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| John Zechner of J. Zechner & Assoc |
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| TOP PICK | Research In Motion | RIM-T | 57.690 | (A Top Pick July 13/09. Down 26.44%.) Have to be a little concerned about how well the Google (GOOG-Q) Android phones are doing. Smart phone market is still growing at a great rate. Trading at 8 to 9 times earnings. Company is still growing effectively at 25% a year. | 2010-07-23 | ||
| TOP PICK | Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines Ltd. | CLM-T | 7.860 | Have a new iron ore mine coming into Quebec. This one makes sense even with iron ore at $80 a ton. China is coming back in and the global economy is growing. Lots of cash. | 2010-07-23 | ||
| TOP PICK | Grande Cache Coal Corp. | GCE-T | 5.960 | Strong producers. Likes metallurgical coal. Valuations have this as an exceptionally cheap stock. | 2010-07-23 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Agrium | AGU-T | 62.960 | (A Top Pick July 13/09. Up 43.73%.) Lighten up on this a little bit as he thinks fertilizer prices will soften up in the last half of the year. | 2010-07-23 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Talisman Energy | TLM-T | 16.730 | (A Top Pick July 13/09. Up 7.87%.) Likes the energy story and this seems like a great play. | 2010-07-23 | ||
| HOLD | Boeing | BA-N | 67.930 | Put some good orders in, in the last week so it looks interesting. Not a top choice as he thinks the airline industry will be shrinking on a longer-term basis. On a valuation basis it looks pretty good. | 2010-07-23 | ||
| DON'T BUY | BP PLC | BP-N | 36.860 | On the basis of earnings it is trading a little bit cheaper than the rest of the group. All oil stocks have gotten cheap lately. Wouldn't own this one. | 2010-07-23 | ||
| HOLD | Yamana Gold Inc. | YRI-T | 9.880 | Expects more corporate activity in the gold sector and this one stands out as a takeover target based on net asset value. Good quality assets. Feels that golds are coming back down and you look at them again in the fall. | 2010-07-23 | ||
| BUY | Transocean Inc. | RIG-N | 45.260 | Trading at 6X earnings. Because they have so much away from the Gulf and their liabilities are somewhat limited and if you can stomach the volatility in the short term, you should make money buying it under $50. | 2010-07-23 | ||
| BUY | Encana Corp | ECA-T | 32.220 | Thinks the market didn't like them upping their spending so it fell off. Little more positive on natural gas prices now. | 2010-07-23 | ||
| BUY | Uranium One Inc. | UUU-T | 2.820 | Looking to acquire about 50% of 2 uranium mines in Russia giving a $1.06 dividend. Uranium prices are on the verge of turning up. Can see it getting into the $3.50-$4 range. | 2010-07-23 | ||
| PARTIAL BUY | Bankers Petroleum | BNK-T | 7.990 | Recently did a financing, which has put a short-term lid on the stock. Growth is there on a cash flow basis. Wouldn't have a giant position on this but if oil prices continue to go higher, they'll do well. | 2010-07-23 | ||
| BUY | Enbridge | ENB-T | 51.950 | Lower growth but the dividend is safe. If your expectations for capital returns are not particularly high (but you will get a safe dividend), this is fine. | 2010-07-23 | ||
| SELL | Mosaic Company (The) | MOS-N | 46.800 | He recently lightened up on fertilizers because he is concerned that prices are going to be softer in the back half of the year. Missed their production and shut their mine. He would prefer other base materials such as coal, base metals, etc. | 2010-07-23 | ||
| SELL | Manitoba Telecom Services | MBT-T | 27.970 | Paying around 100% of their earnings out in dividends and that is always a worry. Also, there is no growth here. There is a lot more wireless competition in Canada. Doesn't own any telecom stocks in Canada right now. | 2010-07-23 | ||
| N/A | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | 6.1% GDP growth in the quarter and they hiked the rate a quarter point. Doesn’t know if they will accelerate the raising of the rate much this year. He got cautious in the funds because the market seemed over bought in April. Now he is back into the market buying some of what he sold. We continue to expand due to the stimulus plans but not at the same rate. This market was looking for a triggering event to go lower. The Europe situation is contained. He is looking at this as a buying opportunity. Maybe we will double bottom, but he didn’t want to sit on a whack of cash. | 2010-06-01 | ||
