STOCKCHASE

2.020

Have a nice cash position. Did much better over the last couple of years. Last time they had a lot of cash they went out and overpaid for an acquisition. One would hope they don’t get into that position again.

2011-03-16

N/A

0.020

Markets: We were due for a correction. We had a strong bull market for 2 years. There is always worries that creep into the market. There will be repercussions that reverberate through the economy. The big thing in Japan is that they lost a huge portion of their electrical capacity. Right now it is far too much in flux. Japanese companies are very large and for the most part pretty fairly priced. We have to see how tings shake out over the next couple of weeks.

2011-03-16

Comment

Bellatrix Exploration Ltd.

0.020

Day Trading: It is not investing, but a legitimate part of the market. Day trading is being taken over by very fast computers. One should take computer science courses as well as business courses.

2011-03-16

BUY on WEAKNESS

Fairborne Energy Ltd.

FEL-T

4.710

It was not a very successful trust. Now it is a corp. and is acting more like a junior oil and gas. It is far more successful now. He thought Nat Gas prices would creep up but they didn’t as much as he expected.

2011-03-16

PAST TOP PICK

BXE-T

5.300

(Top Pick Mar 3/10, Up 36.69%) It’s a broken trust. More weighted to oil than natural gas. When it was a trust, it was starved for capital, but that isn’t the case any more.

2011-03-16

DON'T BUY

Enablence Technologies Inc.

ENA-X

0.290

Fiber optic technology right to your home, in rural areas. Young company. Not something he would normally follow, but knows the CEO. He was impressed with the way he manages his company. In this case the company had an acquisition but has not worked out the way they hoped. Still cash flow negative. He’s watching it for now.

2011-03-16

HOLD

Magic Software Enterprises Inc

MGIC-Q

5.450

Likes it a lot. Has been a tremendous spike. He is looking for double digits before he sells. Fundamentals are very strong. ERP software.

2011-03-16

TOP PICK

Gravity Co. Ltd.

GRVY-Q

1.920

South Korean video game maker. A sector he was interested in for a while. It is a pure play. It is a company with no debt, lots of cash, but revenue is decreasing. Are coming up with a sequel to their most successful game.

2011-03-16

DON'T BUY

Bank of Ireland (Gov & Co)

IRE-N

1.950

Irish banks have had a really tough time. The situation is very tenuous in Ireland. New government wants to renegotiate the terms of the bailout. So the question is now this negotiation is going to end up. Wonders if one of the things that is sacrificed is the shareholders.

2011-03-16

TOP PICK

Telecom Corp of New Zealand

NZT-N

7.120

Wanted a bit of Geographic diversity. Has watched this for a while. Value investors have liked it for a while and rode it down. Used to have a monopoly and now is having to evolve. It is going to do ok over the next few years because New Zealand is an isolated country.

2011-03-16

TOP PICK

Sun Bancorp (NJ)

SNBC-Q

3.280

Was doing nicely until a few days ago. Was rocked by the fact they are going out to look for more capital again. Price is really beaten up to an attractive entry point.

2011-03-16

PAST TOP PICK

C&D Technologies

CHHPD-Q (Dead)

0.010

(Top Pick Mar 3/10, Down 75.97) There was a reverse split. Used to be ticker CHP-N

2011-03-16

Comment

Barrick Gold

ABX-T

39.650

They are going to spin out their African assets. Companies of this size are always buying or selling something. It’s often hard to see these things moving the needle. It might be a nice little nest egg for them. If they complete the unwinding of their hedge it could appreciate.

2010-03-03

BUY

Manitoba Telecom Services

6.870

Occupies a prominent place in his president’s portfolio. A favorite and a contrarian pick. It is a serial disappointer. Global trade fell off a cliff last year and this hit ATS but they were still making money so that tells him they can size operations and workforce. If you believe this economic recovery is going to get some traction then it is well leveraged to that and will do well. A long term hold for him.

2010-03-03

DON'T BUY

Bank of America

BAC-N

16.660

It is clearly in the category of too big to fail. US Government has made it clear they will not allow that bank to go down. If they have to raise more capital then that means dilution.

2010-03-03

VAGUE

Ford Motor

F-N

11.740

(Market Call Minute) Finds it hard to believe they are at a competitive disadvantage due to GM’s bail out. At some point it may slow down.

2010-03-03

WEAK BUY

Husky Energy

HSE-T

26.920

It is not really a contrition play, but is a pretty solid value play. If you believe that oil is going to go up then this is where the upside in this stock is. It is fairly valued now.

