| TOP PICK | | TSX Group | X-T | 34.420 | Everybody hates it because of competition coming, being in a bear market (fewer listings), etc. Ridiculously cheap. Huge ROE and a great yield. Everybody is asking about financials. If you want to own financials buy this one that has no credit risk as opposed to bottom fishing for banks. They are buying back stocks. | 2008-07-17 | |
| TOP PICK | | Phoenix Technology Income Fund | PHX.UN-T | 16.300 | Horizontal driller with advanced technology that saves labour costs. In shale drilling. Because of uncertainty in the oil price, you don't want to be buying an oil company. 6% yield. | 2008-07-17 | |
| TOP PICK | | streetTracks Gold E.T.F. | GLD-N | 94.220 | Didn't pick this because it was a money-making idea but everything else is horrible and gold is probably the one place you are not going to lose money. Will help balance your portfolio in a very risky environment. | 2008-07-17 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Detour Gold | DGC-T | 18.760 | (A Top Pick Oct 31/07. Up 115%.) Thinks it will eventually get taken out by one of the majors. Continue to Hold. | 2008-07-17 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Hanfeng Evergreen | HF-T | 11.060 | (A Top Pick Oct 31/07. Down 27.5%.) In the right sector, but being affected by the Chinese market being very weak. | 2008-07-17 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Petrobank Energy and Resources | PBG-T | 44.500 | (A Top Pick Oct 31/07. Up 3.5%.) Sold her holdings. Investors are nervous about their holdings in the oil sands and whether it is going to work or not. | 2008-07-17 | |
| BUY on WEAKNESS | | Potash Corp of Saskatchewan | POT-T | 215.310 | Earnings are still in an uptrend. You stay with a commodity stock as long as there is an uptrend. Prefers buying below $200. | 2008-07-17 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Lundin Mining Corp. | LUN-T | 5.320 | Just announced some good drilling results. There is an oversupply of lead/zinc and so she would not have an exposure to this. | 2008-07-17 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Hudbay Minerals Inc. | HBM-T | 11.180 | Ridiculously cheap on any measure. Had a lot of cash but will have to use it to develop new mines with their last acquisition. Main product is lead/zinc that currently has an oversupply, which could continue into next year. | 2008-07-17 | |
| Comment | | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | Shorting vs. Inverse ETF’s: -Problem with using inverse ETFs as a short in a portfolio is that you don't have the torque of an individual stock. | 2008-07-17 | |
| Comment | | iUnits Gold S&P/TSX E.T.F. | XGD-T | 85.890 | In a rising market, you get better performance with stocks. Historically, gold stocks have outperformed bullion by 2X or 3X. (See Top Picks.) | 2008-07-17 | |
| Comment | | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | Canadian Banks: Not a huge fan of banks. Negative on US financials as there will be consolidation and more bad stuff to come. If you own a Canadian bank, trading is not a bad idea. She expects a bounce so over the next couple of weeks there could be a selling opportunity and then you could buy them back when they drop. | 2008-07-17 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Eldorado Gold | ELD-T | 7.950 | Wouldn't buy this one simply because of where it is politically speaking. Operations in Turkey. (See Top Picks.) | 2008-07-17 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Kinross Gold | K-T | 22.820 | Wouldn't buy this one simply because of where it is politically speaking. Operations in Russia. (See Top Picks.) | 2008-07-17 | |
| BUY on WEAKNESS | | Birchcliff Energy Ltd. | BIR-T | 13.320 | Any company in the Montne region is a possible candidate for a takeover. What matters is the amount of land and its quality. Expect this is a strategy of this management but doesn't think it will be taken out this year. Thinks that over the next month there could be a good buying opportunity. | 2008-07-17 | |
| Comment | | Nexen Inc | NXY-T | 32.950 | There is a strong feeling out there that something should be done about this company. When you take out the trading losses, their numbers where bang on. Stock is cheap enough. Expect there will be a push to sell the company or break it up. | 2008-07-17 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Air Canada (B) | AC.B-T | 4.630 | This is a horrible industry. Even Westjet (WJA-T), which is a well-managed company, is not a stock she would buy. If oil should drop to $100, the stocks will have a good bounce. | 2008-07-17 | |
