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| David Baskin of Baskin Financial Services |
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| TOP PICK | Bank of Nova Scotia | BNS-T | 51.530 | Canadian banks in general offer tremendous value at current prices. Good dividends. This bank as good growth prospects. Good geography including Latin America and Southeast Asia. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| Comment | BP PLC | BP-N | 45.910 | (Market Call Minute.) Recovered from a near-death experience. High oil prices is what is going to keep them going but they have a lot of infrastructure problems. What happened in the Gulf might be just the tip of the iceberg. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (B) | BRK.B-N | 78.370 | With this company, you always have to take the net value of the shares (NAV) and compare it to the stock price. Also, what happens when Warren Buffett can't do his magic tricks anymore? | 2012-01-31 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Canadian Apartment Properties | CAR.UN-T | 22.850 | (A Top Pick Feb 8/11. Up 34.91%.) Yield is very attractive. With condo prices, particularly in the big markets like Calgary Vancouver and Toronto, going up so much, rental properties are going to be in higher demand. Stock is pretty expensive right now so only buy on dips. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| BUY | Cameco Corporation | CCO-T | 23.260 | Got creamed after the tsunami in Japan. A lot of people thought that nobody was ever going to build another nuclear reactor or buy uranium. Existing nuclear plants have to be fuelled and he believes a lot of nuclear reactors will be built in the next 10-20 years. He is long-term bullish on this company. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| BUY | Cisco | CSCO-Q | 19.645 | The amount of bandwidth that everyone is using requires all the companies in this space to make their networks more robust. This is great for this company. Expect the stock will be in the mid-$20 or even $30 in the next year. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Encana Corp | ECA-T | 19.210 | Too much natural gas in North America. Supplies and inventory are so great that producers are capping wells. Particularly with a warm winter we are having in eastern North America, the heating season has been a bust. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| BUY | Ford Motor | F-N | 12.420 | The one positive thing for automobiles in North America is the age of the fleet. It is older today than it has been any time in 40 years. A lot of people and companies deferred replacing their vehicles. Personal incomes are rising in the US, which leads him to believe those cars will be replaced. Not a bad idea. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| Comment | Halliburton Co | HAL-N | 36.780 | The oil service companies that are in the gas sector (fracking) are very busy but the question is, for how long. Producers are already shutting in wells. The ability of this company to continue to grow at double-digits is questionable. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Ivanhoe Mines | IVN-T | 16.170 | Rio Tinto (RIO-N) just acquired enough to give it 51% of the company. This means there will be no fight and no takeover premium. He has always been wary because of their geography. Mongolia is a long ways away and not much is known about the government. He'd rather have something with a mine in Chile or something with more familiarity and comfort. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| Comment | Magna Int'l. (A) | MG-T | 41.420 | This has always been a company with thin margins. What happens if demand goes down in Europe (they are in that market). Also, new leadership has some people concerned. A weak euro will mean fewer profits. However, he is looking at this company now because of the change in leadership. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| BUY | Methanex Corp | MX-T | 27.300 | Likes this company. Natural gas is a major input for the manufacture of methanol. Huge multinational company with plants around the world. As industrial demand for chemicals picks up, this company will be able to fill that demand. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| BUY on WEAKNESS | Nike Inc | NKE-N | 103.990 | Good, strong brand. Have had some concerns raised about labour practices in less developed countries but have pretty much surmounted that. Very strong marketer over the long-term. Strong US$ makes profits coming in from the rest of the world somewhat less valuable for companies like this. Expensive right now. Would prefer to see it at $90. