COMMENT

Healthcare has been strong over the last 6 months. The 1st group within healthcare that really got going and didn’t give it up last year, was the device companies. The 2nd group were the service and healthcare providers. The 3rd were the Biotechs. The group that has been “hit and miss” has been big Pharma. He would prefer to focus on strength. You can get a lot of the benefit you are getting from Pharma in some of the big biotechs. You are not going to get hurt by this one, but we are in a good market, and this is one of the more underperformers. He prefers something like Amgen (AMGN-Q), which gives you a basket of great products. You could also look at Celgene (CELG-Q), or even biotech ETFs such as IBB-Q or XBI-Q.

COMMENT

A great company. Technology and technology services is likely to continue to do very, very well. This company has a very large and diversified business, a lot of it in the US.

BUY

First Quantum (FM-T) or Hudbay (HBM-T)? He tries to only focus in areas of the market that are strong technically and fundamentally. Also, he always looks for new groups of leadership to emerge. In the last few weeks, despite the fact that commodities in general have been spotty, the metals group has started to perform better. Globally, things are getting better economically, but in addition, the US$ has really taken a tumble. When that happens, it tends to be good for emerging markets and good for commodity prices. The 3 metal stocks that stand out would be Hudbay, First Quantum, and Lundin (LUN-T). All 3 look very attractive. He would be OK with all 3.

BUY

First Quantum (FM-T) or Hudbay (HBM-T)? He tries to only focus in areas of the market that are strong technically and fundamentally. Also, he always looks for new groups of leadership to emerge. In the last few weeks, despite the fact that commodities in general have been spotty, the metals group has started to perform better. Globally, things are getting better economically, but in addition, the US$ has really taken a tumble. When that happens, it tends to be good for emerging markets and good for commodity prices. The 3 metal stocks that stand out would be Hudbay, First Quantum, and Lundin (LUN-T). All 3 look very attractive. He would be OK with all 3.

BUY

First Quantum (FM-T) or Hudbay (HBM-T)? He tries to only focus in areas of the market that are strong technically and fundamentally. Also, he always looks for new groups of leadership to emerge. In the last few weeks, despite the fact that commodities in general have been spotty, the metals group has started to perform better. Globally, things are getting better economically, but in addition, the US$ has really taken a tumble. When that happens, it tends to be good for emerging markets and good for commodity prices. The 3 metal stocks that stand out would be Hudbay, First Quantum, and Lundin (LUN-T). All 3 look very attractive. He would be OK with all 3.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick July 19/16. Up 25.65%.) This has had a tremendous run. This has been a special story, but he considers what is going on in the backdrop of the restaurant group, has been a little sloppy, and would be less likely to Buy this today.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick July 19/16. Up 17.07%.) He would continue to buy this at today’s prices. The chemicals group as a whole is improving. Housing starts are rising smartly, and people are investing in their homes. There is still a big, big backlog of people who held off on buying homes.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick July 19/16. Up 29.14%.) A major long-term theme he is focusing on is the Internet of things, connected devices. We are moving into a world where every machine is connected to the web, and this company creates a lot of the analog chips that get designed into products. Sold his holdings about a month ago. It broke out a couple of days ago, so would be a Buy at today’s price.

COMMENT

The drugstore group is pretty defensive, and he is cautious in general on more defensive, bond-like sectors. Also, very cautious on bricks & mortar retailers because of Amazon (AMZN-Q). A great company, but you are really challenged with the group and the theme. This stock can’t get off the carpet.

COMMENT

As a group, REITs trade a lot like the bond market. The selloff in the Canadian bond market in the last 6 weeks, puts pressure on utilities, REITs and consumer staples. In general, he is Short the REIT sector. This has a 9.4% dividend yield while the peer group is less than 5%.

COMMENT

Has been Short the energy sector since January, and has covered about half of his Shorts. He doesn’t tend to try and find better companies in a bad neighbourhood. Every time energy rallies, new production in the US comes on. He would be careful on energy.

COMMENT

Canadian bank? He would rather choose a US bank over Canadian banks right now. There are some potential rocks in the water for Canadian banks. However, if he were looking for a Canadian bank, it would probably be Toronto Dominion (TD-T) because of their US retail exposure. Virtually all of them are trading below the 150-day moving average and have had a very weak rally through May and June, while US banks had a very good rally.

COMMENT

He likes construction and engineering. If you want a Canadian name in that sector, this is one that you could take a look at, although he doesn’t necessarily want Canadian exposure. Be a little careful on this.

COMMENT

If he had to pick one US bank right now, it would be this. The stock consolidated from December through May, broke out, had a nice little pull back, and then broke out again. This is very attractive for a number of reasons. It gets you exposure to global banking. They are taking market share, because they are well capitalized. You are going to get a significant capital return by way of share buybacks and increased dividends.

COMMENT

He still likes this as well as Carnival (CCL-N). When consumers have money, they spend it on leisure and travel. We have an aging population that really likes cruising. Royal Caribbean gets about 10% of their revenue from China. This is a long-term theme that is not going away.