| BUY | Suncor Energy Inc | SU-T | 31.890 | Seeing the benefits of the merger. What’s going on in the gulf is not going to affect them. You are going to experience the benefit of the value of the oil sands. | 2010-06-01 | ||
| BUY | Caterpillar | CAT-N | 59.270 | Will last another 10 years. Buy and put away and own. Make sure there are no problems developing with management. A lot of good years ahead of it. | 2010-06-01 | ||
| BUY | Daylight Resources Trust | DAY-T | 9.650 | You are into the cardium play. This sector has been beat up. This kind will provide the best buying opportunity. | 2010-06-01 | ||
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| DON'T BUY | Goldman Sachs | GS-N | 141.860 | Risk of regulatory investigation. | 2010-06-01 | ||
| BUY | Thompson Creek Metals | TCM-T | 9.650 | Moving up on Chinese demand. Great buy from here. Not a bad hold. There are other tings in the metals sector that will have more immediate returns. | 2010-06-01 | ||
| BUY | Canadian Natural Rsrcs | CNQ-T | 35.150 | Valuation is good. Growth is good with the horizon project. Likes the sector and the positioning. At the low end of the trading range. Lower because of the Petro Can integration by Suncor. | 2010-06-01 | ||
| BUY | Microsoft | MSFT-Q | 25.890 | Apple has now become the largest tech firm. He owns both Apple and Microsoft. This one is exceptionally cheap. Windows 7 seems to be a hit. Never seen a stock of this type trading at 11x earnings. | 2010-06-01 | ||
| BUY | Potash Corp of Saskatchewan | POT-T | 101.980 | Some risk in the short term. Thinks this stock will act well. Demand has to pick up again. He expects some more consolidation in this industry. | 2010-06-01 | ||
| BUY | Monsanto Company | MON-N | 48.770 | Hasn’t owned it and has followed it. It’s worth a look. They missed expectations recently | 2010-06-01 | ||
| BUY | Manulife Financial | MFC-T | 17.610 | Doesn’t know if it is a potential takeover target. Likes the story and international market expansion. They are more covered now than during the recession. Great international expansion opportunities. No new buying interest. Canadian financials are a little more expensive than international. | 2010-06-01 | ||
| TOP PICK | Research In Motion | RIM-T | 62.270 | It’s a great company with great growth at an incredibly cheap multiple. These guys and Apple will own the mart phone market and these guys own the business market. They invest in new products all the time. They an apple only have 3 percent of the cell phone market but control the fastest growing segment of the market. | 2010-06-01 | ||
| TOP PICK | Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines Ltd. | CLM-T | 7.890 | Just started buying on weakness. Not many players. It will either get taken out or their mines will generate substantial cash flow in the next year or so, | 2010-06-01 | ||
| TOP PICK | Barrick Gold | ABX-T | 44.910 | You don’t want to be without gold. This one is getting a little more respect than other because of what they have done with the hedge book. Elephants don’t gallop. It has a long way to go. Gold stocks will continue to act well. | 2010-06-01 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Agrium | AGU-T | 56.550 | (Top Pick Jun 11/09, Up 3.76%) Still loves it. Could have been a top pick this time. | 2010-06-01 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Galleon Energy Inc. | GO-T | 5.500 | (Top Pick Jun 11/09, Up 21.40%) Effectively up for sale right now. | 2010-06-01 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Research In Motion | RIM-T | 62.270 | Top Pick June 11/09, Down 32.79%) Had a couple of bad quarters recently. | 2010-06-01 | ||
