This week’s new 52-week highs and lows… (Jan 9-15)

Why did it split? He owns this one and it has done well over the long term. He would buy again and it is fairly defensive. The idea of splitting allows smaller investors to get in and that is probably the idea here. He does not think it is a problem they split.

This company owns Sobeys’, who acquired Safeway. They have turned things around and “Project Sunrise” is working to centralize things. Same-store traffic and margins are improving. They are doing very well in a very competitive sector. The stock now has momentum. Yield 1.7%. (Analysts’ price target is $28.28 )

Has been out of grocery for a couple of years. Low margins. Most people go to Costco. There are so many pressures like e-commerce, competition, inflation. Have to get so many things right, and so little wiggle room. He's not a fan of buying back stock, companies need to buckle down and innovate. Great assets,…

The business model has always been a really good one. They tend to sell in markets where competition has been more limited and prices high. Looking long term, the structure of those markets might be changing, but they have diversified. They own a number of Giant Tiger stores. They have operations in the Caribbean. He…

Produces about 3% free cash flow yield, which translates into $287 million worth of free cash flow over the last 12 months. Trades at 0.9 Enterprise Value to Trailing Sales, versus 6% year-over-year sales growth, so the EV to sales to sales growth is .15 which is a C+ compared to the database. Dividend yield…

(A Top Pick September 27, 2017. Up 10%). This is a stock that people love to hate, because an influential short-seller talks about it repeatedly. That has put a lid on the stock, but the company itself keeps coming through. The company had a bad quarter in the first quarter of last year, but has…

Not in their database. Expected they will earn about six cents. Pretty good growth, but not cheap.

This was formerly a closed-end fund of junior resources but changed its method of operations and now has two gold projects in Bulgaria and hope to produce as much as 500,000 ounces in 3 years. Also have exposure in several other junior stocks. Cheap.

Has been an investor in this for a long time. They bought a Papua New Guinea project from Barrick (ABX-T) for almost next to nothing. They are about to start producing, and there will be a lift when they go from “no” cash flow to cash flow. He is also hoping that when they get…

Has no current plans to own this. Has a high regard for management, but his suspicion is that their cost of capital is too low. He sees them having a very difficult time thriving in the next 18 months. There are much better names out there.

Silvercrest Metals (SIL-T) or Silvercorp Metals (SVM-T)? This one is a fairly small deposit, but with high quality people.

(A Top Pick Jan 24/14. Down 11.04%.) He really likes this story. 80% of silver production comes from a by-product from copper mines and from mines that are really shutting down. Pure silver plays are rare. Located in Argentina which is probably why the price has been hurt a little more, but it hasn’t hurt…

Produces gravel in Fort McMurray. Management owns about 44%. Have produced enormous profits relative to their market cap but the stock trades for 5X trailing earnings. If you believe in the oil sands and the construction of these big plants and roads, this is the play for you because they are pretty much the dominant…

This has gone through a transition. It had significant exposure to Magna (MG-T) being a dominant tenant, accounting for about 80% of its NOI, which is still the case. Since 2011-2012, they’ve only done a couple of acquisitions, totaling about $100 million, which is unfortunate, because they have a very well capitalized balance sheet. That…

Because this is a bit small as an industrial, he does not invest in this REIT. He thinks there will be good solid growth this year in the industrial market, especially in the GTA. This one has low Alberta exposure and more GTA exposure. A good place to be. He is starting to see rent…

No, retail is not going out of fashion. HR will work out okay and will grind out a slowly growing dividend. The fear out there is that Amazon will destroy all retail--but that's unfounded. Also, HR diversifies into building condos too. A safe dividend, but with modest growth prospects.

Recent IPO that he did not participate in. He was concerned with some of the tenant concentration and, one building in particular, where there was a head lease on the building which meant that the occupancy and the rents were being guaranteed, even though they were operating at well below what the company considered normalized.…

Loves it. Has long owned it. The typical Canadian has been in 3 of 4 of the stores they own in the last month. Very well-diversified. The death of retail (malls) has passed them well, and Smart has performed well.

For short-term investors such as money market types. Simple way to get broad, low cost diversified money market exposure.

A safe way to play the fixed income side of a portfolio. This company roams the world looking for opportunities in the fixed income market. It has produced very good long-term returns, and he would recommend it.

All this does is to invest in high interest deposit accounts. It is a constant steady stream of income. He hates recommending cash, but this is essentially a place to park your cash during the summer. You will at least get your 1% annual income.

1-5 year Laddered ETF. This will have a pretty short duration so will probably give you in the 2.5% range. It will suffer too much from rising interest rates. Not a bad place to park for a while.

This has lagged, because basically you are holding T-bills and equal-end type instruments. When you’re starting at 1%, there is not much room for price appreciation. This is more of a cash alternative as opposed to a bond alternative.

