This week’s new 52-week lows… (Dec 12-18)

It is a dry natural gas producer. He thinks oil stocks have more upside. AECO is trading at $1.10 per GJ in the middle of winter. The management team is good. He would likely purchase ARX-T instead. (Eric Nuttall)

(A Top Pick Dec 18/17, Down 63%) All the natural gas stocks have been suffering. All of these companies have debt loads and suffer at these prices. But storage is coming down rapidly. The next cold spell will drive gas prices up. Be bought stock last week. A year from now all three of these…

It is very cheap. Q3 they had issues with facilities. They are now resolved. It is trading at 2 times 9 months cash flow. Markets are throwing companies away indiscriminately through tax loss selling season. (Josef Schachter)

Breaking News The unsolicited offer has been given an exemption by the ASC that avoids having to provide identical consideration to all securities holders. This means MEG will plan to waive its shareholder rights plan, but still plans to reject the offer the Husky. He feels this is an unusual decision by the ASC and…

An energy opportunity. It's more volatile because of its smaller market cap. It's been punished along with low oil prices. It's in the trucking business related to energy and is well-positioned. Take profits at $16-18. (Analysts’ price target is $16.90) (Andrew Pyle)

Book value is $9.99. Volumes came down because they shut in some dry gas. The stock has been decimated. He prefers other names to this one. (Josef Schachter)

Pengrowth (PGF-T) and Perpetual (PMT-T)? Had some challenges with their balance sheet over the last couple of years with the collapse in oil prices. This one would be a little riskier. If you really see a big jump in commodity prices, this probably has a lot more upside than Pengrowth (PGF-T). (Jim Huang)

Quebec is moving forward.  They are having fabulous wells.  They have higher net backs because of the lack of need for transportation.  On a little bit of weakness the stock is one to keep an eye on.  (Josef Schachter)

He owns this in some of their income funds. Most of the assets are not in North America so they are avoiding all the Canadian mess right now. However, the stock still has been hit. For income investors, who understand dividends are not always safe, he would be a buyer here. He thinks the dividend…

The company is very cheap in terms of price to book. Their book value was $4 at the end of June. However, they have a debt problem: $211 million of debt compared to an equity value of $369 million. He sees this as a takeover candidate especially now because he is seeing consolidation in the…

They announced results a week ago with production up. The balance sheet is in good shape, they have no debt, and production is up. Next year they will bring another discovery online (Q2). The stock is quite cheap. It is on his action alert buy list. (Josef Schachter)

Is the dividend safe? He owned it a while ago. It is a really good company with good management and a pristine balance sheet. Even still the stock has not done well, due to the low natural gas prices and no sign of improvement. He is cautious on the dividend and thinks it depends on…

When MEG-T is gone, ATH-T will be the highest levered company to tightening heavy differentials. They trade on 11 times cash flow and that can fall to 4.5 times with a tighter heavy differential. He sees heavy differentials at $20. He sees a target of $2.67 in share price. He is the second largest shareholder…

This had a big fall yesterday. Back in Feb/March this had a big Sell signal on his system. They couldn’t pay their dividend. It is probably going to have a long recovery time if it makes it. (Brian Acker, CA)

They are natural gas and people are frustrated with Nat Gas companies. Nat Gas is up in the states but this one has been hit. It is the difference between Canadian and US pricing differences. In Canada Nat Gas companies don’t have the same robustness from seasonality. Nat Gas will do well again just before…

Too much debt, making acqusitions, and need to fix the balance sheet. The current $2.50 price is too low, though. They are oil-levered, so if oil recovers, you can make a lot of money with BTE. He predicts oil going to $50-60. (Bruce Campbell (1))

It does better in the springtime before summer driving season. This year's it's seen lower-lows and -highs. It's below its 200-day moving average. Oil price has plunged. Can CFW benefit from current $53 oil? (Jon Vialoux)

