| TOP PICK | | CASH | CASH | 41.000 | Has never had as few stocks in his portfolio in 15 years as he does now. When the market does get hit and companies you like are available, it gives you an opportunity. | 2007-09-07 | |
| TOP SHORT | | Autozone Inc. | AZO-N | 111.490 | Retail auto parts. A competitive sector and he thinks the retail sector will be in a lot of trouble. Stock has had a big run over the last 5 years. Look to cover this Short in the $70's. | 2007-09-07 | |
| TOP SHORT | | Alexanders Inc. | ALX-N | 378.300 | A US REIT. Developed a lot of property in New York City. Real estate in New York has been stratospheric which has pushed the stock very high over the last 5 years. Way overvalued. Would cover his short at 25%-30%. | 2007-09-07 | |
| BUY | | ATS Automation | ATA-T | 7.130 | Disappointed in the stock results. Hedge funds are trying to put in their own fleet of directors. He will be voting against this. 2 problems last year. Photowatt IPO was a complete disaster and the recent rights offering undercut the stock price at a lot | 2007-09-07 | |
| WAIT | | Zarlink | ZL-T | 1.570 | Likes the stock. It had a lot of cash on the balance sheet giving it a lot of manoeuvring room, but spent the cash on an acquisition and is now in the process of digesting it. Will be having some substantial revenue increases going from $30 million a qua | 2007-09-07 | |
| Comment | | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | Gold - If the market really gets nailed, there’s no really good place to hide, but some sectors may be less hurt than others. Gold would probably be one of those sectors. A lot of the gold companies are having difficulty making money. Cost of production | 2007-09-07 | |
| BUY | | Richmont Mines Inc. | RIC-T | 2.920 | His comfort zone in gold is with companies that are closer to home without political risks, etc. | 2007-09-07 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Ford Motor | F-N | 7.520 | North American automobile manufacturers are definitely a contrarian play. This one is on his radar. So far, the turnaround is at a pretty early stage. August sales were pretty scary. It would be a speculative play at even $6-$7. | 2007-09-07 | |
| BUY | | Medisolution | MSH-T | 0.180 | Healthcare market is very competitive. Very difficult to make money on a consistent basis. This company went through a very difficult period and have to do some restructuring in order to get things more under control. They seem to be coming out of that d | 2007-09-07 | |
| TOP PICK | | Solectron Corp | SLR-N | 3.410 | Sector that is very deeply out of favour. Extremely competitive area. The trend towards contract manufacturing is here to stay. Feels there will be plenty of business for them once they are restructured. | 2007-04-20 | |
| TOP PICK | | Zarlink | ZL-T | 2.400 | They have been in the game a long time. Always put money into R&D every year. Always seem to have new products coming out. | 2007-04-20 | |
| TOP PICK | | ATS Automation | ATA-T | 7.780 | Automated robotic assembly lines. There Fuller division was supposed to have an IPO but it was cancelled. Has disappointed investors in the past but feels they can come back. Nice suite of products. | 2007-04-20 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | AbitibiBowater Inc. | ABH-T | 3.120 | (A Top Pick Sept 14/06. Up 10%.) Merging with Bowater. It's going to be a long and complicated haul. Still likes. | 2007-04-20 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | CASH | CASH | 35.900 | (A Top Pick Sept 14/06.) | 2007-04-20 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Viterra Inc | VT-T | 8.600 | (A Top Pick Sept 14/06. Up 15%.) Agriculture is going to be in great shape over the next several years. Still on its first leg going up. | 2007-04-20 | |
| SELL | | Grubb & Ellis Company | GBE-N | 11.790 | Did extremely well in the 1980s during the big real estate boom and then just about went bankrupt. Made a good turnaround. The cycle has pretty well run its course. | 2007-04-20 | |
| BUY | | Bombardier Inc (B) | BBD.B-T | 4.610 | Has been very hard to know when to get on this stock. 10-year chart shows a very long basing pattern with a number of false starts. Trend is getting better. With the environmental issue coming to the fore, they are well positioned for mass transits, energy-efficient airplanes. Stars are starting to align. | 2007-04-20 | |
| Comment | | I Max | IMX-T | 5.600 | A definite contrarian pick. Had some issues with accounting. He likes assets and book value, but this company has negative. Leaders in their field. Seem to be making progress into Hollywood type movies. He'll watch this one closely. | 2007-04-20 | |
| WATCH | | Tahera Corp | TAH-T | 0.880 | Has been watching this. Has had a long cycle of exploration, development and production. During the anticipation phase, companies get quite well valued, but seem to drop at production time. Would look for it to be bottoming out. | 2007-04-20 | |
