COMMENT

Lithium, a number of years ago, was very, very popular. Then the lithium market pretty much died. It’s now coming back because of cars. He doesn't know this company, but in this field you have to be wary.

COMMENT

There are no Canadian banks he is interested in. They've had a phenomenal run. He can see how people might want to buy into the Preferreds. An area he is looking at more and more are preferred shares, as a defensive option. At some point, markets are going to get hit badly, and preferreds are a good place to go, especially if you can buy them under the issue price.

SELL

A huge, huge toymaker. It had a phenomenal run, but has pulled back, but it’s not that far off historical highs. Insiders own about 10%, which is quite a bit in a company this size, but they've been selling a lot of shares, which is a negative indicator. Pays a good dividend. Makes money year after year after year, but has a big huge debt load. He would like to see them pay part of that off. The toy industry can be very cyclical. If he owned this, he would be selling it.

TOP PICK

A patent troll, and has done a deal with Samsung, Kyocera and just bought a bunch of patents from Panasonic. They've expanded into the Internet of things and did 2 big takeovers last year, which meant their cash hoard went down from $100 million to $40 million. Just hired David Parker, a Senior VP at OpenText, and under him have done $2.5 billion of acquisitions. Thinks this is in an expansion mode. They've earned about $22 million. Dividend yield of 2.2%. (Analysts' price target is $3.)

TOP PICK

In 2 areas, wealth management via Richardson Securities and in commodities in terms of raising capital for mining organizations. A little over a year ago, they bought First Energy which got them into oil and gas, but now have also moved into cyber currencies, and into marijuana, 2 fast growing fields. Last quarter, they lost about $2.8 million, and revenues went down about 21%. Thinks this could be a very good year for them. A lot of their competition has fallen by the wayside and a lot have merged.

TOP PICK

A big company in wealth management and insurance, based in Holland. It seems to be undergoing a turnaround and is gaining some momentum. They are in many countries and has a big operation in the US. Dividend yield of 4.3%. (Analysts' price target is $6.45.)

N/A

Market. The overall volatility has been really, really low. It's been a long time since we've had even a 3% correction in the market. Inter-day we are going to get choppiness, because there is so much quant driven money and computers looking for short-term trends. He tries to take advantage of that. If you focus on the fundamentals of your portfolio and you know that it is cheap, you buy on pullbacks, which is a great opportunity.

PARTIAL SELL

A very solid, up-and-coming Canadian tech company that is pretty established in their niche, and just emerging into profitability. However, the near-term opportunity is gone. It is probably into a 2-3 year period of backfilling of valuation now. They are going to have to produce some profits to backfill the $10 billion valuation they've received. He would look elsewhere. If you own, consider taking a few profits.

STRONG BUY

Got beaten up recently, because they just did a financing. (He has 3% of the financing.) A compelling opportunity and a great entry point. They are going to be initiating phase 3 trials this month. Just raised some money and have enough to do the trial now. In negotiations with a big Chinese Pharma in terms of licensing Asian rights. Has been presented with an opportunity for about $125 million deal with the Chinese, which they are still negotiating. They have the cash on the balance sheet, so there are no near-term financial pressures.

WAIT

Unfortunately, politics is coming into play. The federal and a lot of provincial governments seem to be opposed to pipelines, so we are not building any, and we have a condition in Western Canada where we have a ton of gas being discovered, and no way to get the gas out of the country. At some point the Canadian Western gas price will rise and there will be an opportunity, but it looks like we could be in for 1-2 years of very grim Canadian gas prices. This is one of the low-cost operators and is looking at this from a long-term perspective. Wait until the quarter comes out and see how things are looking then.

COMMENT

All these cannabis stocks are in a bubble and it is a sector that hasn't produced any profits yet. Down the road there are going to be some profits made, but there is going to be a lot of damage in this sector. This is like going to Vegas. You play them for trades. There is going to be a very unhappy outcome some time in the next year or 2 when reality comes back to the market. He would be very cautious. They more or less trade together as a group, so treat them as trades.

COMMENT

Over the last 2-3 years, this has had a pretty good run. Had a pullback in the last 6 months, but longer-term it’s a good opportunity. Pipelines tend to be more stable assets that benefit you when the market goes down. When we go into recession, these assets will hold up because it is a pretty steady business. A lot of institutional managers are taking there weighting down a little, so in the short term there has been some pressure for underperformance in the sector. Long-term, this is a good sector to invest in.

COMMENT

Probably the worst performing large cap in the US last year. They are so big and there is so much stuff in them that you don't necessarily really know what is going on inside. If you own this, it is probably a Hold, as he doesn't see much more downside. It sounds like there could be a couple of more pieces of bad news to come. Have some great assets long-term, and expects the company to get back on its feet, and march forward over the next 5 years.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick May 15/17. Up 34%.) US #2 healthcare insurer. A long term holding for him. Historically it has been extremely cheap and undervalued by the market. In today's world, where healthcare spending has become such a big part of governments budgets, this is one of the solutions to controlling healthcare spending. He still likes this. Trades at about 15X 2018 earnings, a 1.2% dividend, and almost 8% free cash flow yield, so is still cheap and has more upside.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick May 15/17. Up 7%.) This probably still has more potential. Royalty companies are the definition of low cost providers. This has about a 4% dividend yield, which should go up a little every year. Trades at probably half the valuation of its comparable PrairieSky (PSK-T). Very attractive and has lots of upside.