DON'T BUY
Owned for many years but recently exited the name. CEO took over just days after 9/11 and has had a very tough decade. 2008 was very tough on this company. Not getting the traction on the earnings side. Have made some headway but feels there are better industrials out there.
BUY
Keeps popping up on his screen. Have 2 things that he loves, accelerating growth and relatively good valuation. Trading in the high single digits in terms of earnings multiples and 13%-14% growth rate. Had some problems some years ago but management has turned that around. Aas become more of a high-tech name, competing against outside groups for office solutions. Pretty good name.
BUY
Great dividend. Would prefer this over AT&T (T-N) because of the growthier aspect. They don't have the wire line exposure of AT&T. Fairly safe name but you probably won't get a ton of growth out of it.
PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick Dec 15/10. Up 1.59%.) Great international exposure. Committed to a $2.5 billion investment in China. Recently bought a dairy concern in Russia. Likes that it is not a pure beverage company. About 30% of their business comes out of Frito-Lay. Fairly stable company.
DON'T BUY
The high-level view of this company is that it is large which creates its own problems. Fairly mature in its field, which can be a disadvantage because of competition. Management talked about a 17%-18% revenue growth which they continue to fail to meet. Also having trouble internally with governments deferring expenses. Would probably look elsewhere in tech.
COMMENT
Euro versus the US$. Should he Short and take some long positions in some US equities? Shorting the euro is becoming a popular trade. This makes him a little nervous. US is full of companies doing business globally so are faced with the European market, which could be a bit of a problem. However, the US is looking like a bit of a safe haven.
COMMENT
Sold his holdings a few months ago but is still a believer that over the long term, this bank has to do well if the US economy does well. Treasury is flattening the yield curve, making it difficult for the US banks to make money. There are a lot of risks in the banks but long-term they could do well.
COMMENT
40%-45% sales come from outside of the US and Europe is a very big market for them. Stock has taken it on the chin. Have close to $100 billion in debt as well as $15-$20 billion of unfunded pension obligations but are producing a tremendous volume of cash and just introduced a dividend. Long-term, it could be a good bet.
TOP PICK
Growing at about 30%-35% and trading at about 10X earnings. Expect they will have $35 as share in earnings in 2012.
TOP PICK
Getting a great deal of traction and growing at a very fast rate. Trades at about 13X earnings. The exciting thing is that they have changed the way we think about advertising with a big piece being mobility. Number of people looking at their ads and clicking through is increasing.
TOP PICK
Think of this as the middle of every business and making sure that all the moving parts are communicating in a very efficient way. Half of their revenue comes off licensing, which is stable and not cyclical. Have doubled their earnings since 2007. Have aggregated their businesses well.
PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick 15/10. Down 22.51%.) Expects over $1.60 in earnings this year and trades at 10X earnings.
PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick 15/10. Up 43.29%.) Still doing very well.
COMMENT
Markets. This is all short term stuff and he is a long-term value investor. He buys stocks when no one wants them and sells them when everyone wants them. He chooses companies he likes as well as prices that he likes.
DON'T BUY
Not a big fan of the banks in general. Cdn banks are probably the highest quality banks globally, which is great, but a lot of money came into them and the valuations became high compared to other stocks and other banks outside of Canada. This one has been a disappointment and he doesn't see this changing soon.