This week’s new 52-week lows… (Dec 05-11)

This is a company where the valuation is still quite high based on a turnaround. The problem is that their technologies are still quite early stage. (Analysts' price target: US$9.65)

Interesting and thinks there is a window here for some nice momentum. Have wired tethers that run high-speed data over short distances, and he believes designed into the Oculus Rift headset, the Facebook virtual reality game. Ultimately he thinks those headsets will go wireless. Thinks there could be a nice ramp up on this over…

Has interesting technology that started with Bluetooth and is with a Sim card and cell phone connection so that you can monitor different things. The company is gaining a lot of traction, both from Bluetooth and from the Internet of things mobile side. This is one to keep on your radar and watch, because they…

They are doing distinctive infrastructure, where they are digging trenches to get that last mile to the home. They are doing this in the UK, and have a large contract with one company. He really likes the story, but is waiting to see some revenues and earnings drop to the bottom line over the next…

A compliance platform for bit coin processing. He sold. It is the only bit coin play that is publicly traded and so the valuation is way ahead of the fundamentals. He is skeptical of the concept.

Solid stock with a good dividend? He likes Computer Modeling Group (CMG-T) which does modeling for oil/gas exploration. Ways about 3% dividend but also has some growth.

Temporary housing accommodation camp provider. Have reached a point where they are more like four-star and five-star hotels because of the labour shortage. Stock has been hitting all-time highs. Does about $120 million in EBITDA. There are about 50,000 beds in the oil sands and they’ve got about 11,000 of them. A replacement cycle is…

Trican (TCW-T) or Calfrac (CFW-T)? This is a better company operationally and geographically. Less debt, although they do have a lot of debt as well, so everything is not rosy. His preference would be Canyon Services (FRC-T).

Hasn’t owned this, but understands the appeal of the stock. They have some pretty good attributes. Shed some of their Montney assets, and refocused the company around some very prolific liquids rich Montney assets. He is hearing some test rates of 3000 barrels a day or more on some of these wells. They’ve also locked…

(Market Call Minute.)

They are 9,200 boed and 71% natural gas. They are working at reducing debt and building a position in the Cardium area. He has a $2.40 per share target in the next 12 months and he holds it personally. Yield 0%. (Analysts’ price target is $1.75)

The 1st place this is going to run into resistance is at around $7.80, so there is a lot of upside left. It should start pushing onto $9.15. It's a good stock to own right now.

In the drilling business with one of the better management teams and a pretty new drill fleet. If you are going to own any drillers in the Canadian space, this is one of the top 3 that you want to own. However, with the drop in oil and gas prices, it is difficult for them…

A good name in terms of if you want to be prone to take some risk for potential returns. Similar to energy names it has lagged recently. You can be very patient with it if you want. Don’t expect it to break out easily. Buy the weakness and don’t chase strength. He does not go…

A Top Pick November 9/17 Down 64%) Natural gas companies, as a whole, have been taking a beating lately. People are worried about prices of $1.00 /mcf. LNG export capacity is sopping up growing production in the US and he expects a 3.2 TCF storage level there heading into winter, compared against 4.0 TCF historical…

Has a good dividend policy with a decent yield of about 3%. Thinks they have increased their dividend by about 40% per annum in the last 5 years. Likes the energy services sector, but is not a holder.

Oil producers have been a mixed bag. This one is in the 'dog' category. It consolidated, then downtrend, then consolidation, then downtrend. It is forever breaking down. He would say he does not like the chart. There are other oil stocks if you want to be in the sector.

The best days for them are probably about to happen. They are going to change from 60% Canadian to about 60% US production. The US is having much more success.

An oilfield services company. Longer-term, he likes this. They are the Western Canadian leader in the coil tubing service business. Long-term, there is a good opportunity in this space. In the short term, he would be a little bit cautious on the entire services space. Profitability is pretty muted.

Bottoming phase in early ’09 then a rally. Profit taking at end of summer. $0.40 is support level; If it breaks through $0.67 level he would see a dollar.

