HOLD

It has been a great turnaround story. They paid down a bunch of debt. It is a stable business. Everything is going well, but there has been some recent political turmoil and is creating an overhang on the company. It is hard to know how it is going to play out.

BUY

He generally likes the restaurant royalty business. The one issue has been the rise in minimum wage. Generally restaurants are raising prices to offset the minimum wages. The long term trend is good in the industry is good.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick Aug 29/17, Up 49%) They are going to expand the acquisition and are one of the top 3 or 4 scratch ticket printers in the world. He thinks the long term outlook is good and management own a lot of stock.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick Aug 29/17, Up 1%) It is a good underlying business but got caught up in the trade wars. He sold it. He continues to follow this business and might repurchase if the trade wars calm down.

PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick Aug 29/17, Down 46%) He sold earlier in the year. They have a fair amount of debt and people thought they had monopolies but recently there were a couple of cases with licenses being awarded to other groups like first nations. Investors got worried about the balance sheet.

WATCH

Their Avista take over approval is being delayed. Doug Ford fired the board and a new one is coming in. He was disappointed to see this happen. The underlying assets in the business are pretty good. There is controversy to see what happens with the new management coming in. This one could present an opportunity for investors in the future.

DON'T BUY

There has been controversy. They invest in other private businesses in a yield type structure. It is not a model he likes. There is reinvestment risk. The payout ratio has been historically high. There has been concern from analysts that they could cut their dividend some day.

HOLD

It is a mutual fund company, one of the most successful. It suffered recently as have others with concerns of pressure from ETFs and regulation changes. The dividend is probably stable and safe.

DON'T BUY

CP-T vs. CTC.A-T. CP-T is not as cheap as it used to be. The rails in general are benefiting from a strong North American economy. They have pricing power. It is a great business. CTC.A-T is basically only exposed to a Canadian consumer. He would be cautious on this one.

WATCH

It is a really well run company and a great Canadian success story. They reported a very strong quarter recently and the stock popped and then came off. People are worried about electrical vehicles and what will happen to gas stations. They have not done a big deal recently and they grow through acquisition. It has gone sideways for the last couple of years so the valuation has come down, so it has come onto his radar screen. It is representing better value now.

DON'T BUY

After the failed takeover bid the stock dropped. He never really liked the construction business. He has IBG-T for exposure to this industry because it is more stable. Some of the promised government infrastructure spending has not come.

HOLD

It is a well run business. They have been pretty successful. A lot of the products have done well. They are getting distribution and growing the revenue line but also ramping up costs. A recent recall was not a big deal. Over time there will be value creation there.

DON'T BUY

It is a really well run software company. They buy up companies and cut costs. The market has awarded them a very high valuation multiple and they may have trouble continuing to grow as quickly.

BUY

Over the long term it is a great company. The entire group of larger cap banks in the US are very well positioned. They are as well capitalized as they have ever been. They are benefiting from a strong US economy and housing market. Loan losses have been very modest as housing prices continue to rise. They trade at a pretty low PE multiple. He thinks they will continue to do well.

WATCH

It is in the packaging space. They just acquired a packaging company. The stock has weakened recently because of input cost pressures and a facility in South Carolina that gave them some issues. They trade at a fairly low multiple compared to peers. He is doing some homework on this one because it could be a potential buying opportunity.