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Today, Mike Philbrick commented about whether HOG-T, HED-T, ZEO-T, XEG-T, QBTC.U-T, IVOL-N, ZRR-T, XCB-T, HZU-T, HUZ-T, EWJ-N, ZWB-T, ZWC-T, HHL-T, FLUS-T, EDGF-T, HUG-T, XMV-T, ZLB-T, HEP-T, TAN-N, XGD-T, XEI-T, MLPA-N are stocks to buy or sell.

COMMENT
Perspective on market volatility. The US election, the virus, and global trade tensions all contribute to uncertainty in the markets. Make sure your portfolio is really prepared. Gold, oil, stocks, and bonds will all respond differently to various outcomes.
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COMMENT
Strategy on oil. Two dynamics at work, inflation and growth, and those dynamics cross and you get 4 regimes. Different asset classes respond differently to the different regimes. Oil does well in rising inflation or accelerating growth. We've had a significant increase in liquidity to fight the pandemic. If suddenly there's a vaccine, commodity prices could take off and overwhelm the opportunity for the economy to grow. So, have a balanced portfolio across the 4 regimes. Make sure it hasn't been thrown out of whack by the disinflationary boom where large tech stocks have come to dominate the market indices.
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DON'T BUY
Global X MLP ETF

Challenge with buying US ETFs that participate in MLPs is that they're not favourable to a Canadian investor. Withholding tax of 15-30%. Be very, very careful on the MLPs. If you want gas exposure, think about XEG or ZEO. Most bang for the buck would be the HED, with small cap exposure. Small caps have more operating leverage if you're confident gas prices will rise. HOG is a bit more conservative.

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DON'T BUY

As good as VDY or ZDV. They all suffer from the same sector exposure, with large exposure to financials. With low interest rates, there's risk to owning financial services companies. Think twice about any overexposure to financials.

E.T.F.'s
BUY

The large gold companies in Canada. Contrast to ZGD, which is BMO's equal weight gold global producers. Gold exposure is important to buffer inflationary shocks. Most portfolios are underexposed to asset classes that can provide returns when inflation starts.

E.T.F.'s
PARTIAL BUY
Invesco Solar ETF
Long-term outlook for solar and increased efficacy in technology is inevitable. You also have the war against carbon. A long-term, secular bull market. Tough to say how this would play out in an election. It will have volatility, so you could buy the dips. The "explore" part of your portfolio, not the "core".
E.T.F.'s
WEAK BUY
Nice thing is they take a portion of the portfolio and write covered calls on it, so you get some income as you go along and it takes out some of the volatility. You underperform a bit, but you get the income. Not the best way if you're bullish on gold. With this ETF, you get the best of both worlds.
E.T.F.'s
COMMENT
Fixed income ETFs. Potential for inflation. Investors should have a solid holding in sovereign bonds. You can add some US bonds like HTD or TLT. If rates fall, something in your portfolio will go up. TIPS in the US are inflation-protected bonds and a nice addition, as they'll respond positively when inflation goes up. XRB, ZRR and XBB in Canada. He'd skew more to the sovereign bonds.
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BUY

Get similar or better returns with less risk, beta, volatility. Well constructed product. Skews more to certain sectors like utilities and financial services, so you'll see underperformance. For 5-10-15-20 years, it's a thoughtful way to get returns from the market. Try XMV, which creates a portfolio of minimum volatility. You could use these 2 ETFs together.

E.T.F.'s
BUY

With ZLB, you get similar or better returns with less risk, beta, volatility. Well constructed product. Skews more to certain sectors like utilities and financial services, so you'll see underperformance. For 5-10-15-20 years, it's a thoughtful way to get returns from the market. XMV creates a portfolio of minimum volatility. You could use these 2 ETFs together.

E.T.F.'s
PAST TOP PICK
Horizons Gold ETF
(A Top Pick Oct 29/19, Up 26%) Uses futures contracts, not physical gold. Gold does well in an inflationary environment.
E.T.F.'s
PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick Oct 29/19, Down 1%) This is more of a diversifier. You get exposure outside Canada, and to sectors like healthcare, consumer staples, consumer discretionary. Focused on large cap companies.
E.T.F.'s
PAST TOP PICK
(A Top Pick Oct 29/19, Up 6%) Tough go for anything equity related. Tries to find higher quality companies with good balance sheets that perform better in a drawdown.
E.T.F.'s
COMMENT
Attractive income, equal weighted 20 largest healthcare companies. Covered calls on a portion of the portfolio. Secularly, has some solid fundamentals of increased spending in drug sales and healthcare. Suspects the 9% yield is not sustainable with low interest rates.
E.T.F.'s
WEAK BUY
ZWC vs. ZWB He'd stay away from financial services, as with the low rates it's hard for the banks to be profitable. He'd rather go with the broader index. The more volatile a price, the higher the premium you'll get on a covered call. The covered call strategy here hasn't delivered in this volatile environment.
E.T.F.'s