COMMENT

Market. The US economy had a good second quarter. In Europe and China things are slowing little. One of the main things that the Fed has to face is the yield curve flattening quickly. He believes the bond markets figure things out fairly quickly. The yield curve is saying that there is slower growth and low inflation. This doesn’t mean you can’t do well in stocks. You have to be very careful when interest rates are being raised. Particularly in light of coming out of QE. Earnings have been coming very strong.

BUY

The rails are a very good business to be. High barriers of entry. Good pricing power. Great place to be. The business is much more robust now. Good long-term hold.

BUY ON WEAKNESS

Great story. It is like a toll booth. They don’t take credit or interest rate risk. Capital light. They don’t own it because they think it is expensive. The one risk that some people see is the fintech disruption. Growth is in the Emerging Markets.

COMMENT

They own Loblaw Cos Ltd (L-T) because they think it has better dynamics. They are going through a rationalization process like the one that Loblaw Cos Ltd (L-T) went through. The Safeway acquisition wasn’t so well executed. Tough business.

COMMENT

The sale of some of their assets to Brookfield makes a lot of sense. Takes away some of the worries that some people had on funding. Some assets sales are going to come in the next while. Spectra was a good acquisition for them. They are in a much better situation than they were a few months ago.

COMMENT

The fact that interest rates have been very low had affected the insurance industry. Not an expensive stock. Trading at 9.5 times earnings. Headwinds against these businesses is where interest rates go. He would look at other players in the industry with much more diversified businesses and better chances of growing.

COMMENT

Blockchain technology is going to change companies in the near future. He can’t comment on the currencies because that is something they don’t invest in.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick May 1/17 - Down 19%) Still like it. A health company that went through a vertical integration buying Aetna. Not expensive on a cash flow basis. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN-O) purchase of Pill Pack affected the stock.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick May 1/17 - Up 23%.) The largest private equity company in the world. Has a great dividend yield. A great story. They are not a corporation therefore not on the S&P 500. With the tax changes there is a rumor that they will become a corporation and be part of the index and would get a bump. Outside of that, these guys have been very astute.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick May 1/17 - Up 26%.) He thinks it is a great story. Continue to bring down costs. Continue to see growth. Trading around book value. Still a lot of upside.

BUY

They own Royal Bank (RY-T) and TD (TD-T). They changed the CEO recently. It has done a good job in the last while. The problem with Canadian Banks is the they are not as cheap as the US banks. The good thing is that they continue to grow their dividends and are very well capitalized. Owning here it is fine. Great ROE.

DON'T BUY

The problem with many of these consumer product companies is that they become like a conglomerate and need to rationalize. Also because of the internet there are many new startups in the space that attack their businesses. They have some great brands but need to think of ROE more.

COMMENT

Trades at 14 times earnings and has a nice dividend yield. The big story here is the Fox deal that Comcast has pulled out of. A tough business now with Netflix Inc. (NFLX-Q) trying to be a monopoly.

BUY

They own Brookfield Business Partners LP (BBU.UN-T) which is the private equity arm of the business. They owned for many years but sold it because of the price of the stock. Generates a lot of fees. They have scale. They are global. Very well-run company. It will continue to do well.

COMMENT

Rates sensitivity of the stock has affected it. He prefers BCE Inc. (BCE-T) as it is more diversified and has put a lot of fiber in the ground and that will drive growth for a while.