STOCKCHASE

(A Top Pick Feb 14/11. Down 27.24%.) Sold this in December for tax loss.

2012-02-08

WAIT

21.050

Keith Richards

An interesting one because longer-term picture is mostly down, but there is something interesting going on. You are getting some consolidation. If it breaks the trend line, it could turn out to be a bottom head and shoulders pattern. Would not buy right now but would watch.

2012-01-03

Comment

20.700

Rick Stuchberry

Sales in China have been unbelievable in the last couple of years. If you like the Asian recovery theme, this stock looks like it is trying to put a bottom in and has good growth prospects in Asia. Still have pension liability problems. There is still a trade in the stock from here. (See Top Picks.)

2011-12-22

DON'T BUY

19.470

Cars are very economically sensitive and economies are slowing down or being slowed. Probably not where you want to be. You want to be here when economic times are getting better

2011-12-14

TOP PICK

21.150

Colin Stewart

Thinks the entire auto industry is quite interesting. They are having a real resurgence in North America. The average age of the vehicle fleet on the road in North America is at near record levels. Clean up their balance sheet and are in a very healthy financial position today but still trades at about 1.5X enterprise value to EBITDA.

2011-12-09

BUY

20.980

Randall Abramson

Very attractive here. If you deduct all the preferreds and cash and pension obligations it is at 4x free cash flow. Balance sheet is impeccable. Ford is interesting but not as cheap as GE and will not do that much better over time.

2011-12-08

HOLD

27.050

Good long-term hold. Macro economic issues are impacting the whole auto sector, including this one. Have benefited from consumers moving away from heavy trucks and SUVs to smaller vehicles. Have the #1 share in China. Slowly regaining their US share.

2011-08-02

DON'T BUY

29.120

Andrew Hamlin

Very positive on the automotive sector in general. Doesn’t like these equities and would prefer to play it with their convertible preferreds, which pay 4.75%. Expecting volatility in the auto industry in the next little while.

2011-06-03

PAST TOP PICK

30.230

Terry Shaunessy

(A Top Pick Dec 2/10. Down 11.79%.) Loves the story. Sells more vehicles in China than in the US and this is not going to stop. Really cheap.

2011-06-01

TOP PICK

31.550

Slowly getting their market share back. US gov’t and Canadian gov’t still own a part of it. Bankruptcy gave them a chance to restructure operations, lower cost base and focus on the models they want to sell. Attractively priced here. CFO change in past month that put some pressure on the stock. If crude spikes up there could be pressure on the larger vehicles they sell. Likes the cyclical recovery she sees in the US. Number 1 position in China and she likes the emerging market story there.

2011-03-30

WAIT

32.950

Barry Schwartz

Below IPO price. Gov’t and Union are waiting for stock to go higher to sell more shares. Lots of pent up demand in US and China bought 2 million cars – GM is number one auto seller in China. Doesn’t know if they will be under cut by Chinese automakers. Would come in at 10-15% dip in stock price.

2011-03-01

TOP PICK

36.290

US Treasury still owns about 27% and Cdn government has about 7%-8%. Spun out an IPO at about $35. #1 position in N.A. (about 19% share). This has slowly gone down but thinks they can turn this around with new product lines. #1 position in China (13% share), which she really likes. Very strong joint partner.

2011-02-14

BUY

36.820

Jim Huang

Done reasonably well. A good way to play the recovery of the North American market. Thinks there is further upside. GM is cheaper than ford. He prefers to play auto industry with parts manufacturers.

2010-12-30

TOP PICK

34.680

Terry Shaunessy

Thinks they will do incredibly well in selling vehicles in Asia and Latin America.

2010-12-02

DON'T BUY

34.190

Stan Wong

Without understanding all the financials, it’s almost a brand new company, he would prefer car companies that have real numbers.

2010-11-18

WAIT

0.750

New IPO is coming out but he is going to wait for as possible pull back, which is normal. Average age of North American fleet is very high, so replacement cycle has lagged for the last 3 years. A lot of catch up needed. With an economic recovery, car industry will probably take off.

