John O’Connell.Tibor Kolley/The Globe and Mail
John O'Connell is chairman and CEO of Davis Rea. His focus is on North American large caps.
Top Picks:
Apple Inc. (AAPL NASDAQ)
Google Inc. (GOOGL NASDAQ)
Spartan Energy (SPE TSX)
Past Picks: October 8, 2013
Tourmaline Oil (TOU TSX)
Then: $38.98; Now: $51.13 +31.17%; Total return: +31.17%
Intel Corp. (INTC NASDAQ)
Then: $22.48; Now: $34.93 +55.38%; Total return: +60.79%
Stryker Corp. (SYK NYSE)
Then: $67.61; Now: $84.06 +24.33%; Total return: +25.76%
Total return average: +39.24%
Disclosure: | Personal | Family | Portfolio/Fund |
TOU | Y | Y | Y |
INTC | N | N | N |
SYK | Y | Y | Y |
Market outlook:
Investors continue to worry about the general levels of equities while ignoring the fact that certain businesses continue to perform exceptionally well and maintain expanding profit margins. We believe that the general level of the economy can sustain decent sales and employment growth that should not pose a problem for the Federal Reserve. While the Fed will likely signal an end to quantitative easing, we maintain that a generally easy monetary policy will remain supportive for equities and not pose a competitive threat to good companies' prospects for the foreseeable future.