HOLD

If the US consumer struggles and can't buy goods and job losses rise due to tariffs, this will slow down the economy and directly impact banks like BAC. It's hard to know where tariffs are going. The dividend is high and BAC has a good, long track record. Best to collect the dividend and wait.

BUY
gold

Gold benefits from fears of inflation and central bank's concern over the USD. Since tariffs started, the price has been rocky with a slight decline. The problem isn't gold itself, but people owning gold maybe deleveraging across the board during this steep sell-off. If tariffs are long-term and therefore inflationary, gold prices will rise. He owns no gold. He buys dividend stocks. CME yields 2% + special dividends, which avoids exposure to the underlying commodity. Rather, CME takes a cut whenever there's a trade in commodities like gold, like now.

DON'T BUY

The country square in the bullseye of the US during the tariff war is China. Until there's resolution in tariffs, don't touch China. The future is unknown and could be negative. Both countries are at each other's throats.

DON'T BUY

Musk is a remarkable entrepreneur, but there's a lot of promotion involved. Right, particularly in the US, the people driving Teslas aren't happy, given DOGE and the White House. We see the backlash with protests. If Tesla survives 10 years, there will probably be a lot of revenue from self-driving cards, but Tesla has to get there. The brand has fallen out of favour. If things go badly in the White House, it would reflect more badly on the company, because Musk is so tied to the White House.

PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick Apr 22/24, Up 26%)

A quality Canadian name, allowing Canadian dollars to access global markets. Their challenge is that they invest in private businesses, then sell them at a higher price. But all the current volatility has put those plans on hold. Not the end of the world--BN will continue to run those businesses.

PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick Apr 22/24, Up 4%)

Flat, and flat is good in this market. This offer safety, being a utility in Florida where there's demand from people moving their for the tax rates. They also have a wind and solar with plans to add nuclear. There are rumblings that data centre demand for energy will weaken, but AI won't go away and will need power.

PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick Apr 22/24, Down 10%)

The Japanese owners of 7-11 have pushed back in this attempted take-over. It's really a global company, a consumer staple in convenience stores with habitual consumers. It's up in the air if the 7-11 deal will close, but if it does, ATD will be #3 in terms of brick-and-mortar sales in North America. A solid company.

BUY

A Canadian company exporting services around the world. Are not that effected by the tariffs directly. Shares are down because they work with companies where steel costs are rising, so these projects will be more expensive and compress their margins. If there is infrastructure spending around the world, WSP will definitely benefit. The 5-year chart is exceptional, fairly directionally up. He owns Stantec instead (more US and water exposure), but both companies are worth owning.

COMMENT

Ottawa for the past 10 years hasn't given much clarity about exploration; the whole industry has been wondering what they can and cannot do. However, in this election, all parties are talking about using our natural resources, refine them here, then export them abroad. We need clarity to buy a stock like this. The dividend is high because they CNQ can't grow, a sit and wait situation where they're dying a slow death. He hopes regulatory clarity comes later this year. CNQ is the biggest and best of the group.

PARTIAL BUY

Like Tesla, they need to get to self-driving cars and to be the first there. It's anyone's guess if they do. It's okay to hold a small amount, but not a lot.

DON'T BUY

The big banks face challenges, because the homes bought during Covid, when interest rates were rock-bottom, are and will pay much higher rates. TD is very tied to home mortgages, so be careful. Also, they're restricted from growing their business in the US for 4-5 years. He sold it, because the future didn't look great. He bought more Royal instead.

DON'T BUY

It's fallen off a cliff since tariffs. Watch FCX as an economic indicator, but would not buy this. At best, this is a short-term trade, but he's a long-term investor.

DON'T BUY

A tech darling, now trading at only 16x PE. Why? Most of their revenue by far comes from search, and so chat GPT's AI-powered searches will threaten Google search. 

TOP PICK

An insurer, holding long-term assets that are not exposed much to market volatility. Their dividend grows 8% annually, not paying almost 5%. Gives you income and safety. Lots of cash flow.

(Analysts’ price target is $55.05)
TOP PICK

They give risk assessment, after producing insurance company data analytics. With all these natural disasters and global warming, there will be more need to price insurance properly and to do that with more data. They use AI heavily.

(Analysts’ price target is $303.00)