Steve Eisman Short Canadian Tire

For fans of the movie “The Big Short” when Steve Eisman makes an appearance on BNNBloomberg it’s always a treat. Eisman recently came on to discuss his short thesis on Canadian Banks and dropped a tidbit near the end of yesterday’s interview. He is short Canadian retailer Canadian Tire (TSX: CTC):

“The only other position that I have in Canada, that we’ve never discussed, is Canadian Tire, which is one of my short positions.”

• Canadian Tire has significant credit card portfolio. Which builds on his thesis about Canadian credit. And sees those problems showing up in Canadian Tire’s credit card business.
• Real margin pressure from Amazon.
• Why not short other Canadian retailors ? You can’t short everything!

They have a fairly significant credit card portfolio, which – if I’m right about the credit in the Canadian banks – eventually those problems will show up in Canadian Tire’s credit card business.

Steve Eisman, Neuberger Berman, Portfolio Manager

A quick glance of Canadian tires gross margins from Y-Charts, shows that margins have been trending downward, but these trends are somewhat cyclical:

From their last financial statements, the company had approximately $5.5B in outstanding credit card loans, not out of line from the last two years.

Canadian Tire closed yesterday at $210.20, down 0.90%.

Information for this commentary was found via Sedar, Bloomberg and Canadian Tire. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.