S&P 500 and NASDAQ hitting record highs. Earnings have been very strong. Two-year swap spreads give corporations tremendous access to capital. Tech has been leading the way. VIX is at 25, which usually signals risk is away from the market, notwithstanding trade wars and benign nature of the yield curve.

The VIX. The VIX was at 60-70 back in the day. The big driver is technology. Consumer staples are doing well, drug companies turning around. VIX signals market’s ripe for M&A activity, especially drug companies and tech.

How far can this bull market go? VIX level signals risk is gone. Presidential unrest could bring risk back in, and give you another buying opportunity. Looking at a company’s fundamentals, if you think that revenues and earnings can grow, market shenanigans beget buying opportunities.

Interest in the cannabis sector by Constellation and Diageo. The space has been the go-to sector in Canada for a lot of international companies. The valuation can be justified by having a big company behind it. For a beverage company, in the wake of declining beer sales, they need to bet on another asset class.

Brewers are struggling with declining sales. Valuation is still on the rich side, mainly because of declining margins. Doesn’t have EM exposure that you’d like to see. Be cautious. Compares poorly to its peers. (Analysts’ price target is $77.43.)

Fortis vs. Emera. Emera has more diversified assets. In a rising interest rate environment, who can grow their top line? It appears to be Emera. Because of growth profile and underlying assets.

Fortis vs. Emera. Emera has more diversified assets. In a rising interest rate environment, who can grow their top line? It appears to be Emera. Because of growth profile and underlying assets.

Likes how the company is set up. Poised to benefit with the way cannabis is rolling out. Value is going to be in the distribution. Not cheap, but none of the cannabis stocks are. A good company for sector exposure.

One of his favourites for a long time because of its competitive edge. A strong performer. Solid balance sheet. Fundamentally strong. (Analysts’ price target is $80.78.)

Moving from device to software producer. Has a problem when companies are in transition. Stock has pulled back, to a pretty compelling level. Not a bad place to add. (Analysts’ price target is $15.17.)

Sports streaming is a big step. It has a natural propensity to grab market share compared to its competitors. Likes their positioning in content dissemination. This could be the Netflix moment for Facebook. (Analysts’ price target is $206.74.)

Trying to figure out how to fund the new acquisition. Cautious until we get more clarity on that. Prefers TransCanada. Fundamentals are not as strong as they used to be. If bullish on oil, it’s a good entry point. (Analysts’ price target is $54.88.)

((A Top Pick May 17/18, Up 10%) Turnaround story. Room to grow cash flow and dividends.

(A Top Pick May 17/18, Up 1%) Has been a flat story. Still a good entry point. Has a lot of hidden gems.

(A Top Pick May 17/18, Down 3%) Would still buy at this point. Getting penalized because of Saudi-Canadian issues. Geopolitical issues let you buy good companies at a good price.

Has trouble because it’s difficult to pinpoint the growth of its cash flows. Low rate of investor capital, and the market is catching on to that. (Analysts’ price target is $19.72.)

Likes this name. A safe, growing business. Ag stocks have been underperforming in general. Always had a premium valuation. Trading at 13x cash flow. Seems rich. Not too worried about the trade issues. (Analysts’ price target is $71.14.)

Quality and sustainability metrics are problematic. You need underlying growth to pay the dividend. Highly speculative buy here, some value could be unlocked. But it won’t come back quickly. (Analysts’ price target is $6.03.)

Big admirer of how the company is set up. Growth is phenomenal, especially in China and India. Only challenge is the valuation. Going to be a good company for a long time. The risk is constantly betting on it beating every quarter. If it doesn’t, it’s a good time to add. (Analysts’ price target is $371.08.)

Penalized for missing on earnings. Great growth story, but it doesn’t have the cloud services that Amazon has. A little bit cautious. Wait for it to settle down before looking at it.

Has had some problem with this name. Need to figure out how to pay for the recent acquisition and divest assets. Cash flow from operations needs to sustain the dividend. Good at these levels, as dividend quality is still strong. (Analysts’ price target is $28.75.)

Trying to recalibrate. P/E used to be higher. Trying to get into alcoholic beverages. Still looks pricey. Wait for another quarter before getting back in.

Geopolitical risk is priced in. Good backlog of opportunities. Growth coming in. EBITDA could be strong going forward. Yield is 2%. (Analysts’ price target is $70.54.)

Dividend quality very strong. Linked to oil prices. Very strong balance sheet and very low payout ratio. Can get dividends and some growth for the next 2 years. Yield is 6.6%. (Analysts’ price target is $56.88.)

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.)

Market Outlook. Rates have gone up. There is always a negative slant associated with this but that is more based on history. We don’t know how markets are going to behave going forward. Tax benefits are affecting earnings positively. There is a seismic shift also on how business is done with the Internet of things, AI and other technologies. There is a big shift in the way data is disseminated and analyzed.