2010-11-09

DON'T BUY

0.750

Barry Schwartz

This is not a stock he wants to own. A disaster waiting to happen. Doesn’t want to own in the auto industry.

2010-10-05

DON'T BUY

1.120

Paul Harris, CFA

Thinks it should go into bankruptcy and restructure. Wouldn't buy it at this time.

2009-05-28

DON'T BUY

1.440

Mike Lyons CA, CFA

Thinks a bankruptcy proceeding for this company will be negative under all scenarios. Would not be a buyer of any piece of their capital structure.

2009-05-11

DON'T BUY

1.660

(Market Call Minute.) Strictly a gamble.

2009-05-06

SELL

1.850

Randy LeClair

GMAC Bonds are rated right now as CCC will, which is one above the default when you are at the C level. Very weak and what he would call below investment grade type of bond.

2009-05-05

VAGUE

1.810

Benj Gallander

(Market Call Minute) Got to be awfully nimble.

2009-05-01

DON'T BUY

1.780

Market Call Minute. Thinks they are going down for the count.

2009-04-14

Comment

1.710

Bruce Campbell

Would be better for everyone if there were some form of structured bankruptcy. There are 5 retired workers for every 1 worker.

2009-04-13

DON'T BUY

2.040

Matthew McCall

Thinks this company should go bankrupt. Made a lot of bad, poor business decisions. We are just prolonging the death.

2009-04-09

SELL

1.930

Ben Stadelmann

Situation has pretty much steadily deteriorated. Thinks it will eventually go into bankruptcy protection. Shareholders will not end up with much.

2009-04-01

DON'T BUY

3.350

Gavin Graham

He suspects that this company will survive in some form but current stakeholders will not be around.

2009-03-23

SELL

2.640

Jeff Parent B. Eng. FCSI

(Market Call Minute.) Way too many problems and uncertainties. Too much risk.

2009-03-18

SELL

2.520

John Zechner

Equity holders make money after everybody else. Debt is not secure and you have to worry about bank loans. Doesn't think there will be anything left over.

2009-03-16

DON'T BUY

4.080

General Motors (GM-N) and Ford (F-N) are strictly gambles.

2008-12-15

DON'T BUY

2.790

Don Lato

This is pure speculation. Wouldn't look at it for any of his clients. Days away from running out of cash without some government assistance.

2008-11-19

SELL

3.090

Duncan Stewart

Wouldn't touch this one. It literally does not have enough cash to make it out to the end of the year. Even if the US government wants to save the company, but gets grid locked, they could see chapter 11.

2008-11-18

Comment

3.180

Ross Healy

(Market Called Minute.) Thinks the best exit strategy for this company is to do Chapter 11 and get rid of all their legacy costs.

2008-11-17

DON'T BUY

6.250

Alan Kral , CFA, CIC

Auto companies are being whipsawed by oil prices and the economy. Will ultimately be hurt by protectionism in the US and globally. Outlook is very difficult. Dealers are having a great deal of difficulty in financing their inventories.

2008-10-28

DON'T BUY

6.540

Jim Hardesty

Beset by a myriad of problems. Has worldwide excess capacity. A number of problems such as retirement, medical and pension benefits continue to dog him. Speculative.

2008-10-21

DON'T BUY

6.530

Duncan Stewart

Extremely negative on US autos. Out of the 3 players, he expects will be down to 2 next year and possibly 1.

2008-10-20

SELL

10.830

Matthew McCall

General Motors (GM-N) and Ford (F-N) have been behind the curve for years. When everybody else is making hybrids, they are pumping out SUVs. Now they are turning around and pumping out hybrids. If gasoline prices drop, SUV prices are almost too good to turn down. Hybrids could be a short-term phenomenon in the US.

2008-09-08

DON'T BUY

10.200

Charles Bobrinskoy

Unfortunately, It has reached a point that not only do they not have a sustainable competitive advantage, actually have a sustainable disadvantage in their cost structure. The brand is not as strong today. A lot of debt.

2008-08-27

DON'T BUY

10.030

Gordon Higgins, CA, MBA

There is massive restructuring. They are getting rid of lease problems right now. They have adequate liquidity to get through the year. Wouldn't touch this.

