Gordon Reid

Obviously distressing. From an investment standpoint we have to step back, watch, and understand what's going on. A lot of it is posturing. We know what Donald Trump's playbook looks like, and he's going to take it to a point where the market believes there may be impending doom for our economy. That's when he has the most leverage. 

History tells us that these things are settled, and they're settled for a reason. And that is that both sides are invested, and both sides can be hurt.

Right now, although the media's talking about Trudeau and Trump having  conversations, there are a lot of conversations going on at the lower levels on both sides of the border. The US representatives are going back to the White House, and lines of communication are opening. It's the first day of pressure on Donald Trump to get something done. If there are tariffs, and they're damaging to US companies, US congresspeople and senators are going to be the ones to hear about it from constituents. In turn, the government representatives will use their leverage against Trump, and that will ultimately get things settled.

These are days that we can expect. Markets in 2025 will likely be different than 2023 and 2024. One of the big differences is that we're going to have volatility. We're going to see days where something out of the ordinary comes along and surprises the market.

He and his team love the promise of new chip development and AI development. But he's not at a full weight, as that would be a dangerous investing posture. A whopping 33% of the S&P 500 is devoted to investments in big, mega-tech companies. He sees lots of value in the remaining 493 or so stocks in the S&P that aren't looking at AI.

For more information, you can read the most recent Gauge article under Insights at goodreid.com.

Currency hedging can serve a purpose, he's just not interested in that purpose.

He usually likes to have the exposure to foreign currency. Today, the CAD is quite weak. Possibly there's a mispriced percentage in there. But do you want to speculate and make that trade? The premise of the question is the high USD, but "high" is a relative term. Could it get higher? Yes, of course. Could the CAD get weaker? Yes, it could. He's been around long enough to have seen it at 60 cents.

If you're invested with a portion of your assets in an economy, but you don't like the currency, you should probably circle back and ask yourself why you're actually invested in those companies. A country's economy is the foundation upon which all its companies operate.

Again, you're using currency to make a trading decision. No one can tell the future. Instead, he'd take the US dollars and invest them in US securities. Gives you geographic diversification, sector and industry diversification (as many aren't fully represented in Canada), and access to the historical outperformance of the US economy compared to Canada.
 
If we go back to pre-Trump 2.0 election times, the CAD has deteriorated by about 5%. Is it really worth 5%, over a long period of time, to forego the opportunities that you might have in investing in US equities? He'd say no, but it's a personal decision.

Certainly some stocks are less vulnerable to issues involving tariffs. What comes to mind are healthcare companies. You could look at some of the beaten-down companies that really didn't do well last year, as they're doing quite well today. Try this name, which he owns.

Certainly some stocks are less vulnerable to issues involving tariffs. What comes to mind are healthcare companies. You could look at some of the beaten-down companies that really didn't do well last year, as they're doing quite well today. Try this name, which he owns.

Certainly some stocks are less vulnerable to issues involving tariffs. What comes to mind are healthcare companies. You could look at some of the beaten-down companies that really didn't do well last year, as they're doing quite well today. Try this name, which he owns.

Having a decent day today in the face of tariff threat. One reason is that, if you look at its business, it's somewhat tariff-proof. Another reason is that money has to go somewhere. So if investors are net sellers on an impulse call, such as tariffs, where does that $$ go -- financials and healthcare are possible havens.

Likes it very much. Very reasonable multiple, surprisingly low in the face of 18-22% annual growth. Market's somewhat skittish about its losing dominance in Search due to AI. It has 93-94% market share in that one area, and undoubtedly will lose some of that. Flipside is that the whole pie is going to get bigger. 

Inventory levels for resale homes are at all-time lows, so that market is very tight. Has never made money, even though revenues are rising. Not for him.

Loves the space and its total addressable market. But the market can get ahead of itself, and this name's trading ~50x earnings. Extremely expensive for a pharmaceutical, built in a lot of future success. He'd look for second-derivative opportunities like AMGN.

Phase 2 drug in the GLP-1 space -- not as mature as LLY's drug, but you don't pay as much for this company either. Trades ~14x earnings, compared to 50x for LLY. And that's more his style of investing.

Exciting, momentum stock. Trades ~60x revenue. Not the type of stock his firm would put clients in. Incredible success, but momentum is a behavioural aspect. It aligns with the "greater fool" theory. You buy it, hoping there's someone who will pay you a higher price for it -- a dangerous strategy.

It's a good and cutting-edge company, but priced for success way out in the future.

Likes them both, as well as others in the sector. Don't look at the chart and not buy because it's gone up so much and you've "missed" the price move. Instead, look at the fundamentals -- have earnings, cashflow, revenue growth kept up with the price? Or, look to how it's trading against historical valuations.

This one is up against the upper end of its historical valuation, trading at about 2x book. Somewhat extended, but a great franchise. Good economy, reduced regulation. Unlike other areas of the market, valuations in financials are not extended, so there's opportunity.

Likes them both, as well as others in the sector. Don't look at the chart and not buy because it's gone up so much and you've "missed" the price move. Instead, look at the fundamentals -- have earnings, cashflow, revenue growth kept up with the price? Or, look to how it's trading against historical valuations.

He added not so long ago. Excellent opportunity, mainly on capital markets side. Good economy, reduced regulation. Unlike other areas of the market, valuations in financials are not extended, so there's opportunity.