This week’s new 52-week highs and lows … (Jan 30-Feb 5)

Over time, people will travel again, though certainly not right now. AC is burning through cash because of few passengers. Buying this depends on your time frame. If you're long term, now is an attractive entry point. As improvements in vaccines and treatments accelerate, then we will see airline stocks bounce back even before airline…

For many years this stock did nothing but pay a nice dividend. Finally, it took off. He uses a TRI database product. As the digital economy has grown, TRI has grown more valuable. Still pays a solid dividend. This is a safe addition to a senior's portfolio.

(A Top Pick Jul 30/19, Up 12%) Death, taxes and garbage are life's certainties. He's long owned this. WCN continues to do well, though there will be softness from commercial activity, though consider all the cardboard boxes from Amazon deliveries. Still a good company. Well-managed.

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…

Rather bad couple of days. Was down substantially, outside of a range. Consolidated. It broke down and is more likely to go down. $1.50 on the downside.

She is very cautious seniors housing. Sienna is 44% retirement living and 56% long-term care. They've had very negative press, with a few homes needing army help. They face lawsuits. They're paying elevated costs to manage COVID, like hiring new advisors to fix their problems and conduct an internal review. They've suffered occupancy declines. A…

A very defensive play. A very strong development pipeline complemented by a good acquisition strategy. They create value through organic growth, acquisitions and other means. The valuation is at 18x earnings. A very attractive growth utility. (Analysts’ price target is $20.57)

Good company, yield is safe. Likes strategy going forward. He owns the preferred shares instead. Safe stock. Perfect for your TFSA as a senior. Yield is 7.4%.

A safe dividend payer. ENB also. Likes its stable contracts and cash flows, and is a leader in renewable projects in Asia, Europe and North America so it's geographically diverse. Good. Also pays a healthy dividend around 3-4%. In the past year, renewable stocks have been a bullseye for investors as ESG gathers strength.

Utilities have bounced, but as the market has rallied significantly, a lot of these names have underperformed and that's a good time to buy. Likes it, as well as Fortis, Attco, and BIP.UN. You could buy 3 or 4 and build yourself a little defensive portfolio with income and potential growth. Still upside, good core…

FTS boasts 45 years of straight dividend rises. A core position of his. FTS will benefit from the reshaping of the U.S. energy grid which is moving towards renewables. FTS will have to rework their big transmission company from coal-fire generation plants to renewable ones in other areas. Great managers and fine future prospects. This…

Some companies you just have to buy when the chart looks like it's not a good time. Price momentum can tell you something good is happening. Getting rid of data business gave them lots of capital to go into the US, where the big story is, exceeding expectations. Buy it here and tuck it away.…

Great company that he's long owned. Last week's earnings report was the biggest surprise he ever saw with them. Upstream oil is suffering, but at the gas station retail end ATD is making strong money. Also selling in-store merchandise well, including high-margin food. They do a lot of M&A and do it well. He expects…

Pays a 1.5% yield. 13% YOY sales growth and a large 12.8% free cash flow yield. Cash flow grew YOY 236%. Earnings to grow 7% this year and 5% in 2021 with a PE of 14.3x. (Analysts’ price target is $37.67)

It's been on a tear for the last 6-8 weeks due to a surge on at-home demand. He likes it. They operate at close to cash flow and break-even. They invest a lot in their distribution. Layer in purchases in the coming 6-8 weeks. The momentum is there, and there's opportunity to expand their grocery…

(A Top Pick Jul 10/19, Up 6%) Relatively defensive with food and pharma. Nice defensive stock to own in this environment. Pantry loading with Covid, but they also have higher costs with protection equipment and higher labour costs. Leader in online grocery. The trading discount from Metro should narrow over time.

He hasn't looked at it recently. It's a safe, Canadian dividend stock, but not the kind of business he's looking at now. It's in a heavily regulated industry, a commodity, so if there's too much sugar produced in a given year, the stock will get hit.

(A Top Pick Jun 14/19, Up 9%) It has recovered from a valley it hit during March. They didn't add it back when it dropped since there were so many other good opportunities.

