Multiple UpgradesWith the announcement of its intention to a launch of a US$1-billion substantial issuer bid and sale of a 9.99-per-cent stake in Odyssey for US$900-million, Scotia Capital analyst Phil Hardie raised his Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. target to $790 from $775 with a “sector outperform” rating. The average is $752.33, while BMO’s Tom MacKinnon raised his target to $665 from $650 with a “market perform” rating. “We view the announcement positively and believe it provides an elegant solution to enhance book value per share in the near term while also supporting future growth,” Mr. Hardie said. “The transaction will likely enable FFH to take advantage of its discounted share price to support accretive share buybacks, while also effectively conserving financial flexibility to support further organic capital deployment across its insurance companies to increase underwriting leverage and benefit from a favourable pricing environment.”
“Fairfax remains one of our top value plays and offers significant upside potential given what we view as a valuation discount that is simply too steep to ignore.”
11/19/2021 Cormark Boost Price Target C$735.00 C$800.00
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