DON'T BUY

This is in a sector that has been somewhat bypassed, but it hasn’t had a bad performance for the last while. Has moved up with the market, and should continue to. Likely to be more sideways, as it is not a sector that money is flowing into right now. Power Financial is going to benefit in the next little while, because the financials are doing better. He owns Great West (GWO-T) for the yield and growth. If he owned, he wouldn’t be afraid to sell it. It is not in a sector that is attracting capital right now.

COMMENT

The turnaround is now in Europe with a lot of the banks, but the German banks are still not in a position. This one is looking better, and is going to end up looking like the US banks in the next year or so as things unfold. (See Top Picks.)

COMMENT

A fabulous opportunity. Your risks are more political in China, but this company is just knocking the ball out of the park all the time. It has a great growth model to it. It is situated in an area that doesn’t have a lot of malls or a lot of shopping.

COMMENT

Switch from Linamar (LNR-T)? That would be 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. They are both in the auto parts business. If you like auto parts, they are both good companies and have performed with the sector.

HOLD

This has a great looking chart. There is money flowing in. He owns nothing in this area now, but has no negatives on it. The companies are breaking out and telling you that they want to go higher.

BUY

So much depends on how far you think oil can go. He is optimistic and thinks the price is going to go up. If you buy it here, he thinks you can make money. They manufacture oil as opposed to searching for it. It has a good yield. Thinks it is going to go into the low to mid $20s in the next up move, presuming oil goes to $55-$60.

COMMENT

The life companies get a tailwind out of rising interest rates, so they are beneficiaries. This could go on for some time. If Asia continues to come into them, they are big there. Thinks you could get a lift to the $30 mark.

COMMENT

He owns nothing in the sector. The nice thing about this is that it is diverse across the spectrum. It has the television as well as the mobile as well as the land lines. He would be more interested in this as a trade, as there are headwinds in the long-term.

TOP PICK

A hardware company focusing on memory. Just completed a takeover of their competition Sandisk in May, so they are a sort of the “go to” company now. They have a great customer base including Alphabet, Apple, Walmart. As we use the Cloud more and more, this company is a great beneficiary. Dividend yield of 2.89%. (Analysts’ price target is $77.96.)

TOP PICK

This has a reasonable yield, and he was looking for situation that had enough yield but with enough growth to give something extra. It has a very low decline rate, which means they don’t have to pump a lot of capital in the ground to keep their decline rate going. They are very good operators. It has an immaculate balance sheet, with very low debt. If the price of crude goes up even $5-$10, they will be big beneficiaries. Also the market cap is under $1 billion. When it gets to $1 billion, a lot of funds will buy it, giving it an extra kick. Dividend yield of 4.11%. (Analysts’ price target is $11.83.)

TOP PICK

This keeps looking better and better. It is at the front end of technology in the European banking system. They got caught in the rigmarole of 2008, and had to borrow money from the Dutch government. They quickly liquidated in Canada and the US and paid the Dutch government back, and excelled on their new technology platform and are able to deliver costs much cheaper than the other European banks. Thinks it will be the leader in Europe. Dividend yield of 4.77%. (Analysts’ price target is $13.89.)

N/A

Market.This has been a year to remember for investors. When we entered the year, we didn’t have very high expectations, and yet look at the markets that we’ve had. That happened in spite of all the things that came in to shock the market. We had BREXIT, Trump winning, the migrant crisis, and at the same time we still have the carryover of the same problems with Italy, Portugal, Greece, etc. Those haven’t been resolved, and yet politicians have almost been taking a deny and delay tactic towards that. In spite of all this, the market just seems to keep moving up. People predicted that after the post Trump victory, markets might go down. A lot of people made the wrong bet on that side, and instead we have probably had one of the longest postelection rallies in history. We still go into the next year with relatively high valuations. All those problems are continuing to follow us, and yet expectations seem to be very, very high in the market. As a value investor, that makes him a little nervous. He is happy to be carrying a fair amount of cash on the sidelines, as there may be opportunities to catch some fallen angels next year. In the last quarter or so, he has probably been a net seller rather than a net buyer of securities.

DON'T BUY

This is in a major transition. They have gone from being a hardware company, trying to be a software company and still not earnings positive yet. These transformations can take years. The autonomous vehicle sector is going to be an extremely competitive field going forward. Whether this ends up being one of the dominant players is going to be a guessing game at this point. Not sure he would consider this as an investment, because you can’t analyse what is going to happen going forward. It is more speculation.

WAIT

SNC-Lavalin (SNC-T) or Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP.UN-T)?Infrastructure stocks have been particularly strong lately, and a lot of that has come post the Trump victory and expectations that there is going to be more spending, etc. Things have gone up a little too fast, so he would be a little wary of stepping into these at this point in time. He prefers Aecon (ARE-T) whose valuation seems to be a little better in terms of what he can expect to earn over the next few years.

WAIT

SNC-Lavalin (SNC-T) or Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP.UN-T)?Infrastructure stocks have been particularly strong lately, and a lot of that has come post the Trump victory and expectations that there is going to be more spending, etc. Things have gone up a little too fast, so he would be a little wary of stepping into these at this point in time. He prefers Aecon (ARE-T) whose valuation seems to be a little better in terms of what he can expect to earn over the next few years.