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

They are exposed to hot emerging areas: self-driving cars and the internet of things. It is also very well-run. He looks at this stock sometimes. On his radar.

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…

They produce asset-tracking technology, originally starting with blue-tooth and now getting into binary networks via a low-powered cellular device. They're now in the approcal process with U.S. carriers. They should ramp up later this year. It's a past top pick. Continues to like it and is a major holding for him.

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.

A provider of temporary workplace accommodation, primarily in Western Canada, in the oil sands. Likes the name and likes the space. Thinks this space is going to be growing 18% over the next 5 years because of the projects they are involved in. (See Top Picks.)

There are 3 pressure pumpers in Canada and are involved in the hydraulic fracturing of reservoirs as part of the completion process after the well has been drilled. This company has struggled with the debt and has been selling their US business. At this point in the cycle, he wouldn’t be too constructive on this…

(A Top Pick April 6/15. Down 32.4%.) Natural gas producer in the Montney. Very well-run. Likes the story longer-term. This could be a $3-$4 stock again, but the problem is low natural gas prices. They are managing themselves frugally for these tough times. A name that you want to buy on weakness. If they got…

(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)

Cardinal Energy (CJ-T) vs Torc Oil & Gas (TOG-T). Very different companies. Cardinal is a medium gravity producer. They are 60% exposed. They are going to lower their debt. They can pay the 10% yield and that is sustainable. He would buy Cardinal Energy (CJ-T) vs Torc Oil & Gas (TOG-T).

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…

He doesn't think we have seen the final outcome of their takeover yet, so would wait to see how that materializes. There may be some regulation hurdles to still overcome.

LNG Canada is coming on in 2023 – a long time to protect the balance sheet. He does not like the level of debt as it handcuffs any financial gains. He would not own this.

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.

BIR-T vs. CR-T. BIR-T has much larger production than CR-T. BIR-T is a large cap vs. CR-T being a small cap. He likes both companies and owns them. He does not have a preferred one.

High trade volume? She does not hold any energy producers at all right now, due to the takeaway issues and low commodity prices. Their $5 billion acquisition of Newfield turned the market off. The apathy in the market is not attractive to her as an investor.

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.

Just had a 20% correction, so it's now a good time to look at it. It's down, because it's taking time to get approval for some well pads in northeast BC. He expects they will get approval. But some fast-money investors got out which blasted out this stock. It's well-run with visionary managers. Fast growth.…

(A Top Pick Feb 13/18, Up 4%) They have irreplaceable assets that are fundamental to an economy, expensive to replace. They clean impurities from gas before that's shipped for home use. Pays an attractive yield with only minor commodity exposure.

(Market Call Minute) He is looking for an entry point. One of the most exciting plays developing in the basin. Economics continuing to improve via lower well costs and better recoveries.

PD has done relatively well, considering the drillers have been hammered in this sell-off. Need to see this hold at $2.80. There's been heavy tax-loss selling in oil. Don't step until January. See if resistance holds.

Great driller and a low-cost producer of natural gas. However, the problem is the price of natural gas and how to get it out of Alberta and into a market that will pay more for it. That is a problem with a lot of natural gas stocks these days. Dividend yield of 8.96%, a warning…

(Market Call Minute.) The debt on this is way, way too high. The CEO is very well regarded. He inherited a "bag of hammers" and has been selling off assets to pay down debt. Has been doing a fantastic job, but just doesn't see the investment thesis on this.

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 April 2/15. Down 16.23%.) Has been trimming his position. Valuation is rich, especially when comparing to a Freehold Royalty (FRU-T). Also, Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ-T) vended their freehold land and gross overriding royalties into this company for an almost 20% shareholder basis. They’ve given indications that they want to dividend half of…

With the differential in Calgary these guys performed well due to South American assets. They don't have the same pipeline issues. The concern is where their future growth is going to come from. You can get better value in Canadian names that have been beat up.

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…

A service company in oil and gas, providing a fairly essential service for them. Oil/gas companies will continue to use this for emulsion treatments. This is one of the more defensible franchises out there, which is why it trades at a premium. Long-term this is a good company and is probably undervalued, but in the…

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)

(A Top Pick Feb 09/18, Down 57%) He sold them out at $3.50 back in April or May last year. Oil was at $60 and cash flow was growing. He liked this pressure pumper then. But now natural gas prices have gone to zero and condensate discounts have expanded. The whole service sector was decimated.

