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Markets. Getting much more difficult to pick stocks but there are always stocks that are going to go up. You have to work harder, but have to be a little bit more careful. He likes broken stocks that are on the mend. An old business that has been around for a long time, easy to analyze because it has a lot of historical data behind it. If you are selling stocks or have cash, don’t rush out to buy. Just wait, there is going to be a pullback at some time. Bull market probably still has legs.

Digitizes videos, especially live sports. Great clients like the NBA, NHL, NFL, etc. Likes the company, but considers it a Hold now. It has a good future. Rogers deal for the NHL will be very constructive for this company. Great customer base, solid technology and will do well over the long-term. Try to get it in the low $0.50 area and you will probably do well.

They own, operate and consolidate ESL schools, but not the ones where locals go, it is only for foreign students who come to Canada, who are less price sensitive, so pay more. 3^rd quarter earnings were spectacular. Net earnings margin has been 20%. What really gets him excited is that they are now entering the student housing business. Have 4500 students who come to Loyalist schools today and they need to live somewhere. Have a pilot project starting in January with a small number of students and margins are fantastic. If they can grow this out over the next few years to what he thinks they can, that alone is worth potentially $100 million and the market cap today is only $80 million. $1.30 in 12 months is reasonable.

A processor of all sorts of nuts. Had a bit of a rough ride for the last 10 years. Margins got hurt about 5-6 years ago as they concentrated more on the industrial nut market but are now becoming a consumer’s packaged goods play. Have 2 very attractive brands. Have a big new plant, which is only running at 50% capacity and they can double their capacity without any extra investment. Entering into China as well. Thinks margins are going to expand pretty rapidly. No analyst covers this, which he loves.

Thinks there is a lot more to go on this one. Not long ago, this was an $18-$20 stock. Just a simple leveraged bet on a turnaround in the Greek economy. Greek national bonds were upgraded recently, still weak, but nevertheless the trend is improving. Also, owns a big stake in a Turkish bank and Turkey’s economy is quite healthy. Have some real estate assets that are probably worth more than the average investor thinks.

Pipeline industry has a very bright future in North America, with all the production that is growing in the US and the Western part of Canada but this is not a super attractive stock. Has done really well, but it’s big and earnings are not going to multiply. Dividend is decent, but not great. If you are going to hold it for a long time, you are probably fine. Better opportunities elsewhere if you want dividends. It may be held back a little bit by US taper talks. Smaller plays that are more nimble could include Keyera (KEY-T) or AltaGas (ALA-T).

Home monitoring for patients in the US which is a growth industry. 10,000 people turn 65 in the US every day. Government has a problem. There is a lot of demand for health dollars and there are not a lot of dollars coming in. Government is pushing policies that will benefit patient home strategy, i.e. patients taking care of themselves. This company cobbled together a group of smaller businesses that some way or other, are in the home patient monitoring business and the idea is to get revenue synergies by cross selling. They are in the middle of a raise right now, and once that closes he expects to see the stock to go back North of $0.30. He could see this at $0.40-$0.45 in a year.

Spoke to the CEO recently. Have a nice little business. Kind of a service provider to utilities and telcos. Write software pieces that help them send bills to their customers. The trouble is, they don’t have one source of revenue, sort of a patch of many different things. Also, they are capital constrained and need to raise money. It is hard to predict where the earnings are going to come from.

Has been a tremendous success story. However, you have a CEO/founder that is leaving. People generally don’t leave when things are going well. If he had to guess, he would guess that the business has probably peaked along with the stock price. Even if the company continues to do well, the stock is probably going to start selling off.

Sold his holdings too early. Management is really solid. The overall business strategy of acquiring accretive companies still makes sense. Likes the way they fund themselves. They use a preferred share, which is redeemable, so they don’t dilute the common shareholders as much as other acquiring companies do. Hasn’t looked at this one closely lately. Typically you will do well in this scenario.

His views have dimmed on this company. Cash is dying. You are probably better off owning Visa (V-N) or MasterCard (MC-N). The machine business they are into in North America is really mature and might even be shrinking.

Insurance software providers. Used by insurance claims adjusters and is on a per use basis, so it will start to move when there are more natural catastrophes. This rarely goes below the $0.40 level. If you can pick it up in the high $0.30, or at $0.40, you are going to do okay.

Electronic cigarettes are one of the most fascinating technological paradigm shifts that we have seen in a long time. These only have nicotine in them with no other chemicals so there are not the same negative health effects that there are in cigarettes. Thinks there is a lot of money to be made, and it’s a good place to be. CEO has about $200 million conservatively, of revenue lined up in his pipeline, through acquisition/distributions.

(A Top Pick Dec 14/12. Up 7.39%.) Not the most attractive stock to be in right now. You have the tapering influence. Longer-term, for the more conservative investor, this is fine. You are going to have a lot of growth with all the infrastructure going on. As long as interest rates don’t shoot up too high, you’re going to be fine.

(A Top Pick Dec 14/12. Up 34.42%.) Still struggling. 2014 will be a particularly great year. He classifies this as a Hold. Expects to see higher margins in 2015. Once they get through their backlog in 2014, with an improving economy, he sees this is eventually going to $20. 5.5% dividend.