COMMENT

Market. He thinks commodities are cheap relative to financial assets. Historically, commodities do well when they are low relative to financial assets. He showed a graph of commodities versus the S&P that shows the relationship is at a 40-year low, and also appears to show that commodity prices bounce back (relative to S&P prices) strikingly from lows that look like the current one.

COMMENT

Comment on Cannabis. He thinks that the new cannabis companies are richly valued, and they have been soaking up investment money that would otherwise have headed to junior commodities companies. He thinks the cannabis companies know they are overvalued, which is why they are using their stock to make big acquisitions. He calculates that in 4 years, Canadian cannabis producers will be able to produce 100 joints per person in Canada, which far exceeds demand. Unless Canadian producers can export a lot of cannabis, this oversupply will cause problems. American wholesale cannabis prices are already coming down, so exporting to the U.S. might be challenging. He thinks it is critical to pick the companies that are the best farmers, because those will be the ones who can survive tougher competition.

BUY ON WEAKNESS

Casinos are good businesses. They have had recent tailwinds, such as new contracts in Ontario. He thinks this is a good stock to own. It generates a lot of cash and probably has more upside. However, it is not cheap. He would hold onto anything he owned, but would not buy at this price.

BUY

They make test equipment for high-tech industries, such as semiconductors. The company is small, well-run, with good margins. They made management changes recently and cleaned up the Board. He thinks this might be a good time to get into it.

BUY

This is a small company. He has met with management a couple of times. The CEO is impressive. The company’s technology enables the safe transfer of databases. He thinks it will take time for the company to prove its technology to the market. He does not recommend putting a lot of money into this, but it is a good speculation.

BUY

They had a run-in with a short-seller who he thinks is odious. He is a fan of Badger and thinks it is proving the short-seller wrong. There were some possibly valid issues about their free cash flow and about how their accounting presents their results. However, the company appears to be doing well, they raised their dividend, he thinks they bought back some stock, the insiders bought stock when the accusations cratered the stock price. The oil patch is improving; he thinks this company will do well.

BUY

They make medical supplies, signed a large contract recently and are doing well. They compete successfully with companies like 3M overseas. The stock is not very liquid because there is one very large owner. It has risen recently, but if you own it, you should hang onto it. They surprise people with good news, which shows up in the stock price.

BUY

They make electric buses. This is a good place to be. They are just starting to make deliveries. The stock price doesn’t yet reflect good news. It doesn’t trade much. He expects it to do well in the future. He is hanging onto his shares. He likes the management team and sees this as a multi-year play.

SELL

This has been a darling for years and its stock price might have run its course. Its dividend is not that rich. After growth slows down, investors want to see the Board raise dividends. He always encourages people to take profits, and that applies here. Nothing goes up forever.

DON'T BUY

This used to be an income trust. It’s not a very fast-growing business because coffee is a mature industry. The yield is under 4%, which is unattractive on a slow-growth company.

COMMENT

This is cheaper than Great Canadian Gaming. He uses a screening system, looking for companies that hit new 52-week highs. He is especially impressed when a company hasn’t hit a new high in 18 months, and now does. That’s how he picked up on this one. However, they just made a large acquisition. Those are hard to digest, so he is now a bit nervous. He wanted to buy more as the stock started to move, but you might see a couple of tough quarters ahead. Long-term, it’s a great business.

COMMENT

The yield is 8%-plus. It is a drop-down vehicle for energy assets in Canada, not affected by the issues that Enbridge is facing in the United States. The payout ratio is reasonable. The parent company is struggling, and has the ability to force the dropdown firm to accept new assets, which can be a problem. There are procedures to protect shareholders, but it still makes him a bit nervous. There’s a lot of negativity toward pipelines, and toward Enbridge in particular, but he doesn’t think it applies to this one.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick May 30, 2017. Up 8%). These are exciting times for the company. They are going through FDA approval. He believes that it will be approved because the device has low risk and addresses an unmet need. The stock was recently $25 a share, and he thinks it will rise to $50 if everything works out as planned.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick May 30, 2017. Up 41%). Investors always go back to cash. Despite their problems, oil companies and mining companies still produce a lot of cash. When things go slower, these companies stop investing (lower CAPEX) and their free cash flow goes up more. He anticipated last year that with all that free cash flow, people would start buying the stock.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick May 30, 2017. Up 36%). Despite their problems, oil companies and mining companies still produce a lot of cash. When things go slower, these companies stop investing (lower CAPEX) and their free cash flow goes up more. He anticipated last year that with all that free cash flow, people would start buying the stock. This company has had a good run this year, but he expects the price to keep rising, so he is still long. Some of the other commodities will not do as well in the future, but he think zinc has life left.