CCL industries first-rate performance creates a buzz

CCL isn’t a glitzy stock, but it is the largest packaging company in the world and it’s benefiting from the depreciating loonie.

Ashley Redmond 6 March, 2014 | 7:00PM
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Ashley Redmond: I'm Ashley Redmond for Morningtar.ca, and I'm here with equity analyst, Kirk Paulus.

Kirk, thanks so much for joining me.

Kirk Paulus: Glad to be here again.

Redmond: So, Kirk, today we have a very exciting topic to discuss, and it's not gold stocks and it's not tech stocks, it is packaging stocks!

Paulus: Yes, excellent buildup for the company that we are going to be discussing today, which is CCL Industries. It might not be a household name, but if you walk around your house I guarantee that you're going to run into certain labelling and packaging that's produced by this firm. They have some major global customers, firms like Bacardi and Dove soaps; all of their packaging labelling needs are basically handled by CCL Industries.

They are a massive global company. They are the largest in the industry with 95 production facilities located around the world. They have great emerging markets exposure, as well as North American and European exposure; the company is definitely well-known in their field.

Redmond: As a DIY investor, I wouldn't automatically think of a packaging stock, so would you say overall the packaging industry is overlooked?

Paulus: I would say for the smaller investor, it's certainly not a glitzy stock. A lot of do-it-yourself investors I talk to will talk about oil stocks, tech stocks, financials, and things like that. But a company like CCL generally wouldn't show up for most DIY investors unless it was to appear on a screen and a lot of people might overlook it because they're unsure of what they do.

I would say that a lot of do-it-yourself investors may not come across this stock even though it is a very attractive opportunity.

Redmond: Okay. So you mentioned CCL, it's the largest in the world. How has it performed recently?

Paulus: Actually very well. Just in the first few months of the year – starting from January, the price has appreciated about 15%. A lot of this is due to some excellent fourth quarter results, which basically shattered consensus expectations at $1.21 per share. Basically the company has had some very successful integration activities with a new division that they acquired from Avery.

Basically they are expecting $40 million to $50 million annually from this acquisition to be accretive to the bottom line, and they have been very successful in the integration of the firm into the overall operation.

Redmond: Okay. That's great. And you wrote an article for Morningstar.ca on CCL, it can be found on the Stocks page. So, how has CCL performed since you wrote the article, better or worse?

Paulus: Actually better than I expected. I expected some good performance, but not quite at this level. When I actually wrote the article, the stock was trading around $79, $80, and with the excellent Q4 report that they had they're now tracking closer to $90, $91.

So, I wish we shot this video earlier, I could have gotten the information out there on my analysis. A lot of analysts are very positive on the stock going forward and [they] see a lot of future possible price appreciation. Several analysts in the industry see the stock actually breaking the $100 mark before the end of 2014.

So, there is still a lot of upside to the stock. A lot of this is going to be driven by how they continue to perform on the integration, as well as future acquisitions. They're currently sitting on $200 million of cash and they are not overly levered. They are at about a 0.8 debt to equity ratio. So, they have room for further acquisitions, which given their success in the past could be further accretive to the bottom line and to share price going forward.

Redmond: How is the depreciation of the loonie affecting the company?

Paulus: A lot of times in the media you will see people talking about Canadian manufacturers and how the Canadian dollar effects them. CCL is a Canadian manufacturer and while they have a global footprint—from the depreciation of the Canadian dollar, which is tracking around $0.90 right now against the U.S. dollar—I think it was about $0.06 accretive to EPS this quarter. So it does have an effect. I wouldn't say it's a main driver, but certainly a lower Canadian dollar is beneficial to any Canadian manufacturer, including CCL.

Redmond: That's great. Thanks so much, Kirk.

Paulus: You're welcome.

Redmond: To view Kirk's article, go to Stocks section of Morningstar.ca.

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Securities Mentioned in Article

Security NamePriceChange (%)Morningstar Rating
CCL Industries Inc Registered Shs -A- Voting77.99 CAD-0.04
CCL Industries Inc Registered Shs -B- Non Vtg77.68 CAD0.34

About Author

Ashley Redmond

Ashley Redmond  Ashley Redmond is a Vancouver-based freelance writer.

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