Gordon Reid

By now, we know that Trump is an interesting character who manages by chaos, keeping people off balance. Investors must know that volatility will stay during his term, and tariffs weren't the volatility, but Trump himself. Tariffs are the trigger, and Trump the gun. Corporate America came into this Presidency strong and has remained strong, despite all that's been thrown at it. But there's been a drop in confidence among consumers and boardrooms, which hasn't effected earnings yet--and it may not, because Trump keeps swinging back and forth. As of last Friday, 78% of reporting S&P companies reported positive surprises. Valuation is on the mark for a 5-year average.

A few weeks ago they warned they wouldn't meet their numbers. Today, they said they wouldn't meet their guidance. US insurance is changing with regulatory policy demands and medical loss ratios are staying high as people are using their plans more and more as an echo of Covid. The problem is UNH's concentration in the Medicare/Medicaid space

He didn't like the tax treatment to Canadians of their spin-off of their mission critical solutions division. So, he sold it. It was a good company before the spin off. Instead, look at EMCOR or Dycom.

It's rewiring North American for 1-Gig technology, but it's lumpy because it relies on only 8-9 major clients that comprise their revenues. So, if one client defers a project for a quarter or two, Dycom will take a big hit.

They are the leader in search and the criticism is that they will lose market share. So sell Google? He argues that Alphabet will recapture that share, because GOOG is a leader in AI as well. Yes, GOOG will lose some of their current 92% share in search, but maybe the overall pie grows bigger, so GOOG revenues will still expand. Also, GOOG has a lot else going on--YouTube is massive with 1 in 3 humans using it, Waymo. Shares have sold off so much that the PE is below the market average now.

The US banks are cheap in valuation, and benefit from an M&A cycle that will come.

Sold it for Canadian tax reasons. LEN spun off the part of the company that held the land, probably a good move, but he wasn't sure about the tax hit. He still likes the US homebuilders given the shortage of housing.

The company is treading water, hasn't done much in the recent versions of the Apple phone. However, their services division is doing well; services are stickier with higher margins, and make up 28% of Apple's total revenues. The phone is the core, though, and will be raising prices. People are willing to pay a lot for these phones. Last fall, they launched Apple Intelligence, their AI, but hasn't had an impacted, but that's not unusual for Apple--their launches take time to catch on. AI will be an opportunity for Apple down the road. Apple is a core holding of his.

75% of their operations are outside North America. The strong USD has hit them hard, and Europe hasn't been growing as quickly as expected. This trades at a cheap 11x PE, and they grow organically. Not exciting, but safe and a solid hold.

The rides and Uber Eats are growing rapidly. Advertising boasts 175 million active users of the Uber app, and they can still capture more of the ad potential. Their freight division should be set aside; it's distraction. Also, their self-driving business will be exciting for Uber.

Their rate of growth in revenues is declining and it's not a cheap stock.

Supplies food to restaurants. It's growing faster than Sysco, less expensive, managed well and is more stable that Sysco.

Growing rapidly, but trades at 60x PE, expensive.

Not expensive valuation at 18s PE. Has a strong earnings engine to support that.  Growth is coming from the weight loss drugs. Likes them.

They fell into trouble a few years ago when they bought Hillrom, a healthcare company, which did not work. BAX took on a lot of debt and the deal was a bust. The rise of the weight-loss drugs has made a big impact on BAX's business. They have debt problems.