| Comment | | Bombardier Inc (B) | BBD.B-T | 7.070 | All the talk is about their planes and she doesn't think anyone knows if it will be profitable or not. Interested in the trains for the first time in her career. Trains are a very attractive part of the business because as oil prices go up, public transport globally is a priority. Particularly in China and India. | 2008-07-17 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Fairfax Financial | FFH-T | 259.750 | (Market Call Minute.) Because it's in the financial sector this is in one of her favourite stocks. | 2008-07-17 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Thomson Reuters Corp | TRI-T | 30.780 | (Market Call Minute.) In a sector that she is not crazy about because of what is happening in the financials. | 2008-07-17 | |
| BUY | | Arc Energy Trust Units | AET.UN-T | 30.220 | (Market Call Minute.) Trusts are probably not a bad way to weather the uncertainty in the oil market. | 2008-07-17 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Alimentation Couche-Tard (A) | ATD.A-T | 10.370 | (Market Call Minute.) Getting cheap and she would buy if she saw oil prices lower and people increased their driving. | 2008-07-17 | |
| TOP PICK | | Petrobank Energy and Resources | PBG-T | 46.980 | (Top Pick Feb 7/07. Up 121.4%.) Pretty much on time and on schedule. Stock should appreciate, as they get closer to production. May be spinning off one of their subsidiaries. Try to buy on a Dip. | 2007-10-31 | |
| TOP PICK | | Detour Gold | DGC-T | 9.060 | Constantly expanding the pit. Have a gap between 2 ore bodies, which they have been filling and are finding more and more ounces. | 2007-10-31 | |
| TOP PICK | | Hanfeng Evergreen | HF-T | 15.190 | Produces fertilizer in China. Although she only owns Canadian stocks, this gives her some global exposure. Building new plants and she can see the growth going forward for many years. China will need fertilizer for many years to come. Not cheap but not nearly as expensive as Chinese fertilizer companies. | 2007-10-31 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Canadian Tire Corporation Ltd. (A) | CTC.A-T | 86.900 | (Top Pick Feb 7/07. Up 21%.) Picked as a safe stock that people could keep in their portfolios. Pays a dividend. | 2007-10-31 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Fronteer Development Group | FRG-T | 11.870 | (Top Pick Feb 7/07. Up 6.6%.) Has an expiration property in Turkey. Likes the company and management and their exploration plays in uranium but negative on Turkey. Wouldn't Buy. | 2007-10-31 | |
| BUY | | Osisko Exploration Ltd. | OSK-T | 6.330 | Just raised finances to allow them to move a town. Political and environmental environment is very pro-mining. In good shape and their large, low grade deposit will be going into production. Likes this company. | 2007-10-31 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Eldorado Gold | ELD-T | 6.590 | Have permits for one of their Turkish mines, but the government has shut the mine pending further investigation. She doesn't like this situation. Also concerned about skirmishes on the Turkey and Iraqi border. | 2007-10-31 | |
| Comment | | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | Short Sales: - Have been tough in the last few years because we have been in the middle of a bull market. Also, when stock prices drop, there has been prevalence for takeovers. Theoretically, your portfolio should benefit from having Shorts in it. | 2007-10-31 | |
| Comment | | A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert | A Commentary | 0.020 | Gold - Very much depends on what happens with US interest rates. As long as they keep lowering interest rates, the US$ weakens. Once they stop lowering rates, you'll see how the market interprets it and short-term, you could have a correction in commodities. She would bet on the US$ going lower. | 2007-10-31 | |
| HOLD | | Westshore Terminals Inc. | WTE.UN-T | 15.050 | Benefiting from coal price negotiations going on now. Coal prices are expected to go up 25% to 40%. Not a fan of smaller coal exploration companies. | 2007-10-31 | |
| DON'T BUY | | National Bank of Canada | NA-T | 54.650 | Admitted to being involved in commercial paper up to $2 billion. Rumours that their involvement is even larger. Also rumours of significant loan exposure to the Alberta oil patch. Would wait for the reporting of their next quarter. | 2007-10-31 | |
| HOLD | | Absolute Software Corp. | ABT-T | 38.660 | For a high-tech portfolio, it would be a holding. The latest positive is that they will be able to service wireless applications as well. Not cheap, but a good growth stock. | 2007-10-31 | |
| HOLD | | Canadian National R.R. | CNR-T | 52.990 | Prefers Canadian Pacific (CP-T). Great company but has more exposure to the US economy, one of the poorest performers. A large portion of their shipments is lumber, which is doing poorly. A lot of their business is based on the US$. Fairly cheap and does have a dividend. | 2007-10-31 | |