2008-08-08

DON'T BUY

10.030

Paul Thornton

Wouldn't touch their bonds. Still pays a dividend, but doesn't know when they're going to cut it. This area is too speculative.

2008-08-08

SELL

11.900

Jaime Carrasco

Feels this is a microcosm of the US. They have to generate so much income just to satisfy their retired employees and he doesn’t know where the money is going to come from.

2008-07-25

DON'T BUY

13.090

Continues to be extremely high risk. Its products continue to be in less demand. Still vulnerable in their ownership of GMAC, which had gotten very big into mortgages.

2008-07-21

DON'T BUY

10.330

Gordon Reid

As a contrarian play, this would be well down on his list. Today's business model is in question. There are issues of survivability.

2008-07-09

DON'T BUY

11.430

Michael Sprung

You would have to take an extremely long-term perspective on this one. Not sure what you would be buying if you bought it today. Given what is happening to the North American manufacturers, they could evolve just into a marketer by moving all the production off shore. Burning a lot of working capital and could be in trouble.

2008-06-26

Comment

13.190

Robert Floyd

Faces a major uphill battle. International sales are decent but the issue with this company is developing new cost efficient models. Truck side is very weak. If you are an investor with a need for an immediate gratification you won't get it with this. Yield is high, but can be cut when the company needs to keep the cash.

2008-06-24

DON'T BUY

13.190

Because of the way profits are falling, he would not trust the dividend. Margins on the cars are very thin compared to trucks.

2008-06-24

DON'T BUY

13.790

David Cockfield

Dividends of over 7% but you have to be very careful about it. He doesn't see the earnings come along and the dividend could be cut. Not a fan of the North American auto industry.

2008-06-20

DON'T BUY

16.450

Hard to see any catalyst that’s going to turn this company around. It’s a dinosaur.

2008-06-13

DON'T BUY

17.100

Robert Floyd

Troubled sector, continued layoffs, issues with competition, balance sheet is not strong, not a terribly bullish scenario. Because it is knocked down so low it may represent value. Auto parts are a better option if they go a little lower.

2008-05-30

DON'T BUY

17.600

Laura Wallace

North American auto manufacturers will have a very difficult time ahead of them.

2008-05-23

SELL

26.000

This is not the company of the future. Been making money on what will turn out in the next 5 years as the wrong end of the market such as SUVs and pickup trucks. North American manufacturers have fallen so far behind technically with the Asian manufacturers, which it will be enormously expensive for them to catch up.

2008-02-19

DON'T BUY

27.120

With the US going into a recession, it is not the time to be buying a car company. Expect there will be some soft sales. If he were going to buy one, this might be the one as it is in a turnaround situation. Coming out with attractive models that people want. Too early.

2008-02-11

DON'T BUY

28.210

Mike Lyons CA, CFA

Under certain statistical valuation parameters General Motors (GM-N) and Ford (F-N) always look very cheap but the balance sheets really scare him. Significant amount of debts. Also have pension and benefit obligations. When you couple that with having competition with very well capitalized and very competent companies it makes it a very tough environment for them.

2008-01-31

BUY

26.390

Bruce Campbell

Q: Short-term bonds, 6 to 8 months. Any chance they will not pay up? A: He has been thinking about this and feels there is a very, very high probability of it paying out.

2007-11-22

DON'T BUY

31.280

They are in the vulnerable position of being a consumer durable. Consumer durables generally don't do well when the economy starts to head down.

2007-11-09

WEAK BUY

34.980

Mark Grammer

Won’t see a split. Good job done of turning company around. Will be survivor. Positive turn in opinion towards cars. Buy if you like American auto stocks.

2007-09-19

Comment

32.570

John Manley

Has had support around $29 and completed a double bottom in March. There is a higher low. Might be considered as a tradable instrument, but not a long-term Hold. Very volatile.

2007-04-16

Comment

31.370

Have negative equity of $5 billion. Unable to calculate a model price because of this. He doesn't short stocks.

2007-04-12

Comment

31.240

Outlook in general is improving. Coming out with better products.

2007-03-28

DON'T BUY

32.180

Bill Carrigan

Had a monstrous move last year. He would be very cautious.