| Comment | | Trans Canada Corp | TRP-T | 39.280 | A real bedrock value type of stock. Pays a good dividend. | 2007-04-20 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Bennet Environmental | BEV-T | 0.470 | In the environmental disposal business. Very tricky business to operate. Not sure they will survive. | 2007-04-20 | |
| WATCH | | Loblaws | L-T | 50.000 | Trying to gear up for the competition with Wal-Mart. This has upset the applecart. Not sure if they are on the right track. Need to get back to their fundamentals. | 2007-04-20 | |
| HOLD | | Cygnal Technologies Corp | CYN-T | 0.670 | He has been very wrong on this company, but is very happy to hold on. Still believes that management can pull this one out of the fire. Have a decent amount of revenue. In a good space. Think they're just about cash flow neutral now. | 2007-04-20 | |
| Comment | | Canfor Pulp Income Fund | CFX.UN-T | 15.110 | Very well run. B.C. forests have been devastated by the Pine beetle. These trees can be used for pulp, so there is a ready supply. | 2007-04-20 | |
| DON'T BUY | | True North Gems Inc | TGX-X | 0.520 | Easy money has been made. | 2007-04-20 | |
| Comment | | Liquidation World | LQW-T | 5.700 | They do very well when there are disasters. A very thin trading stock. Well-run company. Good geographic distribution. | 2007-04-20 | |
| TOP PICK | | Viterra Inc | VT-T | 7.490 | (A Top Pick Jan 30/06. Down 5.9%.) The crop out west looks very, very good this year. Expect this company will have one of their best years. | 2006-09-14 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Kelman Technologies | KTI-T | 0.315 | (A Top Pick Jan 30/06. Down 36%.) Oil service industry. Didn't make money even during the boom. May be too small. | 2006-09-14 | |
| TOP PICK | | CASH | CASH | 24.300 | Why buy stocks today if you can buy them cheaper tomorrow? We are at a point where there is a confluence of events going on. Mid-term US elections can create a down cycle. | 2006-09-14 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Google | GOOG-Q | 403.980 | Caller wondered about Shorting. You have to be a very, very brave person to even think about shorting this. Agrees that the price is very high, but considering the incredible success of the company, too risky. | 2006-09-14 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Tim Hortons | THI-T | 28.580 | This is the antithesis of a contrarian pick. Very popular stock. Well-run business. As a contrarian, would not buy. | 2006-09-14 | |
| HOLD | | Franklin Covey Company | FC-N | 5.680 | Still likes their prospects. | 2006-09-14 | |
| DON'T BUY | | General Motors Corporation | GM-N | 32.960 | 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 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Ace Aviation Holdings Inc. (B) | ACE.B-T | 33.200 | Caller wondered about a Short. The sector has improved markedly. Thinks the airline industry as a whole is still in a recovery phase, so wouldn't Short. | 2006-09-14 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Legacy Hotels | LGY.UN-T | 8.150 | If you don't continually put money into your hotel, the property will lose its appeal to attract customers. This happened in this case. Dropping its distribution which is realistic on their part. | 2006-01-30 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Apple | AAPL-Q | 75.000 | Have been putting out great results and the stock has reflected this. Not a contrarian and play, so not one they would be interested in. There is a question if the Chinese would start producing a product similar to the iPod. A more contrarian play would be Gateway (GTW-N) which they own. | 2006-01-30 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Loblaws | L-T | 54.050 | A very well-run company. Feels that the threat from Wal-Mart has been overstated. Have gone through a new inventory system which has messed up their supply chains. Long-term, they have a wonderful future. Right now it's going through a bit of tough sledding. | 2006-01-30 | |
| DON'T BUY | | FMF Capital Group Ltd. | FMF.UN-T | 0.940 | This one had a major blow up. It's a very tough field. Management has indicated they are making new changes in line with interest rate changes. Not a field he feels really confident in. | 2006-01-30 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Leitch Tech | LTV-T | 13.990 | (A Top Pick Sept 6/05. Up 2%.) Had this one as a Hold, not a Buy. It was acquired at $14 a share. | 2006-01-30 | |
| Comment | | Noranda Income Fund | NIF.UN-T | 11.990 | It's in the wonderful space of commodities. A well-run company. This is an income fund, and if the price of commodities goes down, how will this affect the cash flow and future distributions. | 2006-01-30 | |
| TOP PICK | | Kelman Technologies | KTI-T | 0.500 | In the seismic data processing field which is a fabulous sector. On this stock, they have been so wrong for so long it has been embarrassing. They have relatively new management which feels they have some good opportunities this winter. He wants to give them the benefit of the doubt. | 2006-01-30 | |