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| Comment | Power Corp | POW-T | 24.380 | When he became convinced that interest rates are going to stay low for an extended period of time, so he switched his holdings to banks. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| BUY | Saputo Inc. | SAP-T | 40.840 | Likes the company for its size, geographic diversification and that it is growing nicely. Good time to buy. Great company. Good prospects. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| Comment | Sherritt International Corp. | S-T | 6.330 | Problematic because of its Cuban connection and its resource base which is volatile. If Obama gets re-elected, he feels there will be an awakening of Cuban and US relations. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Suncor Energy Inc | SU-T | 34.540 | (A Top Pick Feb 8/11. Down 13.67%.) Disappointed in this during 2011. It was a question of the politics of what was going on in the US. Oil did much better than oil stocks in general. Feels that this is a tremendous buying opportunity right now. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| Comment | Transalta Corp | TA-T | 20.360 | (Market Call Minute.) Not a bad yield play. The spread of the cost of manufacturing electricity and what you sell it at is moving in their favour. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| BUY | Teck Resources Ltd. (B) | TCK.B-T | 42.520 | Likes both the coal and zinc part of the story. The coal is primarily an Asian story and he thinks this will continue strong in spite of dips. | 2012-01-31 | ||
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| Comment | Talisman Energy | TLM-T | 11.980 | (Market Call Minute.) Their move to gas is not going to move in their favour. A lot of people are out of patience with this company. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| BUY | Fluor Corp. | FLR-N | 56.240 | Giant multinational engineering company. $40 billion in backlog and $2 billion in cash. Very good company. In the infrastructure/engineering space, this is not a bad name to look at. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| TOP PICK | Cineplex Inc | CGX-T | 25.180 | Not economically sensitive. Cruised right through the recession, raising ticket and popcorn prices on the way. Also makes money on advertising. Modernized a lot of their theatres for 3-D and are putting in digital projection equipment that in the long run will enhance viewing experience as well as making their costs lower. Good yield. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| Comment | Kinder Morgan Inc. (has gone private) | KMI-N | 32.470 | Basically in the energy transportation/infrastructure business. He would prefer an Enbridge (ENB-T) or Transcanada (TRP-T) because of the dividend tax credit. If you are going to own one of these stocks primarily for income, unless it is in an RSP or TFSA (a sheltered vehicle), the tax credit makes a lot of difference. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| BUY | DuPont | DD-N | 50.890 | (Market Call Minute.) Good play on increasing industrial manufacturing in the US. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| Comment | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | Markets. Very strong start, particularly in the US but not bad for Canada either. People are feeling a little bit, about Europe. Data coming out of US is not rosy but not bad. Big winners last year were the telcos, pipelines and utilities, the utility stocks and their now trading at multiples of earnings, which are very much at the high-end of their historic range. However, interest rates are going to stay low for 1.5-2 years so you can't leave too early but he is looking for other opportunities. With the Cdn$ near par he is looking south of the border also. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| Comment | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | Sectors. He likes the banks, agriculture and oil sands. Oilsands particularly are very deeply undervalued. People are concerned about the political machinations in the US, environmental concerns in Canada as to whether pipelines will get built to the West or South. He believes the oil will come out of the ground and get refined somewhere. Fertilizer stocks are suffering from an oversupply in the good crops last year. This is a cyclical commodity but it will come back and in the meantime this is an opportunity to get them at good prices. Banks have got good dividend yields and are trading at a low multiple of earnings and it is underestimated how well they're going to do in this low interest rate environment. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | (A Top Pick Feb 8/11. Up 14.3%.) 4.25% Canada Real Return Bonds due 12/01/21. Inflation protected. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| BUY | Tim Hortons | THI-T | 48.860 | (Market Call Minute.) Loves this company. They do everything right. Dividend is going up. Same-store sales are going up. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| Comment | Market Vectors Agribusinesses E.T.F. | MOO-N | 51.320 | Not a fan of ETFs. He feels that with these you get the good, the bad and the ugly. Prefers Potash (POT-T) has not participated in the rally. Also likes Agrium (AGU-T). A good buy in the US would be Archer Daniels Midland (ADM-N). | 2012-01-31 | ||
