Air Canada, Couche-Tard & More at 52-week Highs and Lows (Feb 6-12)

An opportunity to buy during the coronavirus scare? AC is trading near 52-week highs, trading at 4x EBITDA vs. American peers at 6x--that's a valuation discount. AC is bringing down costs and streamlining, which are the right things to do that will benefit the stock for years. So, buy on any weakness like now.

They manage $26 billion of global assets, from energy and utilities to transports. They have an excellent track record of growth. 94% of cash flow is regulated. The breakout above $60 was good. Today it went up during a strong sell-off. (Analysts’ price target is $72.21)

The London Stock Exchange has been interested in acquiring them, which he thinks would be positive. He would consider holding for now and decide if holding shares in the Exchange makes sense in the long run.

(A Top Pick Oct 01/19, Down 1%) It's been sideways since June, so he's a little worried that it may break lower. If it does, he will reduce his position. It's in the penalty box, but he likes it.

He has their product in his office. The stock is struggling. They lowered guidance twice this year. They have a new management team in place. They are re-vamping their sales strategy. The change of management is taking more time than expected. Watch it as they try to go to a more professional organization. Turnarounds don't…

It is well positioned in Toronto office space that is in niche places. It trades at a fair price, it is not cheap. If you own it, continue to hold it. Toronto has some of the lowest office vacancy rates in North America. He is waiting to buy it at a discount to NAV.

No question this is deep value. Their NAV is likely $27-28US (for the US BPY stock). But it'd been deep value for many years, and he doesn't see a catalyst to service that value. Some shareholders have lost patience. They're challenged because they own a lot of high-end malls. Some questioned them buying GGP Inc.…

Not on his target list. It trades at 14 times earnings -- pretty cheap. The balance sheet is a little more levered than he would like. Earnings growth is not great. If you think interest rates will not change and remain low, he would prefer others. A quality name though.

CRT.UN vs. CHP.UN Choice Properties is the largest Canadian REIT. Strong management. Good pipeline, so no shortage of growth. Working to reduce leverage. Nothing wrong with it. Great company. Fairly valued, so better opportunities elsewhere. She prefers Canadian Tire, mainly on the valuation. More short-term upside.

A leasing company run by Steve Hudson. They did a $265 share buyback late last year, then in February doubled their dividend. Low interest rates will help them. It took a while, but the stock is moving up these days. (Analysts’ price target is $5.39)

It's been in a tight range and will continue to. It's now near the bottom of that range, so buy away. It's approaching the sweet spot.

The multi-dwelling residential REIT space has been shooting up in markets like Halifax, Quebec and Toronto. KMP is making new developments. He likes this, but it's too expensive. Tailwinds (geographies) are working for KMP.

Rental apartments are a great space, but NVU suffers from poor governance and low-quality real estate. There are way better names elsewhere--like CAP REIT or Killam.

He follows it as it gets interesting. It's up 35% this year with apartment holdings in Toronto and Montreal. They're hot now, getting acquisitive outside these two regions. If you don't hold REITs, this should be one of them. A top contender. A solid business.

This would be a hold for him, if not a sell. It has US grocery stores in small centres. It has an external management contract, which he feels is not in alignment with share holders.

(A Top Pick Jun 14/18, Up 59%) It is another example of an undervalued tech company in Canada. It was taken out by MS-N just over a month ago.

Managers have been excellent capital allocators. They stumbled in the last quarter regarding their restoration business, but bad weather made that quarter look worse than it really was. He expects they will grow their restoration business. It's stalled now, so now is a good opportunity to buy. (Analysts’ price target is $134.83)

A hold. A tiny REIT with a yield that is too high to sustain. They did a portfolio acquisition of retail mall space in Quebec -- the wrong asset at the wrong time.

Really well run company. A convenience store owner that expanded globally. It is challenging to predict the growth as it is dependent on M&A. As a long term proposition is good to hold on to. Wait for pull back to add.

All the grocers pulled back in the last quarter given higher competition which lowers product prices. Trades at 15x earnings. Can grow 8-10%. They have online delivery now. That said, studies show that people still prefer to go to stores to buy groceries. She also likes the Shoppers Drug Mart chain; their Optimum card program…

They've been struggling because of weakness at Tim Horton's and Burger King. This will turn around. He's confident. Meanwhile, you're paid while you wait. A 10-15% rebound in the stock would interest him. He owns McDonald's in this space.

Resistance at $28. He predicts a general market pullback in January of 5-10%. This will return to $27. Wait. But if it breaks below $23, it will head lower.

It's probably topped out by getting up to its fair market value so there's not much place to go. He is using the opportunity to switch into things that are more promising.

A good dividend play. The yield is at 4.6%. People tend to focus on the tech side of green stocks, but this has utilities that have consistent income. They are a potential takeover target for Brookfield so the price has recently shot up. Could get decent returns.

A lot of success is tied to Gaz Metro in Québec, but they also have some wind farms that have recently come online in the last year or 2, and giving good returns to the company. Recent earnings were solid and they raised the dividend by 3.7%, and plan to raise it 4% next year.…

Canadian mid-caps (no past picks today) He specializes in these. They are under the radar of Canada's large mutual funds and receive little analyst coverage, so they trade at a discount. (No past picks today.) He buys stocks only during momentum, as they are rising and keep rising. CGI is a leader in Canadian tech.…

The chart looks good despite from big dips. High flyers get beaten first on sell-off days like this. Take some off the table; it may be too big in your portfolio. Don't worry about volatility; it's a great company and stock. Wait a bit longer to sell.

