(A Top Pick November 13, 2017. Down 1%). This reminds him of Oracle and Cisco, which sat at the same level for a long time and then revitalized themselves. Oracle relies on the big banks and other large companies with large databases. Other companies have moved into Software As A Service with applications that run across the cloud. Oracle’s customers have huge data centers and don’t need to move. Data protection is challenging in the cloud. The street has been looking to Oracle to increase its presence in the cloud. It is moving but not as fast as people want. He likes the business and it will get there eventually, but it will take more time.

(A Top Pick November 13, 2017. Up 24%). He owned this as a diversified play on the medical device market. He sold the stock when it reached $90 and used the proceeds to buy Boston Scientific instead.

He sold shares in Medtronics (MDT-N) to buy this, which he sees as more of a turnaround play. He sees higher growth prospects in their more targeted business model.

The caller asked him to compare investing in ScotiaBank with investing in large cap American banks. In his 40 years in this business, most US banks have been bankrupt at least once, whereas the Canadian banks have not. The difference is the stronger regulatory system up here. He does own Morgan Stanley, which is a large US bank. ScotiaBank has been weak this year because of a few acquisitions and because of exposure in South America. There are fears that this might not do as well as expected. He is continuing to buy the stock but thinks it might be a few more quarters before people feel comfortable investing in South America. Events in Venezuela, for example, are causing disruptions in nearby countries, if only from the flow of emigrants.

He thinks the dividend is sustainable. This is a Amazon play--all these packages need tape. The company received a big insurance settlement a year and a half ago and rebuilt a plant, then they got good business from Amazon and the result was booming growth. In recent quarters, there has been some disappointment. Longer term, he sees the company as well run, as one of the two largest players in the industry and he expects it will be fine. He is buying today against a $28 target price. He sees a substantial capital gain potential if a few things go right.

He has no reason not to own Alibaba except that it is a Chinese company and he has had bad experiences with the ethics of Chinese businesses. He recommends buying Google or Facebook instead.

As with many other small startup utilities in Canada, they have done quite well with alternative energy. He thinks that current governments are likely to reduce or stop their subsidies, which will affect the growth of these companies. Algonquin’s dividend is dividend is 4.9%. It seems reasonably priced. They have some backlog, so there is no reason to fear this stock. He would prefer a slightly higher yield for his dividend fund.