| TOP PICK | CSX Corp | CSX-N | 22.550 | Primarily an Eastern US rail company. Moved out of Canadian Pacific (CP-T) and into this. Looked at all the rails in North America and this one offered the best combination of value and growth. Offers a good alternative to trucking. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| Comment | Visa Inc. | V-N | 100.640 | (Market Call Minute.) Consumer spending in the US was flat in December, which was bad for the credit card companies. People are still reducing their debt and you are not going to see rate increases in consumer spending. Not a lot of growth in the card companies. | 2012-01-31 | ||
| DON'T BUY | American International Group | AIG-N | 22.360 | No one really knows what assets this company owns and what liabilities it really has. You are best to keep away. | 2011-12-19 | ||
| Comment | Enbridge | ENB-T | 36.520 | Pipeline sector has been one of the best performers on the TSX simply because of bond refugees looking for yield. All the pipelines have a nice history of dividends and increasing their dividends. Pipelines, utilities and the telcos might be viewed as overbought. They're trading at a PE multiples that we normally don't see. They have higher PE multiples than their growth would justify. When interest rates rise, (2013 and on) the bond refugees will sell their stocks and go back to bonds. | 2011-12-19 | ||
| Comment | Manulife Financial | MFC-T | 10.250 | On the plus side, they are making tremendous penetration in Asia selling life insurance. Trading at less than Book Value per share. Probably oversold. All of the insurance companies have the problem that they are reinvesting insurance premiums at record low interest rates, which will continue for at least another 2 years. Life insurers make half their money by investing premiums in bond markets and paying out claims as they come in. | 2011-12-19 | ||
| TOP PICK | National Bank of Canada | NA-T | 70.970 | Pretty much all of the banks had good earnings this quarter and this one was one of the strongest. Likes their wealth management business. Very cost effective branch runners. Have a pretty good security business. All they do is make money and raise their dividends. Trading at a bit of a discount to the rest of the industry. | 2011-12-19 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Onex Corp | OCX-T | 32.600 | (A Top Pick Dec 22/10. Up 9.46 %.) Wish they would raise their dividend instead of buying back shares. Still likes. | 2011-12-19 | ||
| BUY | Rogers Sugar Inc | RSI-T | 5.210 | Sugar in Canada is a duopoly. Their only 2 companies, and what's more, they are protected by a tariff wall against US companies and has 3 years to go. Their biggest input is natural gas, which is very cheap right now. Steady money-maker but not a big grower. For those that need income, it is pretty safe with a high yield. | 2011-12-19 | ||
| BUY | Royal Bank | RY-T | 48.700 | Very cheap stock right now. Unduly punished for mistakes it made 5 years ago by going into the US. Those mistakes are now behind it and he feels their results were quite strong. Have a terrific franchise, particularly on the investment side and the personal wealth management side. Pays a nice yield and dividends are due to go up. | 2011-12-19 | ||
| TOP PICK | Suncor Energy Inc | SU-T | 27.510 | (A Top Pick Dec 22/10. Down 26.52%.) People hate it but unsure why. Probably the oil sands. Keystone pipeline is very vital to the US to get the product to the southern market. Looking at the price of this stock compared to the price of oil, it is apparent that the stock should trade at twice the price it is now. Eventually, Keystone pipeline is going to get built and West Texas crude is going to trade at a similar price to Brent crude and companies like this will benefit. Time to buy is not when everybody loves it, but when everybody hates it | 2011-12-19 | ||