DEX Floating Rate ETF (XFR-T) or Vanguard Cdn. Aggregate Bond ETF (VAB-T)? If interest rates rise, which would you Buy? The aggregate bond is a little bit longer in duration with an average of 6 or 7 years and might be a little bit more sensitive to interest rate hikes so this one might be…

Nothing wrong with this ETF at all. 5 to 6 year durations because they are mid-cap corps.

Short Term Corp Bond ETF. Doesn't think there are risks any more with corporate bonds. This will give you a bit of yield pickup without venturing into preferreds. (Similar to XCB-T, which he owns.)

A very defensive space, telcos. Not a growth stock, but pays income. He prefers BCE, because it just finished a big capex cycle and pays a higher dividend. Also, wireless penetration in Canada is limited, which in turn limits growth. That said, all the Canadian telcos are good for the long-term. Buy for the dividend,…

Videotron 7.125% Jan 15, 2020 Bond. Credit metrics of an investment grade bond. They are the cable providers of Quebec. They have to push their profits up to QBR.B-T, but in the case of any insolvency of QBR, Videotron is made whole. The biggest risk is that they would be the 4th big player out…

Very well-run company. He thinks there is a lot of hidden value in this company. The next generation of the internet he thinks is going to benefit them.

(A Top Pick Dec 11/17, Up 21%) Pays over 7% dividend. This stock could really go. They own little surgical hospitals and outpatient clinics. They have a deal where doctors own the real estate and manage, while they share in the profits with DR. A very good model

Would like to get in at the $6 level. Cash flow positive.

(A Top Pick Sept 28/11. Up 22.45%.) Getting close to being fully valued and he is starting to Sell it. Has had phenomenal growth and is very conservatively managed. Doesn’t see much upside so is basically holding it for its yield.

Seasonality for utilities is just about to start in June. The bottom in February is really indicative of a lot of utility companies. Chart shows a nice nascent trend. If we get above $4, this will usher in a lot of new buyers. Thinks there is pretty good upside potential on this.

The chart looked good and he bought it around $46.50. He would exit if the price falls to his buying price. It’s looking good for the time being and he’s happy with the recent shot up.

His third-largest holding in his personal portfolio. Has a product that goes into the USB port on your computer and allows you to reach into any computer, where you have authorization, around the world. Has been trading in a band of 3.5 cents to 5 cents. Currently at break even on earnings and cash flow.…

A land developer primarily in Alberta. They accumulate land and turn it into residential properties. A different way of playing the oil space in Alberta. Warning! One fund is about to be wound up so there will be a big block of this coming out one of these days.

(A Top Pick Feb. 8/18, Up 6%) They emerged from bankruptcy with a clean balance sheet, new management. Trump has created a stronger steel market and this one benefited from a rising steel price.

Steel manufacturing. Play on infrastructure in Western Canada. Has done a great job over the past 18 months amassing capacity. Has about 420,000 ft.² in Western Canada. An area where he sees growth leading up to the Olympics in 2010. Have some large projects that the market doesn't know about. First 9 months did $80…

Agricultural company focused in Brazil. Has a phosphate deposit, which is expected to come Into production over the next few years. Also looking at other opportunities. Brazil is going to have to import fertilizer, so there is a cost advantage of producing in Brazil.

Has a very good project in China. If you are okay with investing in China, there are two companies that stand out, this one and Sino Gold. Not a fan of China.

Gold in Burkina Faso. Good management. His probabilities of success are very good based on management's previous success in selling a gold mine. Have started drilling. Speculative.

He doesn't invest in building small mines like Redstar. They continue raising money to build it, so market share is increasing, but your market share price is flat or declines. He wants something that's good enough that a major will buy it out.

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.

Doesn't know the stock that well but based on what he does know, it's in a favourable place. Undervalued. If the mining cycle continues, you should see good performance out of this one.

A typical Sprott speculation. It is either going to really work or really not work. The discovery hole was spectacular, although an odd style of mineralization for where it was in northwestern BC. Management is very credible. Don’t use money that you can’t afford to lose some of.

A tricky one. Have a very small mine in Ireland that they are trying to put into production as well as a small jewellery division. There is no clear indication of what they are trying to be. Gold deposit is very small.

Their unique cameras will be transported up on the Soyuz spaceship.

(Market Call Minute.) They lost a customer which really concerned him. Have very high customer concentration and until he finds out what is going on with that customer he would consider this as a Hold.

Chart shows this has taken quite a dip in the last while. Changes in management because of production mishaps. Need to look at these from both a production standpoint and a commodity standpoint. Have a constrained balance sheet and not a lot of room to raise CapX for growth. More linked to oil than to…

A fairly new start-up company. Management has worked for different apparel companies in the past. Doesn’t follow this closely. They are billing themselves as kind of an upstart between Under Armour (UA-N) and Lululemon Athletica (LULU-Q) in that they have athletic wear for both women and men. Hasn’t done a lot of work on this,…