COMMENT

Overview. He doesn’t sell everything in May, or even most of his stocks, but he does his tax-loss selling now and prefers to buy in August / September when prices are more likely to rise. This is a good time of year for stink-bids, in which he offers a low price late Friday and sees if someone fills it over the weekend or on Monday. However, he does not use put options because he prefers not to force himself into timing issues after he has bought a position.

COMMENT

This is his biggest holding. His current target price is over $38. He bought this at $6 when the banking sector was beaten up. This illustrates the strength of the contrarian approach. He won’t be buying more at this price but people who buy under a different system, such as a momentum system, might find this attractive.

COMMENT

This is his second biggest holding. He bought it as low as $4 and change. He won’t be buying more at this price but people who buy under a different system, such as a momentum system, might find this attractive. This had a solar arm, which was one of the reasons he bought the company. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out and they had to sell it off. There is a new CEO now who he likes very much.

BUY

This is one of his holdings. Much of its competition has fallen by the wayside. This is one of the largest wealth management companies in Canada. Its two big recent plays are cannabis and crypto-currency. They aren’t do very well on the numbers but they did well enough to pay a special dividend. Going forward, he thinks they have a lot of potential. He can see this going up to double digits.

WATCH

He keeps looking at this and then turning it down. Its debt load is too high. He’ll look more closely at it at the end of the year. He’d love to add another gold stock to his portfolio, this is interesting, but it must improve its balance sheet.

HOLD

He bought this years ago. It rose to over $30 but didn’t quite hit his buy price, then the wheels came off the car and he still has it. He was unhappy with some of the previous President’s actions but now they are making some deals that seem reasonably good. Their debt is huge. They may have to cut the dividend again. He is holding it because it has tremendous upside if it can recover. He expects a lot of write downs in the near future but is giving the new President the benefit of the doubt.

SELL

This is a very successful semiconductor company trading near historical highs. If he owned this, he would be thinking of selling it, even though it keeps going up. The debt load is higher than he likes. The semiconductor sector is back in favor, and is more appropriate for momentum investors than contrarian investors at this time.

BUY

He paid a price higher than this stock’s current level but he thinks it is recovering. He likes current management. They eliminated their debt, but they might be on the verge of taking on some debt now. The company used to pay a dividend and he thinks they might reinstate it. He sees tremendous upside. The rising price of oil is good for Cathedral. A drag on their business is the difficulty in finding new employees and the likely higher cost of their wages.

COMMENT

Uranium. This sector has been out of favor. Cameco (CCO-T) and GSE Systems (GVP-A) are his picks in the sector.

RISKY

The sector has been out of favor. It closed its mine but might reopen it this year.

BUY

This is his pick in the uranium sector. They do staffing, including staff training, in the uranium and oil/gas sector. They have a clean balance sheet and management who really know what their doing. They are doing small add-on takeovers that have been going very well.

HOLD

He likes Extendicare. They haven’t been doing well but they pay a good dividend every month. Their debt is too high but they are a leader in the Canadian field. This is a demographic play on an aging population. They recently took over some homes in Whitby. He is happy to hold this while it pays a dividend. It might take a few years before it rises but it could then double.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick June 8, 2017. Up 44%). This seems to be gaining momentum. They were doing too much trading (selling one division, adding another). They pay a nice dividend. Now that it has moved up over $5, institutions can more easily buy it. He thinks its momentum might continue over the next year, rising perhaps 40%.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick June 8, 2017. Down 5%). He thinks this stock could double. It pays a small dividend. This is a small bank in Alabama with a good capitalization ratio and good management. This has been a laggard in the sector. Laggards often catch up with the sector, which points to tremendous upside for this stock.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick June 8, 2017. Down 13%). Activist investors have gained seats on the board and are having a significant influence on management decisions. He thinks it is likely that the company will sell itself by the Fall, at a significant premium, therefore it looks like a promising short-term play. If that doesn’t happen, he is happy to still hold the stock because he thinks the company is now heading in the right direction.