PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick Jan 11/24, Up 21%)

33x forward PE, a bit pricey but it's a premium name. Secular growth with growing electronic payments and rising consumer spending. Clear uptrend of higher highs and higher lows, 200-day and 200-week MAs are moving higher.

PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick Jan 11/24, Up 20%)

15% EPS growth rate, but paying only 17x forward PE. So PEG ratio is 1.1x, fairly cheap. Long-term, aging demographic trends give long runway for growth. 200-day and 200-week MAs are pushing higher. Outpacing S&P 500 since early 2019.

PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick Jan 11/24, Up 27%)

With the exchange rate, the return is actually higher for Canadian investors. PEG ratio got expensive for him, he sold. Trades at 27x PE, with 9-10% growth rate. Likes it long term. Opening new locations in US and Mexico. 200-day and 200-week MAs moving higher.

DON'T BUY

Wild ride, ups and downs. 200-day MA is still declining to flattening, not the most positive sign. Sluggish China impacted performance, uncertainty still there. Trying to enhance efficiencies and revenues. Positive earnings growth won't be until next year. 30x forward PE.

WATCH
Investor is down 25%.

Weak technical structure. 200-day MA falling, and stock price is below that. Longer-term weekly charts look just as tough. Earnings are tough in physical stores. Trump's (perhaps empty) threats to remove middle benefits management has impacted stock. Good yield at 5.81%, but how secure is it?

Keep a close eye on it, as technicals are telling you that things could get worse.

HOLD

Screens well. Fantastic balance sheet, loads of cash. Stock's performing decently. Probably won't see same earnings growth rate as other mega-cap names. Perhaps 10-15% growth, not bad, but other names are higher.

DON'T BUY
$10k investment for 24-year-old son.

Great that the viewer is starting her son out early. Years of compounding growth is the best thing that any investor can do.

For anything that's related to just the S&P 500, you really need to know what you're buying. Here, you're buying about 37% in 10 companies. In other words, the top 10 companies represent about 37% of the S&P 500. So the ZSP and VOO are a bit top heavy. There's some risk if mega-cap tech names start to sell off, which they will at some point.
 
So take a look at diversifying. Perhaps VGG, where you still get exposure to tech but more dividend appreciation. Another approach is to look at ETFS that focus on quality, such as QUAL or ZUQ among other names. These two screen for strong ROEs and low leverage.

DON'T BUY
$10k investment for 24-year-old son.

Great that the viewer is starting her son out early. Years of compounding growth is the best thing that any investor can do.

For anything that's related to just the S&P 500, you really need to know what you're buying. Here, you're buying about 37% in 10 companies. In other words, the top 10 companies represent about 37% of the S&P 500. So the ZSP and VOO are a bit top heavy. There's some risk if mega-cap tech names start to sell off, which they will at some point.
 
So take a look at diversifying. Perhaps VGG, where you still get exposure to tech but more dividend appreciation. Another approach is to look at ETFS that focus on quality, such as QUAL or ZUQ among other names. These two screen for strong ROEs and low leverage.

BUY
$10k investment for 24-year-old son.

Great that the viewer is starting her son out early. Years of compounding growth is the best thing that any investor can do.

For anything that's related to just the S&P 500, you really need to know what you're buying. Make sure you diversify beyond the top 10 S&P names. Perhaps VGG, where you still get exposure to tech but more dividend appreciation. Another approach is to look at ETFS that focus on quality, such as QUAL or ZUQ among other names. These two screen for strong ROEs and low leverage.

BUY
$10k investment for 24-year-old son.

Great that the viewer is starting her son out early. Years of compounding growth is the best thing that any investor can do.

For anything that's related to just the S&P 500, you really need to know what you're buying. Make sure you diversify beyond the top 10 S&P names. Perhaps VGG, where you still get exposure to tech but more dividend appreciation. Another approach is to look at ETFS that focus on quality, such as QUAL or ZUQ among other names. These two screen for strong ROEs and low leverage.

BUY
$10k investment for 24-year-old son.

Great that the viewer is starting her son out early. Years of compounding growth is the best thing that any investor can do.

For anything that's related to just the S&P 500, you really need to know what you're buying. Make sure you diversify beyond the top 10 S&P names. Perhaps VGG, where you still get exposure to tech but more dividend appreciation. Another approach is to look at ETFS that focus on quality, such as QUAL or ZUQ among other names. These two screen for strong ROEs and low leverage.

COMMENT
Raised cash in December.

With regards to holding cash, you really want to look at the opportunities that are prevailing at the time. He doesn't really make cash calls. The only time he might increase a cash position is before September, because it tends to be the worst month historically. 

BUY

Now trading at 200-day MA and oversold, with RSI around 41-42. Likes it here. Long term the chart doesn't get much better, with higher highs and higher lows. Valuation a bit pricey at 3x PEG ratio, 32x forward PE, and 15-16% growth. At forefront of AI space.

BUY

Has done extremely well over the past year, total return is up ~8.6%, though share price has come off. Floating-rate strategy to higher-yielding corporate issues, mainly US. Better return than most bond indices, as they're usually long term. Performs well in almost any interest rate environment. Very nice yield of 9-10%.

WATCH

Challenged of late. Technicals are, at best, neutral. 200-day MA sideways, and stock's trading below it. When one segment does poorly, it puts a cloud over the entire company. Owns, but it's in the penalty box. He many take action given the technical structure. 17.5x forward PE for 10% growth, not expensive. Two-month GST holiday may help, but so far it hasn't.