(A Top Pick Mar 08/18, Down 8%) One of the biggest gas producers in Canada. He is surprised it has been as stable as it has. It has done a good job with hedging and market diversification. Still a core holding.

He says this company is trading below book value, when historically it has traded at 2 times book. He still worries about low oil prices and how it impacts next quarterly earnings. He would buy this under $2.

They missed yet again on their guidance and senior management has been departing the company. They have achieved a lot, but have consistently over-promised and under-delivered.

A darling four years ago, that is oil weighted. The took criticism for the last few acquisitions. He still considers it a core holding and sees a 5% growth outlook along with a 5% yield.

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.

It's one of the few remaining income funds. They've paid $1.20 dividend since 2007, monthly. They had a tough 2018 with issues in a subdivision. They have a payout ratio of 62-90%. Pays a secure 12% dividend. Their strong management can turn things around. (Analysts’ price target is $12.38)

Fundamentally it trades between 1 and 2 times book value. When it gets bellow book value is time to get in. Book value is between 16 and 17 and the stock is trading at 21. Probably has 5 bucks on the downside before is a buy. But balance sheet is fine. And the earnings continue…

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…

Hold or Sell? This has had a nice move. If you are underweight the whole gold complex you might want to keep it. If you are a trader, you have had a spectacular move in the last 4 months, you might want to take your initial capital out.

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.

(Market Call Minute.) Lumber is probably the poster child for seasonality. The time to own is going into the 4th quarter. There has been some improvement in housing which favours lumber producers, and this is one of the best suited. He would look toward September.

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…

He likes management and the asset. They are looking to produce 120,000-150,000 ounces of gold per year. They are all-in sustaining costs of around $740-$790. Have $50 million in cash. They are paying down their debt, which is only about $54 million. A single asset company and in a jurisdiction not everybody wants to be…

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…

A major utility pole manufacturer. Yes, the recent/current tough winter weather is a factor, but a bigger factor is the finite life of these poles, and most of them in North America are nearing the end. So, SJ could enjoy a ramp-up with more infrastructure spending.

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%.

They tend to do well during the summer time. From March to August it gets the bulk of its gain. In the back half of the year it tends to turn lower.

Exceptional world class business. He finds auto parts challenging. However they are well run and are a good performing stock.

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…

Largest demographic group is the 29 years old. Ready at the point of household formation. No debt. They generate a lot of cash. (Analysts’ price target is $50.33)

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…

(A Top Pick December 29/17 Up 4%). Agriculture is a growing segment due to changing demographics and growth in developing economies, he says. This company handles grain storage and are immune to fluctuations in grain prices as they are compensated by volume. He continues to like it.

It's been a rollercoaster, killed in Q4. but he's expected a big year in the cinemas in Q2 and Q3 with a lot of box office money to be made. Also, the Rec Rooms and selling wine and beer in all theatres are good diversifiers. CGX competes with home video streaming, though. CGX is priced…

Is this a buy over the next 1-2 years? He thinks the buy in by Aurora was interesting. Their existing business is going through transformation and they are working at trying to improve on or sell assets – especially in Alberta. He is on the fringe of wanting to own it.

Building products, lumber distributor across Canada. The building/renovation market in Canada has been quite good for some time. The yield of 9.2% is too high. They are over distributing. Thinks they have some room on a line and could pay out a debt if they wanted to, but clearly that is a temporary type fix.…

A great stock. It struggled last year as the stock price fell, but has responded well thus far in 2019. Last quarter earnings were an improvement, but the multiples are now much more affordable. It is subject to opportunity if the economy slows down.

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…

This is not a Preferred Share Market. We are in the early stages of rising interest rates. Most preferred shares, with the exception of a lot of the bank preferred shares, are perpetual preferred shares and will do poorly in a rising interest rate market.

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

The pain in the preferred share market was mostly the result of the huge number of Reset Preferreds that came onto the market within the last 5 years, so a lot of these preferreds did not reset their dividend for 5 years, and a lot of them did it this year because it was their…

MSCI EAFE (CAD-Hedged) ETF. International. Cap weighted. Broadly diversified. It tracks the MSCI EAFE index, so it is a whole wide variety of 1st world economy stocks.

