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Opinions Andy Nasr
High Liner FoodsHLF.TOCOMMENTSep 08, 2015
Andy NasrStock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 19, 2026. Market Open.
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The company is 120 years old and is the leading brand in North America in frozen value added seafood, number 1 in the Canadian retail segment and number 1 in the U.S. food services segment. Eating fish is considered a healthy alternative to eating meats and although Americans are not big fish eaters, there is good growth potential as attitudes may change. It is paying down debt as well as increasing the dividend by 30% and it recently reported record results. Trades at 7X earnings and insiders own 40%, almost unheard of.
He would not double down on it because we are in tax loss season. There could be some tax loss selling in November/December. It has fairly high debt. It now pays a dividend but did not do so when he owned it. They are a leader in the field and know what they are doing. They could do well in time.
He decided to keep the name because the yield is safe and good. It is a touch business. They are doing value added food processing on many types of fish. Margins have been squeezed. He thinks this might be coming to an end. The shrimp farm in Asia looks like it is fixed. The company has value at some point. It is the kind of name that private equity tends to gravitate to. He thinks it should be trading higher, but it is not a momentum name.
Lyle Stein
Down $1-$2 from where he bought it, due to operational hiccups. They were moving around some of their manufacturing facilities, trying to rationalize them and it should have affected an improvement in margins, which didn’t happen. There was also a decline in volumes in their most recent quarter. The valuation is very compelling, however it has turned into a bit of a show me story. You are going to need to see volume growth stabilize and some of the synergies start to flow through.