2007-03-27

DON'T BUY

29.170

Paul Harris, CFA

American car industry is burdened by a lot of pension issues. This company has probably done the best job of solving a lot of their issues, but doesn't think the cars are attractive. A very tough business.

2007-03-16

DON'T BUY

29.450

Steve MacMillan

Reasonable year in 2006, but he would not own the stock. An example of a bad company. Some very serious structural issues including labour and health care costs. Have several times more retired workers than active ones. Also questions the quality of their products.

2007-01-03

DON'T BUY

35.370

Charles Lannon

Pushing for the China market, but, every other automotive company in the world is looking at China for sales. Toyota and Honda, the two premier operators in the auto industry, have barely begun to scratch the surface in China.

2006-11-17

DON'T BUY

35.090

James Cole, BA, CFA

Ford (F-N) and General Motors (GM-N) do not meet his criteria of being long-term growth companies, financially strong, gaining market share, generating substantial free cash flow and with long-term sustainable competitive advantages.

2006-11-13

DON'T BUY

35.190

The pain that the N. A. car industry is going through right now is far from over. Any slackening in the US economy, and it will suffer. Balance sheet is not pretty to look at and long-term liabilities are overwhelming.

2006-10-23

DON'T BUY

32.960

Ben Stadelmann

Caller wondered about a Short. On his watch list. N. A. automakers are definitely a contrarian sector. His preferred an attack would be to see a washout and then buy if they got their house in order.

2006-09-14

BUY

26.350

Just bought this stock back.

2006-06-19

DON'T BUY

25.530

Robert Floyd

Has been a difficult scenario. Fundamentals especially weak. The type of company that the value investor tends to go for. As a growth investor, he is not happy with the scenario. A lot of competition.

2006-05-16

DON'T BUY

22.000

Too risky because of the uncertainties and the debt level.

2006-03-21

Comment

22.220

Jean-Francois Tardif

It was announced today that General Motors were restating their earnings from 2002 for accounting errors. They are widening their loss by 2 billion dollars. Mr. Tardif believes that there will be no impact on the stock price. There are other issues that GM is facing right now. It will be a tough battle for them.

2006-03-16

WEAK BUY

19.410

Bob Stodgell

This company has taken drastic steps. They have reduced dividends, taken salary reductions. Believes there is an opportunity here. Recommends that this stock be the part of the portfolio that is speculative, not the core.

2006-03-02

DON'T BUY

19.820

James Cole, BA, CFA

Feels that GM, Ford, and to a lesser extent Chrysler between a rock and a hard place. Losing market share. Has extra ordinarily high costs with unfunded pension and health care benefits.

2006-01-17

DON'T BUY

19.410

It is saddled with union contracts which makes it uncompetitive. It is saddled with huge health-care costs for its retired workers and an underfunded pension plan. Because of union contracts, it has to pay laid off workers for life. It is shocking that they haven't cut the dividend, but if they do, the stock will drop like a rock.

2006-01-04

SHORT

23.520

His model price is now $0. This company needs earnings. A speculation. At the end of the day they are playing a game with the unions.

2005-11-23

DON'T BUY

36.050

Had recommended this a year and a half ago, but its fundamentals have deteriorated and his model price is actually $0 now.

2005-08-04

DON'T BUY

36.960

Not a great company, but the UAW looks like it might be bending and a number of things are starting to go their way. Outlook is not as bad as it was.

2005-07-26

DON'T BUY

34.220

James Cole, BA, CFA

Faced with very attractable long term problems such as unfunded pensions and post retirement benefits which are unfunded by a total of $70 billion. Have very high costs relative to the competition and have been losing market share for a decade.

2005-07-06

DON'T BUY

35.820

Laura Wallace

Q: Has a short position and is puzzled as to what is driving the stock higher. A: Facing numerous problems. Their primary issue is dealing with unions on health care and pension. She doesn't short stocks, so can't comment on shorting.

2005-06-20

DON'T BUY

35.620

Ross Healy

Not sure how they will get rid of all their obligations. Currently they are trying to negotiate them with the unions, but the other choice is to go into Chapter 11. This would cause upheaval in the price of the bonds if you own them or the price of the stock.

