TorstarCorp (B) (TS.B-T)

This is not a good contrarian play. Print media continues to struggle. Postmedia and the Globe and Mail are also facing the same problems. Torstar is expected to lose money in 2018 and 2019. He thinks other stocks will give a better risk-adjusted return.

Prem Watsa owns about 40.1% of the common shares. Do you buy this for capital appreciation, the dividend, or perhaps for the breakup value later on? That is definitely a good signal. It could be a good contrarian pick now. They have no debt, and the dividend is over 6%. The high dividend is a danger signal. This is risky.

Had owned this at one time. Sold his holdings when he didn't like what was going on in the area. The media area has really, really changed, and this company has gotten killed. They had a lot of money in the bank and paid a nice dividend, and had no debt. Started selling off assets. Just reported a net loss of almost $7 million. They keep on losing money and ad revenues keep on going down. They are trying to transition to the new media, and it is not going well. Still has no debt. Paying a highly diminished dividend. He is very leery on this field.

A very tough business. He wouldn't want to own anything in the newspaper business. There are very few newspapers that are going to survive. There’re better places to put your money. 7.7% dividend yield.

He does not think highly of the management. They squandered a lot of money on projects that didn’t work out. They are in a tough sector.

Print media continues to struggle. This company had a digital division that was attempting to turn things around, but hasn’t. They are expected to lose $.22 on earnings this year, and $.22 next year. It is still facing a struggle with regards to the stock price. He would look elsewhere.

They had tremendous problems. He sold at a lost because he was afraid of what would happen. Paper media has been decimated. They sold off assets and cut their dividend. They have no debt and still pay a dividend. He still has to be very wary of this arena, but does view it as a speculative play.

Used to own this, but got scared when technology and mistakes got in the way. The technology they invested in has absolutely killed them. They’ve had some of their top executives leaving. One good thing is that they don’t have any debt.

This has been the highest circulation newspaper in Canada, and yet it has come way, way down. They spent a lot of money on a new app, but it doesn't seem to be catching on. He prefers another stock in printing and publishing. (See Top Picks.)

He used to hold it and took a small loss, glad he got out. The company scared him because things were changing so quickly. They are having problem because management is leaving. It is a good paper, but readership is falling way off. Their move to the Internet has not been that successful. They have no debt on the balance sheet -- great balance sheet. He watches it but is staying away from it.

From a value perspective, he has had to be looking at all the print companies over the last few years, because they had plummeted. However, you have to ask how they are going to replace the revenues that are being lost on the print side. All of them have been attempting to go to the Internet, but it seems that they are getting about $.10 on every dollar that they used to have on the other side of the equation. A

much more speculative investment, and he has no idea of how it is going to turn out for them.

It seems that newspapers have to reimagine themselves. As a break up, you could see a bump up in value for this company, but feels the owners, (it is a closely held company from a voting control perspective) see this as a mission. To survive in the newspaper business, it needs to be reimagined, and he doesn’t see any one from the new generation signing up to have a newspaper delivered to their door.

The industry has been hammered in the last couple of years. It is hard to analyze. The results aren’t that transparent. It is hard to know how it is doing organically. He does not think the company was that well managed in the past. It is a wait and see approach.