Chad Tennant, 31
Occupation: Financial adviser
The Portfolio
TransCanada Corp., Aecon Group Inc., iShares MSCI Australia, iShares S&P/TSX Capped Financial ETF, Canadian National Railway Co., RioCan REIT, Sun Life Financial Inc., SNC-Lavalin Group, iShares Brazil Small Cap ETF, Bank of Nova Scotia, Manulife Financial, Shoppers Drug Mart, Bombardier Inc., Bridgewater Systems Corp., People's United Financial Inc., Hudson City Bancorp Inc., Planet Organic Health Corp.
The Investor
A financial adviser who has also worked in sales for Cadbury, Chad Tennant returned to the finance world for a simple reason. "It's really a love affair. I love the movement of the market and the psychology of trying to figure it out."
How He Invests
Mr. Chad makes a point of always comparing a stock's price/earnings ratio to the market's overall long-term average P/E. For example, he says, the S&P has trended between 15 and 25 times earnings, so he bought Bombardier last year when it was trading at just seven times earnings.
His Technical Assessment
Mr. Tennant focuses on stock price resistance and support points. He also uses relative strength indicators, but avoids the often-used momentum indicator MACD, or moving average convergence-divergence. His view is that unless one pays for expensive online market data systems, "you're not getting the granular information you need to apply them properly."
His Take on Dividends
Mr. Tennant likes companies that have a long history of boosting their dividend. That's what led him to invest in Canadian Western Bank. "They've been really consistent, and every two years increase their dividend," he notes. "I think it demonstrates that the company is finding better ways to ultimately give back to the investor."
Best Move
Back in July, 2009, Mr. Tennant bought RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust at around $16, when it was yielding around 8.5 per cent. It closed Friday at $22.08.
Worst Move
In January, 2008, he bought Toronto-Dominion Bank at under $40 when it was yielding 6.9 per cent. It soon shot up to around $51, and Mr. Tennant thought it made sense to take his profits. "Lo and behold, now it's trading at 75 bucks," he notes.
Advice
"You have to appreciate different schools of thought. A lot of people subscribe to just one school of thought, such as value investing, but the markets are very dynamic, which is why I think you should take a dynamic approach."
Special to The Globe and Mail
Want to share your strategies?
tony.martin@sympatico.ca