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…

This is basically a basket of stocks that are sensitive to Europe, Australia and the Far East. These are the markets that he wants to be in. Europe is looking attractive because of the currency. As the global markets top, money is going to flow into other global markets that are lagging, and this is…

It charges a high 62 basis points, which is nuts. But it does access the Canadian banks. This should be 15 basis points tops. He still likes it though.

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…

Loves this space (U.S. banks). He owns many of them. He'd add to ZUB here. Some U.S. banks, like JP Morgan, report earnings next week. Another catalyst is their trading revenue is expected to rise in a big way. Interest rates rising are anothe tailwind.

You need geographic diversification in a portfolio, but ZWE and Europe are in a tough space, so hold. Also, this is a covered call and hedged to the Canadian dollar. It depends on how large your position of ZWE is in your portfolio. Europe has problems short-term with the ECB with a $5.3 trillion balance…

GWO-T vs. MFC-T. MFC-T has the advantage of being a very diversified company, globally. They have done well from that diversification. He tends to prefer it to GWO-T, although he might use its weakness to buy.

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.

Pays a 4% dividend and trades at 1.46 book. They have been diversifyign into welath management and buying a real estate business. Asia has done very well for them, growing at double digits. Well-run.

(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.

RY is his favourite bank, but there's nothing wrong in investing in Canadian banks. The banks pay a 4% dividend and raise them by 6% a year. That's why the Canadian banks beat the TSX.

The whole banking sector is quite positive. The chart shows a little head and shoulders. If it can break above $32, it would probably run away pretty nicely. He likes the whole financial sector. (See Top Picks.)

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…

LB hasn't followed the big Canadian banks. It's been sideways for many years. It's been a definite downtrend since late 2017. Recently, it looks like it's breaking the downtrend, which is positive. Now, the chart looks good. He's okay with it.

This is a new position for him. It a well run private equity company. They calculate NAV at $85 and any time can purchase below NAV, turns out to be a good investment. The volatility on this stock is quite low. He is happy to own this. Yield = 0.42% (Analysts’ price target is $106.10)

POW-T vs. PWF-T. Great West Life is the underlying company that supports both of these stocks. They are basically the same price. POW-T trades at a discount to GWO-T. You need to believe in GWO-T to own these two companies.

PWF bought three separate companies--Investors Group, Great-West Life and London Life--and will do now synergize them, which is a good thing. It'll take a few years, but this will reduce overhead and costs and let them compete better with MFC and SLF.

This is secondary (suburban) office. There is going to be a really interesting play in suburban office at some point. You’ll have to watch for GDP numbers for small business growth in Canada. There is quite a large spread in what people are willing to pay, for class A buildings versus suburban office. These guys…

This ran into significant trouble and were in a lot of fixed-price contracts that went over costs. They have had to totally restructure the company. Also, they are primarily a Western exposed company, and more on the construction side rather than engineering in the equation. Feels they have been overlooked. If there is going to…

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%,…

She expects them to be reporting earnings in the next couple of days. This bus manufacturing company has made a purchase in the UK for double-decker buses. This is not a great growth sector. She wants to see how the recent acquisition plays out.

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%.

A company that probably went ahead of themselves in terms of investors expectations. The space has been beaten up a lot lately. He prefers NFI Group Inc. (NFI-T) much better in the space that hasn't traded this cheap in the last 5 years. (Analysts’ price target is $1.77)

A safe dividend. Their legacy business is steady from Air Canada which sustains the dividend. 18 months ago, they moved into a growth area: leasing aircraft and are doing very well here with a big profit margin. The airline business continues to grow. They will likely raise the dividend.

They have a Caterpillar franchise out west and are in Latin America. They have a facility where they remanufacture Caterpillar parts. If you think there are legs left in the mining cycle you could add to it.

It is so cheap at these levels. It has a decent balance sheet, but trades at 5 times earnings. The problem is auto sales are heading lower globally, he thinks. If you have patience sit tight, but he is loath to get in front of a freight train coming out of the tunnel -- lots…

They are a leader in Canada, used to be in the US but pulled back. He bought it but it pulled back. He is getting a good return from the coupons. He thinks this one can double. They have more debt than he would like to see but the payout ratio is reasonable. It is…

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?