Alexander MacDonald

We are now at the tail end of quarterly reports. Sometimes investor sentiment pivots quickly not based on fundamentals as it did last week. The job numbers were a bit disappointing but in isolation were not enough to explain the volatility last week. The low income consumer, especially in the U.S., has been under pressure for some time but he is bullish on the major economies in Canada and the U.S. over the long term. You need a time horizon of 3 to 5 years. He is not super active in AI investing and their general principle is to buy quality companies with good balance sheets at decent valuations. This does not mean deep value companies.

They invest the float for insurance companies in a diversified conglomerate of companies including Apple, railways, etc. Buffet likes to buy in times of extreme volatility.

It is a great operator that is shareholder friendly like many other oil and gas companies. He doesn't own because he is not sure of where oil prices are going. If there is a shift to renewables then less oil will be needed. If oil prices become greatly depressed then maybe it becomes a buy.

It is good for exposure to the space but again he doesn't like the space so he doesn't own it. It is the largest natural gas dealer in Canada and the market seems to like the acquisition of Crew Energy.

He likes it and it is a core holding in their technology portfolio. It trades at 20X earnings which is attractive since the multiple is better than many of the other big techs. Open AI and Bing haven't taken search business away from them. He likes the underlying business and the advertising part too.

It is primarily Alberta focused. He prefers Fortis with a strong Return on Capital. Rates should come down and income names should do better.

he sold it a year and a half ago - It has too much debt. It has cut its dividend twice in the past year. It is now just a regulated utility after the sale of its renewable power division and some think it was not at a good enough price.

It is one of their top three bank holdings and is very international with divisions in Latin America and the U.S. It is good for diversification and getting to an attractive valuation as it tales good steps to improve things. He feels that the market reaction to its $2 billion acquisition was overdone.

It is going through a turn around recently and de-leveraging the balance sheets. Nuclear energy reactors is a pretty exciting part of the business. He prefers WSP with its M&A activity and design component.

It is a global company and Berkshire took a position in it a few months ago. Fixed income at lower rates are rolling into fixed income at higher rates.

There was some overhang a year ago because of some office real estate holdings. However Brookfield's office holdings have quality tenants who are not leaving. It has great assets and has diversified into renewables and infrastructure.

Regarding the money laundering scandal TD has booked $450 million in fines but most think there is more to come. The bigger picture is the growth in Canada by targeting immigrants with new products. It is at a good entry point.

It is a niche bank that specializes in Alt A lending. It lends a lot to the real estate industry, both personal and commercial, with mortgages on multi-family residential. It is also has an online component. He likes the bigger banks but the smaller ones could grow more.

It has been in the headlines a lot and deliveries have been an issue for both Boeing and Airbus. It is hugely capital intensive and this is not their way to play aerospace. He prefers RTX, formerly Raytheon, which makes parts. More are needed for older airplanes since deliveries of new ones are a challenge these days.

Although the idea of the business is a great one, regulation is an overhang. It has also been accused of taking residential housing away from people who live locally.