Teal Linde

It is a challenging market with interest rates at their highest level in decades along with rate reductions being pushed out further. and economic growth being stagnant or slowing both here and abroad. In spite of this, there is still lots of momentum investing going on and there's even a momentum ETF (MTUM) which is up 30% since November. Even stocks that have consistent returns have rising valuations: eg. Costco with only 6% growth in the top line. Investors should be aware of why a stock they own is rising. Is it because of fundamentals or just momentum which is really a form of speculation.

It hasn't done much since the 1990's except during Covid. It's surprising that it is hiring a chief strategy and innovation officer that has been down on the stock for a decade, except for the oncology component.

It has spent 20 years investing in infrastructure and is now in harvest mode for making profits, It expects to make $45 billion this year and $55 billion next year. It is able to expand its profits because it is growing in web services and advertising, and in fact is the third largest in online advertising. 85% pf spending is on the premises side and 15% on the cloud side. A switch in this ratio will increase revenue greatly. AI could cause even more expansion.

It is now completing financing which gives it full ownership of a key asset, Lion Mine, which will lower the average cost of production and is in a good jurisdiction. It will be worth 60% of the value of the whole company. The stock is down because of a miss on market expectations and a decrease in production but we can expect more production in the second half. The first gold should be poured this month at the Greenstone mine. National Bank is rating it a buy because their holdings are low risk, being in Ontario. With the rising gold price, gold stocks have a chance to run up.

There is a potential threat to their search engine dominance from AI search engines which do all the searching for you just from one key word, giving a concise response with no ads. It is in an innovative dilemma. OpenAI and ChatGPT have one of the fastest adoption rates ever. It could soon release its own search engine. He owns it since it trades at a reasonable valuation and has other strengths such as Google Maps. Be wary of it though, since 80% of the revenue comes from advertising.

It had good news lately with better than expected results and a big increase in backlog. Margins however have been weak and need to go back to previous levels. He considers it a speculative buy.

Its guidance is 7 to 8% but the stock has come off so there is upside if they deliver on the guidance. Even if they didn't, the downside is limited. It trades at a good price and pays a 6% dividend.

It is in the private lending business and there are more opportunities in the private market now. It has a good outlook in spite of the run-up. He prefers Brookfield which hasn't had a big run-up. Both are good companies.

It is not doing well because of the money laundering scandal which was mostly in the New York area. 3 billion is the highest amount of penalty being considered. Other banks are in trouble too. It makes $14 billion a year in profit so he still likes it.

It has had a record delivery of natural gas.. Planned data centres will need a lot of energy. There's lots of consumption of natural gas in the U.S. and lots of production in Canada. Pays a 7% dividend.

It sold off from $40 because of negative sentiment towards the retail sector. Consumers are being squeezed and tightening their spending. It plans to grow its stores by 25% this year which should offset lower spending at existing stores.

The question was on the consumer retail sector. It is under pressure since the consumer is now feeling squeezed. They have now spent the last of the extra pandemic money and are saving less now. Credit card balances are maxed out and are at their highest levels. Even Starbucks has 2% less sales. Pick retailers that are building more stores such as the one mentioned in his top picks.

From its recent results there is investor concern over whether they can pay down $200 million in debt that they had planned to do this year but management says they can. Total debt is $600 million. With a $500 million market cap, its free cash flow yields 40% and it trades at a decent value today.

It is getting squeezed even by grocery stores operating their own pharmacies. Their acquisitions don't work out and it would be better to pick a different pharmaceutical company.

It has come off. Although not a fast growing company, its price ran up this past fall/winter. Its valuation is typically 17 to 17 1/2 times earnings but it is now in the mid 20's. Be cautious - don't buy now in case the valuation goes back to its average.