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| TOP PICK | Teck Resources Ltd. (B) | TCK.B-T | 34.210 | Trading at almost half of its high for the year. He supposes that if Chinese growth falls to zero, demand for coal will probably go down along with the prices for coal and zinc. Chinese growth going from 9% per year to 8% per year is not a justification for knocking the price of this stock to half. Vastly oversold and is probably worth $60 today. Dividend yield of 2.3%. | 2011-12-19 | ||
| BUY | Talisman Energy | TLM-T | 11.750 | Thinks that it is cheap, but it keeps getting cheaper. Have good assets and a lot of fracing assets in the US, which politically are not well placed as people are concerned with this. His view is that their reserves are worth $16-$18 a share. Severely undervalued. | 2011-12-19 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Westjet Airlines | WJA-T | 10.760 | Would never recommend buying an airline. More money has been lost by investors in airlines more than any other sector. They are faced with high and rising prices for jet fuel and there is still overcapacity in the industry. | 2011-12-19 | ||
| BUY | Anadarko Petroleum Corp | APC-N | 71.400 | Tremendously high profile in the US and has held up relatively better than our Canadian oil stocks. Good properties and good reserve life. Good price. Really a question of what you think is going to happen on commodity prices. | 2011-12-19 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Archer Daniels Midland Company | ADM-N | 27.270 | (A Top Pick Dec 22/10. Down 7.56%.) Grain handling. Still things the global demand for food stuff is a good story. Still likes. | 2011-12-19 | ||
| Comment | Uranium One Inc. | UUU-T | 2.060 | After the disastrous earthquake and tsunami in Japan last year, the world basically said that no one is ever going to put another piece of uranium in a nuclear reactor and the entire nuclear industry is going to shut down. Probably an oversimplification. There is need to fuel the existing nuclear reactors. Nuclear power still presents the best trade-off between environmental costs and reasonably priced energy so he is a believer in nuclear energy. However, he would prefer Cameco (CCO-T) which has the contracts, the uranium, the production and a more horizontally diffuse industry than the small ones. | 2011-12-19 | ||
| Comment | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | 2012 Prediction. TSX has to go up because bonds are so unattractive at current yields and dividends on the TSX are so compelling at this level that he can see it going to 14,000. Similar story in the US. The US 10 year treasuries are close to 1.5%, which is the lowest since the Great Depression. Europe is not going to be solved. It will be a long, slow struggle because of the tremendous depth of structural problems. | 2011-12-19 | ||
| Comment | Bombardier Inc (B) | BBD.B-T | 4.190 | Selling lots of trains but they don't make that much money on this. The big question is, how many of their C series airplanes are they going to sell. Seems to be less than the market would hope. Would prefer the preferreds and common bonds. | 2011-11-10 | ||
| DON'T BUY | BP PLC | BP-N | 43.100 | Because of their problems in their Gulf wells and Alaskan by, he is concerned that there may be further cockroaches. Feels this is a value trap. | 2011-11-10 | ||
| TOP PICK | Canadian Apartment Properties | CAR.UN-T | 20.560 | Very good REIT that owns thousands of apartment units. Working very hard on increasing its energy efficiency and are saving lots of money. Discipline on the price they pay for acquisitions. Will likely be able to increase their 5.3% distribution. | 2011-11-10 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Cameco Corporation | CCO-T | 19.690 | (A Top Pick Nov 9/10. Down 45.98%.) Still owns, but is on his question list. Could be dead money for a while. | 2011-11-10 | ||
| TOP PICK | Home Capital Group | HCG-T | 47.960 | (A Top Pick Nov 9/10. Up 6.52%.) Trades at 8X earnings, which is cheap for a company that has a terrific record of growth, terrific credit loss history and raises its dividend regularity. Mortgage origination business has been very strong because of low interest rates. | 2011-11-10 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Manulife Financial | MFC-T | 12.010 | Insurance company invests life-premiums into bonds. Long bond yields are at record lows making it very difficult for them to make money on their portfolios. This copy is selling more life insurance in Asia and have mostly hedged their exposure to the stock market but difficult to see any buoyant prospects for insurance companies when the bond yields are so low. | 2011-11-10 | ||
| BUY | Methanex Corp | MX-T | 24.100 | Biggest methanol producer globally. Advantage is that the major input for methanol is natural gas. Industrial demand for chemical products depends on the economy. Feels the US economy is going to be steady, slow growth and Europe is going to only have a mild recession so methanol prices should be pretty strong. | 2011-11-10 | ||