It should be rising now. It's had a great run since Februry, though it's seen recent weak momentum. It should hold around $9. Well-run company. The US dollar will have a strong influence in the energy sector. Hang onto it or buy around $9.

He was negative on utilities with a rising interest environment. If you believe interest rates are not going higher, this could be a good buy. He likes the management and the dividend. Yield 6.4% (Analysts’ price target is $37.00)

Good buy. He met with company recently. Did a pretty good job of making the best of a challenging environment. They need to raise capital. They are muddling their way through into a higher gas price.

The company has recently gained traction as demand for their Tier I rigs has increased. He is challenged to see how utilization rates can go much higher. He would prefer to own Trican (TCW-T) instead at this point.

His only natural gas exposure in Western Canada is Tourmaline (TOU-T). You would have to be really constructive on Canadian natural gas pricing (AECO) to really want to own this. A very high-quality company with good assets, good management and a reasonable balance sheet. Pays a dividend yield of north of 8%, which is probably…

They've sold a lot of assets and repaid a lot of debt. They've got covenant amendments, so are still in operations. Sees the balance sheet turning the corner in 2019. The bad news is that the debt to cash flow is about 6 times. Very vulnerable if prices plummet. It is still very pricey on…

They did a good deal with VII-T. They build long term assets before the stock got beat up. It has recovered nicely. If the price of oil comes down then it is possible after the winter we could see lower prices of $4-5. Hold off and wait until about late Q2 of this year.

(A Top Pick Jan 20/15. Down 12.92%.) Down because of energy prices, but also companies are drilling less on their lands. Also, did a large asset swap with Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ-T) in exchange for shares, and because of financial concerns of CNQ, they may want to be selling some of those shares. The Short…

He bought it two weeks ago. They have improved their reserve life index from 4 to 11 years. Their netbacks are expected to grow 19% this year. They will likely buy back 10% of their shares next year. There is Colombian exposure, but for 4% weight in his portfolio he is happy to take the…

Global pipeline coatings. As a Canadian we should all be very proud of this company. There are not many Canadian companies that are a world leader in what they do. Has held this as a Long position many times. The downside is that they are going through a rough patch right now. Management feels that…

It is just below where it was in 2013. What’s going on in the energy sector outweighs the seasonality of the stock.

Coming out of Arc Financial (private equity). Clean balance sheet. Trading at 1.9 times next year EBITDA. Historical average in Canada of a pumper is 7. Liquidity vacuum in the stock market is creating this opportunity. (Analysts’ price target is $18.20)

The utilization rate in the US is under duress. They slowed drilling in Q4. This stock is very cheap. The balance sheet is good. Book value is $3.27 and the stocks trades less than half that. The company has been buying back shares. You have to wait for the turn in the cycle. Buy it…

He thinks high quality producers are going to do well, but he is more bullish on oil than natural gas – TOU-T is 70% natural gas. He would look to others like Surge, Baytex or Vermilion. You want a company that can increase monthly production and monthly profits and this one has failed to demonstrate…

This is by far the cheapest of his oil/gas holdings and he really likes it. There is a bit of an overhang, because they made an acquisition, which gave them a lot of stock, and there has been some selling going on. This is probably the right time to start a position in some of…

Has a lot of admiration for the CEO, but the company walked into several sharp objects in 2017, and their credibility has been hit. It’s going to take some time to demonstrate their execution capability. For the time being, it is difficult to see the stock outperforming others. He would rather buy names that are…

It is one of those fallen darlings of the energy patch. It has a pretty good dividend yield. The management team is very good. They lay out objectives and generally meet them. It may not go up for the next little while but he does not think energy will disappear.

In an environment where the appetite for energy is still nonexistent and large investors want only 1 or 2 names, this company is not going to hit the radar screen for some time to come. They have liquids rich exposure and gas exposure but there is still exploration risk on their acreage.

