N/A

Economy. House prices have gone up like crazy and he expects that by the end of 2018 there will be a housing bust. Thinks the government should increase the amount needed for down payments. There should be a special tax for foreign buyers based on the price of the home and should pay more in taxes. Knows the government will not be raising interest rates soon, but they should think about doing that.

DON'T BUY

A worldwide leader in female contraceptives. The problem is that they are a one product company and management is in their 80s. This would be a good fit with a larger company. They have money in the bank and no debt, and are constantly profitable. Doing a deal with Aston Park pharmaceuticals, a company with a number of products in the pipeline, but none them have revenues. He is hoping the deal doesn’t go through.

COMMENT

Orange (ORAN-N) or Banco Santander (SAN-N)? A telecom leader in France and many other countries. He likes the company and thinks it can double from here. Pays a good dividend. The French market is very, very competitive. If he were buying either, it would be Banco Santander.

COMMENT

Orange (ORAN-N) or Banco Santander (SAN-N)? This got hit in the last couple of days. Goldman Sachs said it was going to cost them a fortune because of BREXIT and their profits would go way down. However, the CEO said she didn’t expect a lot of impact. Pays a nice dividend and constantly makes money. If he were buying either, it would be this one.

COMMENT

On his watch list, but unfortunately it has gone up like crazy. The Wilkes Brothers were buying a lot. They are huge into the company, and are pretty sharp investors. As oil/gas comes back, this company should come back. Far less attractive to him now because it has gone up so much. For somebody wanting to get into the area, it could be a good pick, but there might be better picks with better balance sheets.

COMMENT

Had a spill that really hurt them. They still have a difficult row to hoe, and is no longer on his watch list. There are companies out there that are not nearly as expensive, so this wouldn’t be first on his Buy list.

COMMENT

The new CEO has made a lot of changes. Have had a lot of write-downs, and because of that they have been losing money. Thinks the CEO is on the right track. They cut the dividend and eliminated about $10 million of money that was going out of the company. Selling at about half BV. If you take out goodwill, it is selling at far less then BV. He is happy to be holding onto this.

BUY

He likes this. The key thing is that they have moved through this horrible tunnel of litigation. Because of that, the bottom line should improve. Dividend has been increased from $.01 a share to $.05 a share, and thinks it will go up further. Can see the shares going up quite a distance from here. Dividend yield of 1.6%.

COMMENT

It looks like this quarter could be a boffo quarter. It is not only the spring/summer season, but looks like their sales are really perking up. Have moved into a new facility and have taken care of some of their costs. He would like to see some company, swallow this.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick June 19/15. Up 15.49%.) Pays a nice dividend. Stock recently got hit, because the payout ratio last quarter was about 86%, much higher than normal. Recently revenues and the bottom line went up very, very smartly. They’ve withdrawn from the US market and got $1.2 billion. They are expanding in the Canadian market. A demographic play because it is health and Senior citizens’ homes, etc.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick June 19/15. Down 31.03%.) When they reported their recent quarterly results, they got a “going concern” attached to it. That often means bankruptcy is not too far away, however their debt is only a few million dollars. They have to do some reclamation in Spain which will cost them $6 million, plus in Bolivia they wanted to get the mine moving forward. Just got a loan of $7.9 million for their Bolivia holdings. Production is primarily gold and copper. He doesn’t know who the CEO will be going forward. A good speculative buy.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick June 19/15. Up 6.31%.) Based in Alabama and have 20 branches. They make money year after year and have excellent capitalization ratios. Selling at about two thirds of BV, which is something you generally don’t see in banking. In 2011 they eliminated the dividend, but it is now $.02 a quarter. Thinks there is tremendous upside on this. He can see the price quadrupling from this level.

COMMENT

When you see what the government is planning on doing on infrastructure and building, this company could do well. A smartly run company. Thinks it has a fair bit of upside from here.

COMMENT

This company has some knocks against it. They had a lot of difficulties with the gold price being down. They always have trouble making money. Royal Gold made a royalty agreement and are giving them $130 million, but of course there is a whole payback with that, which will depress their earnings. He can see this going up $1.25.

COMMENT

This just got trounced in the past couple of days. It has been on his list for quite a while. He is watching it very closely. They have a lot of problems in Brazil, and have a lot of business in Britain. It pays a nice dividend. Thinks Europe is a good play.