(A Top Pick Mar 08/18, Down 40%) Up to Q4 it was looking pretty good, but with differentials widening it got hammered. The stock price has not responded well since the differentials have tightened. He likes their low decline rate. They shut-in about 15% of their production. They did the prudent thing by cutting the…

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. (Joanne A. Hruska, CFA)

It is a junior company at about $0.70 so he does not talk about it on the show. The book value is $6.50. It was a dry natural gas producer. They are now drilling two oil wells (light oil and liquids). The stock is very cheap here. (Josef Schachter)

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. (Josef Schachter)

It has had a really good run. The Canadian companies are being tarnished with the same brush. There will be turmoil in this sector for a long time. He considers this to be more of a trading stock. (Rick Stuchberry)

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. (Robert Lauzon)

A great energy company. Good managers with most of their oil in the Bakken, good. He owns enough oil elsewhere. (Douglas Kee)

It has only $19 million of debt and has a book value of $1.15.  He thinks the stock is a buy here.  It is one of the country’s largest coiled tubing company.  He has a 12 month price target of $1.20.  He will like be strongly recommending it during the tax season loss selling period…

NexGen vs. Fission He owns both Fission and NexGen. They're far from infrastructure in the Athabasca Basin and would be challenged if it wasn't for their deposits being large and of quality (and next to each other). They could get built as a pair. The Fission deposit is borderline-tier one deposit, whole Nexgen's is. The…

A royalty play. They buy oil and gas from producers. Where is the price of oil and gas going? He has no idea. But oil and gas will be weak in a recession which he expects to happen. Look at Franco-Nevada if you want a royalty play. This may be good if you have a…

They have done some good acquisitions and they have heavy oil exposure, but the liquidity is just too slight.   (Eric Nuttall)

A mico-cap that had some major issues.  He would not look at this at all.   (Eric Nuttall)

29% debt to book value. $2.81 is their book value. He thinks they will increase production in the fourth quarter. (Guest's target: $2.50). (Josef Schachter)

It is quite a small company.  It is hugely volatile.  There a lot of problems over the years with the pricing of data coming from India regarding a 10% stake in another company.  They have too much debt.  The price of the gas they sell has been negotiated.  A tough name to predict.  (James Rife)

He is watching it but it is not on his list right now. They are not experiencing very good growth right now. Their debt keeps going up. There are better names with more upside of growth. (Josef Schachter)

It's been in a tough sector for the last couple of years. If you are going to buy these things you should look at it as a trade instead of an investment. You can get a reasonable trade out of some of these stocks. Until we get the pipe and we can sell stuff how…

In tough shape. They made the wrong bet on natural gas. Sell it and buy elsewhere. But it will pay off over five years. (Eric Nuttall)

Has nat gas exposure--and he's bearish on all nat gas stocks. Market cap is way too low for investors to really care for in this sector.  (Eric Nuttall)

(A Top Pick Jan 05/18, Down 82%) He sold out of this when it became apparent oil prices were not going to finish above $70 per barrel by year end. A pure pressure-pumper play. With a lack of interest in the service sector, he got out above $10. He does not like their pricing structure…

A premiere holding in the Canadian energy space and a core holding. They are now over the big capex spend for the Fort Hills project and now should benefit from free cash-flow for the next few years. He likes where they are positioned. They are more expensive than others and he likes the growing dividend.…

He likes it. The stock is quite cheap. It is on his action alert buy list. They have been buying back shares at $3. Now it is $1.16. It is being thrown out. He thinks it will benefit from the recovery. They now really have no debt. This stock could have a massive recovery in…

The shares paid to CPP as a dividend is dilutive in a traditional sense, but it does preserve cash for other shareholders. It has light oil and is working on asset preservation. He has no issue with the share being paid. He will continue to hold. (Dennis da Silva)

(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. (Dennis da Silva)

A past top pick. It's come off just like the energy sector. It's one of the few companies that's grown production per share. Continue to hit their targets. Cheap multiple. He expects the next few quarters to be strong. He may add to his position. (Peter Imhof)

