skip to content
  1. Home
  2. >
  3. Investment Q&A
You can view 3 more answers this month. Sign up for a free trial for unlimited access.

Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: In an earlier response to Olympia Financial Group regarding a 1% interest rate increase/decrease having a 33% increase/decrease on the companies annual earnings you said:
"this sensitivity to interest rates is common for financial companies that earn interest on a large investment holding (such as brokers, insurance) "
Please name 5 Canadian companies more sensitive to interest rates (on earnings) then Olympia Financial Group? I want to track a basket of these stocks.

If you expected rates to be revert to 3-4% for the next 10 years is Olympia still a good investment at these levels today?
Read Answer Asked by Michael on March 25, 2024
Q: Still considering OLY and after reading the report it seems clear what drives earnings as of now, and what can bring them higher or lower quite quickly and that would be, Interest Rates
Olympia noting in the annual report that they are exposed to interest rate risk as the cash portion of the off-balance sheet arrangements ($1.00 billion), from which Olympia Trust earns trust income.

2023 Earnings this year were $21 million... according to the Annual report (pg 26) if rates change +/-1% it is estimated that Olympia’s after-tax earnings for the year increase/decrease $7.69 million (noting prime rate at 7.2%)

So rates drop to 6.2 % and earnings drop over 33%?! Is this not essentially a bet on rates at this point or am I missing something?

I guess reading annual reports could pay off (as knowing this when rates were on the rise with no slowdown coming would have been beneficial)

Thanks for your Input
Read Answer Asked by Michael on March 21, 2024
Q: Hi Peter,
In regards to Adam's question regarding OLY. Would it be appropriate to look at the interest income that OLY has been able to generate as a hedge against higher interest rates. If rates were to move higher, OLY is set up nicely to outperform. The business delivers high ROE in the 50% plus range and should be able to do well in low interest rate environment especially with a dividend in the 7% range. Would you consider it a compounder?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Frank on March 15, 2024
Q: I'm looking at starting a position in OLY. But I saw an update yesterday from an investing site adding a new major risk that earnings are forecast to decline and avg of 6.1% for the foreseeable future. Also a high level of non cash earnings (23% accrual ratio). In the recent ER they stated that expenses had increased due to bonuses etc in their investment arm because of the strong performance of the company. I'm wondering if these things all point to a stock that got so high due to a few great quarters, but is now expected to normalize and pull back as earnings decrease? Which could maybe impact the div down the road also. Is the high performance behind them and the future looks to normalize? Thx
Read Answer Asked by Adam on March 12, 2024
Q: How well do you know this company and its management?
Interest rates have really helped clearly but seems like they have made some nice moves ...2021 acquisition of 40,000 accounts from community/Computershare Trust right before rates went up... relaunching the CSS and increasing mortgage loan originations
Also from what I read they are the dominant player in Canada for alternative investments (growing) by a large margin is this true and why are there no other players in this? Noted that TMX Group and Western Pacifc are the only other options in Canada for these investments.
Sharecount has seemed stable for close to 10 years down 90,000 shares.
Any other thoughts?
Read Answer Asked by Michael on February 13, 2024
Q: Can I ask you to do a “mental screen” for a few mid-cap Cdn companies that pay over a 3% dividend while having the potential for above average growth in the medium to longer term? Please omit SIS, PBH, EIF and NWC (already owned) and leave out anything in the energy sector. I’m assuming not much in the small cap space would meet the div. criteria and not much in the large cap space meets the growth criteria, but if you think anything there is compelling please include as well. Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Stephen R. on February 09, 2024
Q: Can I get your take on Olympia’s latest quarter. I’ve been slowly increasing my position size here as this company seams to benefit materially from raising rates and doesn’t have the same flattening yield curve stigma that banks contend with (or recently increased tax rate). What do you think of this arguement. I realize this is a small cap so it’s not for everyone and my relative position size is small (especially compared to the banks which I own a lot more of haha)
Read Answer Asked by Scott on May 17, 2022
Looking for more? Sign up for a FREE 14 day trial! No credit card required

We invite you to sign up for a 14 day free trial of 5i Research!
Experience all the benefits and tools we have to offer; stock research, model portfolios, Q&A with our experts, and so much more. Join a community of like-minded investors today!