Chairman at J. Zechner & Assoc
Member since: Jan '01 · 3804 Opinions
He expects further upside for the stock market will be limited due to a few headwind concerns. Economies in many countries are weakening. The U.S. consumer has been running down their savings. However he would be a buyer on further weakness. He feels that the next direction of interest rates is down since inflation is moderating although there are some blips at times. Rates decreases may not necessarily happen soon. The wealth effect of the market going up is much higher than decades ago.
It has maxed out to a large degree on the growth side. It is still dominant in the space and could be an acquisition target.
It has had to deal with the 737 Max problems. It is not generating cash and the overflow is slowing down. It has some potential since the defense side of the business may help and there are only two main builders of aircraft. However there are better places to be in the industrial space.
He sold this recently. It is a great company but the valuation is too high: 23 or 24 times this year's expected earnings. There are some cyclical headwinds in the short term and there is the Kansas City acquisition. Also there are warning flags on operating efficiencies.
He likes gold but would rather have a producer than a royalty company since there are better operating cash flow multiples. Its major Panama project could be a headwind. The average analyst's price target is $199.
It has delivered but he wouldn't buy it today since the valuation is high resulting in too high a premium. The restaurant business is cyclical.
Patience pays off but the better move has already been made. It is a slow growth company. It has some struggles with its Asian operations but has a decent dividend yield (well covered), not too expensive and is safe.
He has trimmed his position and taken profits but it is still delivering and at 30X earnings is OK considering the growth potential. There is big spending (billions) by Alphabet, Microsoft, etc. and Nvidia is still the dominant player.
The question was on life insurance stocks. He would lean towards the banking sector which has better valuations. However he is underweight in the financial sector with expectations of a weaker economy and a trend to lower interest rates.
He shouldn't have bought value in the tech sector. There are other pay platforms coming out now. However it has done some re-structuring with new management, has massive cash flow with a clean balance sheet. Trades at 11 X forward earnings.
It holds a dominant position in space technology. It also received a big contract with Telesat - more than $2 billion. It is a growth story.
It is picking up market share in recreational products. It is cheap at 8X operating cash flow. The consumer may be slowing down
The pipelines are a good place to be and the pricing is not sensitive to the commodity prices. The yield is now 7% and it trades at a more reasonable valuation. It is not high growth and not high risk so there is little downside.
It is at a cheaper valuation and they are re-shaping themselves as a smaller company. You are not paying a big premium and he may consider buying it back.
They got rid of their coal assets and are now a premium pure copper play. It should get a premium valuation like other copper producers since there is a shortage of copper and new copper projects. Copper is needed for the electrical grid.