It's been stuck at these levels for a long time, but likes recent volumes. No problem buying this one. (Elliott Fishman)

(Market Call Minute.) Have done a good job in optimizing the plant and there is better news to come. (Alice Tsang)

In a great spot now if you want to enter. Building a bit of a base, likes the selloff, nice runup. (Elliott Fishman)

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. (Robert Cohen B.A.Sc., MBA, CFA)

Once owned it. The new CEO (a successful woman with a good track record) replaced the former CEO who was burned out. An essential stock to own in the diamond space. He may rebuy it. (Rick Rule)

Agnico-Eagle (AEM-T) came in a while ago and made a 9.9% stake in this company. The stock went up, but it really hasn’t done much since then. Then Barrick (ABX-T) came in and said they really liked the deposit and wanted to do a joint venture. This is a much better approach that is better…

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. (Rick Rule)

(Top Pick Mar 8/11, Down 65.85%) (Michael Smedley)

A big holding for him. Management has histoorically found big mining projects and done great job adding value by selling them or harvesting the cash flow. With the China-US trade war, base metals are out of favour, though. But he still sees value in base metals and commodities, so ALS is a reasonable buy here.…

A very small gold explorer. Probably the best claim to fame is that its project is located near the Detour Gold (DGC-T) project near the west detour part of that project. A very prospective camp. Still early stage. He likes the management team. (Dennis da Silva)

Copper pricing seems to be Firming here.  Commodities are starting to come off from a bottom here.  It is 9 years into a bull market and into a recovery.  If you are going to play it, this is probably a not bad place to be.  Copper looks interesting here. (Norman Levine)

This now has a project in Mongolia which has epithermal veins, which he loves. When you do find them and they carry great grades, it can grow really fast. This has a 50 g/meter width quite prominent with something like 16% which gets him excited. Still very early stage. (Robert Cohen B.A.Sc., MBA, CFA)

It has returned to previous support from November. He would look at the $9 range. If it breaks below that they we have a problem, otherwise it will base at this level before going up to $16. (Hap (Robert) Sneddon FCSI)

WFT-T vs. IFP-T He is still cautious on lumber stocks. We have seen the peak in US housing. Canadian lumber stocks do better with the Canadian dollar down. IFP-T is a better play because at least 50% of the lumber is out of the US. There is probably going to be a bit of a…

“Jumps and Steps” – quite common in junior companies. Each jump is a news item. As it gets closer to production, it will keep on doing this. Pullbacks are due to profit taking. Must stay above the $0.30 level, otherwise it may be bad news. (Jeff Parent B. Eng. FCSI CIM)

Cobalt is a partner commodity in the production of lithium batteries. Earnings are expected to be negative in 2019. Cobalt prices have risen sharply, causing manufacturers to find a way to move away from using it -- nickle may replace it (as an aside Sherritt could be a potential benefactor of this). He would consider…

This still has legs. There’s been a break out in the 10-year decline we have seen in base metal prices, which should be positive for all the base metal companies, particularly the Canadian ones which could have by-products of zinc, lead or other things that can bring a fair dollar. (Robert McWhirter)

They cut their payout by 50% and are selling lots of assets to reduce debt. He sees growth of 0.8%. It's very cheap and trading at a discount. A safe hold and safe dividend. (Greg Newman)

This is a tough business to be in as construction and design are low margin businesses.  The last couple of quarters showed some operational hiccups.  He needs to see these issues turn around before investing.  He thinks there are other ways to play the infrastructure wave, such as Brookfield or SNC Lavalin.   (Robert Lauzon)

Rotation from small-cap banks into large ones? He doesn't see a correlation. BMO itself was the highest flyer in 2018 until it got hit hard in Q4, and now it's back in the middle of the big 5 Canadian banks. He's been gradually selling off BMO (he owns 4 of the 5 banks). BMO is…