| WEAK BUY | | Tim Hortons | THI-T | 36.040 | One of the few Canadian consumer stocks that she still likes. Management is strong enough to figure out what to do with their US assets. Their Canadian business is doing phenomenally well. Not a lot of growth, but a solid company. Expect there will be an increase in dividends. | 2007-10-31 | |
| BUY | | Oilexco Inc | OIL-T | 17.240 | Likes having a Canadian company with global assets. Have oil assets in the North Sea and have been incredibly successful in finding large pools and bringing them into production on a timely basis. | 2007-10-31 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Uranium One Inc. | UUU-T | 10.490 | Good management team, bad jurisdiction. Doesn't like Kazakhstan and wouldn't own anything in here. Also doesn't like that the government has the right to renegotiate existing contracts.. | 2007-10-31 | |
| Comment | | Bank of Nova Scotia | BNS-T | 53.480 | This is one of her favourite banks and would be one she would own if she had any exposure to financials. Likes their international exposure. Large portion of their business comes from outside of Canada. | 2007-10-31 | |
| HOLD | | Paladin Resources | PDN-T | 7.340 | Would definitely hold this one. | 2007-10-31 | |
| Comment | | Toronto Dominion | TD-T | 71.350 | She is neutral on banks. This is a good one. | 2007-10-31 | |
| BUY | | Allen-Vanguard Corp. | VRS-T | 10.500 | A fantastic stock. Have a great prospects. | 2007-10-31 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Alamos Gold Inc | AGI-T | 7.280 | Not crazy about this one. | 2007-10-31 | |
| Comment | | Barrick Gold | ABX-T | 42.000 | If gold is going up, this stock is going up. Very liquid. Not very growthy but it's okay. Prefers the growth stories. Expensive. | 2007-10-31 | |
| TOP PICK | | Detour Gold | DGC-T | 6.990 | All of their exploration news has been as predicted. Fully expect them to have substantially larger resources than they originally had reported. Located in Canada so politically safe. | 2007-08-01 | |
| TOP PICK | | Hanfeng Evergreen | HF-T | 12.590 | A fertilizer play in China. Agriculture is a very good theme at this time. | 2007-08-01 | |
| TOP PICK | | Petrobank Energy and Resources | PBG-T | 29.240 | Their largest value is concentrated in the same area as Western Oil Sands (WTO-T), which was just acquired. Doing well in their Bakken play. | 2007-08-01 | |
| WAIT | | Royal Bank | RY-T | 53.770 | Exposure to subprime mortgages would be minimal compared to US banks. Mortgage market is slowing down. Sentiment is that the multiples in the US are pulling the stock down. Not risky, but the sentiment is currently wrong. Wait until September. | 2007-08-01 | |
| DON'T BUY | | LuLulemon Athletica | LLL-T | 33.320 | Fashion item of a certain segment of the population. Expansion is in the US and the sales per store are not as high as they are in Canada. Trading at 50 X earnings and if anything ever goes wrong the risk is huge. | 2007-08-01 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Goldman Sachs | GS-N | 189.000 | She has a Short on this stock because they are so involved in the privatization and private equity deals. | 2007-08-01 | |
| BUY | | Agnico-Eagle Mines | AEM-T | 44.080 | Bringing 4 mines into production, so the growth prospects are fantastic. One of the out performing gold stocks. | 2007-08-01 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Paladin Resources | PDN-T | 6.150 | Likes the management and long-term prospects, but sold her holdings. Uranium prices look like they have topped for now and would like to see it base for a couple of months. Had some difficulties with their South African mines. | 2007-08-01 | |
| BUY | | Russel Metals | RUS-T | 29.450 | Dividend yield of 6% is incredibly attractive. Reported numbers that were a little weak due to the weakness in oil/gas exploration. Excellent management. | 2007-08-01 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Eldorado Gold | ELD-T | 4.710 | Their mine in Turkey has been shut down because of environmental issues. Prefers others. | 2007-08-01 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Glamis Gold | GLG-T-X | 49.900 | (A Top Pick Aug 29/06. Up 18.7% at the time of its acquisition.) | 2007-08-01 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Niko Resources | NKO-T | 94.950 | (A Top Pick Aug 29/06. Up 50.7%.) Still likes. Have made announcements on further acquisition of land for expiration. | 2007-08-01 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | GMP Capital Trust | GMP.UN-T | 21.660 | (A Top Pick Aug 29/06. Down 9.7%.) Reduced her exposure to the financials including this one. | 2007-08-01 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Petrominerales Ltd. | PMG-T | 11.300 | Nice exploration play that has done well. Has had a huge run and would probably not buy at this point. | 2007-08-01 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Uranium Participation Corp. | U-T | 11.910 | She has taken profit and sold her holdings. Hard to tell where the price of uranium will be. August is a slow month and she would like to see how September/October is. | 2007-08-01 | |