An industrial supplier to municipalities. It is more of a dividend stock. It has moved down over the last year with other income oriented stocks. It is a relatively small company. It is pretty attractive here. They are sensitive to general economic growth. It got caught up with other income paying stocks. Just tuck it…

It has been caught a little in the trade war with the US, due to its cross-border business dealings in steel. The fundamentals still look strong for the company, he says. It is a great management team. He would sell above $30 and would buy around $25. Otherwise he would hold it here. Yield 5%.

Likes these types of charts. Pull back looks like profit taking. If it holds above $3.20 then there is probably another dollar in it. Exit at $2.50.

It seems the hole went right down the throat of what looked like a structural intersection. Also, it was reverse circulation, and the recovery wasn’t that good. An interesting deposit and in the part of Peru that is very dry, which is part of the issue of getting diamond drilling there.

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.

Doesn’t particularly like the deposit. Very speculative. It’s all over the map. There are safer names out there.

He is a geological advisor to them. Consulted on a project in Italy, but it was not what he thought it would be.

Lithium. Has a very interesting and attractive deposit in Argentina. It is the most economical form of lithium. It is not hard rock, so there are not a lot of costs and they can do this economically. Higher risk/high potential return. Management is first-class.

One of his recent “Bottom Fish” that he has put a little bit of tension on. They have the Cheechoo project, about 15 km south east of Eleonore, which is now in production, almost meeting its 300 ounce per year over put. The Cheechoo is a low grade system, but have been discovering that there…

Latin America. Their guidance was artificially high and they were punished. He thinks they will play catch up aggressively. Seasoned management team and a good pipeline.

Wouldn't be his top pick. Usually goes with the cycle pretty well. We are still in a sceptical stage of the market. Any silver company will do well once the optimistic phase begins.

Picked up a large land package in Ontario and Québec. Conceptually picked up on trend large deposits of Detour (DGC-T) and looking to replicate the same success.

Lumber is something he doesn’t want to be playing in right now. He would prefer OSB through Norbord (OSB-T), which hasn’t really been impacted by Chinese dumping, and benefits from a low Cdn$.

A fantastic story. Have about 5 billion pounds of copper and gold. Cash costs in this environment should be about negative. Sees upside in this one.

Thinks we are going to have a mining market. It is time for a new super cycle, which makes sense, because we get one about every 10 years. This is an interesting stock in that it is not a mining company, it is a “project generator” which acquires properties, does a little bit of work…

A lot of people want to play the housing market in the US and their recovery, which hasn’t really recovered the way people thought it would. Last year there were 900,000 new homes sold, and somewhere between 1 and 1.5 million new homes is a reasonable expectation. This company sells all the stuff that goes…

Operated by the Lundine family. This has been a truly outstanding Canadian success story. It mines and markets some of the highest quality diamonds globally. Earnings on a quarterly basis are lumpy, but over the course of a year they earn and distribute a lot of money. Return on cost employed in this mine is…

A bit difficult to value when looking at their assets. Started off as a developer in Red Lake, and everybody speculated that Goldcorp (G-T) would acquire them. That hasn’t happened. The geology just didn’t work out the way the company had expected. The company has now gone and done a bunch of other stuff, and…

(Market Call Minute.) Another Semafo (SMF-T) junior, another high-grade Burkina Faso mine that’s been built, going through ramp up. If all goes according to plan, they’ll have fantastic margins. A low cost producer with the ability to probably double production in the next 2-3 years in the next phase of satellite expansion.

The primary long way to get exposure in the Canadian frac market of larger companies. He likes management. They are a transportation advantage within Canada, and are roughly 40% of the Canadian frac sand market. Some of the big, big wells going on in the Permian literally use 100-200 railcars for a single well. The…

They own it and like it very much. Leader in railway ties and utility poles, not the most exciting businesses but very profitable. They are expanding in other verticals such as residential lumbers in the U.S. in particular. 6% free cash flow yields on 2018 numbers. Management has a great track record. Opportunities for growth…

Likes it. Idaho. Sunshine mine is back in production and silver is going up and these guys are starting to make some serious money.

Yukon. Million oz discovered. Large potential to expand.

Management is first-class. The stock may be fully priced given where they are in the assets that they acquired. However, if you go back in time with this management, you don’t do poorly investing with them.