He's watching it closely. Disclosure: A colleague of his sits on their board. A good business. CI can transition from mutual funds into private wealth management. They have a good cost structure. At $17, they're buying back lots of stock, but using debt to do so. They suffered a huge correction last year. But he's…

It broke a down trend.  It has pretty weak upside.  The recent level of highs has not been taken out.  It is struggling. (Keith Richards)

General opinion of the sector The insurance group had run up earlier in the year as longer term interest rates were expected to rise. However, as short term rates have risen faster this has taken the wind out of the sails. There is still more upside in rates and with yields of 5%, it is…

REITs aren't doing bad now. We're getting close to the end of the cycle rate-tightening as bond yields have risen alot. on This REIT comes down to your view on interest rates--he thinks we'll come to the end of this in 6-12 months when the cycle turns. REITs like this have decent valuations. However, the…

An unknown insurance company. Undervalued. Has a well positioned distribution network. Trades at a discount to its peers. Gives you insurance exposure in the financial services asset class. Still a growth story. Yield is 3.1% (Analysts' price target is $63.67.) (Prakash Hariharan)

Some people put more of a premium on Power Corp than Power Financial. Longer term, Great West Life is probably a sustainable investment. Mutual funds are under increasing competition. He leans slightly toward Power Corp, but Power Financial has a slightly enhanced dividend. Both dividends are well covered. Future dividend hikes will depend on how…

Problem is that whenever it gets to $8, like clockwork, they do an equity financing, and the stock gets whacked. Good managers, who own a lot of stock. Long-term, bulking up on acquisitions makes sense. Not a bad stock, but frustrating. Yield above 9%.  (Fabrice Taylor)

(A Top Pick May 14/18, Down 21%)  It had a tough go since he was on.  He continues to believe it is one of the best plays to get exposure to bit coin.  It is a well run company. (Thomas George)

(A Top Pick Feb 24/16. Down 43.33%.) This was a big disappointment. They changed their focus on their business plan. He got stopped out. They were basically doing loans to doctors, but have now changed and is doing software service. The market didn’t like that. (Bruce Campbell (2))

REITs in general are strong in the summer, different from most sectors.  Last summer it had a pretty good run.  Right now it is in a trading range.  If it breaks above it you will run into an upward trend.  It will continue until September. (Don Vialoux)

He has owned it in the past and sold a while ago because the share price dropped.  The big issue is that they have a lot of margin pressure facing them.  They are struggling against a tide.  The share price is cheap but you need to look at where the industry is going. (Tim Regan)

A software provider for commercial real estate portfolios.  They also have a consulting service.  They are migrating more and more clients around the world onto their platform.  There is good organic growth.  (Analysts’ target: $38.78). (Stephen Takacsy, B. Eng, MBA)

Valuation in the bank group is compelling. Only one with yield over 5%. Trading at 1.4x book, strong balance sheet. Negative has always been that it's domestic, and more exposed to the mortgage market. If your outlook is longer term, and you want the dividend, it's a good buy today. (Michael Sprung)

Dream is more real estate focused.  They are challenged.  It is a matter of timing.  If people start to think things are stabilizing in Western Canada, then this one will thrive. (Colin Stewart)

An insurance company that makes its money on the cash holdings of premium payers. It is a tough company to financially analyze and earnings can be lumpy. Sales and earnings were down. They have not been free cash flow positive over the past four quarters. (Robert McWhirter)

Is the 7.5% dividend sustainable? - He thinks the dividend is sustainable as the company has a nice balance sheet and the company has a different business model compared to other mutual fund companies. That hasn't stopped the stock to come down like all other mutual fund stocks. He would wait until the market works…

This is a way to play the millennial fintech market with a dash of crypto. The stock made its IPO at 10, then pulled back sharply. They have a platform that allows millennials (or anyone else) to get loans, mortgages, and other financial products -- now including a crypto layer. There are 10 million millennials…

