Week ended November 27 in review
Yes, another late review. What do you expect for free? For the week ended last Friday, Intrawest rose 0.2% on the TSE, 2.3% on the NYSE.
Pretty much a blah week. But that was last week, let's talk about the present one. From the past couple of days it sure looks like we'll be looking at "nothin' but net" for the near future (which in my bizzaro world usually equates to about 10 minutes from now).
Why the optimism? Two big events.
The first was the failure by Quebec's PQ party last night. Sure they won the election, and a majority at that, but they fell short of their hoped for landslide win. Without that vote of confidence, the electorate robbed the PQ "royals-in-waiting" of their ability to hold a snap Referendum.
As a result, the election actually bought us a touch more time to figure out how to deal with Bouchard's pack of rats. This means economic stability in Canada for at least two or three more years, something that investors look for in their equity holdings. Today's big jump by the TSE confirmed that show of faith.
The second big event was today's announcement by the Canadian Olympic Committee, giving the nod to Vancouver/Whistler as Canada's bid city for the 2010 winter Olympic games. Great news for Intrawest, and it showed in today's price pop to $25.55. Expect more strength tomorrow as the news spreads through the investment community tonight.
There remain many hurdles to overcome, but the payoff to Intrawest could be huge.
Leading benefits? Real estate speculation may again come back in vogue at Whistler, to Intrawest's benefit. BC's government will be sure to throw everything they can at infrastructure development (i.e. Sea to Sky highway improvements, sewage treatment plant upgrades, etc.) to increase Whistler's viability as an Olympic site, again to Intrawest's favour.
And though Whistler is just one of the jewels in Intrawest's crown, keep in mind that their resorts operate as a network. What's good for one, is good for them all, particularly with respect to their global timeshare marketing programs. Eleven years sounds like a long time to wait, but you have to believe that Intrawest will be pumping the "possibility" of their diamond resort being selected for all it's worth.
This is big stuff folks. Leading up to Christmas, I now expect that Intrawest will settle into a trading range of $27 to $32. My target exit point is now $30.
Confident? Oh yeah!
Thomas |