| TOP PICK | | Viterra Inc | VT-T | 7.970 | This is one that they sold out in February last year and just bought in at $5.67. It is now moving ahead methodically, slowly but surely. | 2006-01-30 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Celestica Inc | CLS-T | 11.430 | This is a bona fide contrarian play. It's on their watch list. Doesn’t know how it’s going to play out just yet. One concern is that they have a fair amount of debt on the books and competition is emerging out of China. He'll look for the strongest in the weak sector and go for that one. | 2006-01-30 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Breakwater Resources | BWR-T | 0.890 | Zinc prices have gone up tremendously and yet this company has lost money. They are constantly increasing the share count. Instead of using profits to expand, they go out into the market, raise money through private placement which constantly dilutes the shareholder. | 2006-01-30 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Delta Air Lines Inc | DAL-N | 1.120 | Airlines have been scary for a while, but are recovering a bit but are now back in the same boat with sky high jet fuel prices. They only own one stock in the sector (Air France AKH-N) and he is a little bit nervous about it, but it has been doing pretty well because they've been hedging their fuel prices. Maneuvering room is extremely limited. | 2005-09-06 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Aur Resources | AUR-T | 7.930 | If a recession should hit in 2006 as he expects, copper is a classical cyclical commodity and will get hit hard. Great company with very good management. Good deposits in Chile. | 2005-09-06 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Uranium Participation Corp. | U-T | 6.600 | Uranium has been on a tremendous tear. Nuclear energy has a tremendous future. There's not going to probably be a lot of new plants added in North America, but will be in India and China. This stock would have been good a few years ago, but now you are paying up full price. | 2005-09-06 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Service Corp International | SCI-N | 8.600 | (A Top Pick June 7. Up 14.2%.) Was on their BUY list, but have shifted it to their HOLD list. Have been losing money. Took a lot of legal fees because of problems in Florida. Have had other write-offs they've had to deal with. Revenues have been going up. Have pared their huge debt load down about 50%. Now have a dividend. | 2005-09-06 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Analysts International Corp | ANLY-Q | 3.240 | (A Top Pick June 7. Down 10%.) Got hit because it was merging with Computer Horizons (CHRZ-Q) which was not a bad deal, but the shareholders of the other company killed the deal. | 2005-09-06 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | CASH | CASH | 18.500 | (A Top Pick June 7. No change.) | 2005-09-06 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Wal-Mart Stores Inc. | WMT-N | 45.690 | Using a long term chart, you would see one of the most successful corporations in the world. One way they've been successful is they've been able to squeeze suppliers relentlessly. Most of their goods come from China and with China edging towards revaluation of their currency and oil prices going up, they'll have a harder time doing this. | 2005-09-06 | |
| BUY | | Hudson Bay Co. | HBC-T | 13.200 | Undervalued. Have about $500 million in real estate. Management has made some major mistakes in their planning in terms of revenue growth but seem far more realistic now. | 2005-09-06 | |
| WATCH | | Fonar Corp | FONR-Q | 1.090 | Sells MRI machines to the health care industry. They're in a good niche. Have a specific technology that seems to be gaining acceptance. Reasonably well managed. Have registered for selling up to 10 million shares, but doesn't mean they will. This may be what is holding them back. Will take a few more quarters to see where they are heading. | 2005-09-06 | |
| TOP PICK | | Leitch Tech | LTV-T | 13.770 | This is a HOLD. Operationally the stock hasn't done tremendously well, but it's going in the right direction. Has attracted an offer from Harris Corp. (HRS-N) of $14 and it's worth holding for that extra little bit. | 2005-09-06 | |
| TOP PICK | | Theragenics Corp | TGX-N | 3.150 | In the medical products field and treat prostate cancer. Their R&D over the last couple of years has not produced anything. Has a pretty good balance sheet and no debt. BV take a hit because they will be writing off their nuclear research assets. Restructuring and if they just do anything right they will be good as they are dominant in their field. | 2005-09-06 | |
| WEAK BUY | | Penn Treaty American Corp. | PTA-N | 2.080 | A risky, speculative type of buy. Premiums for long term care were not high enough, but starting to get back in shape. Have also raised some capital. They are doing better, but not out of the woods yet. | 2005-01-12 | |