A defensive name. A company that looks to be acquired. The stock looks goods now on the pullback. Steady dividend and good yield. Maybe the fact that marihuana is being legalized affected the price of the stock and its multiples. A boring traditional business as it is

Would selling marijuana help their business? Everybody talks about downstream market for cannabis Fundamental score of this company is very strong. Thinks the company is overvalued. He will wait. It has been an acquisition model. It usually comes down after an acquisition.

Fundamental score of this company is very strong with strong earnings. Thinks the company is overvalued.

It has had troubles. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd (FFH-T) just made a big investment on it. Balance sheet doesn’t look very well. Dividend seems safe. 6.2% dividend yield. The leasing business of aircrafts is doing very well.

The pipelines had pullback for its sensitivity to interest rates. Margins are good. They made an investment in Heartland Petrochemical complex that is giving them strong margins. Dividend seems safe.

The Dividend quality scores seems average. Bloated working capital. Weaker in its group.

He likes this company Solid from a balance sheet perspective. The ROI looks very attractive. They continue to grow and acquire good companies and integrating them very well.

A regulated utility. The tier 1 of the complex. Likes the way the company is set up. Negative $1.2 billion working capital. (Analysts’ price target is $48)

Excellent company. The valuation justifies the business. Has access to low-cost gas. Well positioned company. All the fundamentals tick off for him.

Probably one of the top two banks. Ticking off all the boxes. Has one of the weakest dividend quality scores according to his model. Wells Fargo & Co (WFC-N) looks the most undervalued.

Signature Diversified Yield CI Funds. He typically doesn’t respond on funds as he doesn’t know their strategies. Better proxy than owning some of the dividend yielding stocks. Good asset base and diversification.

Difficult name to analyze as two big conglomerates come together. It takes a while for synergies to play out. Lots of tailwinds. Dividend is strong.

He likes it. Has pulled back and the valuation looks very attractive now. Cleaning up some of its assets.

Good entry point. It has been a poor performer. Trend bullish on the technical. Dividend quality is not the greatest. Finance business has been performing excellently. Momentum in the manufacturing space will bode well for this company.

One of the leaders of the pack. Bubbly impression in terms of valuations as it is trading in multiples of potential sales and earnings. Institutional investors are staying out. He thinks there is going to be a shakeout in the whole space. Valuations could change very dramatically. Positive working capital. $40 million in sales. Could be one of the big “tobacco” companies in the future.

Company is in the penalty box for the last year and a half. A technology play. It is not even in the top ten cells used by youngsters. Unable to pigeonhole the valuation of the business right now. Looks good from a fundamental perspective. He doesn’t understand the business model.

Good company. Well managed company. Have been rangebound for the last thee years. Good dividend. Few of the companies that score 100 on dividend quality on his model. Steady cash flow. Low beta dividend growth story.

You expect all lifecos to do well on a rising interest rate environment. It is surprising that we haven’t had the big trade on the lifecos. He will gravitate toward banks more than lifecos now. He feels uncomfortable with the group at the moment.

One of the names in the interest sensitive space that looks the most interesting. Reporting in US dollars now. Looks like there is room for dividend growth here. Payout ratio in the mid-forties. (Analysts’ price target is $15.03)

He has been a shareholder of this company for a long time. Underperformed for the last couple of years mainly for some contrarian bets the CEO has made. Just made an investment on Toys r Us that looks interesting for the Real Estate. Good cash position. Good book value. (Analysts’ price target is $746.97)

Good backlog. Exposure on the oil and gas looks good. (Analysts’ price target is $69.73)

Markets. It hard to guess if equities have found their bottom. They have gone into a Friday finishing in the red so you could fear next week. He has been observing a widening of credit spreads. Earnings growth will be very critical to the businesses you want to focus on. The market has been pricing in 10 times earnings year over year. A lot of it has been acquisition driven. We will feel the effect of commodities impacting thing negatively in some cases and positively in others. Some retailers should benefit. Apparel guys have been trading at 25 times earnings for a couple of years. In Europe he is looking at credit spreads coming into banks. The Canadian banks vs. European banks show European banks have room to grow. In emerging markets the banks don’t have room to grow.

They had a huge spread benefit based on Nat gas prices. But the entire group has been trading down. It tends to be a cyclical stock. He would wait for another quarter before getting into another name like this. He prefers PPG-N.

Has probably been one of the best light oil producers. It almost feels like a value proposition. The quality of dividends is not good, though, as they cut back on it. The operating numbers look pretty good. You get into the tax loss selling in December and you realize you should be waiting until January to look at it.

It lines up well as a safe dividend paying stock. The dividend score is about average, but he likes the payout ratio. It is the lowest cost Nat gas producer in the region. It is a relatively safer bet than CPG-T.