50% off Premium Yearly
High Liner FoodsHLF.TOHOLDMay 24, 2016Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 19, 2026. Market Open.
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 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.
This is a long-term Hold, not a short-term play. They capitalize on the trends of seafood and healthier eating, which are currently very strong across North America. Historically they’ve done an outstanding job, making very good acquisitions, integrating them well. Lately have run into some problems. Organic growth has been negative and they’ve taken on too much debt. They have a leveraged situation which they are now addressing. Feels they’ve done a pretty good job recently in improving the business, and you should see them going back to the positive growth rate.