TOP PICK
Level of the US$ versus Cdn$ makes it attractive. This one fits the mold of a stock that could be a cornerstone in portfolios. Good dividend yield. Good coverage of debt and ability to generate cash flows.
TOP PICK
Chemical company manufacturing PVC piping/tubing as well as products that go into circuit boards. This is a play on recovery based on infrastructure spending as well as a recovery in the tech sector.
TOP PICK
Preferred shares-series C, 5.75%. Alternative to holding cash. Has a reset function so that every 5 years the rate is reset, representing a nice protection against inflation. They are accumulative units meaning they get paid before common shares.
PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick March 3/09. Up 58.92%.) Continue to Hold.
PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick March 3/09. Up 60.91%.) Rebalanced this one because of weighting but continues to be an excellent holding. Looking for significant dividend increases over the next little while.
PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick March 3/09. Up 18.04%.)
PARTIAL BUY
One of the premier global distributors of liquor brands. Fantastic marketers. Reasonably defensive. Could be a market pullback and might get it 5%-10% cheaper so consider buying a 1/2 position in buying the balance later.
COMMENT
Key with ADRs is to look for wherever you can get the best liquidity and the best price. This one is not overly liquid so he would prefer this one in Euros or Swiss francs. As a stock, he prefers Unilever (UN-N) as they have better emerging market penetration and better continuity in management.
DON'T BUY
Negative surprise to earnings several weeks ago. Too focused on RIM devices whereas Apple (AAPL-Q) has a number of different products. Although cheaper, it is not one he would own in this space. Would prefer something like Cisco (CSCO-Q), which is behind all of these products and will do well to matter who is ahead.
BUY
If the RIMs (RIM-T), Apples (AAPL-Q) and the Palms (PALM-Q) of the world do well, this one will do amazingly well because they are behind all these sorts of products.
BUY ON WEAKNESS
Largest biotech stock in the US. He prefers biotech to pharma. This one is quite a reasonable company but thinks the markets are a little overdone at these levels. You won't go too far wrong but try to get it in the mid-to low $50's.
DON'T BUY
Japan is fascinating because it has been cheap historically for a long time. Banking system still doesn’t function very well. Domestic economy still faces significant headwinds. Some individual companies he would look at but not the broad market. (See Top Picks.)
DON'T BUY
Interesting strategy. Trying to be a low-cost producer in global banking by aggressively going after the retail base, which is fairly capital intensive so this is not one he would favour.
PARTIAL SELL
Selling at a mid-20’s multiple that can't be justified based on potential growth rate. If you own, consider taking some profits and look to re-establish when it gets back to a more reasonable level.
TOP PICK
Stumbled very badly by taking on some risks that they failed to hedge. Since then they have taken dramatic steps to shore up their balance sheet as well as improve their capital position. Recently took more steps to decrease their sensitivity to equity market movements.