As a long-term investment? A producer of industrial gases is highly dependent on industrial cyclicals, which have had some troubles. They are related to the energy sector. What troubles him is that its multiples have been stubbornly high, at about 20X earnings in a depressed market. There are better places to look.

This is growing very rapidly. The metrics you want to concentrate on are the average monthly and average daily users, and they continue to rise. This is an advertiser’s dream, and Facebook is taking advantage of that with their mobile applications, and using the bolt-on applications that they have. They are also looking into the future. The future of video and virtual realities. There is a great future for this company.

A company that he has always admired. Had a little hiccup a few years ago when Howard Schultz exited, but he has since returned, a great manager who represents the company very well. This trouble has always been valuation, trading in the high 20s in terms of market multiple, which is a little bit too rich for him.

He would characterize this as being the senior representative of the US banking sector. It is the healthiest and has the best reputation. If you want to have a position in the US financials, this is certainly a good choice. On the other hand, if you are looking for some valuation recovery, he would look at Citigroup (C-N), Bank of America (BAC-N) or Wells Fargo (WFC-N).

The difficulty that chemically based pharmaceuticals have had is basically with current legislation. They spend a lot of money developing drugs, and then they go off patent in a few years and they lose that revenue stream. If you look at the financials of all of the majors, basically it is a flat revenue picture, and any cash flow or earnings progress is made through cost cutting. He would prefer the bio side, such as Biogen (BIIB-Q), Celgene (CELG-Q), etc.

Wouldn’t invest in this for the long-term, because the headwind of Department stores or brick-and-mortar type retailers is severe. People are getting involved with the ease of online shopping and its cost effectiveness.

If you believe that rates will go up, this is a good place to invest. Insurance companies make most of their money on their bond portfolios. This company just reported and had a very strong report by basically increasing the quality of earnings, and recognizing the fact that rates are not rising. Have also cut costs by 11% year-over-year. They’ve been in the program of exiting non-core assets quite effectively. Given their very attractive pricing against their BV, it is a good place to invest.