EGI Financial trades in Toronto under symbol EFH. The stock is up since I bought it in 2009, but still trades at less than 80% of hard book. There's no dividend, but I still like it being a Canadian company with me being down here in the US.
The company has been battling headwinds recently in its core Ontario market. Market conditions there are improving now, and the company is seeing promising things in Quebec and the Canadian Maritime provinces.
What's more, EGI has started doing business in Texas and will soon being writing coverage in Florida as well.
Execution is the risk here -- as it is in practically every stock I hold. But EGI has good, conservative management and that, along with the discount to book, leaves me feeling comfortable despite any fluctuations in the stock price.
Douglas McIntyre, CEO of EGI, said, "We reported continued growth in our Personal Lines and Niche Products
divisions during the second quarter, despite operating in a challenging
environment for property and casualty insurance companies. We believe our
ongoing volume growth is another strong sign of hardening market conditions in
the Ontario automobile insurance market. In the first six months of the year
our premium volumes increased by 25% and we expect this trend to continue
throughout the remainder of the year. While insurance market conditions have had a
negative impact on our business, our underwriting results have improved
significantly from the first quarter of 2010."
You can read the release on the latest results here.
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