| HOLD | | Shaw Communication (B) | SJR.B-T | 25.070 | Has done extremely well this year. The recent blip on the chart is due to rumours of a takeover. Likes the story. Good cash flow. | 2007-08-01 | |
| BUY | | Silver Wheaton | SLW-T | 14.200 | This is a really good story. Good management. Affiliated with mines that if the mine has to expand, they do not have to put up any money. Likes silver long-term. | 2007-08-01 | |
| WAIT | | Toronto Dominion | TD-T | 67.800 | If you don't own, wait until September to see what the mood of the market is. | 2007-08-01 | |
| Comment | | Rogers Communcations (B) | RCI.B-T | 46.830 | Earnings reported where good, but market was expecting more. Has a lot of room to raise their dividend. Expect they will cash flow $1 billion next year. | 2007-08-01 | |
| HOLD | | Western Oil Sands Inc. | WTO-T | 37.500 | Marathon Oil (MRO-N) is looking to acquire this company. Not sure if there will be any further bids, but she is holding her stocks. | 2007-08-01 | |
| HOLD | | Trans Canada Corp | TRP-T | 37.770 | High dividend yield. Likes it better than the banks right now. | 2007-08-01 | |
| BUY | | Shoppers Drug Mart Corp | SC-T | 51.450 | Always looks expensive, but they always deliver. Management feels they have 2/3 years of substantial growth ahead of them still. In a volatile market, this is a very defensive name. On her watch list. | 2007-08-01 | |
| Comment | | Telus Corp | T-T | 58.350 | This is a little problematic here. They have shown interest in merging with BCE. If this happened, it would be negative for them. On the other hand, it could be a takeover. | 2007-08-01 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Canadian Natural Rsrcs | CNQ-T | 71.100 | Has had a phenomenal run. Likes their connection with the oil sands. We are now going into a seasonally weak period. Wouldn't get into it right now. | 2007-08-01 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Cameco Corporation | CCO-T | 41.780 | In the long run, would prefer Paladin (PDN-T) better. Not sure where uranium prices are going. I've had a lot of things go wrong for them. | 2007-08-01 | |
| TOP PICK | | Petrobank Energy and Resources | PBG-T | 24.250 | A name you can tuck away and be incredibly thrilled 5 years from now. New technology they are perfecting for the oil sands. So far ahead of schedule on production. Have issues, but mainly tweaking the technology. Expect they will go into joint ventures using the technology eventually. | 2007-04-18 | |
| TOP PICK | | Hanfeng Evergreen | HF-T | 9.380 | Chinese fertilizer play. Agrium (AGU-T) has just acquired 20% of it. Buy on any kind of a pullback. Good story for the next 3 to 5 years. Joint venture with PetroChina giving a better margin product. | 2007-04-18 | |
| TOP PICK | | Detour Gold | DGC-T | 5.190 | Very cheap. Bringing an existing mine back into production as an open pit. Trading at about half the value it should be trading at. In Canada, so no political risks. | 2007-04-18 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Glamis Gold | GLG-T-X | 49.900 | (A Top Pick Aug 29/06. Up 17% at time of acquisition by Goldcorp (G-T)). | 2007-04-18 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | GMP Capital Trust | GMP.UN-T | 23.650 | (A Top Pick Aug 29/06. Down 2.1%.) Very well managed. She has switched to Canaccord (CCI-T). | 2007-04-18 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Niko Resources | NKO-T | 85.000 | (A Top Pick Aug 29/06. Up 35.6%.) There are rumours that it could be a takeover. Still likes. | 2007-04-18 | |
| HOLD | | Western Oil Sands Inc. | WTO-T | 34.900 | Likes this company. Sooner or later, someone is going to want to take the company over, so stick with it. Doesn't see a lot of upside for the stock. | 2007-04-18 | |
| BUY on WEAKNESS | | Hudbay Minerals Inc. | HBM-T | 21.180 | Purist zinc play. Good quality. Very conservative management. Considered a possible acquisition by Lundin (LUN-T) but that is no longer applicable, so stock is in limbo. Have an interesting exploration program going on, but isn't looking for anything fantastic. | 2007-04-18 | |
| Comment | | SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. | SNC-T | 32.690 | Very well managed and in a fantastic space. Stumbled recently. Amount of business has increased so much that competition on bids is not as great a problem, giving fatter margins. | 2007-04-18 | |
