Power Corporation of Canada's Paul Desmarais Jr., chairman and co-chief executive officer checks his watch prior to their annual meeting in Montreal, May 13, 2011.CHRISTINNE MUSCHI/Reuters
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Montreal-based Power Corporation of Canada (market cap $11-billion) is a diversified international management and holding company with interests the financial services, communications and other business sectors in North America, Europe and Asia.
Fourth-quarter earnings announcement hurt shares recently, but that made valuations very attractive for a solid business.
Recently upgraded by Joel Greenblatt-based model as the No. 1 stock in Canadian market based on the combined earnings yield and return on total capital ranking.
Also gets strong interest from James O'Shaughnessy-based value model because of size ($33-billion in trailing 12-month sales), $11.38 in cash flow per share, and 4.3 per cent dividend yield.
Other strong points:
- Has price/sales ratio of just 0.33
- Sells for just 0.43 times book value
- Debt/equity ratio is a reasonable 26 per cent