Michael Smedley.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Michael Smedley is executive vice-president and chief investment officer of Morgan Meighen & Associates. His focus is Canadian equities.
Top Picks:
Concordia Healthcare (CXR.TO)
Concordia has undertaken a game-boosting giant acquisition that appears riskless, except for a reasonable opportunity of paying down sizable debt over the next four years. It could easily replace Valeant as the top health-care stock in Canada.
Pollard Banknote (PBL.TO)
Pollard is one of the three providers of lottery scratch tickets in the world and is set to grow its position in a type of financial sector that seems to have more popularity than the stock market itself. The somewhat low-key Pollard brothers look set to win in their expansion mode.
Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM.TO)
Gold mostly holds its level in the shattered commodity sector. More importantly, on a narrowly selective basis, gold stocks have started to shine financially as the highest-quality reliable operations of all sectors in the market. Because of this, upward creep in their listed shares might turn into a rush while the market still looks for politics, emotions, inflation and all other historical props to make them go. Agnico is a nice major with good numbers and the proven ability to cope with small difficulties that occur along the way. I have recently mentioned others in the precious metals group, including Seabridge and Mountain Province.
Past Picks: February 2, 2015
Clearwater Seafoods (CLR.TO)
Then: $12.89 Now: $10.32 -19.94% Total return: -18.84%
Restaurant Brands (QSR.TO)
Then: $48.35 Now: $48.28 -0.14% Total return: +0.99%
Patient Home Monitoring (PHM.V)
Then: $0.96 Now: $0.58 -39.58% Total return: -39.58%
Total Return Average: -19.14%
Market outlook:
For at least two prior sessions I have used the unmentionable phrase "bear market." I use it again and I think I have seen at least one other person in the investment industry use it. Fund managers don't use it because they are in the business of attracting new money, not frightening investors away. I am also unorthodox in that I believe nothing is ever repeated, but I must say there is a classic touch this time: as it did this morning, the market keeps on rebounding on the way down.
Apart from that, we are in territory unknown. Everything is different. Warriors are at the gates of Vienna while the western world pays homage to global warming, which has ebbed and flowed throughout the millennia, interest rates barely exist, major corporations have long ago ditched creativity in favour of buying each other for the odd $40-billion or so and also consuming their cash flows by buying in their own shares. I am at a crossroads with the lights off but I know I must squint with intensity to do best in this whacked-out investment world.