Has had a pretty significant run in the last few weeks. Has a long ways to go yet over time. Has property in the area of Novagold’s (NG-T) Galore Creek. The work starting in this area will bring a lot of attention to this region.

(A Top Pick Jan 25/12. Down 30.77%.) Ran into a short-term production problem and some legal suits, both of which are out of the way now. Just reported fourth-quarter shipments of 10,000 ounces, implying 40,000+. Looking at probably 60,000 ounces which is a corporate objective. Price target of $1.50.

(Market Call Minute.) Thinks this could go higher, but it has some risks.

They make bikes, baby furniture, baby equipment, car seats, etc. The family that is involved in it owns a significant stake. He sees better days ahead. It is trading at a reasonable valuation. Dividend yield of about 4%.

Fantastic company. Polaris has performed very well. Fantastic margins. You lack these types of brands in Canada. This is the Skidoo brand. It will continue to attract capital. At some point it will be included in the index giving you another leg up.

(A Top Pick Nov 23/17. Up 3%.) This is still very strong. It is going a little bit sideways. He still likes it. It is in a holding pattern going sideways after its big run up, and is in a "trend continuation" pattern.

Music on your cable box. They put up a good quarter recently and raised their dividend. There is insider trading. It is going to become a street darling. It is somewhat illiquid. (Analysts’ target: $10.00).

This is a really, really quiet company. They don’t issue a lot of stock, the brokers don’t talk about it, it is pretty illiquid and doesn’t trade, but is a pretty solid company. Operate in hardware retail stores. Recent sales growth was 9%, but more importantly, was 24% in the US. Earnings per share went…

Well-run and he will buy more. It's been pulled back so now is a buying opportunity. An integrated company that does entertainment and delivers toys as a package.

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.

Current inventories are selling very well and profits are very large. Stock has been off the map but is now rising. Selling at 6/7 X this year's earnings.

Electric cars. The real story is the batteries that are in the car. They can be charged in 3 minutes. This company has an exclusive license for the battery up to 45 kg units. Alternative energy space is an interesting one, but you should only bet on what already works.

A developer brand in organic food space. Recently broke into Loblaw’s (L-T) and some other food chains. An acquisition driven story. They have quite strong organic growth of 20%+ a year, but will continue to acquire brands, develop them, and expand them from within. It is everything from baby food to pet food to drinks.…

Floundered for a few years trying to figure out the layout and the menu that would work for them and they finally optimized that. Went from 5 units to start the year and will be in by the end of 2011. Each unit is generating $150,000-$250,000 of EBITDA to the parent company per quarter. They…

They do grain augers and conveyors belts and storage bins. Storage gives farmers more flexibility. Most countries in the world are underinvested in storage. Many growth opportunities for this company. Yield of 4.3%. (Analysts’ price target is $67.17)

Excellent management team – they have done all the right things. It got expensive and then the stock came down. The box-office has been very stable for decades. They added a lot of services. Now is a time to buy it. The game centers are where the growth will come from. It is at a…

He said several years ago to stay away because they needed such renovation of their stores. They are now reestablishing their western Canada presence and selling off their US stores. Cannabis may or may not be the savior of the stores.

Building products distributor. Generally you get low margins in the distribution business. He expects the housing cycle in Canada will have to slow down at some point.

A growth company, adding stores. They've built their brand and are well-managed. However, they had a few quarters where same-store sales disappointed, so the stock got hit. But there's still room for them to grow in Canada. A decent place to put your money if you're long-term and don't need a big dividend.

This is a good one to get into the insurance space, having Canadian and US players. Interest rates have a big impact on their revenues, more so than it does on banks. However, he thinks the Fed can’t raise rates by more than a percent.

As long as you hold it judiciously it could be a core holding, such as low double digits as a percentage. Because it has the total investable benchmark index, you are getting a lot of small company names and a lot of exposure to stocks from around the world, especially in Europe. A great way…

(A Top Pick July 8/13. Down 3.85%.) For people trying to collect dividends, preferred shares do sell off in the summer, especially in August but he thinks the selloff has been overdone. For fixed income portfolios, where you are not going to trade, but are going to hold them for perhaps 5 years, this is…

Has been beaten up and you are getting double gearing to basket of producers. You are not taking single company risks.