| TOP PICK | Uranium Participation Corp. | U-T | 6.050 | (A Top Pick Apr 23/09. Down 18.7%.) Feels uranium prices will work their way back to above $60 and this is a direct play on uranium prices. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| TOP PICK | Research In Motion | RIM-T | 70.750 | Since 1997 it has given a 35% annualized rate of return. Likes their global carrier agreements. Good products. Trading at 13X earnings. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| TOP PICK | Transat A.T. Inc (B) | TRZ.B-T | 12.600 | Have close to $8 in cash on the balance sheet. Sector has consolidation going on. Margins are starting to improve. Low risk. Exceptionally cheap on a cash flow basis. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Yamana Gold Inc. | YRI-T | 10.480 | (A Top Pick Apr 23/09. Up 7.8%.) One of the more disappointing gold plays but likes what they have in South America. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Talisman Energy | TLM-T | 17.440 | (A Top Pick Apr 23/09. Up 17.9%.) Decent international growth play. Good valuation. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Precision Drilling | PD-T | 7.760 | Not his favourite in the drilling. He would prefer the horizontal (fraqing) drillers. Generating decent cash flow. Less money is going into natural gas now. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| HOLD | Pfizer Inc | PFE-N | 17.290 | $2 in annualized earnings. Very cheap stock. Doesn't have the growth that it used to. Have global growth and is a beneficiary of the decline in the US$. | 2010-04-12 | ||
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| DON'T BUY | Cenovus Energy | CVE-T | 29.360 | He is almost at the point of taking out some of his oil stocks and start to look at some of the natural gas. At $85 oil they're going to do fine. More growth on the Encana (ECA-T) side. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| BUY | Barrick Gold | ABX-T | 40.900 | Doesn't seem to move with the price of gold but this is where the opportunity is. New management cleared off the hedge book and separated out the African assets and thinks they could get back to a premium multiple on it. Exceptionally cheap. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| Comment | Husky Energy | HSE-T | 30.190 | Not going to get the same multiple as the rest of the sector as there is not as much growth. Wouldn't recommend it as a top pick. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| DON'T BUY | BCE Inc. | BCE-T | 29.810 | Very little growth in the telcos. Came close to his target of $30 so he sold his holdings. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| BUY | Suncor Energy Inc | SU-T | 35.180 | Likes this one. Has lagged the group. There is a lot more potential in its Petrocan acquisition than people realize. Assets are undervalued, particularly heavy oil. Put this away for the long term. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| DON'T BUY | CitiGroup | C-N | 4.640 | US banking sector has seen the bottom. (He bought the US financial ETF (XLF-N) for the turnaround.) There are also some individual banks that look good. This one is a long shot. They have something like 30 billion shares outstanding so to move it $1 you have to move it $30 billion of market capitalization. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| BUY | Cisco | CSCO-Q | 26.530 | Likes the tech sector right now, particularly the big guys. Their branding and global scope are looking better than the rest. Prominent and good in the enterprise space. Makes good acquisitions. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| PARTIAL SELL | Ford Motor | F-N | 12.770 | Would be tempted to take some money off the table at this time. Has had a good run. Over the long-term, the industry still has a lot of headwinds. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| DON'T BUY | A T & T US | T-N | 26.380 | Long or short-term is not exciting on this one. Sector is not growing the way it used to. Valuations are cheap but he expects it will stay cheap. Dividend is safe and will grow a little bit. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| BUY | Canadian Natural Rsrcs | CNQ-T | 78.690 | Likes its position and its Horizon project. Has heavy oil and natural gas. Multiple is still relatively inexpensive. Balance sheet is in good shape. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| HOLD | Morgan Stanley | MS-N | 30.930 | Likes financials in general especially where there are some investment banking operations. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Quadra FNX Mining Ltd | QUX-T | 16.800 | Still going through the merger with FNX Mining so you will tread water for a little while. Nickel and copper have had good runs. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| HOLD | Teck Resources Ltd. (B) | TCK.B-T | 45.440 | Getting a little nervous as it has had an unbelievable run over the last year. Decent cash generation. Good base metal and coal assets. Cash flow is growing and they've cleaned up the balance sheet. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| Comment | Enbridge | ENB-T | 49.750 | Not much growth here. Multiple is somewhat high for a company that doesn't grow very much. Pays a decent dividend. Would take it over a telco stock. Rate of return would be about 10% but also not much risk involved. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| BUY | Sunlife Financial | SLF-T | 32.570 | US operations have struggled a little bit on the healthcare side. Valuation is attractive. He would tend to take a little bit more risk and go after Manulife (MFC-T) instead. Would take the Lifecos over the banks right now. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| DON'T BUY | iShares China Index ETF | XCH-T | 21.380 | (Market Call Minute.) China Index ETF. This is good but he would prefer emerging-market ETF (EEM-N) or Brazil over China right now. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| BUY | Athabaska Oil Sands Corp | ATH-T | 14.710 | Thinks this is a good one. Good assets that they will take to full production in 2014. Looking awfully cheap at this price. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| BUY | Comcast Corp | CMCSA-Q | 18.630 | (Market Call Minute.) This is one of the better telco/cable stocks. Valuation is interesting. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| BUY | Dell Computers | DELL-Q | 15.930 | (Market Call Minute.) Likes the tech sector. This one has a little more issue and more competition problems. Won't be what they wear before but thinks the whole sector is turning. Wouldn't be his top pick. | 2010-04-12 | ||
| BUY | Nexen Inc | NXY-T | 25.820 | (Market Call Minute.) Cheap and expects it will give acquired by someone for its assets. | 2010-04-12 | ||
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| N/A | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | It’s interesting that they are talking about making the banks issue more shares if they want to make an acquisition, even if they have lots of cash on the books. He wouldn’t count on bumping dividends if they are going to be this constrained on capital. We are in a slow global economic recovery. We are going to moderate and continue on at a slower rate. | 2010-03-01 | ||
| BUY | Inmet Mining | IMN-T | 57.360 | They had problems with some of their production in Spain and Portugal. Good copper producer and good zinc assets. If you like the base metals it’s a good play. Prefers some of the others in the sector. | 2010-03-01 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Celestica Inc | CLS-T | 10.730 | It’s a manufacturing company, not a tech company. Compare it to Magna and steel stocks. It’s doesn’t stack up well. | 2010-03-01 | ||
| BUY | Encana Corp | ECA-T | 34.490 | Warming up to it. Natural gas seems to have gone through the moderating period. It could get a real premium valuation in here. He has been adding recently to the name. | 2010-03-01 | ||
| BUY | Power Financial Corp | PWF-T | 31.040 | It’s slow growth and not a lot of opportunities for a great increase in the price. If you are buying it for the dividend, then great. Dividend is safe. It’s fairly priced. | 2010-03-01 | ||
| DON'T BUY | RioCan Real Estate Investment | REI.UN-T | 19.050 | There is a worry about commercial property in general. The REITs in general had a fantastic move off the bottom, so there is not much room for growth here. | 2010-03-01 | ||
| BUY | Manulife Financial | MFC-T | 19.310 | It will be higher in a couple of years. He believes in the management. Great diversity. Great levered play on the Canadian market and economy. Good story with lots of life left in it. | 2010-03-01 | ||
| WEAK BUY | Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (B) | BRK.B-N | 80.130 | It is sacrilegious to go against Warren Buffet. If you want to buy it for 5 to 10 years, you don’t know he will continue running it. The best years of this company are behind it, not ahead of it. The re-insurance business doesn’t look that good. The valuations are high. You probably wont go wrong with the company. | 2010-03-01 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Canadian Tire Corporation Ltd. (A) | CTC.A-T | 52.550 | It is undervalued. They had a miss last year. You are pretty well saturated in Canada. It is safe and you get a great dividend. | 2010-03-01 | ||
