North West Company (NWC.TO)

Deals in staples with inelastic demand, running stores in Alaska and remote northern Canada and isolated parts of the South Pacific and Caribbean selling food and general merchandise. These areas are so remote that there is no competition from e-commerce. These are natural monopolies, so NWC enjoys higher margins than a grocer. They're rebuilding their Caribbean stores after the 2017 hurricanes. (4.55% dividend yield, Analysts; Price Target $32.40)

He held it a few years ago. It took a tumble and has started to stabilize. They have a unique business model. You have a good yield but he is cautious that they have not turned the corner yet after the pull back. It is a little expensive.

He is considering owning it. They have some short term issues, some self inflicted and some market. They just bought an airline.

It's retail in the far north. Unlike retail outside the far north, NWC has customers scattered geographically who depend on their goods. But he thinks revenue and dividend growth will be weak. You're not getting much return. He's not a fan of retail anyway. Higher costs to retail in the far north where they operate, namely transportation of goods on snowy roads.

The stock has come way down. It had a great run for many years with very little competition but today, the margins of Giant Tiger have come way down in the West because of increased competition and because they are selling a higher proportion of food, which carries low margin. The expansion to the Caribbean has brought better margins but much higher risk because of the hurricanes. It’s a well-managed company that faces headwinds right now. It’s not clear what they will or should do with Giant Tiger in the future.

Recent addition to their portfolio. Operates 225 stores in the Canadian north and Caribbean. Kind of immune to the influence of e-commerce given its logistics. Acts like a natural local monopoly. Trades at 14.5 times earnings (Analysts’ price target is $33.80)

Giant Tiger Stores and original HBC stores in Northern Canada. They also have operations in the south pacific and in Alaska. It has been a very well managed company with limited competition. Giant Tiger is not a huge part of their operation. It is well managed and pays a good dividend. It is a pretty safe stock and you pay a premium for it.

This is in retail, but in remote areas. It was once a very good dividend yielder, but was forced to cut their dividend. It is going to be a steady company, and one he would look at, but just not quite large enough or stable enough on a long-term basis. A decent company.

(A Top Pick Nov 4/16. Up 23%.) Still considers this as a Buy. It is nice if you can get it under $30. They will be impacted a little by the hurricane as they had 12 stores in the islands, which would have represented about 10% of pre-tax profit. Giant Tiger has been lagging, but they have been doing some tremendous adjustments in their management of product in the far North, and margins and market share have been going up. Has a new delivery system with the air transport that they purchased. Good company and good dividend.

This is in an upward trend and has gone to new highs, so technically it looks very, very good.

The business model has always been a really good one. They tend to sell in markets where competition has been more limited and prices high. Looking long term, the structure of those markets might be changing, but they have diversified. They own a number of Giant Tiger stores. They have operations in the Caribbean. He would prefer to buy this when it is under $30, and closer to $25 if it was available. It is not cheap now, trading at 4X BV.

This has the double whammy that it is consumer, which is out of favour a little, but this came down too much, and it is also basically a yield play. Over time, it has done relatively well, but there has been some profit taking. It has a near monopoly up north where its stores are. Not a big growth company, but you can get the yield plus a little over.

It is one of the oldest companies in Canada. It is a no growth situation. There are far more interesting names to own in the food distribution space.