Doesn’t like preferreds. You are getting bond yields for stock risks, which doesn’t make sense. On this one you had negative resets when the rates went down, so they got clobbered. Yields are pretty good, but he is not a big fan of that asset class.

Europe, Australasia and Far East (CAD-Hedged) ETF. One of his core ETF recommendations for clients who buy ETFs..

A new EFT, started last November. North American in scope. Good strong dividends, diversified market. Perpetuals are a different interest rate risk. He is not sure how they deal with the tax treatment of US preferds. A reset is a good way to protect against future interest rate hikes but you can’t control that with…

(A Top Pick Sept 1/11. Up 6.9%.) This was an opportunity to get broadly diversified into international stocks outside of North America. Went through a bit of a rough patch midyear but seems to be rebounding nicely. This might be a good time to show some courage and buy into Europe.

Buy more of this ETF or buy the banks themselves? If you want some diversity and you’re not investing a huge amount of money, then the ETF is a great way to play the banks. There is a little management cost on this, so that will lower the dividend a little. However, all in all,…

Will the rise in value of this ETF continue? The TD Bank and Bank of Montréal launched some structured products into the market that were linked to the payouts of the preferreds, and they were wildly successful. The demand for these preferreds went through the roof. He doesn’t think this is sustainable and he sold…

(A Top Pick Jan 8/18, Down 20.79%) It is trapped in a trading range. It should do okay until June when the seasonality runs out on it.

ZWE-T vs. ZWU-T vs. ZWB-T. A 100% stake in anything is generally a bad idea. These three give you 2/3rds of your portfolio seeking dividends in Canada. He would add ZPW-T for US put writes. ZWH-T would give you a broader exposure. He would underweight Canada.

Great West Life (GWO-T), Sun Life (SLF-T) or Manulife (MFC-T)? This depends on quality and size, but if you are thinking of just keeping it very safe, Manulife and Sun Life would be the 2 he would zoom in on.

Very focused. Have positions in 4 life insurers and they are running a covered call program against the existing long positions. Going to have volatility given its exposure.

A trend around $56 earlier this year. The other level is the current $45 range. The market is stepping in now for all lifecos. SLF just had a sudden move bouncing up from $43 as buyers come in. The $45 level is solid.

(A Top Pick March 17/11. Up 9.78%.) Provide e-wallet for online transactions. They service businesses, not consumers. Put up their 1st profitable quarter last summer/fall. They'll continue to grow in the 20%-25% range. Target of $2-$3.

This has been disappointing for the past couple of years, but the dividend yield of 5% is good. He would not worry about holding this. His stop-loss would be $100.

Has a long term Short on this. Looking back to the last downturn in 2008-2009, it took 17 quarters for them to get back to pre-recession provisioning levels. The current downturn in Alberta has been a lot longer and more protracted, so thinks the time horizon for provisions will probably be even longer than 17…

An asset manager that operates in the high net worth space. The demographics are great. Family assets are growing more quickly than lower net worth households. Also, client relationships tend to be longer-term and stickier, due to the nature of the services offered. The stock is discounted because of long-term litigation with the founders, which…

It is the only bank in North America with a unionized work force (37% of it). They are trying to come to an agreement so they can have more online services to customers. The other banks that are non-unionized have more flexibility. The valuation is cheap but so is CM-T. You could own LB-T but…

You have to be very patient with this, because whatever deals come along at the appropriate time, it is to their credit. They are not going to overpay just for the sake of overpaying, which is what we are seeing now among the pension funds. If this market ever quits, there could be a lot…

The market does not give them value for their assets and therefore the stock normally trades below its net asset value. The dividend yield is strong. The space is strong. He would look more at Manulife or Sunlife. The yield is very safe. Does not expect major upside in the stock price.

