Scotia update from the Globe. Scotia Capital’s Phil Hardie bumped his Guardian Capital Group Ltd. (
) target to $56 from $55 with a “sector outperform” rating. The average is $52.57.
“We believe the value proposition for owning Guardian shares continues to be strong,” he said. “Guardian has delivered an estimated 10-year annual total shareholder return of 15 per cent, yet the stock continues to fly under the radar of most investors despite what we view as a high level of optionality and steeply discounted valuation.
Earlier this month, the company closed a milestone transaction that successfully monetized a number of what we believed to be perpetually undervalued assets. We estimate the roughly $630-million of proceeds bolster its net corporate investment portfolio to $1.25-billion representing almost $48 per share. ... Guardian’s sizeable corporate investment portfolio likely provides a high degree of optionality for value creation that include levers ranging from M&A strategies to share buybacks which could potentially double the share price over the next few years.”