| BUY | Potash Corp of Saskatchewan | POT-T | 47.000 | Fell on hard times during 2008. Has come back a little, but not that much. Demand for fertilizer globally right now is a little slack. World’s grain supply and demand is pretty much in balance meaning that all it takes is a natural disaster to cause an imbalance. | 2011-11-10 | ||
| STRONG BUY | Suncor Energy Inc | SU-T | 31.610 | Energy company with a DRIP program to hold for a long period of time? Thinks this one is worth $50 easy based on its earnings, reserves and future prospects. | 2011-11-10 | ||
| Comment | A T & T US | T-N | 29.160 | Because of the small amount of competition, it will make lots and lots of money. Not a bad place for yield right now but for Canadian investors, you don't get the dividend tax credit. | 2011-11-10 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Thomson Reuters Corp | TRI-T | 29.680 | Analysts keep saying that the earnings are good and growing and the stock is going to explode but it never does. | 2011-11-10 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Trans Canada Corp | TRP-T | 39.850 | (A Top Pick Nov 9/10. Up 10.42%.) Still likes. | 2011-11-10 | ||
| BUY | Telus Corp | T-T | 53.910 | Excellent earnings this quarter. Good wireless growth. Raised the dividend and promised to keep raising it up to and including 2013. Wouldn't expect much capital appreciation as it is pretty well fully priced. If you want a nice tax effective yield will continue to grow, this is a pretty good choice. | 2011-11-10 | ||
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| TOP PICK | Brookfield Infrastucture Partners | BIP.UN-T | 26.300 | Excellent management. Buying toll roads in Chile and railways in Western Australia. Diversified company with a nice high and growing yield. | 2011-11-10 | ||
| BUY | Barrick Gold | ABX-T | 48.250 | Juniors are not his cup of tea and that’s why he owns it. Biggest and best run. They have not tracked gold upwards. Gold doubled and companies went up 30-40%. He would like to see dividend gets bigger. Comfortable owning this one. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Aecon Group Inc | ARE-T | 7.900 | (Top Pick Aug 5/10, Down 29%) Sold it a while ago. Had a number of quarters in a row where they could not execute. He lost patience. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| SELL | Bank of America | BAC-N | 6.990 | Has no idea what is going on inside of this one. No knows what their assets are worth. There are a lot of opinions but no one knows. If it went to fail and was bailed out, he believes there would be nothing left for shareholders. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Celestica Inc | CLS-T | 7.590 | Low value added component assembly with relentless pressure to lower prices. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Encana Corp | ECA-T | 24.890 | Nat Gas has stabilized and wills stay around same price. Cut back CAP X program. If there is a recession Nat Gas prices will fall and affect the cash flow. Prefers more oily producers. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| TOP PICK | Fortis Inc. | FTS-T | 31.120 | Biggest public Canadian utility - 38 years in a row of dividend rises. Economically non-sensitive stock. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| BUY | Goldcorp Inc | G-T | 48.760 | A lot of the acquisitions from last 5 years look really smart now. Problem with these stocks is they go up and down like a toilet seat. You have to have strong stomach. Not a stock for the nervous Nellies. It is well run, it’s big, it has lots of properties. Good solid strong management. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| BUY | Husky Energy | HSE-T | 24.600 | Sold off so much you can throw darts at the energy companies. They will all come back. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| TOP PICK | IGM Financial Inc. | IGM-T | 43.370 | Terrific dividend. One of highest of the big companies on the TSX. 15-20% discount to where it was a month ago. Strong ownership to the Power Group. Big worry is people moving out of stock market. He doesn’t believe it with current low interest rates. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| BUY | Inmet Mining | IMN-T | 56.960 | Primarily a copper producer. It owns a terrific property in Panama. Major sovereign wealth money behind it. Biggest copper mine in the world. Has had problem getting full production out of the their mine in Spain. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Ivanhoe Mines | IVN-T | 19.820 | Largest gold and copper deposit in the world, but questions is whether shareholder will get to benefit from it. Doesn’t know about Mongolia – stability of government, desire to nationalize mines, shareholder rights, etc. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| BUY | Metro Inc (A) | MRU-T | 46.250 | Well run grocery store. L-T and EMP-T get a lot of press but these guys don’t get much respect and have a good record of increasing dividend. The whole industry was suffering from margin compression so he stayed out. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| BUY | Pembina Pipeline Corp | PPL-T | 25.100 | Likes it. Good solid pipeline and operator. Steady grower. In the net two year, interest rate now environment this is a stock for bond people. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| BUY | Rogers Sugar Inc | RSI-T | 5.150 | In the fortunate position of a duopoly in Canada and there is a tariff wall. Natural gas is used in the drying process and low price is a benefit. Income is not bad (6.6%), not a big growth stock. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| TOP PICK | Royal Bank | RY-T | 51.280 | Wait until we see earnings on Friday. Shed it’s US subsidiary, took a write down, but not a bad one. It was a millstone around the banks neck. It is cheap and dividend (4%) is good. As long as earnings don’t have nasty surprises. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Saputo Inc. | SAP-T | 39.120 | (Top Pick Aug 5/10, Up 20.70%) Thinks a lot of it. It is a screaming buy. In his top 5 still. Attractive entry point. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| STRONG BUY | Suncor Energy Inc | SU-T | 30.280 | Terrific buy. Oil around $80-$90 a barrel they should be $40. Have interests in Libya. May get assets back in Libya. Doesn’t think environmental protestors will shut down oil sands. He has been buying it. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| DON'T BUY | West Fraser Timber | WFT-T | 42.290 | Biggest market for dimension lumber in the work is US housing market. Statistics on housing starts in US are dismal. Over built neighborhoods need to be used up. Well run company with good properties but they can’t control the commodity price. Lumber prices will start to take off when unsold homes in US are gobbled up next year. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| SPECULATIVE BUY | Yellow Media Inc | YLO-T | 0.950 | Dividend was clearly unsustainable but when they cut it, stock still dropped. It’s now undervalued and the business is not going away. They have a growing net presence. They paid down some debt and are making enough to pay the dividend. Sentiment is against company and volume is enormous. Being used as a speculative vehicle, which makes him nervous. | 2011-08-24 | ||
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| WEAK BUY | Chartwell Seniors housing | CSH.UN-T | 7.180 | Demand for seniors housing will do nothing but increase in our lifetime. He is concerned about government regulation and the impact on profitability. Governments are coming down from chronic care and continuing care down to the light care. Liberals especially would increase regulation of these kinds of housing. There is tremendous growth potential but he is worried about regulation. He likes H&R REIT, Cromby REIT, and Canadian Apartment REIT. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| N/A | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | Market: Doesn’t own APPL because it is too tied to one guy and products were too trendy. He and his clients were buying because stocks were on sale. Difference between now and 2008 is that he is getting cheques in the mail from clients. This time corporate earnings are so terrific. TD bank says we had zero growth in second quarter and maybe Canada goes into recession if US does. He thinks economic is weak. He was worried about higher interest rates and inflation but now thinks it is pushed out to 2013 and later and so does not look for inflation protection. He wants dividends and growth. Utilities (e.g. telecommunications and pipelines are better than bonds). He felt he would come in one day and gold would go down hundreds of points in 1-3 days. He thought it was a bubble. Doesn’t know about long-term trend. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Canfor Pulp Products | CFX-T | 15.900 | Nothing company specific right now. He is not crazy about the pulp industry. Long-term future of the industry is lousy. