Founded in 1957, AGF Management Limited (TSX:AGF.B) is a diversified global asset management firm with retail, institutional, alternative and high net worth businesses. AGF’s suite of diverse investment solutions extends globally to a wide range of clients, from individual investors and financial advisors to institutions including pension plans, corporate plans, sovereign wealth funds and endowments and foundations. The company serves more than one million investors, has a total of 629 employees and manages $40 billion in total assets under management.
The company’s stock is extremely cheap. It has a price to earnings ratio of just 2.91, price to book ratio of 0.44, dividend yield of 4.95% and market capitalization of $ 451 million. Debt is very sparingly used at AGF as evidenced by a debt to equity ratio of 0.08. The company has excellent performance metrics with an operating margin of 21.75% and a return on equity of 17.92%.
AGF’s fundamental investment management teams are focused on consistently delivering on investment objectives for clients. Executives have deep relationships across the industry. AGF’s fundamental, actively managed platform includes a broad range of equity and fixed income strategies covering a spectrum of objectives from wealth accumulation and risk management to income generating solutions.
In addition to AGF’s Global and North American equity and fixed income capabilities, the firm has demonstrated specialized expertise in the areas of sustainable and alternative investing. AGFiQ, the quantitative platform for AGF, adopts a factor based investment approach. The company has developed an in-house research and database platform that enables the firm to define customized factors and build risk models and portfolio optimizations tailored for the unique investment objectives of each strategy.
The company’s expertise and partnerships across the alternatives spectrum allows investors to access and benefit of asset allocations, from infrastructure to alternative investments, as part of a disciplined investment approach. AGF’s private alternatives business is focused on private investments for investors actively seeking out opportunities to diversify away from traditional equity, real estate and fixed income investments.
Since inception, an objective for AGF’s private alternatives business has been to generate recurring income and management fee profits for shareholders. AGF plans to move into the private credit space to meet the needs of clients requiring access to uncorrelated asset classes in the face of changing market dynamics.
AGF’s private client platforms include Cypress Capital Management, Doherty & Associates and Highstreet Asset Management. These platforms provides investment solutions for high net worth individuals, endowments and foundations in key markets across Canada.
Cypress Capital Management provides quality investment services at a reasonable cost. The investment manager is transparent regarding return expectations, risks, fees and capabilities. Doherty & Associates places the client first in every investment decision and looks to purchase great companies at attractive prices. The platform adopts a disciplined investment process to grow wealth responsibly over time. Highstreet Asset Management blends quantitative and fundamental analysis to capture alpha drivers and achieve investment success.
AGF’s valuation and growth prospects are very attractive. Management recognizes the great opportunity in the company’s shares and have been buying back stock hand over fist.