2010-03-03

WAIT

Iamgold Corp

IMG-T

15.480

Doesn’t really follow it carefully. It is one of the major producers. IF you think Gold has a good future, you don’t have all that many choices. This one would be on the radar for institutions. You would have wanted to buy it a little bit earlier. If you look at charts, it does not go up steadily. There will be relapses in the future even thought the bull trend will continue. If you like the company, then wait for a pullback.

2010-03-03

BUY

MBT-T

31.840

(Market Call Minute) Good dividend for a conservative investor.

2010-03-03

DON'T BUY

Manulife Financial

MFC-T

19.310

(Market Call Minute) Not too keen on them. How well can they invest the premiums while they are holding onto them.

2010-03-03

PAST TOP PICK

Norsat International

NII-T

0.700

(Top Pick Apr 1/09, Down 17%) He had wanted a stock that would ‘stay in the game’. It has no debt with growing revenues and excellent management. They grew revenues very nicely. Has no idea why the stock not higher. At some point the market will wake up to this company. Be patient – 3 or 4 years to get to his target price.

2010-03-03

TOP PICK

Novel

NOVL-Q (Dead)

4.700

Getting a takeover offer. Thought for years that it would eventually get taken over. They had a lot of the shape of a company that eventually someone would take a run at. It really has not done that well.

2010-03-03

BUY

Richmont Mines Inc.

RIC-T

4.110

One of his favorites. It’s in Canada, in Newfoundland and Quebec. Debt free and a good amount of cash. A well managed firm. Their mines are in a good cycle of their production – a sweet spot. They are ramping up production. Thinks gold prices will go up over the next few years.

2010-03-03

DON'T BUY

Tembec Inc.

TMB-T

1.090

It is a contrarian play. He would have thought there would be a turnaround by now in pulp and paper. The conversion of media and the move over to digital side seems to be a trend that has a long way to go. He looks for a company that has a temporary problem and can get back to where it was, but he is dubious about this one.

2010-03-03

BUY

Toyota

TM-N

74.830

(Market Call Minute) Not all that contrarian. Went down a bit based on the recall but not that great an amount. It was hit by the recession.

2010-03-03

BUY

Thomson Reuters Corp

TRI-T

36.520

(Market Call Minute) Excellent company but not a contrarian play. Is a dividend champion, raising dividend in the teeth of the recession.

2010-03-03

PAST TOP PICK

Yahoo!

YHOO-Q

15.310

(Top Pick Apr 1/09, Up 22%) Lots of cash and in good financial shape but revenues are decreasing. Still quite positive about the company but becoming increasingly of the opinion that it would be great if someone would take them over.

2010-03-03

BUY

Analysts International Corp

1.720

It is recovery mode and numbers are pretty good. Made a large acquisition which was difficult to digest, but it is helping now. The growth of smart phones is helping.

2010-03-03

DON'T BUY

ANLY-Q

0.400

He bought it twice and did not do well. This was a turnaround play. Brought in new management to do the turn-around. This company is just not doing well. Stocks don’t usually do well until a year after a consolidation.

2010-03-03

Comment

0.020

ANNUAL MEETINGS: Are a great opportunity to get a feel for management. Good opportunity to listen to the manner in which questions are answered. Read body language and read between the lines. Is the guy answering the question or is he trying to finesse it. Are they really the kind of person you want managing your money.

2010-03-03

N/A

0.020

Markets are pretty interesting. The data is interesting because we are getting some divergence in the numbers between the US and Canada, meaning that we are de-linking to some extend. It means that you need to be in the market. It requires some caution, however. It is becoming more of a stock picker’s market. Doesn’t like shorting because you can so easily get the timing wrong.

2010-03-03

Comment

Bellatrix Exploration Ltd.

0.020

BEAR FUND: It is essentially a hedge. That is not something he is that interested in. You are essentially betting against yourself. However there are particular times that he hedges. He buys PUTs on S&P 500 when he feels the market is in an immanent situation, such as day after Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae went down. It did protect the portfolio and he later sold the PUTs. He prefers to hedge by having CASH or precious metals in the portfolio.

2010-03-03

TOP PICK

BXE-T

3.790

Put it into his new portfolio. Fascinating company. At the epicenter to those companies moving from income trust to regular corporation. It was a spectacularly unsuccessful business trust. It proved the point that the model was a poor fit with exploration and development of oil and gas because you have to put money into capital expenditure and not into distributions.

2010-03-03

DON'T BUY

Hemisphere GPS Inc.

HEM-T

0.870

This company is tied to agriculture and is quite sympathetic to grain prices. They have been strong over the last couple of years but then came off sharply in January and this stock came off in sympathy to that. This stock is more likely to get a boost from the ‘January Effect’ after which it eases off. He thinks it will take a while. It is a niche-oriented company. There was a lot of hype and then the trough of disillusionment. It’ll take a while.

