Intact Financial (IFC.TO)

(A Top Pick Sept 19/14. Up 28.56%.) Had their earnings today and stumbled a little on underwriting profitability and lower Book Value due to some energy losses and preferred share losses. A buying opportunity over the next couple of days. Great company. Still trading below its 5-year average.

(A Top Pick Sept 16/14. Up 35.46%.) The largest property/casualty Company. The big thing he likes is that they actually make money on their insurance. Have been picking up smaller deals. They are very disciplined.

(Market Call Minute.) Not quite the growth he is looking for, but an extremely well-run property/casualty Company. He would say they are in the top 3 in North America. Doesn’t quite have the growth he is looking for, but an excellent business.

Manulife (MFC-T) or Intact Financial (IFC-T)? These are 2 different types of companies and can’t really be compared. This is a life company and the other is property/casualty. This one is brilliantly run and is the biggest apart from Fairfax (FFH-T). He likes this one endlessly. It can be aggressively buying other smaller companies.

He is not a fan of the casualty side of the insurance business. He prefers PWF-T and SLF-T. IFC-T has done well, but he considers this area to be subject to whatever happens. If you believe in climate change then the future is a little uncertain.

(Top Pick May 16/14, Up 25.95%) A leader in the property and casualty business. Growing through acquisition and using its scale. They just bought some business from Canadian Western Bank. They are a leader in a growing business space.

Resource money moving into non-resource stocks is making them over inflated in value.

Even though it has had a big move, it is still trading on a PE basis of around 14X, versus its five-year average of 15.6X. Just did an acquisition from Canadian Western Bank (CWB-T), which will be somewhat accretive to this year’s numbers. A fragmented business, so future acquisitions really provide a source of upside.

Had a very good run because of the macro economic tailwinds. Fundamentally has a strong management team and it is growing. Stock looks pretty toppy at these levels, but on a fundamental basis it stacks up quite well when compared to others. A good entry point is when it is trading below Book Value and you exit when it is trading at a premium to Book Value. Currently it is trading at a good premium to the Book Value, so it is not a bad idea to take some money off the table.

(A Top Pick Jan 28/14. Up 36.04%.) 2013 profitability really took a hit, but rebounded a little in 2014 as he had suggested. He continues to like it.

Property and casualty. Steady Eddie 46% earnings per share growth. This is a fragmented market and future acquisitions serve as embedded catalysts. If they can make an accretive acquisition, investors in the next 12 months will benefit.

One of the largest property/casualty insurers. They consistently make a profit underwriting, so their costs to revenue is consistently below 100%, which is very rare in insurance. Trades at 11.5X earnings. Yield of 2.66%.

(A Top Pick May 3/13. Up 21.94%.) Still likes this. The largest PNC insurer in the country, which gives them a lot of advantages in terms of scale. Grows predominantly by acquisition, and she expects this to continue.

(A Top Pick May 15/13. Up 26.97%.) A quality company. Have signalled that they are possibly looking at some acquisitions. They normally buy back shares and increase their dividend. Very high quality underwriter. Dividend of about 2.6% and expecting earnings growth of 7%-10%. A good one to own for the next 3-5 years.

Property/casualty insurer. Q1 earnings were a little weak because of ice storms. Longer-term this is a consolidator in a highly fragmented market which is right for consolidations. CEO recently withdrew the normal course issuer bid Buy back shares because there are opportunities in the market to play. Yield of 3.08%.