President & Chief Investment Strategist at Barometer Capital Management
Member since: Jun '01 · 4951 Opinions
We have been in dis-inflationary times for 40 years but are now in a re-inflationary period with higher than historical inflation and interest rates. Rates can continue to rise over a long period of time but it may be that the economy and employment can handle it. Therefore we need to readjust our views as to what might happen in a rising rate environment. Investors worry about something breaking but we are not necessarily seeing signs of this. There is some improvement in supply chain issues but there are still some sticky areas. Re-inflation develops in steps so we now need to look at what works in this type of environment. Technical and growth stocks don't do as well as stocks with good yields.
A big question is how will AI affect the search business. Google will probably have a competitive product but how will advertising revenue be affected. It is making new lows on a relative strength basis. Look to other areas of the market.
The price reacts quickly to commodity prices. It has long life assets and is reducing debt and is very interesting as a dividend growth stock. The oil sector has corrected over the past few months.
He has owned it but has concerns about the natural gas sector. Since he is not yet seeing a recovery in gas stocks, he is not buying at this time. Prefers oil.
It will become more of a pure play metals company and with more copper production will benefit from the shift to EV's. Buy either A or B - it is simplifying its share structure. It is outperforming the sector and the materials market itself should outperform.
He likes the metals and materials sector and HudBay as part of the sector. It is holding above the 50 day moving average.
As with CNQ it has great long life assets and generates good cash flow. There is not a lot of new supply coming in and we should see some pickup in drilling in the U.S. over the next year.
It is part of a common theme - a lot of tech related higher multiple stocks are in for tougher times. We had a long tech cycle which fell substantially last year. The sector has had a nice bounce this year but has some proving to do. With yields on 10 and 30 year bonds ticking higher it becomes less attractive for investors to pay for higher multiples. Also many people have bought at higher prices and are anxious to sell if it moves higher to get some or all of their money back. This type of investor has to be cleared out before a sustained rally.
It held up well during the downturn and is therefore resilient. It has rallied and maintained at these higher levels. The consumer goods sector and leisure products are doing well.
Semi-conductors have led for a long time but ran into difficulties last year. The sector has rallied along with the techs this year. Intel is still stuck in the PC market and has not made an effective leap into faster growing areas.
It has traded as high as $140 and is good to buy at today's price. However use caution if it goes below $94 or $93. The summer is a better time since during the growing season more fertilizer is needed. There are concerns around the order levels because prices are up but it should be fine.
It has pulled back recently so you could buy it here. He likes the dividend and its participation in commodity prices. We are in a commodity cycle.
Industrials are doing well and unfortunately there is a tailwind for defense stocks. With the submarine part it has a strong order book.
He divides tech into two groups. One has high multilples and high growth with less profitability, which can cause difficulties. The other comprises value type stocks which are less impacted by rising rates. An example of this is Cisco at 14X earnings which it has grown consistently. It also has a growing dividend, now at about 3%. Not a big growth stock though. His company has only a 7% exposure to tech.
It has outperformed the sector. The technicals are OK but but it is not in a great space. He owns some but would not buy more at this time.