2010-03-03

BUY

International Datacasting Corp.

IDC-T

0.280

It’s not like a complete stranger walked into the management roll. Likes it and holds it. It’s a thin trader. You want to be careful if you want to buy it. 16 Million Capitalization. There is no big company in this business.

2010-03-03

PAST TOP PICK

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp

0.010

(Top Pick Apr 1/09) He is at 25% now. Still thinks there will be good opportunities ahead.

2010-03-03

TOP PICK

C&D Technologies Inc.

CHP-N (Dead)

1.650

Speculative play in the electric storage and battery area. Company has been around for a long time but was crushed by the recession. Revenues took a big hit. Debt is fairly high but manageable. Moved a lot of production over to China Seeing a good market in China for their products. They seem to be well connected. Got a descent-sized contract from the US army to produce large format batteries.

2010-03-03

BUY

AQN-T

2.450

Green energy, both hydro and wind power. Green companies are going to get hit heard during the recession with oil prices down. If you can find a company that is going to survive this cycle and you can Buy them cheap, it will fit you up well for later on. Distribution was cut dramatically and now yields 9.4%, which is far more sustainable.

2009-04-01

PAST TOP PICK

General Motors Corporation

3.560

(A Top Pick Oct 9/08. Down 19.2%.) Had a nice quarter and is showing good backlog. Auto industry is certainly a negative but companies seem to be right sizing the workforce and staying ahead of the curve. Good management and not over leveraged.

2009-04-01

Comment

Bombardier Inc (B)

BBD.B-T

3.040

(Market Call Minute.) Could be a Buy. Hasn’t bought it himself yet but is looking at it carefully. Just a question of when.

2009-04-01

Comment

Canadian Oil Sands

COS-T

24.680

(Market Call Minute.) This will be one of the big players. An industry that needs a lot of capital and they have it.

2009-04-01

SELL

GM-N

1.930

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

2009-04-01

BUY

Iamgold Corp

IMG-T

11.170

Very few places to hide in this recession but one sector is gold. Given the way the financial system seems to be going, where there’s going to an awful lot of money printed, owning some gold makes a lot of sense.

2009-04-01

BUY

Manitoba Telecom Services

MBT-T

32.010

8.2% is a pretty nice yield. Old time telephone companies are trading at prices giving pretty good yields. Franchises are weakening to some extent but there will still be lots of customer services.

2009-04-01

HOLD

Manulife Financial

MFC-T

15.080

(Market Call Minute.) If you are going to sell, it should have been a while ago.

2009-04-01

TOP PICK

Norsat International

NII-T

0.900

(A Top Pick Oct 9/08. Down 18.5%.) Doing very well. 2008 results were excellent. Normally the results would be looked on very favourably but with current negative sentiment it is difficult getting traction. Buy a little at a time, not a full position.

2009-04-01

DON'T BUY

Nortel

NT-T (Dead)

0.225

In the end game, it is going to be worth next to nothing.

2009-04-01

SELL

Petro-Canada

PCA-T

34.360

If he owned he would be Selling. Has been burned too many times by mergers. Post merger indigestion can occur. There is usually a bump up at the time of the merger and is a good time to take your profit. You can then watch for a better entry point.

2009-04-01

WAIT

Precision Drilling

PD-T

3.600

Think they will survive and there will have to be a lot more drilling done. Chart indicates it is bottoming. Entry point would be a little further on when the worst of the recession is over.

2009-04-01

HOLD

Potash Corp of Saskatchewan

POT-T

105.040

(Market Call Minute.) Agriculture space is looking very good in the long term.

2009-04-01

BUY

Saputo Inc.

SAP-T

21.900

Reasonably strong here because investors are looking for companies that make things that people need and use every day. Food is about as defensive as you are going to get. 2.6% dividend.

2009-04-01

DON'T BUY

Sherritt International Corp.

S-T

3.150

Another example of a resource company that loaded up on debt at the peak of the cycle. This has pushed them to the brink. Has been a change in the oil concession in Cuba cutting their production by about 25%. Cuban government owes them about $160 million.

2009-04-01

HOLD

UTS Energy

UTS-T (Dead)

1.770

(Market Call Minute.) Thinks it is getting low-balled here. Wouldn’t tender his shares here.

2009-04-01

TOP PICK

Yahoo!

YHOO-Q

12.750

Has an enormous amount of cash on hand. Advertising has been hit hard by the recession but traditional media players have been hit a lot harder. Advertising is moving towards the internet. Google is quite fully valued and there is room for more than one.

2009-04-01

DON'T BUY

Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc.