(A Top Pick Feb 16/16. Up 6.28%.) This has some creative stuff and he had been looking for bond portfolios that are actively managed and a little bit outside the normal ETF’s. He is still buying some of this. (John Hood)

Looked at it, but the Canadian banks looked better. Get the BMO Canadian bank ETF instead. Be cautious about jumping into the US banking side. Canadian dollar could perk up and that would offset any advantage to being in the US. He'd rather stay in his own backyard that he knows. Canadian banks are superior…

HPB Energy Bull+ ETF. Immediate leverage to oil price moves. If you have a very good near-term bet that you want to make on oil this would be the way to go but if you are looking for an investment in the oil patch that has a long-term investment implications, then you should go to…

A good ETF. You're swapping a lot of income for growth. If you want that, then fine. (John Hood)

HBP S&P 500 Bull (HSU-T) or BMO Equal Weight US Banks Hedged To CDN$ (ZUB-T)? These are 2 completely different things. A lot of people are negative on Bull+ and Bear+ ETFs but he thinks there is a place for these things but he doesn’t think it is here. Thinks it is going to be…

Given that the energy space is volatile, but not overly sold, the covered call strategies have looked pretty attractive over the last couple of years. Generally speaking, he is not an energy fan or investor. However, when his arm gets twisted by a TSX that roars forward, and he is not playing that game, he…

ZEO-T vs XEG-T ETF – The difference between these two is concentration. The XEG is dominated 50% between CNQ-T and SU-T. In the equal weight portfolio (ZEO) these represent only 17%. There is a higher yield with XEG. (Mike Philbrick)

How do you select ETFs? He likes low MERs in general when looking for ETFs -- usually under 10 bps. Don't buy the

(A Top Pick August 8/17, Up 8%) This holds what’s left over from the XIU 60. Wanted to get into some smaller stuff to get better diversification, and focus on this rather than the broader-based indices. (John Hood)

This ETF hedges away the US dollar exposure. All the returns will be based on the market movement. Good if you want to protect away from currency movement. (Mike Philbrick)

It is smaller oil and gas plays. Junior oils. 25% Canada and the rest is US. Compared to US large cap ETFs like IYE-N: As the price of oil is going down, both fell but small caps fell more than larger caps. He is okay with smaller caps. It is not investible yet. (Larry Berman…

U.S. banks are much cheaper than ours and boast 10% growth rates. Trading at only 10x PE. They have loan growth. They all had a tough Q4 and, except for fixed income, the banks are operating well. So ZUB is a buy. (Greg Newman)

The dividend isn't safe given company turmoil. They're converting Alberta liquor stores into cannabis retail, partnering with Aurora. This is a speculative play and a logistical challenge. It's difficult to run cannabis retail when you have no product to sell. The upside is that Aurora could just vertically integrate and own the entire channel. (James…

Just announced today that they will sell online. They continue to execute their growth plan, 1,700 stores across Canada (1,200 now). There are growth opportunities. They're consulting a francise, Dollar City, in South America, with an option to take a majority position next year; this could offer a long runway of growth. They continue to…

This snow mobile marker was the crown jewel carved out of Bombardier. It is probably worth looking at and is a well run business. He has been waiting for a reason to buy -- maybe it is now. (Fabrice Taylor)

He owned this for a while, but was never a long term investor. When the Free Trade Agreement was redone he was hoping for a rebound. When the stock actually went down, he sold out. The US President was not expected to put extra tariffs on Canadian parts. The company is excellent and the long…

It is unbelievable where this stock is trading at. Acquisitions this year are worth less than half what they paid for them. It was trading at less than half what it was worth. They are trading below the amount of cash they have. It shocks him how far it continues to go down. (John Zechner)

He owns a bit of this, but prefers Corbys because it has a better cash generation ratio and pays a better dividend. He doesn't dislike ADW, though. (James Hodgins)