They have insurance and investment groups with assets into Europe as well. He likes their yield over 6%. He is interested in this again. With the recent pullback, there is now less risk.

He likes the Slate team which are doing a lot of really interesting things across the board. This is more secondary office, suburban office buildings. It will be an interesting vehicle in the future, but we are not there yet, as he expects more pressure of people leaving older buildings in the suburbs and coming…

It has been really beset, particularly lately, by the problems in Alberta. It was affected by the wildfires around Fort McMurray. In the last number of years, they have just seemed to go from one problem to another. However, he still believes this company can survive the current environment and prosper. They will be a…

Has been a little weak lately. Made an acquisition of Century Property. Has a management arrangement with Starlight (?) but he would prefer a better management agreement but it is a really good source for small company acquisitions. 7.83% yield.

If you can't buy the coin directly this is a very interesting leveraged play. It is one of the biggest bit coin miners out there. Two years from now the net asset value of the company could double. (Analysts’ target: $7.85).

They have made acquisitions around the world. They are trying to build a global cannabis company. We need to see some execution from management and some cash flow from all these investments.

This buys small grocery anchored centres. It is so small that it is hard to get some love. If you own it, it is going to move around and will be very volatile. You are going to lose and gain. The main part of your return is going to be your yield, currently over 11%,…

We had a short on it last fall. At the time, he thought the valuation was rich. They missed two straight quarters last year, but they are better shape now. He doesn't see much growth here in this sector. Also, there's lots of competition; they lost some bus contracts.

Earnings are lumpy but return on capital has been quite strong. Should do well. Has not captured the excitement of the market. Would not be surprised if he owned it in a month.

Feels the market has been improving for them a little bit lately, with the increasing activity in oil/gas and some of the mining sectors. A cyclical company. Right now it is probably a good company to own. Management would be pretty determined to retain their dividend. Yield of 6.8%.

The orders have been slow to come in but they came out with results that were better than expected. He thinks you will really see the orders come in in the next couple of months. (Analysts’ target: $2.03).

The margins were cut by the new agreement with Air Canada. He owns it in his dividend fund.

(A Top Pick Aug 30/17, Up 14%) He saw the stirrings in capital expenditures in mining. Their product is made with steel and is in the news regarding trade wars. These are indispensible machines in the mining industry, however.

He thinks the market is telling you the car market cycle is coming to an end. The move to electric vehicles and car production not likely ever making new highs worries him. It has about 100% upside in value, but he cautious of the cycle nature. He would be careful.

Pays a decent dividend, but not loads of growth. You'll see 2-4% earnings growth. Also, this is interest-rate sensitive. Over 10 years, their chart has been sideways, and the next five years will likely be like the past five.

This is another company in the cannabis space. This is not a cannabis producer, it is a company that adds value in that space. They are mapping cannabinoids, looking for different formulations to treat different diseases.It is highly speculative, but he thinks there is opportunity for this type of company. He likes the management. In…

Been around for a long time. Has a broad range of technologies. Have recently signed licensed for Virusmax, which can double the yield of virus production for vaccinations. Bull semen-sexing technology. Have some very interesting technologies. Watching it very closely. Like the company.

Gas play in Guatemala and Colombia. Have a lot of land blocks near where Petrominerales (PMG-T) hit. Just drilled a well with a fairly large target in Guatemala and found oil at a much higher area than expected. Cased the well and we'll hear more next week. Highly speculative.

Medical marijuana. This is newer and under the radar. They recently went public. Has a facility in London that is fully funded with a master grower who has been in the space for quite a number of years. They'll have a few catalysts, with the biggest one being getting their sales license.

Medical marijuana producer in Manitoba. This has certainly had a great debut. Just started trading this week. It shot up massively from where they last did their financing. Just did a distribution deal with Canopy (WEED-T). There are a lot of different M&A announcements coming out in this area. It looks like it might be…

Fixed price energy contracts door to door. It has done fairly well. The turn in terms of their clients is so high, though. He does not feel that comfortable with them. 8% yield and do people really believe it?