that appears to have shaken the Canadian housing market to its core (or at least rattled a few branches), Minister of Finance, Bill Morneau announced a...
READ MORE >“How did you go bankrupt? Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly” Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises ITT Educational Services ceased to exist as of September 16th. The...
READ MORE >“Financial engineering is the use of mathematical techniques to solve financial problems. Financial engineering uses tools and knowledge from the fields of computer science, statistics, economics and applied...
READ MORE >Over the years, there are few things that we have looked forward to less than listening to DV earnings conference calls. For the most part, the conference calls and presentations during the...
READ MORE >Believe it or not, there was a time even after we adopted a bearish stance on Zillow’s stock that we were allowed to ask questions on the company’s earnings conference calls. Unfortunately we asked too many difficult...
READ MORE >To anyone (ourselves included) that has followed the publicly available financial data on Home Trust from OSFI over the past few months, it is not a surprise that the company once again missed...
READ MORE >HCG is desperate. How do we know this? Well certainly in this case actions speak louder than words. Consider the following steps the company has taken over the past 6-12 months to shore up...
READ MORE >Over the past month, we surveyd approximately 470 real estate agents. The vast majority of the agents we surveyed have at least 10-years experience, generate at least 15 transaction sides annually, and work for one of the REAL Trends 500 brokerage firms. Additionally, a significant...
READ MORE >The continued sharp decline in oil prices over the last couple of years has had a detrimental effect on the Alberta economy, resulting in several high-value provisions and writeoffs in our commercial portfolio, predominantly within the energy...
READ MORE >We recently conducted a survey of approximately 230 real estate agents in Canada. The attached presentation summarizes our key findings from the survey.
READ MORE >“EBITDA isn’t a controlled substance or a law enforcement agency. It’s the standard abbreviation for the financial-analysis term “Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and...
READ MORE >In the strongest housing market in the history of Ontario while taking provisions for credit losses as close to zero as possible, HCG still missed consensus 1Q16 earnings expectations....
READ MORE >The structural flaws with Zillow’s operating model are all hiding in plain sight. It’s May 2016, nearly 5-years after Zillow went public and the company is no closer to achieving its theoretical adjusted EBITDA margin...
READ MORE >As a firm, we pride ourselves on the rigors of our idea generation process. Rigorous fundamental analysis, in-depth primary research, accounting scrutiny etc. are all hallmarks of our investment process. However, despite the intensity of our work on any...
READ MORE >ESI shares traded higher after hours based on the company's long awaited 4Q15 operating results. It appears some investors are emboldened by the earnings upside in 4Q15 despite continued weakness in student...
READ MORE >On some level you have to simply admire the recklessness of HCG’s management team. After all, over the past three months, the company: 1) reported earnings that fell well short of...
READ MORE >In the 45-50 minutes of prepared remarks from CSGP’s management on the company’s 4Q15 earnings conference call, it was quite clear Andy Florance and co. were hoping to accomplish the...
READ MORE >"So let's talk about oil and gas. So, earlier Marianne mentioned our intention to increase our reserves for 2016 to reflect current market fundamentals. So, at the end of 2015 for the Commercial Bank, we held a 6% allowance as part of that effort we are going to – we...
READ MORE >Things have been quite different in Internet TAM-land for the past 3-6 months. Seemingly overnight investors have held companies in the space to a higher standard of operating metrics, profitability and cash flow (do not confuse the relative “higher” with the absolute “high”). In a shock...
READ MORE >In case you were wondering what business looks like on the ground, or in this particular case the “air” in Alberta, here’s an important comment from the CEO of Westjet (Canada’s second...
READ MORE >It’s one of the more laborious, mind-numbing, and tedious exercises we have conducted on any investment idea, but it has proven to be the most revealing. Of course, we’re talking about the task...
READ MORE >This isn’t the first time, nor will it be the last (unfortunately) that the stock of a company that we have recommended going short has been acquired. It happened with OPEN, MCRS, and now RON. ...
READ MORE >SELL
$50
LONG
$110
SELL/SHORT
$230
SELL/SHORT
$55
LONG
$70
SELL/SHORT
$4
SELL/SHORT
$45
SHORT
$18
SELL/SHORT
$5
SELL/SHORT
$42
LONG
$75
SELL/SHORT
$50
SELL/SHORT
$50
LONG
$5.50
SHORT
$50
SHORT
$28
LONG
$65
LONG
$37
PAIR TRADE
$10
PAIR TRADE
$30
LONG
$35
SHORT
$35
SELL/SHORT
$10
SHORT
$101
SHORT
$15
SHORT
$0
SHORT
$9
SHORT
$0
PAIR - LONG BGG/SHORT TTC
25%
SHORT
$14.00
SHORT
$22
SHORT
$15
SHORT
$20
SHORT
$31
SHORT
$35
SHORT
$30
PAIR - LONG KNL/SHORT MLHR
25%
SHORT
$100
LONG
$8
LONG
$20
SHORT
$22
PAIR - LONG CSGP/SHORT LOOP
40%
LONG
$35
SHORT
$275
SHORT
$0