N/A
Market. It seems like every week or month there is another notch taken off the recession argument and thesis. The quarterly results are not shooting the lights out but they are encouraging. You would have seen some kind of reduction in job numbers before a recession. Recession fears are being calmed. What if markets didn’t go down that much during a recession. Are you positioned for that? Tech and consumables are the most interesting in Canada.
WATCH
A branch-less bank that does financing for their customers. They should have higher margins than other banks, but he would sit on the sidelines for a while. They are trying to do interesting things with the dividend.
BUY
He really likes it. One of the best management teams. It is pretty steady up and to the right so it looks pretty nice. They acquire 'old' tech companies and share best practices. Then they take the cash flows that those companies spin out and then go and invest that cash. You can sit back and trust management.
BUY
Really well run. Operations in Canada and the US. They make astute acquisitions and increase the dividend consistently. He thinks there will be an uptick in the economy and they will acquire more business in the future
DON'T BUY
He is not a huge fan of energy, materials or commodity companies. The outlook on this one is interesting. It is going to be hard for him to get interested in this pace until the companies start to buy each other up.
RISKY
It is cheap on an absolute basis and is a play on trans-mountain. You might want to wait on macro. It is a solid name but is speculative for now.
BUY
He likes it. They have seen a bit of a downdraft due to lumber prices. The business itself is pretty consistent. They are guiding to higher revenues next year. He thinks they have turned a bit of a quarter here. He does not have too many concerns.
HOLD
He has liked it from back in the old days. They made a big acquisition about two year ago that gave them a big footprint in the gaming space. They are merging with Flutter Entertainment in the UK. They will be a powerhouse in the gaming space in Europe. There is deal risk. You may want to sit n the sidelines if you don’t own it or hold on until the final deal price narrows a bit.
WAIT
It is one of those names that got a bit ahead of itself. Now there a slowdown in the bidding universe. Wait until the new year.
PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick Nov 18/18, Down 9%) Overall it has been down because they did acquisitions and margins are staring to slip. The last quarter looks good. He thinks it will get back to buying companies. It is going to have a rising tide in terms of demand.
PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick Nov 18/18, Down 8%) They made acquisitions and markets got ahead of themselves. Now things have settled down. It is a nice stable company and the dividends should increase over time. Stay with it.
PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick Nov 18/18, Up 15%) Root beer and high end fries. Up 15%. They position themselves as a healthy high end fast food vendor. They were first to do the beyond-meat burger. They did a good job of talking the talk and not just walking the walk. Double digits for almost a year and a half, which is impressive. You can just harvest the 5% yield.
DON'T BUY
He has not been able to get comfortable with it because the earnings are not consistent. Because of the volatility it is a hard name to own.
WATCH
There has been a big down draft in the sector. There is probably going to be a lot of tax loss selling. Hold off until the new year.
HOLD
It does not really worry him. It is a steady-eddy type of thing. He'd like to see some revenue growth to be interested. He can make a case for owning it for income.