HOLD

It had always traded at a discount to the big 5 banks but has started to trade in line. However he feels that it will go back to its historic range. He will continue to hold but not add.

BUY

It was a top pick last month and he still likes the valuation. There is lots of growth ahead for natural gas since the demand for natural gas is expected to increase in North America in the next 10 years. This is due to the switch from coal to gas, LNG, on-shoring, and the needs of data centres. PPL is well diversified, has good supplies, a healthy balance sheet and good growth. There was a draw-down early in 2025 but he is not sure why.

BUY

The caller was hoping for a 10% per year return and Amazon is growing earnings faster than 10% and revenue at least 10%. Tech stocks across the board have sold off and the P/E is now 31. Its valuation today is the same as Walmart which is over-priced. A couple of years ago it decide to relax its constant investment.

DON'T BUY

Don't buy it today but it has been a great stock to trade. It is the most volatile of the big 5 banks due to the commercial banking component. The stock (not the bank) is more vulnerable to recession.

Unspecified

The question was on dollar cost averaging for BNS. It is a bank in transition and has had a lot of trouble in recent years. Pays a good dividend of 6%. In general Canadian banks always come back and can be traded.

PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick Mar 18/24, Up 32%)

At Investor day last September it targeted expected distributed earnings at 17% compounded annually over the next 5 years. There's another possible target of 25%. It does not have much exposure to tariffs.

PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick Mar 18/24, Up 17%)

It is an alternative investor manager like Brookfield except it focuses on private credit and commercial real estate. It provides alternative investments to retail investors. In February it targeted a 20% annualized growth rate of accumulated earnings. It is down because of the general market decline and mixed quarterly results in their sector.

PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick Mar 18/24, Up 46%)

It oversold for a while and is not a fast growing company but data centres need gas to provide their demands for electricity. Pipelines are good for recession and TRP is up 4% since Feb.19.

DON'T BUY

He had owned it for 10 years at a time when it had a blockbuster drug that cured hepatitis. Gilead took profits and invested them into HIV drugs. As with other drug companies holding patents on blockbuster drugs with expiry dates, don't buy this one.

Unspecified

It has had a good jump from last fall and the upside now is pretty gradual with the earnings upside in the last quarter being pretty flat. It is upgrading what they have and re-investing into higher yield products for better portfolios. Upside could start next October close to the fiscal year end.

Unspecified

Over time it should get back to $88. Life insurance companies have less exposure to tariffs and recession than banks. Banks are more vulnerable to rising unemployment. Near term, life insurance companies are better buys than banks but longer term banks are better.

HOLD

He will continue to hold -it is at an attractive valuation and growing its top line by 10% and trades at 20X earnings. It is the industry Goliath in creative space. Analysts wonder about upstarts taking away business and are questioning why they aren't monetizing AI more substantially. However it isn't communicating this and can't separate it out in the features that are included in its products for which it could charge higher prices.

DON'T BUY

The question was on Bombardier being a good company for manufacturing military equipment and are there others in this field in Canada. He is not aware of other companies in Canada and although Bombardier does have a defense component it would be affected by tariffs.

COMMENT

Sales in other parts of the world are really slowing. For example they are down over 70% in Germany and Australia even though EV sales are up in Germany. Elon Musk is unpopular and is also spending a lot of time in Washington instead of running the company. The stock is at about half its value from its all time high but is really just giving up this gain and is back at its baseline in its five year chart. Elon Musk says that there are big gains ahead.

TOP PICK

It has rebuilt its balance sheet and the valuation is well below the historical average. It has lagged the U.S. airline stocks even though it has initiated a 12 month share buyback program. It is at a lower price today than the price for share buybacks, recent option offerings and insider buying in February. Travel should come off a bit but not as much as the drop in its stock price.         Buy 13  Hold 4  Sell 0

(Analysts’ price target is $24.65)