| HOLD | | Goldcorp Inc | G-T | 30.000 | A fantastic company, but the stock has not been very exciting. Small and mid-caps have done much better and are probably a better place to be because of takeovers. Long-term hold. | 2007-04-18 | |
| Comment | | Paladin Resources | PDN-T | 8.890 | Acquiring Summit Resources out of Australia. One of the better managed companies. | 2007-04-18 | |
| HOLD | | Canadian Tire Corporation Ltd. (A) | CTC.A-T | 79.380 | This is one of her defensive names. A long-term hold. Doesn't see anything negative on the horizon. | 2007-04-18 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Denison Mines Corp | DML-T | 13.880 | Prefers other names for uranium. Made a lot of acquisitions and expect they will make more. Good growth story. Haven't delivered on production in the last couple of years. | 2007-04-18 | |
| Comment | | Blue Pearl Mining Ltd., has changed ticker to TCM-T | BLE-T | 16.900 | Molybdenum is a very volatile mental, so you have to be comfortable with that. Reviewing the resources and mining plan on all 3 projects. Announced a larger reserve on one. More news to come. Stock has done well, so it will take a breather. Fantastic long-term story. | 2007-04-18 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Fording Canadian Coal Trust (Inc Trust) | FDG.UN-T | 26.800 | Been notorious on non-delivery of production. Coal prices declined which was another reason they had to cut distributions. Analysts are feeling coal prices have bottomed. | 2007-04-18 | |
| BUY | | Harry Winston Diamond Corp. | HW-T | 42.590 | Likes this company as a long-term play. 3% dividend. Blue chip. | 2007-04-18 | |
| BUY | | Tim Hortons | THI-T | 36.450 | Great story. Always expensive, but they deliver. Have increased dividends and earnings. Expect they will grow their dividends for the next 5 years. | 2007-04-18 | |
| BUY | | Bank of Nova Scotia | BNS-T | 54.090 | The most internationally diversified of the Canadian banks. Well-managed. Now trying to beef up their wealth management division. | 2007-04-18 | |
| BUY on WEAKNESS | | Encana Corp | ECA-T | 61.680 | Gas has been one of favour and has made a rebound. Gas storage is now lower than last year. This is the blue-chip play on gas stocks. | 2007-04-18 | |
| TOP PICK | | Canadian Tire Corporation Ltd. (A) | CTC.A-T | 69.500 | Trading at 14 X 2007 numbers, which is relatively cheap. Have an incredible amount of real estate and hedge funds periodically would like them to realize value on it. Every time there are rumours, it creates a good trading opportunity. | 2007-02-07 | |
| TOP PICK | | Petrobank Energy and Resources | PBG-T | 20.680 | Oil sands play. Expecting to see more acquisitions in that sector. A strategic area. Speculative as they have new technology for accessing heavy oil that would allow them lower operating and capital costs. | 2007-02-07 | |
| TOP PICK | | Fronteer Development Group | FRG-T | 13.250 | Has several ways that it can win. Has a uranium subsidiary Aurora (AXU-T) as well as a partnership in a gold asset in Turkey with Teck Cominco (TCK.B-T). | 2007-02-07 | |
| Comment | | Tim Hortons | THI-T | 37.140 | Would have picked this as a Top Pick but at 25 X earnings felt it was too expensive. | 2007-02-07 | |
| HOLD | | Russel Metals | RUS-T | 27.800 | Very attractive dividend yield. One of the better managed companies in Canada. | 2007-02-07 | |
| DON'T BUY | | Alcan Aluminum | AL-T | 59.900 | Not one of her favourite companies. Doesn't expect them to be acquired. | 2007-02-07 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Glamis Gold | GLG-T-X | 49.900 | (A Top Pick Aug 29/06. Up 20% at time of acquisition.) | 2007-02-07 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | GMP Capital Trust | GMP.UN-T | 20.520 | (A Top Pick Aug 29/06. Down 12%.) Got a $.50 special dividend in December, so collected about 10% while she waited. | 2007-02-07 | |
| PAST TOP PICK | | Niko Resources | NKO-T | 89.000 | (A Top Pick Aug 29/06. Up 41%.) Have had some fantastic finds and there is also the possibility that it will be acquired. | 2007-02-07 | |
| BUY | | Uranium One Inc. | UUU-T | 15.550 | Good holding in uranium. Expects it to do very well. This and Paladin(PDN-T) she would consider as her blue-chip uranium stocks. | 2007-02-07 | |
| BUY | | Paladin Resources | PDN-T | 8.700 | Good holding in uranium. Expects it to do very well. Good management. This and sxr Uranium One (SXR-T) she would consider as her blue-chip uranium stocks. | 2007-02-07 | |
| BUY | | UrAsia Energy | UUU-X | 5.990 | Good holding in uranium. Expects it to continue doing very well. | 2007-02-07 | |