0.235

Has goodwill and intangibles on the books. Book Value is way over what the stock is trading at. Generally speaking that is an indication that a write-down is coming. Doubts that it will hit in the near term but probably will happen eventually. They usually advise when they are going to do one. Very speculative.

2009-04-01

HOLD

DWA-Q

22.050

(Market Call Minute.) Good company.

2009-04-01

DON'T BUY

Denison Mines Corp

DML-T

0.830

Company overreached last year and took on quite a bit of debt trying to move up a level in size and timing couldn’t have been worse. They are now in a really tough spot.

2009-04-01

PAST TOP PICK

Magic Software Enterprises Inc

MGIC-Q

1.180

(A Top Pick Oct 9/08. Down 30.7%.) Profits have been very good. No debt and lots of cash on hand. Company is not in rough shape but market just doesn't want to hear about it.

2009-04-01

TOP PICK

0.010

He is about 50% cash.

2009-04-01

TOP PICK

4.370

Doing well in turn around mode. Very, very good price. Did not execute well in the past in solar and now pulling up their socks. Sill exposed to auto industry and could hurt but if anyone needs to re-tool, it’s the auto industry.

2008-10-09

PAST TOP PICK

Autozone Inc.

AZO-N

98.790

(Top Pick Sept 7/07, Shorted, He’s up 3%)

2008-10-09

SPECULATIVE BUY

BCE Inc.

BCE-T

34.000

When dividend stopped that really hurt. City Group could come back and ask to revise the rules again. Situation has changed so much since this deal went down. Would not short sell BCE. Deal could go through at a lower price.

2008-10-09

SPECULATIVE BUY

Ford Motor

F-N

2.080

Company in desperate, desperate straights. Survival is dubious. Stock price reflects that. If it recovers we are talking 500% or more. Take a look at it towards the end of the year.

2008-10-09

WAIT

Maple Leaf Foods

MFI-T

7.320

Is on his watch list; he likes the company; they will survive. This is the way processed food works in our society. McDonalds was a great investment after the mad cow thing and similarly this will be a good buy soon

2008-10-09

HOLD

Mitec Telecom

MTM-T

0.070

It’s had the stuffing knocked out of it. At this point I would hold it – it’s either going to go bankrupt or go up a lot.

2008-10-09

TOP PICK

Norsat International

NII-T

0.920

Excellent management, getting new contracts, will hold up well during a recession.

2008-10-09

WAIT

Precision Drilling

PD-T

12.080

Tentative hold. Wait if buying.

2008-10-09

HOLD

Research In Motion

RIM-T

67.650

It’s going to go lower.

2008-10-09

BUY

Royal Bank

RY-T

41.400

The Preferred: Look at what Buffet has done – he’s gone for preferred shares.

2008-10-09

DON'T BUY

Teck Resources Ltd. (B)

TCK.B-T

19.100

50% retracement is common in a commodity boom. Wouldn’t be surprised to see commodities firm up a little bit but this is an expensive company

2008-10-09

BUY

Toyota

TM-N

62.400

Likes long-term view. Leader in the field. Adaptable company. They’re looking at a real drop in demand in cars. Cars are extremely vulnerable to recession. Thinks car manufacturers will go down to 2003 levels.

2008-10-09

Comment

Magic Software Enterprises Inc

0.020

SHORT SELLING: Current problems are not the fault of short sellers. Still viable and still fair. Has a lot of cash on sidelines. Portfolio hit hard. Short selling is a margin type of transaction. Short sellers can make up rumors but so can long buyers. GOLD: Likes gold. There’s a lot of money being printed. Gold could do well, but gold stocks are tricky. Their profit picture has not been good; costs are high, labour shortages. A recession might help them.

2008-10-09

DON'T BUY

Seaspan Corp.

SSW-N

12.770

Absolute classic value trap. Earning before interest, taxes and amortization – they borrowed heavily so have to pay a lot of interest. Ships are wearing out, so there’s a lot of amortization.

2008-10-09

PAST TOP PICK

Alexanders Inc.

ALX-N

309.210

(Top Pick Sept 7/07, Shorted, He’s up 6%), just declared a special dividend of $7. New York real estate firm and quite disconnected from rest of country; has not caught up to the recession.

2008-10-09

TOP PICK

MGIC-Q

1.660

Global player, good balance sheet.

2008-10-09

PAST TOP PICK

0.010

(Top Pick Sept 7/07, Flat) We aren’t the only people that saw this coming. Doesn’t publish cash component of their portfolio. Above 30% in cash.

2008-10-09

BUY

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

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

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

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

WAIT

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

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

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

TOP PICK

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

PAST TOP PICK

AbitibiBowater Inc.

ABH-T (Dead)

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

TOP PICK