A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert (A Commentary)

COMMENT
Transitory vs. durable inflation. He doesn't expect any long-term, huge inflationary pressures. If inflation goes back to 2%, investors will simply require a 10-year treasury yield of 3%, and this will put pressure on valuations.
COMMENT
Are FANG stocks must-own? He doesn't put the FANGs in the dot.com basket of crazy stuff. At the end of the day, the value of a business is a function of its financial stability and long-term earnings growth. There's a price at which it makes sense to buy that stream of cashflow, and a price at which it doesn't. Some of those companies are not wildly expensive, but few of them are really cheap. So he doesn't "have" to own anything. If you pay too much for something, it's going to be hard to generate a good return.
COMMENT
Banks vs. lifecos. Banks are the heaviest weighting in his dividend strategy. Canadian banks are protected from competition. We have immigration, so we're a growth economy. Insurance companies offer diversification, so he likes that sector. But Canadian banks are uniquely positioned.
COMMENT
US banks. Investors have to look at the world on a long-term basis. When the Fed comes out with a surprise rate hike, or even a surprise announcement, the market can easily correct. Banks are incredibly well positioned. They're over-capitalized, so they have tons of room to raise dividends and buy back shares. Rising rates are extremely bullish for bank earnings over the next 5 years. Whole sector is poised to benefit. JPM is great. He owns MS and GS.
COMMENT
Stigma attached to European banks? Some truth to that. After the financial crisis, European regulators couldn't move as quickly to reach consensus as the US regulators. The whole sector suffered. Trade at a discount to the US banks.
COMMENT
Investing in the oil patch. Trying to predict commodity prices is impossible. If you have strength and the world looks bright, let these stocks go. It's so much easier to buy companies whose earnings and revenues are growing over time and don't depend on commodity prices.
COMMENT
Investing through an economic cycle. Cycles are impossible to predict how long they'll go on for, and exactly where you are in the cycle. For portfolio construction, it makes so much more sense to diversify among several industry groups and by number of companies. Through the ups and downs, the valuation has to make sense. If you own companies with a great business model, and growing earnings and revenues, you'll be insulated over time, have wealth creation, and beat inflation.
COMMENT
When will banks be allowed to raise dividends? No idea what the thinking is with the federal government. One thing is clear: the banks are overcapitalized, as they didn't have the feared loan losses. Chomping at the bit to raise dividends again. The timing doesn't really matter, as they're so well placed to have significant dividend increases going forward, that they remain an excellent investment.
COMMENT

The US markets are fully valued, though there are pockets to pick away at. You can buy growth stocks when they dip. However, year-end S&P estimates aren't much more than current levels. The real action remains in the TSX and outside the US which are pretty cheap. He's commodities-based--metals, meterials, and banks all look good. These are still exciting times. If markets sell off on China or lower bond yields, then these are buying opportunities. In the TSX, industrials and commodities (oil and gas) are very cheap and look good. Financials are okay. The CAD is a reflationary trade and has backed off; but maybe late in the year the CAD will come back and encourage foreign investment in Canadian stocks for the first time in a long time. Big tech like Apple and Microsoft report and you have to own them, though Apple is pretty rich. You still need to buy Amazon based on price-to-growth. It's summer, so there are correction fears, but there was one sell-off day last week, followed by four days of rallies. A correction? No. He doesn't see one. Maybe the market won't go up a whole lot, but it won't fall apart.

COMMENT

Chinese tech stocks. Important to distinguish which type of tech stocks. Speculation of regulation will spread to other sectors. This has been largely priced in. Weakness is an opportunity. China will be the largest economy in the world in a few years. Would not expect broad sweeping regulatory changes.

COMMENT
Governments are going to crack down on tech. Biden appointed an anti-google advocate last week. The educational stock crack down in China is also because of inequality.
COMMENT

Educational Segment. Gold prices and interest rates are very well connected. We are seeing nominal yields at all time lows. Historically, it is very bullish for yield when real yields are negative. USD is now relative to developed markets, very far down. There are calls for USD to get weaker. There is scope for gold to stay strong. This divergence is bothering him. Still bullish but has cut his position in the last rally. You get more leverage through gold equities like GLD or CGL.

N/A
Market. Sept/Oct. people will physically return to the office from the summer. We will move to what the new normal looks like. There could be increased risks in the markets. People are getting tired of staying at home. He does not think we will get a fourth wave of COVID. Stocks in China and Asia are trading cheaply because of tensions there. It is cold war version 2.0. You have a 1.5 billion person economy that is growing. There are opportunities in Asia. You should have exposure.
COMMENT

Which is the better semi conductor to get into. Companies that build equipment to manufacture semi conductors are a good choice. They will benefit from China's aspirations to build their own semiconductor industry. The sector has run significantly. He likes Samsung as a manufacturer. It has lagged recently.

COMMENT

FANG Stocks. They have done fairly well in the last year or so. The question is if regulators are going to start breaking up some of these companies like they did telcos. China is doing that with BABA-N. You need to figure out which one to own and what could go wrong and then continue to own it. Don't own too much of any one sector.

Showing 3,271 to 3,285 of 18,631 entries