Consolidation in pipelines coming? No, not likely. There are ENB and Transcanada which dominate this space, plus regional players like Pembina. There was a flurry of M&A three years ago, but he doesn't see that appetite now. ENB has been shaking off non-core assets to reduce debt and strengthen their balance sheet. ENB is recession-resilient.…

It had a lot of growth ahead, then the pandemic threw that into question. It's waiting on the future demand for energy and pipelines. The monthly dividend is safe as long as contracted players continue to pay, but the risk is in those contracts voiding and defaulting. This applies to peers like Keyera. PPL is…

This was spin out of Loblaw in 2018. It has a large development pipeline in mixed use in great areas that will take 10-20 years to complete. So, there's long growth. Debt is too high for her tastes and expects them to come to market for capital. Choice has held in fairly well, benefitting from…

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)

Allan Tong’s Discover Picks In Q2, Granite collected 99% of its rents. Their balance sheet is in good shape and pays a robust 3.83% dividend yield, based on a payout ratio of 46%. Granite has climbed far from the trough of $40.77 at the mid-March bottom to hover below $76 currently and near its price…

He is a big fan of this company and likes their management team. Their own risk management tolerance is low. A lot of buildings in Toronto and Vancouver, but they also hold office space in tight markets. They find older buildings and turn into nice new spaces. The balance sheet is healthy.

They are in the retail space. Anything that is in the retail space during COVD-19 is in the penalty box and for good reason. The pandemic has shut down traffic to every shopping mall. Their shopping centers are a victim of online sales. The growth outlook has been diminished. He thinks the market has overly…

(A Top Pick Sep 17/19, Down 52%) A diversified REIT. This is one they ended up selling. Their mall portfolio has suffered. He was afraid the dividend would come under pressure. Getting access to capital is tough for them.

The only REIT that focuses on the cannabis space. The company should trade at a premium to its NAV so it can go out and purchase more assets. It recently raised equity and has no debt so it is in a good spot. You'd have to own it based on its growth profile.

(A Top Pick Sep 04/19, Down 41%) Sold it in mid-January, luckily. The stock has slid in half since. He didn't see the pandemic and oil price coming then, and now there's too much uncertainty in the retail space to return to it.

(A Top Pick Feb 12/19, Up 32%) Scotiabank just announced a $13.75 target. Managers own about 10% of shares. There's good industrial rent growth in Toronto and Montreal. Vacancy rates are rock-bottom low.

Lots of GTA multi-use with commercial too. With REIT that have commercial exposure, it's hard to see what they are doing. He would prefer warehouse REITs or grocery anchored REITs.

Is Canada's largest IT services company. They serve government and healthcare, as well as financials and retail. Very global. Increasingly, they're licensing their own intellectual property and client engagements, which have favourable long-term margins. Resistent to the pandemic. It should grow EPS this year. The kicker is GIB is a successful buyer, doing some recent…

A comprehensive unified communication provider for SMBs. It is still relevant during the pandemic. The trend in investing in communication is here to stay. They have maintained their guidance for 2020, showing their resilience. (Analysts’ price target is $3.56)

(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.

$20B market cap that operates in N Ontario and California. A very big free cash flow yield. Earnings, sales are both up nicely. They are undertaking a new drilling program that could potentially offer high grade underground deposits. A potential 10-17% upside. (Analysts’ price target is $79.82)

Stealth rally in iron ore. Commodity is up 65% since the end of March. Fits the theme of reflation and value stocks. Trades at 8.2x earnings. High ROE. No net debt. Pay special dividends. Price momentum picking up. No dividend. (Analysts’ price target is $28.11)

The analysts are very slow to raising their earnings forecasts with the price of gold. The rebound in earnings in some of these companies will be really something. He likes the producers as opposed to the commodity. Producers give you leverage due to the fast rising earnings. He likes the Juniors as well as ABX-T.

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.

Company prospects for land, stakes it and then gets other companies to do the major work at their expense. Because they have so many properties, long-term they should get a discovery.

A smart group of guys. They are putting a fair bit of work into proving their concept is right. They seem to be backing up their thesis. It is looking like it is working so far.

The 3rd largest holding in his portfolio. They have seen the mines in Turkey and were impressed. The area is a danger zone with recent fighting and the stock has taken a hit. The mine is far enough away from the fighting so he thinks it will not be impacted. He paid just over $2…

The operate gold and copper mines in Bulgaria and Namibia. Earnings up 80% YOY, and boast a 9.2% free cash flow yield. Cash flow to grow 74% in 2020 and 17% in 2021. Price-to-cash flow is 5.9x. ROE expected this year is 21%. (Analysts’ price target is $9.23)

The analysts are very slow to raising their earnings forecasts with the price of gold. The rebound in earnings in some of these companies will be really something. He likes the producers as opposed to the commodity. Producers give you leverage due to the fast rising earnings. He likes the Juniors as well as ABX-T.

(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.

(A Top Pick Dec 04/18, Up 2%) Safety play. A place to park cash. Never touches a GIC, because they're not liquid.

