More Great Results.WPK continues to report excellent financial performance. Numbers for Q4 and YE 2009 are now available. The company has, once again, broken all previous records in terms of net earnings and EPS. The market has responded with a respectable 4-5% pop.
A quote from the MD&A:
"Net earnings for the fourth quarter of 2009 were $11.4 million or 18 cents per share compared to $8.9 million or 14 cents per share in the corresponding period of 2008, an increase of 28.1 percent. Continuing the record-setting trend of the previous three quarters of 2009, this represented the highest fourth quarter net earnings performance in the Company’s history.... Net earnings for the year were $42.9 million or 66 cents per share compared to $29.4 million or 45 cents per share in 2008, eclipsing the previous year’s result by 45.9 percent. This represented the best earnings performance in the Company’s history, surpassing the previous record by 31.7 percent, an accomplishment even more impressive by the fact that a gain on property sale inflated the previous record earnings by $4.3 million. "
During Q4, the company added another load ($10.5M) to its mountain of cash ($61.2M at end of Dec/09). Still some vague talk about possible acquisitions, but we have been hearing that speech for some time now, so take it with a grain of salt.
Once again, in the absence of any imminent acquisitions, I continue to feel that the company's money would be well spent by initiating a share buy-back program and/or increasing the dividend. Three cents a quarter is just not enough for a company of this magnitude. The annual yield is now less than 1.5%. Its time to let the shareholders profit from the success!
Also it is time for these guys to buy themselves some IR help. They could be doing a much better job at getting the word out to the investment community.
All IMHO
-K