| BUY | | Leitch Tech | LTV-T | 8.590 | Got a bit ahead of itself and came off in November. Has gone through some difficult years and has had some management changes. Likes the new CEO. They are looking at getting into China and leveraging up on the olympics. | 2005-01-12 | |
| TOP PICK | | Theragenics Corp | TGX-N | 3.970 | They have an isotope that is a less invasive way of treating prostrate cancer as opposed to surgery. They're dominant in this field. Had difficulty because of insurance coverage issues. Their competition also has treatment methods, so have competition. Losing money because of more going into R & D. New marketing may help. | 2005-01-12 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Queenstake Resources (merged to Yukon-Nevada Gold) | QRL-T | 0.415 | Not particularily interested in the junior golds. | 2005-01-12 | |
| HOLD | | Franklin Covey Company | FC-N | 2.450 | Has had a bumpy ride. Still really struggling. Still losing money. No debt and lots of cash. Have to work on their business model. Expect it will be sitting in their portfolio for quite some time. | 2005-01-12 | |
| TOP PICK | | Analysts International Corp | ANLY-Q | 3.740 | Consultants software programming helping companies' outsourcing. Got hit by the collapse of the tech bubble and outsourcing to places like India. Now appears to have turned the corner. Have made money the last 3 quarters. Made an acquisition that will give them some presence in the voice over IP. Good relationship with Cisco. | 2005-01-12 | |
| HOLD | | Goldcorp Inc | G-T | 16.810 | Need a scorecard to keep track of who is taking over who. Doesn't know how it's going to end up. If he owned, would hang on to see where the dust settles. | 2005-01-12 | |
| VAGUE | | Cameco Corporation | CCO-T | 40.620 | Finds the price of uranium very surprising. Has not been a good prophet of this sector. | 2005-01-12 | |
| TOP PICK | | Hudson Bay Co. | HBC-T | 12.870 | Treat as a HOLD, not as a BUY. Takeover scuttlebut seems to have dried up. Likes the company and their assets and wouldn't count the aspect of a takeover as being finished. Pays a very nice dividend. Suffered the last few years because of WalMart and feels that WalMart may be topping out in Canada. Making some good changes. | 2005-01-12 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Bombardier Inc (B) | BBD.B-T | 2.270 | With Mr. Tellier gone, it's right back into scay territory again. | 2005-01-12 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Claude Resources | CRJ-T | 1.250 | Likes the company overall, but they have put together so many private placements and it makes him nervous to see that much dilution. | 2005-01-12 | |
| TOP PICK | | Cygnal Technologies Corp | CYN-T | 1.160 | A turn around story. Had a horrible quarter and changed CEO's. | 2004-09-16 | |
| TOP PICK | | Theragenics Corp | TGX-N | 3.740 | A demographics play in treatment of prostrate cancer. Dominant in their field. Midicare payment problem seems to be getting worked out. R&D is looking for other cancer treatments. | 2004-09-16 | |
| TOP PICK | | Analysts International Corp | ANLY-Q | 3.350 | The industry was very hard hit by the outsourcing phenomena. Over $300 million in sales. Very modest market cap. No debt. Have now made a bit of money. | 2004-09-16 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Westshore Terminals Inc. | WTE.UN-T | 8.750 | 6 1/2% yield is pretty small. Good company. Has been a lot of consolidation in the coal industry and the revenue stream can be interupted by strikes, storms, etc. | 2004-09-16 | |
| BUY | | Petro-Can | PCA-T | 61.650 | Feels that the government selling their shares ahs already been built into the stock and will be positive for the future. | 2004-09-16 | |
| HOLD | | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 33.000 | Feels there will be a takeover. | 2004-09-16 | |
| BUY | | Corriente Resources | CTQ-T | 3.240 | Copper is marking time right now. Cyclical and depends on the economy. Good deposits. Had hoped for a partner to develop the deposit. Could be a takeover. | 2004-09-16 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Celestica Inc | CLS-T | 15.830 | Not a fan of the stock or the space they are in. The damage has been done and if you own, consider your tax situation re selling or holding. | 2004-09-16 | |
| DON'T BUY | | QLT Inc | QLT-T | 20.550 | Not a contrarian stock. Still in the sexy kind of biotech miracle cure stage. Got way ahead of itself. Have a lot of egss in one basket which makes them vulnerable. A lot of competition. Needs to be cheaper and more product diversification. | 2004-09-16 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Stewart Enterprises Inc | STEI-Q | 6.920 | (A Top Pick Oct 23/03. Up 74%.) Treat as a hold now. | 2004-09-16 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Nashua Corp | NSHA-Q | 10.500 | (A Top Pick Oct 23/03. Up 26%.) Still likes. | 2004-09-16 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | KLM Royal Dutch Airlines | KLM-N | 12.560 | (A Top Pick Oct 23/03. Up 20%.) Taken over by Air France on Jun 14/04 and still holding this stock which is showing some pretty decent numbers. | 2004-09-16 | |
