First National Financial Corporation (FN)

Have we reached peak housing pessimism in Canada? The word has been out on the street now for months that mortgage growth has slowed, giving investors plenty of opportunity to sell their financial stocks and head for other areas. But, has most of the bad news been factored into prices? The answer may be yes given some of the new additions to our April INK Top 40 (available for Canadian Insider Club members).

First National is trading near 52-week highs (click for larger).

High profile lender Home Capital Group (HCG) joined the list along with lender First National Financial (FN). For investors, who find the Home Capital story too risky, First National may provide more appeal. Not only does the company focus on the prime mortgage market, but the stock also offers a prospective annual dividend yield of 6.1% giving investors a bit of a safety cushion. The stock is a member of the INK Canadian Insider Index.

In the first part of my October 4th interview with Jim Goddard, I discuss the recent housing policy changes announced by Finance Minister Bill Morneau. The stock prices of smaller mortgage lenders have taken a big hit since the news, including INK Canadian Insider Index members Equitable Group (INK Edge outlook: mixed; EQB) and First National Financial (INK Edge outlook: mostly sunny; FN). We noted in our Wednesday Morning INK report that Equitable Group now has a mixed INK Edge outlook, which, if maintained, would push it out of our Index during the November rebalancing (at which point a constituent stock must have a mostly sunny or sunny outlook to remain). However, a director bought during Wednesday's plunge, suggesting that the stock still has a fighting chance to retain its index membership.

INK Research (INK) has announced changes to the INK Canadian Insider Index as a result of the rules-based semi-annual review. These changes will be effective at the close on Friday, November 20, 2015. In all, twenty stocks were added and dropped. Read the full list here: https://index.inkresearch.com/announce.php?id=5.