2005-06-16

WEAK BUY

36.340

Bob Stodgell

Some one, who is a pretty savvy investor, has just taken a huge position in this company. Management has given the union until the end of the month on whether they can cut down on their health costs. Speculative.

2005-06-15

DON'T BUY

30.730

Benj Gallander

Wouldn't go near this. There are a lot of shoes that still have to fall. Revenues are declining and debt is rising, especially now that it is junk status.

2005-06-07

DON'T BUY

26.750

Changed his mind on this stock once they had that earnings release. He takes earnings, the balance sheet and interest rates and put them together and they previously had earnings estimates at $4.50 for this year. They came out and revised that to $1/1.50. His new model price is way below its current price.

2005-04-28

DON'T BUY

25.820

Rob Callander

Has some very difficult issues to face. Strong price competition from Asian manufacturers. Doesn't know how they get out of the problem of having to spend more money on health care for retired employees than they spend on steel going in the car.

2005-04-20

DON'T BUY

29.540

Looking at the balance sheet with its earnings forcast and interest rates, it has been mispriced for well over a year. GM just announced that earnings expectations were way too high, so now looking at $1/1.50 and he is looking at a mean estimate for '05 of $1.09. Computing that where it's balance sheet is, the model price is $28, so no longer mispriced.

2005-03-22

BUY

28.350

Ray Steele

A contrarian pick. Have cut production instead of creating incentives to get rid of current stock. Dividend yield is high at 7.1%. Has $100US per share in cash. Good price. Could be another round of weaknes if their bond rating is dropped. Bad news is behind it.

2005-03-17

DON'T BUY

29.010

Matt Baillie

A very ugly chart. Wouldn't average down if you own. Had its biggest loss in a quarter since 1992. Losing market share.

2005-03-16

DON'T BUY

29.010

Seems to be in a free fall. The earnings are deteriorating. Issued a warning of a shortfall in earnings and production.

2005-03-16

DON'T BUY

33.720

George Loughery

Likes the company over the longer term. Have been very innovative. Might have a bright future. In the meantime they are trying to get a leg up on Ford (F-N) by having more production in China to pay for retirees. Might be premature to buy at this time.

2005-03-15

DON'T BUY

35.650

Not thrilled with GM. Balance sheet is really tenious. Better US stocks out there to invest in.

2005-02-28

TOP SHORT

37.300

Andrew McCreath

Has got problems left, right and centre. Owes Fiat a couple of billion $'s. Sales were down 7% last month. Have a lot of health care obligations.

2005-02-18

BUY

36.770

Balance sheet is good. Company has a $50 book value. Have reduced the weight of their holdings to about 1.5% of their holdings. Will continue to have this in his portfolio for the forseeable future. Dividend of about 5.3%. Looking out a year, thinks it's in great shape. Company is a mis-priced asset.

2005-01-18

DON'T BUY

37.130

Andrew McCreath

Yield is about 5.9% which is appealing. The company has some very big structural problems such as competition from Asia and pension costs. He is short this stock.

2005-01-17

DON'T BUY

38.390

David Burrows

Pays a good dividend, but losing capital value in the shares. Industry is having a difficult time. After years of incentives and low interest rates there are a lot of new cars on the road.

2005-01-12

BUY

38.740

Jonathen Wellum, B. Comm, B. Sc

Good company.

2004-11-30

SELL

39.230

Requires huge incentives to make their sales. Too much capacity in the industry. There are pension liabilities, finance issues. Can't say the dividend is safe.

2004-11-26

PAST TOP PICK

37.570

(A Top Pick July 30/04. Down 14%.) Still likes. Dirt cheap. If there is any sense of bottoming by the US$, this should do very well.

2004-10-26

DON'T BUY

41.580

Would rather own a bank. Not making any money on cars and expect this will be even more so as people move away from SUVs.

2004-08-17

TOP PICK

41.490

Chris Ceraso

Cheap. Trading at only about 35% of the S&P multiple versus Ford's 45%. 5% dividend yield.

2004-08-06

TOP PICK

43.140