| HOLD | | Hudson Bay Co. | HBC-T | 13.400 | Retail side is struggling. Real estate assets carried on the books is probably less than the true value. Has a suspicion that WalMart has peaked. If a takeover, price will be between current price and $18. If not, stock will drop back. | 2004-09-16 | |
| WAIT | | Bombardier Inc (B) | BBD.B-T | 2.680 | Interesting. Definitely a contrarian pick. Have to be careful of trying to catch a falling knife. Good management, but a big boat to turn around. A lot of debt and a lot of writedown. | 2004-09-16 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Stelco Inc | STE-T | 1.200 | Company is still in a tough spot. Pension liability and debt are still there. You could end up with only $0.30 on the $1 if they are liquidated, but if it goes ahead, it'll be a home run. | 2004-09-16 | |
| BUY | | Novel | NOVL-Q | 6.980 | (A Top Pick Jan 23/03. Up 100%.) Market is wondering how the company is going to use the money they raised via a debenture. Loves their alliance with IBM and wouldn't be surprised by an IBM takeover. Too early to tell. | 2004-09-16 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Atlas Cold Storage Income Trust | FZR.UN-T | 5.290 | Doesn't feel this is the type of ccompany that belongs in an income trust because revenue is not steady enough and they have to keep putting money back in the business. Not sure when or if the distributions will come back. | 2004-09-16 | |
| DON'T BUY | | AbitibiBowater Inc. | ABH-T | 8.600 | An industry that has been hurt by a weaker US$. Feels that the Canadian$ will continue getting stronger. Not interested in the forest industry until the currency situation settles down. | 2003-10-23 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Domtar Inc. | DTC-T | 14.500 | An industry that has been hurt by a weaker US$. Feels that the Canadian$ will continue getting stronger. Not interested in the forest industry until the currency situation settles down. | 2003-10-23 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Tyco | TYC-N | 21.250 | Doesn't like their history of banditry by management. Management has a difficult job picking up the pieces. | 2003-10-23 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Corning Inc | GLW-N | 10.600 | Didn't buy when they were low because they didn't have a history of making a profit. Business has improved, but not as much is the stock price. Could easily see it having a pullback on any market correction. | 2003-10-23 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Eastman Kodak | EK-N | 32.000 | Stock has been dropping for quite a long time. Poor business model and in a tough competitive space. Will have to make some major changes. | 2003-10-23 | |
| WEAK BUY | | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 15.000 | On their watch list. Likes the outlook for commodities. Well-managed company. Would like to own, but preferably at $13.50. Prefers a stock with 50% upside and, in this case that may be difficult to achieve. | 2003-10-23 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Viterra Inc | VT-T | 0.345 | Recently showed a profit after a string of losses. This does not mean the end of their problems. They have to refinance, so there is a lot of potential dilution. Debt is also a problem. Very cheap. | 2003-10-23 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Corriente Resources | CTQ-T | 2.410 | (A top pick May 13/03. Up 161%.) | 2003-10-23 | |
| TOP PICK | | Stewart Enterprises Inc | STEI-Q | 3.970 | (A top pick May 13/03. Up 19.8%.) Still has pretty good value. | 2003-10-23 | |
| WAIT | | Nortel | NT-T | 5.850 | Has come back quite strongly. Would like to see solid evidence on this recovery of the market. | 2003-10-23 | |
| HOLD | | Claude Resources | CRJ-T | 1.720 | Company is doing well, but they have been raising money which means there is a lot more shares floating around. The easy money has been made. | 2003-10-23 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Bombardier Inc (B) | BBD.B-T | 5.650 | On the watch list. New management is improving things. Outlook for the industry is still rather dubious. Have an enormous amount of debt. | 2003-10-23 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Emergis Inc. | EME-T | 5.160 | It's difficult to know to what extent B.C.E. is going to support them. Too new for them to look at. | 2003-10-23 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Thomson Reuters Corp | TRI-T | 42.010 | Fairly valued. A pretty sleepy stock. Expects it will just move sideways. | 2003-10-23 | |
| BUY | | Canadian Pacific Ships | TEU-T | 28.040 | Likes their earnings. Reasonable P/E ratio. Has a margin of safety to it. | 2003-10-23 | |
| WEAK BUY | | Kelman Technologies | KTI-T | 0.610 | Seems to have just moved sideways. First-quarter was very poor. Second quarter was better. Expecting the last six months will be good. | 2003-10-23 | |
| BUY | | BCE Inc. | BCE-T | 28.460 | A competitive business. Pay a nice dividend. Can't see a huge upside. A nice holding. | 2003-10-23 | |
