Managers of the Mawer New Canada Fund (Trades, Portfolio), which focuses Canadian small-caps, added only two stocks to its portfolio of 49 holdings and made triple-digit increases to existing positions in the fourth quarter, it disclosed Thursday.
The fund buys stocks from a diverse range of industries, selecting companies it believes have strong management and profitability, and buying at discounts to intrinsic value. Its managers, Martin Ferguson and Jeff Mo, employ a bottom-up, research-driven approach to selecting stocks, and they maintain long-term holding periods.
As of Dec. 31, the fund had assets under management of $1.13 billion. At first quarter-end, it had its largest weighting in consumer cyclical stocks at 34.08% and second-largest in technology at 17.65%.
The stocks added to the fund in the first quarter were: Savaria Corp. (TSX:SIS, Financial) and Andrew Peller Ltd. (TSX:ADW.A, Financial). It also made the largest increases to: People Corp. (TSXV:PEO, Financial), Photon Control Inc. (TSX:PHO, Financial) and New Look Vision Group Inc. (TSX:BCI, Financial).
New buys
Savaria Corp. (TSX:SIS, Financial)
The fund purchased 1,439,604 shares of Savaria Corp., giving it 1.74% portfolio weight. The stock’s first-quarter share price averaged 16 Canadian dollars.
Savaria Corp. has a market cap of $621.144 million Canadian dollars; its shares were traded around $13.80 Canadian dollars with a price-earnings ratio of 35.38 and price-sales ratio of 2.15. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Savaria Corp. is 2.86%. The forward dividend yield of Savaria Corp. is 3.04%. Savaria Corp. had an annual average earnings growth of 25.5% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Savaria Corp .the business predictability rank of 4.5-star.
Andrew Peller Ltd. (TSX:ADW.A, Financial)
The fund purchased 86,675 shares of Andrew Peller Ltd., giving it 0.11% portfolio weight. The stock’s first-quarter share price averaged $14 Canadian dollars.
Andrew Peller Ltd. has a market cap of $568.936 million Canadian dollars; its shares were traded around $13.01 Canadian dollars with a price-earnings ratio of 27.66 and price-sales ratio of 1.47. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of Andrew Peller Ltd. is 1.53%. The forward dividend yield of Andrew Peller Ltd. is 1.58%. Andrew Peller Ltd. had an annual average earnings growth of 10% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Andrew Peller Ltd. the business predictability rank of 4-star.
Additions
People Corp. (TSXV:PEO, Financial)
The fund increased its position in People Corp. by 770.24% to 2,273,703 shares. The stock’s first-quarter share price averaged $8 Canadian dollars. Its weighting in the portfolio was 1.53%.
People Corp. has a market cap of $458.442 million Canadian dollars; its shares were traded around $7.56 Canadian dollars with a price-sales ratio of 3.12. People Corp. had an annual average earnings growth of 25.10% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated People Corp. the business predictability rank of 2.5-star.
Photon Control Inc. (TSX:PHO, Financial)
The fund increased its position in Photon Control Inc. by 512.67% to 5,462,499 shares. The stock’s first-quarter share price averaged $2 Canadian dollars. The holding represented 0.55% of the portfolio.
Photon Control Inc. has a market cap of $137.5 million Canadian dollars; its shares were traded around $1.27 Canadian dollars with a price-earnings ratio of 12.70 and price-sales ratio of 3.09. Photon Control Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 19.9% over the past five years.Top of Form
New Look Vision Group Inc. (TSX:BCI, Financial)
The fund increased its position in New Look Vision Group Inc. by 315.08% to 501,148 shares. The stock’s first-quarter share price averaged $32 Canadian dollars. The holding at the end of the first quarter represented 1.38% of the portfolio.
New Look Vision Group Inc. has a market cap of $476.540 million; its shares were traded around $30.59 Canadian dolalrs with a price-earnings ratio of 33.61 and price-sales ratio of 1.65. The trailing 12-month dividend yield of New Look Vision Group Inc. is 1.96%. The forward dividend yield of New Look Vision Group Inc. is 1.96%. New Look Vision Group Inc. had an annual average earnings growth of 12.10% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated New Look Vision Group Inc. the business predictability rank of 3.5-star.
See the portfolio of the Mawer New Canadian Fund here.