Well-run. Lots of excess capacity with potential (he suspects they are) to be an early player in fusing cannabis with beer. BRB has lot of experience in blending drinks. Cheap valuation and good balance sheet. Potential upside in cannabis-beer. There's always the chance of a bigger player buying out the Brick. (Analysts’ price target is…

It got hit hard in the first half of 2018 over premium video on demand (shrinking shorter release windows of movies from cinemas to streaming/TV). It then got hit hard in Q4. This continues to be a show-me story. The Rec Room and gaming investments are still TBD in terms of how they affect the…

Doesn't like the company. The stock has been suffering for the past decade. They're in furniture and bicycles, both businesses under pressure. Dividend hasn't grown. (David Driscoll)

He used own this music streaming business. After the raise in cash flow was directed to buying radio stations he got out. It is no longer of interest to him as these businesses do not make money. (Fabrice Taylor)

(A Top Pick Dec 08/17, Down 44%) They are patent trolls. They have lumpy earnings quarter to quarter. Recently they have been losing money. They moved partly to the Internet-Of-Things. They won a big suit against AAPL-Q but they are appealing it. Legislation has made it hard for a company to be a patent troll…

Provides a service very similar to Alphabet (GOOGL-Q), which is provided for free. When your competitor is providing your services free, it is tough to be competitive. (Jerome Hass)

(A Top Pick Feb 16/18, Down 9%) This technology company makes things for other manufacturers like routers for Cisco. Earnings growth is looking better he thinks. The stock looks oversold so he is staying with it. (Norman Levine)

He owned it a year ago and got stopped out. It was not going in the correct direction. There has been bad news in the mean time. Unless you are going to trade it then let it form a base (Rick Stuchberry)

Just announced a discovery in Columbia. Flow tested over 2000 barrels per day. This well could produce up to 5000 when brought into production. A very well distributed stock so it might not jump too fast. Company could get taken out. (James West)

 (A Top Pick June 11/2018, Down 4%) Consolidate diagnostic imaging centres in US. A growth company, recent $27M acquisition in Florida which will add 20% to revenue. There are 7500 imaging centres in US, so ripe for consolidation. Will outperform its bigger competitor over time. Thinks it’ll eventually be acquired as a vehicle for AI…

(A Top Pick Mar 26/18, Down 54%) He slightly reduced his position, but still holds it. They got into a business agreement with Sun Pharma, a bigger company, that was distributing one of the biggest drugs. They did a big promotion last year and the stock did very well, but they stopped promoting it. The…

It has been beaten up badly and he is surprised by how much. The dividend is reasonable but the payout ratio is a little higher than he likes. It is not a contra stock because the upside is not high enough but he bought it for the dividend with capital appreciation. It has a lot…

The big challenge is getting their product to market. They have most of the cash they need into 2020, which should buy them enought time. He is watching to see how revenues ramp up next year. (Bruce Campbell (2))

Just made a recent acqusition that's doing well. 78% payout ratio. 7% dividend is fine this year. Sees 20% EPS growth. 11x earnings, lower than 14x 4-year average. He likes it. It's held up really well when other industrials are getting killed. The one problem though is their net debt-to-EBITDA which is 3x. This is…

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. (Michael Simpson, CFA)

BIP.UN vs. TCL.A? Hard to compare infrastructure to packaging. Doesn't have a problem with infrastructure, but the dividend doesn't grow the way he'd like, and the dividend is actually a combination of capital and interest. He owns BAM.A in TFSAs. Instead of TCL.A, he owns CCL Industries because they have greater free cash flow and…

It formed a nice base. It has a strong yield. It is coming out the last few days. We are getting close to a break out. (Jeff Parent B. Eng. FCSI CIM)

He bought it as a value play with sum of the parts worth more than it was trading at.  They are trying to sell some of the parts.  Thinks they will sell all the parts and distribute the cash.  $4-$5 breakup value.  It is taking longer than he thought to break it up. (Stephen Takacsy,…