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Market. If Mrs. Clinton wins the election, the knee-jerk reaction will be to sell Pharma stocks, and that will be a great buying opportunity. He likes buying stocks that are out of favour, and Pharma has been out of favour for a while, expecting this.

DON'T BUY

This is a yesterday stock. It is almost 100% beverages with the vast majority being sugar water, a market that is in decline. They don’t have the diversification that PepsiCo (PEP-N) has, and he prefers PepsiCo.

COMMENT

Fortis (FTS-T) or Emera (EMA-T)? This used to be Canada’s growth utility, and is still a growing utility, but Emera seems to have taken its place. Both companies have made major acquisitions in the US. Keep in mind that there is an interest rate risk for utilities. He wouldn’t have a huge percentage of your portfolio as these companies will be hurt by rising interest rates.

WEAK BUY

Fortis (FTS-T) or Emera (EMA-T)? Fortis used to be Canada’s growth utility, and is still a growing utility, but Emera seems to have taken its place. Both companies have made major acquisitions in the US. Now that this has Teco Energy, they probably have more of their earnings coming from the US then from Canada. Keep in mind that there is an interest rate risk for utilities. This gives a nice dividend of 4.5%, and they have a history of raising it regularly. Don’t have a huge percentage of your portfolio in companies that will be hurt by rising interest rates.

HOLD

He likes the life insurance sector, and this company is part of that. Believes interest rates are going up and this company will probably benefit.

COMMENT

He bought this when it had no pipeline, which is when he likes to buy drug stocks. Sold it a number of months ago, and then it had a big drop off. Their initial drop off was because they had a large bet on a cancer drug that didn’t quite get the results that they hold for. It is now back on his radar as a potential if it continues to sell off.

BUY

The biggest pressure sensitive label company in the world. They are also in aluminum aerosol cans as well as cosmetic tubes. All of these are non-cyclical, and continue to gain market share. He likes this and continues to buy it for new accounts, because it has good growth ahead of it.

COMMENT

Telephone poles and railway ties. It grows organically, but mostly by tuck in acquisitions. This has been a good performer over time. Got a little expensive, but is coming into line now. Today’s drop off caught his attention, and he may look at it now.

COMMENT

The time to Buy auto companies is when the PE is sky-high and there are no earnings. The time to Sell is when they actually have the earnings and the PE shrinks down. The market is indicating that it has been a great ride for the auto cycle, but it looks like production has peaked for now, which means earnings will probably peak as well. It is not necessarily a great time to be buying an auto stock, but that time will come again when sales bottom.

COMMENT

In general, for engineering companies, people have bought them on the expectation that there is all the infrastructure spending to happen. There has been an awful lot of talk, but not a lot of follow-through yet. If you are a short-term investor, you should not be near the stocks, but if a long-term investor, this is creating an opportunity. (See Top Picks.)

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick Oct 1/15. Up 13.93%.) This is a super regional bank out of North Carolina. Most of its operations are on the US East Coast, but have bought some banks inland as well. A superbly managed bank, mostly retail. A big beneficiary of a rising yield curve, so when rates do go up in the US, it will be a big beneficiary. Dividend yield of 3.1%.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick Oct 1/15. Up 20.65%.) This was coming to the end of the transformation that Jack Welsh had done of making it a financial stock instead of an industrial stock. It has pulled off a little in the short term, which gives you an opportunity. This has become a big player in energy infrastructure type stuff, which is why it has been coming off a little. Dividend yield of 3.1%.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick Oct 1/15. Up 34.38%.) In outsourcing of HR businesses. They manage companies HRs, benefits programs, pension benefits. It is also growing in the US now. This has a nice dividend, but has never raised the dividend since it stopped being an Income Trust. At the low end of the payout ratio, and he thinks it is getting ready to raise the dividend. Dividend yield of 4%.

HOLD

His opinion on mutual funds in general is to Hold for now and maybe Buy later on. The mutual fund industry is about to go through a big problem with CRM2, where clients are about to find out the egregious amount they pay in MER’s to own the funds. That could cause some disruption for the industry. Dividend yield of 5.5%.

DON'T BUY

He wouldn’t go near this. When this was in the cheque printing business, he could understand owning it. They then got into the FinTech business and started becoming a company that he didn’t understand.