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.

He is good with utilities. They have now corrected with everything else. They are regulated and generally don’t have a huge growth profile. He would be nibbling if you like the safe, stable dividend.

We can use low volatility now. Jan. 12-May 18 is seasonality. ZLB has held out better than the market lately and today. Holds utilities and REITs. It's a defensive bet. Who knows how long this volatility will last? You want to be in utilities.

Utilities have done well because of low interest rates, but this trend won't last forever. Take some profits of this is sheltered and reinvest in a broader ETF that covers the world to achieve growth. Utilities have had a great run, paying a decent dividend, but capital appreciation will be limited.

Stock vs. Stock. FIE-T vs. CMR-T. CMR-T is a money market fund. FIE-T is a multi holding income strategy holding all kinds of assets, so there will be more volatility. When markets are up go into CMR-T and FIE-T when they are down.

It holds ultra-short term investment-grade bonds. MER is 40 basic points. The chart was smooth pre-COVID, then plunged 20% during the sell-off, then recovered. When times are calm, they act like bonds. When risk spikes in a crisis, there's volatility. This falls in line with your equities. He's surprised this had this much of a…

He doesn’t know this, but assumes it is an actively managed bond fund. If so, the question you are going to have is the duration of the bond fund at any given time. You can usually get that information from the people who market this ETF. If you have a duration of 10, then you…

4.9% yield. Holds exposure to a high yield index so you get a high yield return. There are risks. It is very similar to the volatility of the market.

XRE-T showed the experience of the REIT sector in a bad economy. Interest rates are going lower and lower. REITs are typically one of the last things to drop. When the baby gets thrown out with the bathwater, REITs go down also. The pullback last week is the first part of a short term trade…

He hasn't added to his position, but for yield players, it is at an attractive level. This is one of his top pick of the week.

Pre-COVIC, he saw that tech was going to pop, and now the puck is heading to boring value names, like Quebecor. Has an 11% growth rate and trades at 12.6x 2021. Its a very cheap telco and have a lot of cash to return to shareholders and raise the dividend if they wish. Their wireless…

A necessary service, no matter when a Covid vaccine is ready. We love our phone, internet, and Netflix. We're using more bandwith all the time and have to store more data. Legacy businesses are being replaced by 5G and fibre optic. Great and reliable dividend. Good addition to any portfolio. Yield is 5.92%. (Analysts’ price…

Growing exposure to wireless, content, cable, low valuation at 6x operating cash flow. Likes the group, and this is a newer name he's added. Yield is 4.78%. (Analysts’ price target is $27.58)

(A Top Pick Oct 18/19, Down 56%) Worries about the balance sheet. Most of these companies don't make money unless oil is over $50.

Balance sheet is in good shape with debt at 42%. They just started to ramp up their assets in the liquids-rich Montney. Likes the company. Under 45 cents/share, then buy. He likes the managers. Buy this during the recovery, because he expects significant upside 12 months from now.

Involved in the UK North Sea. In the process of drilling a well with the Lundins that is very important. In about 1 month will start working with Husky (HSE-T) in the North West Territories. Between the winters of 2008 and 2009, you will have a good shot if they have any kind of drilling…

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.

They have cut back and preserved capital. They do not have a debt issue. They are a gas play. If gas prices stay strong, they should do well. She anticipates their 4th quarter production being lower. She is not buying it today, but the future looks good.

They were rallying last week after boosting their forecast. We have resistance just under $5. We are almost at the 200 week moving average. Wait until it punches through $5. It has been going up against the S&P since March.

He would like to see a couple of good quarters out from them. It is thinly traded. You have to be prepared to watch it quarter by quarter.

Zinc in Utah. This could go into production by itself. We could see this thing scale bigger in terms of tonnage. There is a lot more to be found. It is in an area where there are reduced environmental objection, just south of the Military testing grounds over the Salt Flats.

Intelligently run diamond exploration company. Has yet to see that they have economic pipes. Also into nickel but he has not been following this.

The best of the small cobalt companies in North America. It has an asset that is alive and well. It will be raising money for it while next door a mine is being decommissioned.

Located in Venezuela, which is a problem. If they have a major discovery there is a chance they could be expropriated.

It is a leveraged natural gas ETF. It could be a good trade if you are well-versed in it, but you should not hold it long term at all. It is a tool for short term speculation.

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 Top Pick May 29/18, Down 40%) They make electronic products for other manufacturers, like Cisco. There has been a lot of new product spending delays in the space and this is hurting them. The valuation is great and the company continues to buy back their own shares.