| SELL | Canadian Oil Sands Trust | COS.UN-T | 27.950 | Selling and putting money into Suncor would be a good trade. It is a good long-term decision. | 2010-03-01 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Ford Motor | F-N | 11.740 | They will benefit from Toyota’s problem to some extent. Doesn’t like auto sector except for Magna, but if he was to buy this sector, it would be this stock. | 2010-03-01 | ||
| STRONG BUY | Yamana Gold Inc. | YRI-T | 11.110 | Is surprised they aren’t doing better. They had some great updates on the properties recently. Gold and copper properties are delivering. It looks like a good growth story and looks cheap. They are delivering. | 2010-03-01 | ||
| TOP PICK | Suncor Energy Inc | SU-T | 30.410 | The integration is slow. It was a tough one to put together. Suncor was a great operator and Petro Canada was an underutilized resource. In the end it is probably a good combination. Thinks it will work out. | 2010-03-01 | ||
| TOP PICK | Uranium Participation Corp. | U-T | 6.160 | Thinks Uranium prices are going to go higher. Supply is a problem. Not much downside risk on the commodity price. | 2010-03-01 | ||
| TOP PICK | Research In Motion | RIM-T | 74.550 | Owned it from very early on and trades in and out. Great growth story. They’ve been able o fend off the completion very well. Biggest risk is competitive. | 2010-03-01 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Research In Motion | RIM-T | 74.550 | (Top Pick Feb 2/09, Up 6.52%) | 2010-03-01 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | U.S. Oil Fund E.T.F. | USO-N | 38.820 | (Top Pick Feb 2/09, Up 37.08%) | 2010-03-01 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Aecon Group Inc | ARE-T | 13.870 | (Top Pick Feb 2/09, Up 39.97%) | 2010-03-01 | ||
| TOP PICK | Talisman Energy | TLM-T | 18.200 | Growing and is at reasonable valuation. Reinvented themselves in the last year or two. Have international plays, natural gas and light oil. Could be takeout candidate. (Not likely.) Otherwise it will grow and benefit from higher oil prices. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| TOP PICK | Microsoft | MSFT-Q | 28.410 | As well positioned as we have seen them for the last 10+ years. Windows 7 is a winner and is leading to a refresh product cycle. Have generated a mountain of cash. Only trading at about 11X forward earnings. | 2010-02-01 | ||
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| TOP PICK | Agrium | AGU-T | 62.740 | Likes it better than Potash (POT-T) on a valuation basis and is more diversified. If they can complete the CF acquisition it could add more to it. The vertical integration will give them more stable earnings growth. Good long-term story. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Research In Motion | RIM-T | 68.060 | (A Top Pick Feb 2/09. Down 2.4%.) Still likes. As cheap as it has ever been. Have the carrier relations on a global basis to continue to compete. Smart phone market is growing. Trading at 16X current earnings. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | U.S. Oil Fund E.T.F. | USO-N | 36.720 | (A Top Pick Feb 2/09. Up 29%.) This was disappointing. Oil was at about $40 and has now almost doubled. Right investment call for buying oil when it was cheap but was the wrong vehicle. Playing through growing producers would be a better way. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| PAST TOP PICK | Aecon Group Inc | ARE-T | 13.690 | (A Top Pick Feb 2/09. Up 39%.) Well positioned. Getting a lot of projects in Ontario, out West and in the oil sands. Has a couple of good years of growth ahead of it. Trading at about 4-5 times operating cash flow. Still a Buy. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| BUY | Thompson Creek Metals | TCM-T | 13.320 | Molybdenum is needed for hardening of steel. Prices have started to head higher again. Big demand from China. This is the purest play in Canada. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| DON'T BUY | BCE Inc. | BCE-T | 27.430 | Outlook is relatively stable. Had a nice move off the bottom. Sold his holdings last year when it ran up. Problem is there is no real growth. Wire line is not growing at all. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| BUY | Rogers Communcations (B) | RCI.B-T | 33.560 | There is price competition but wireless is continuing to grow. There is application growth, data usage growth plus they have the cable and media side. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| BUY | Intel | INTC-Q | 19.610 | Their numbers blew him away. Margins are back where they where in the mid-60’s. Gaining market share again. Have a PC refresh cycle coming around, driven by Windows 7. Good valuations. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| BUY | SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. | SNC-T | 49.930 | Still sees the stimulus program being in place. Companies like this should do exceptionally well over the next couple of years, especially in power projects. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| HOLD | Bank of America | BAC-N | 15.420 | US financial stocks are starting to act a little bit better. US administration is going to be less punitive than it looked like they would be. Thinks their acquisitions, particularly Merrill Lynch, will work out relatively well for them. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Las Vegas Sands Corp. | LVS-N | 17.110 | Wouldn't be inclined to put anything into anything that is dependent on US consumer and discretionary spending. Even with the decline, the valuations are so stretched out that he still finds them expensive. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Equinox MineralsLtd. | EQN-T | 3.520 | Copper as well as uranium in Africa. A little concerned about Copper. Inventories dropped dramatically last year but have built almost back to where they where. Has great growth potential and might even be a takeout candidate. There is still a lot of political risk in Africa and he would be more inclined to look at North American risks instead. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| STRONG BUY | Uranium Participation Corp. | U-T | 6.110 | The price of the stock is reflecting $40 uranium a pound. Global cost of uranium is rising north of $50. Strong demand and reduced supply and he could see the price going back to $70-$80 easily which would put the price of this over $10 a share. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| BUY | Manulife Financial | MFC-T | 19.930 | This is one of the better plays in the financial sector. Capital position is much better shape than it was. Have international growth. Valuation is attractive. Would take this over the bank stocks currently. 2.6% yield. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| BUY | Sunlife Financial | SLF-T | 31.720 | Looks very well positioned to grow. Would take this over the bank stocks currently. 4.5% yield. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Thomson Reuters Corp | TRI-T | 36.040 | Has always been an expensive stock. A little bit worried about how they are ultimately going to fare with the competition against Bloomberg. Already trading 10X operating cash flow so you are not going to get a higher multiple. Growth is slowing down. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| PARTIAL BUY | Magna Int'l. (A) | MG-T | 59.360 | Haven't owned anything in the auto sector for a while but is warming up to it and looking at getting back in. Likes the consolidation in the industry. Getting better penetration into Europe. Have come through the auto crisis relatively well. Valuation is a little bit ahead of itself. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| DON'T BUY | Quebecor Inc (B) | QBR.B-T | 29.310 | Relatively cheap but has a lot of spending ahead of it with Videotron getting more involved with the wireless business. Valuation is pretty good discount to the break-up value. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| DON'T BUY | United States Steel | X-N | 47.320 | Got pummelled last week on earnings. They just didn't deliver. You don't want to play steel directly, play the inputs to steel or the mini-mills. Integrated steel producers are still having a tough time. Mid $40s would be a buy but not your best way to play. | 2010-02-01 | ||
| Comment | Gerdau Ameristeel Corp | GNA-T (Dead) | 8.310 | Prefers the mini-mills to the large integrated steel producers. You don't get nailed as much by the increase in iron ore costs. | 2010-02-01 | ||
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| BUY | Apple | AAPL-Q | 194.730 | Wouldn't count a lot on the iPad. Ultimately you can’t be sure it is the success that you saw from the iPhone and particularly the iPod. Company has a lot of in-growth going for it. Buy and put it away, don't try to trade it and in a couple of years you will be higher. | 2010-02-01 |