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

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Billy Kawasaki’s Insights - Billy’s most-liked answers from 5i Research. Expects a drift up in the US market over the next months. Corporate earnings are good and there is lots of cash on the sidelines. Interest rates and inflation fears are subsiding. There is little alternative to equities right now. Unlock Premium - Try 5i Free

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Believes that there will be an advantage for those companies forcing employees back to the office. It is an experiment and maybe working 3 days in the office will work out. In terms of promotion, those who are present may have an advantage to those working from home.
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Gold. Owns some gold through Franco Nevada. Thinks gold in the longer term will do well. Has seen a big run up and then is now treading water. Not excited about it. Should be part of your portfolio. Would recommend to own FNV.

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Billy Kawasaki’s Insights - Billy’s most-liked answers from 5i Research. We have seen a reversal in the strong CAD in recent weeks. With Canada surpassing the US in terms of vaccination rates, as well as oil rising contributes to the rising CAD. The USD should do better or stabilize in the near term. The CAD strength is probably too much, too fast. Unlock Premium - Try 5i Free

COMMENT
Markets. We're still in Covid. The problem is that it's everywhere until it's nowhere. The economic data has to be analyzed through that lens. It's very choppy. Hard to get a clear picture. US unemployment claims are up. Economy is in better shape than last March, but it may still take a lot of time before we can look at data and get a feel for what's going on in the economy. Easy to have a correction of 5-10% as we saw earlier this week. Hard for him to see the stock market fall, because of all the liquidity in the system. The economy is still quite fragile, so governments have to keep pumping in stimulus. This is not going away until next year some time, and we face a lot of uncertainty in how the world will look. But the trend line is much more positive than negative.
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Sectors to focus on. Tech, pharma will continue to do well. Those trends will continue and grow. Consumer discretionary like AMZN, Costco, and Walmart will continue to do well. The more cyclical plays started strong, but are now having a difficult time because the economy is much more choppy. He wants to be in the sectors that did well during the pandemic, as they will continue to perform now.

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Definition of infrastructure. He embraces a broad definition of infrastructure, including electricity generators, renewable power sellers, pipelines. Assets that provide essential daily services to a majority of the population in a supply constrained manner. Hits the classical industrials, energy, utilities, but also data centres, cell towers, renewable energy, air cargo, and transports. These all fit the bill in terms of the business model and cashflow sustainability.
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Impact of low interest rates on infrastructure stocks. Wind in their sails for now, and the key phrase is "for now". We won't have low interest rates forever. We saw how when rates spiked earlier this year, valuations compressed across the board. Look at how durable the business is and see how higher rates would impact cashflow and growth. Even if rates do climb higher from here, he feels that there's tremendous value in a number of infrastructure companies today.
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US infrastructure bill. It's difficult to time anything in Washington, and there have been some changes, but the core of the bill is still infrastructure-driven. A lot of money is being allocated to highways, roads, airports, renewables, power generation, and so on. Of all the sectors that will benefit from stimulus, infrastructure is at the forefront, in the US and globally. Time to take a fresh look at infrastructure stocks, as they have multiple years of growth ahead.
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Selloff in renewables. The selloff was violent and overdone. To be fair, the names had run too high before the selloff. A lot of renewables have come back to the middle ground. A good opportunity to invest and get good risk-adjusted returns.
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Energy from nature is unpredictable. Wind and sun are unpredictable. You're going to have ebbs and flows. He looks at assumptions made by management in terms of capacity and production. Some management teams are very aggressive in their expectations, and his team gives a haircut to these numbers.
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Higher input costs curb profit margins? No, because they procure equipment well ahead, even by years, of when the assets go live. They negotiate clauses to insulate them from massive spikes in equipment costs. Plus, they can pass extra costs through. You might run into more trouble if you're an equipment manufacturer.
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Risk of US infrastructure bill benefiting only US companies? He doesn't think Biden will go this route, especially with Canadian companies. Canada-US trade deal prevents restrictions like this. If this bill goes through, the US is going to need all the help it can get. US, Canadian, and global engineering firms will benefit.
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Investing in retirement, no pension. Look for lower risk, paying a yield, not incredibly volatile. Names like FTS and EMA fit the bill. Good dividend that will continue to grow, with not a lot of surprises.

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