Networking. Seems to be rebounding very well. Have $1.2 billion in revenue was $200 million in debt, which is not too bad. Seemed to have stopped the red ink and are currently making a little bit of money.
Some real dangers with this. Distribution very high at $.081 a month so would not be surprised to see a cut in 2010-2011. Could become a Corp in 2010 and the unit price could get hit. Short term, he keeps getting current distributions, medium term not so good, long-term better.
Were paying $0.05 a month distribution, became a corporation and eliminated distributions. Price went from $3.50 to $1 and change. Now sitting at about $2. Chairman owns about 60% and has recently been buying. Expecting tremendous upside. Because they are not paying distributions they could end up earning $.40-$.50 a share in the next few years. Wouldn't surprise him if it went private before then.
Normally markets do not do very well from May through October. This year it has done so well through the last of months that we are going to be in for a more difficult time. He is not a believer that the market will continue to go up. Wouldn't surprise him to see it go down 15%-20%. He will be waiting before putting more money in.
(A Top Pick July 4/08. Down 66.09%.) Still on his Buy list. Has recovered and insiders have been doing a lot of buying. Tied into housing and the aviation industry. Cut a number of employees in December and also took wage cuts. Streamlined operations. Refinanced debt. Clean balance sheet.
(A Top Pick July 4/08. Down 50.74%.) Computer services. CEO has made a number of changes and is known for doing a turnaround and then having the company taken over. Running at about break even. Very little debt. Still on his Buy list.
(A Top Pick July 4/08. Down 48.86%.) The marketplace they are in is very competitive. No debt and a fair bit of cash. Normally they are profitable. Under normal market conditions, it should be at a much higher valuation. On his Buy list.
Located in Israel, which has geopolitical problems. This company has had record revenues/profits and no long-term debt. Still on his Buy list and is quite comfortable holding it.
Natural gas: Likes as it fits in with his contrarian views. Whole sector has been decimated. Some possibilities are Pengrowth (PGF.UN-T) and Harvest Energy (THE.UN-T). You could also try True Energy (TUI.UN-T) but is very dangerous. You could also look at convertible debts. Trouble with all of these is that their balance sheets are all pretty ugly.
Had 2 approvals, May 27 and June 8. This is on his Watch list but was far more interesting before May 27 so it now holds no interest for him. Might be okay for momentum players.
Did a number of acquisitions over the past few years. Very difficult to integrate a number of companies, without involving a lot of losses and write-offs. They keep on losing money and it wouldn't surprise him to see this continue for a few more years.
Silver: As a monetary investment, he would personally wait for it to be at lower levels. He prefers to earn interest on his investments but it still could be part of a portfolio but he wouldn't go hog wild on it.
Pulp and paper: Thinks this sector will come back because there has been so much cutting and so much abysmal horrific results that a turnaround is in store. The problem is that so many companies have very poor balance sheets.
Longer term, you could do well on this one. He would like to buy in at under $15. Likes that they have a dividend. Balance sheet is still a little weighted towards debt but believe they are in the process of selling $850 million.
Has looked at this recently because of their 20% distributions. However, the balance sheet didn't attract him enough for him to go beyond a cursory look. A lot of companies as they convert to corporations are finding a perfect opportunity to cut distributions.