(A Top Pick Oct 18/19, Up 4%) Investors are appreciating the steady cash flow. Some day they will be an acquisition target. They have a great niche in the market. They have the ability to grow, although it is not a giant market.

(A Top Pick Mar 15/19, Up 26%) Merger with Detour Gold is creating a better entity. Longer streamed production, better leverage on the balance sheet. It will be 10% of his portfolio.

It stopped being a silver play a year ago. As they've made acquisitions, they've shifted from South American silver to North American gold. If gold pops, this stock could generate a lot of free cash flow.

An interesting one. Brazil. They have some high-grade veins that they have done some work on. They are drilling and it will prove it one way or the other. There will be lots of entry points coming up.

(A Top Pick Jul 31/19, Up 0.4%) This is a way to lower volatility. A return of 2.15% per year, paid monthly. Hold it during volatility, sell it, and use the return to pick up your cyclicals during periods of seasonal strength.

Had a good run in 2019, but now is breaking trend. He expects higher interest rates in 2021, which will pressure REITs. XRE will head lower in early-2020. He predicts a general market pullback in January.

A core iShares offering. It has only a 0.1% MER. It holds Canadian and foreign Canadian-denominated bonds (Maple bonds). It offers some diversification, but it will not shoot the lights out. It is short duration and high quality holdings and acts as a good defensive holding. This is fine for most Canadian investors.

An ETF for utilities. A great defensive sector with amazing performance lately. XUT-T is good, but 60% is in the top 4 holdings (inculding Fortis and Algonquin); 4% yield and 55 basis point cost. ZUT-T is more diversified and equal-weight. ZWU is also equal weight but does covered calls to create extra income, which sells…

Basically it's an ETF version of a mutual fund. All fixed-income and pays a yield over 3%. You can park money here until you figure what to invest in next.

ZJK-T vs. ZHY-T. High yield is a sexy name for junk bonds. They are the worst quality bonds. In a downturn these companies will not be able to pay back their bond holders first. If equities fall 20%, high yield bonds fall 13%. There is more risk for a portfolio.

(A Top Pick Dec 28/18, Up 17%) A core holding and he still likes it. Performs well.

Shaw missed their last earnings due to increased competition in wireless (Shaw re-entered last year) with lower data packages. She owns few telcos, though they pay an attractive dividend. She prefers BCE who are national and pay a good, rising dividend.

Shale gas in the US. A spin out from Bankers Petroleum (BNK-T). There is a lot of potential excitement but it just doesn't have the same management quality team. Just too risky in the market at this point.

They had a balance sheet issue and began selling assets to pay down debt, including the sale of infrastructure assets. This will reduce debt below $3 billion. Any cash generation will be levered to WTI prices as they are 90% liquids based. A rise in WTI prices will lead to more share buybacks he thinks.…

He stayed away because they went to the states to make acquisitions. He did not know why the Americans would not already take these assets. He stays away from it.

Convertible bonds with a 5.75% coupon They own a great base of real estate. The debt issue is a small piece. The bond is well-covered. MTL.DV-T. You get a 6-year option on the stock within the bond, with a $14 convert price. If oil recovers, these bonds will convert into equity. Until then, collect then.…

They are in the Montney region. They announced that a facility would be down for a few weeks and the share price has been hit temporarily. The stock is cheap, but he needs to see more data about new production first. Q1 results come out in May.

Sees no change to the dividend theory. The 3 Irish business millionaires actually control the company and are holding it long-term for the dividends. The company has some costs going on disadvantaging it. The diamond sector itself has not produced really stellar performance. This is a “wait and see”.

They have a done a deal with a private equity company, effectively taking the company private. Their hard rock lithium project is challenged due to the infrastructure constraints -- including rail and power. They needed more money, creating an opportunity for the private equity company.

It looks interesting, but is too small for his funds. It has under-performed for the past few years. They are in the right place at the right time, but we need to see some good drill results soon.

(A Top Pick May 15/18, Down 73%) A miner and processor of phosphate -- a precursor to potash. They took over a bankrupt project in Brazil, which they liked from a speculative perspective. They have had technical difficulty with the project and it did not work. If you are patient, it should eventually pay off,…

He covers the stock and owns it. The business is doing well. They are a leader in their space. There was a big investor out of China that fell on hard times and has had to sell shares. It may be poised for a turnaround.

Has an old mine outside of Los Angeles that was run in the 1930s. Closed down during the Second World War and they are doing open pit mining in the area. Has some issues, but at these gold prices, it will probably start to work again. Under followed. Highly speculative.

Biofuel. Canada has an incredible forestry industry with a huge emphasis on planting trees. PL takes wood waste like sawdust and turns it into energy. This fuel can replace coal that is also carbon-neutral.

All asset managers are being decimated. This trades at a premium. It no longer trades with the gold price. But he likes this sector, though prefers Sprott's peers like AGF. Now is not a bad time to enter this space.

The strategy to build into block chain in Korea and bring it back to Canada could be a good one – not knowing the exact specifics. You want exposure to the big players and you know it will become material when the chartered banks have departments now focusing on the new payment technology.

A play that could be triple / quadruple. Optical chips for next, next generation. 100 Gig data rates. High risk.

Where you talk about a bear or bull ETF that is levered, they have no future. You are supposed to trade them on a day to day basis or possible a weekly basis. They are guaranteed to lose over the long term because of the way the gains are translated over night. These are a…

A Levearge ETF. He advised to steer clear of these kinds of investment. They are trading vehicles the are intended to be watched daily. D