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| SELL | Extendicare REIT | EXE.UN-T | 7.400 | Now gov’t regulations in US on their facilities. Market believes this will hammer their margins. He thinks this will be the trend and will affect Canada too. Doesn’t now if the dividend is safe. They have to operate in the environment and we will see if it is safe | 2011-08-24 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Thompson Creek Metals | TCM-T | 7.700 | (Top Pick Aug 5/10, Down 20.10%) Got it because it got very cheap and it turned out to go even cheaper. Sold it a few months ago. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| HOLD | Visa Inc. | V-N | 86.380 | Makes money on transactions, not interest rates. People worry transactions will decline if there is a recession. He thinks fear is a little over done. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| DON'T BUY | BMO Covered Call Cdn Banks ETF | ZWB-T | 14.260 | It is a complex product. Management costs are high and eat up a lot of income. You capture all of the downside of the bank stocks. But it doesn’t get the upside on the bank stocks because they are selling options on them. If you believe banks will say where they are, it would be good, but he believes banks will go up and so this ETF will not. | 2011-08-24 | ||
| BUY | Astral Media | ACM.A-T | 37.400 | In a number of advertising venues, signs, radio, TV, specialty channels, etc. A lot of people are concerned on the impact of Netflix, streaming video, etc. This company has a lot of arrows in its quiver and can withstand this competition. | 2011-07-22 | ||
| TOP PICK | Progressive Waste Solutions Inc | BIN-T | 22.470 | Solid waste management, both pick up and disposal. Industry is very fragmented with lots of room for consolidation. Profits are growing and dividends are increasing. Good business model and solid management. | 2011-07-22 | ||
| Comment | General Electric | GE-N | 19.040 | You can't discount this company, because they are so important in so many fields. Wind turbines, jet engines, etc. As enormous potential to make money on global sales, particularly with the low US$. Has real potential to surprise on the upside in the next few years. | 2011-07-22 | ||
| SELL | CGI Group (A) | GIB.A-T | 21.450 | Good company, but the stock has a long history of not rewarding investors very much. All-time high and he would be tempted to take money off the table. A major headwind could be the US government's cutback on services. The high Cdn$ hurts companies like this. | 2011-07-22 | ||
| BUY | Potash Corp of Saskatchewan | POT-T | 58.500 | You just have to look around the world to see what is happening with the weather and crops conditions and crop forecasts to realize this company is in a remarkably good place. Expects potash prices to continue to increase. | 2011-07-22 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Research In Motion | RIM-T | 26.470 | From one point of view, it looks like an enormous value. When you look at the way they lose market share, the way Apple (AAPL-Q) keeps eating their lunch and what happened to their Playbook tablet device, you realize it is a value trap. | 2011-07-22 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Royal Bank | RY-T | 53.250 | (A Top Pick July 6/10. Up 7.3%.) | 2011-07-22 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Shoppers Drug Mart Corp | SC-T | 41.100 | (A Top Pick July 6/10. Up 26.02%.) Had been oversold. | 2011-07-22 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. | SNC-T | 56.210 | (A Top Pick July 6/10. Up 35.1%.) Great company with a huge backlog of construction projects. | 2011-07-22 | ||
| Comment | Toronto Dominion | TD-T | 80.760 | Preferred shares. These pay a fixed dividend so if you think interest rates are going up and inflation is increasing, fixed dividends are not attractive. (Thinks reset rates preferreds are terrific investments.) | 2011-07-22 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Walgreen Co | WAG-N | 40.020 | Will problems with Express Scripts (ESRX-Q) take the wind out of their sails? Not interested in this primarily because of Wal-Mart (WMT-N), which uses its pharmacy counter to sell the rest of the store. Very difficult for chains to compete. | 2011-07-22 | ||
| TOP PICK | Cineplex Inc | CGX-T | 25.460 | Makes 85% margins on its confectionery products, makes money on screen ads and on the movies themselves. | 2011-07-22 | ||
| TOP PICK | Molson Coors Brewing Company | TAP-N | 46.540 | This industry has consolidated on the top end. There are hundreds of little craft brewers but only account for 2%-4% of the market. Good, solid recession proof stock. | 2011-07-22 | ||
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| DON'T BUY | Extendicare REIT | EXE.UN-T | 10.550 | His big concern with retirement/nursing homes is the extent the government would feel compelled to become involved. Soon as they get involved, costs go up and profits go down. This REIT would not be on his list. | 2011-07-22 |
