More Growth is in the Pipeline for South Bow Shareholders After Our +31% Return

When our clients first became shareholders of South Bow (SOBO) on September 25, 2024, it wasn’t by choice. The new company was a spinoff from TC Energy. To be frank, we weren’t expecting much.  Expanding SOBO’s Keystone pipeline had been a political football for years. The Bush administration started the process. When the application was […]

Questions from Prospective Clients

Over the past few months, we’ve met with many prospective clients who often share similar questions. We’ve collected the most common ones to provide a clear view of how we operate. When did you start the company? We were first registered on February 1, 2022. Currently, we are registered to do business in Ontario, Alberta, […]

Tariffs Are Headed to the Bench

We anticipate the U.S. Supreme Court will invalidate President Trump’s tariffs early next year, sending markets higher. The legality of widespread tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”) is now before the United States Supreme Court. The question is whether the law intended for specific emergencies allows the President to levy unbounded […]

Interest Rates May Be on Pause For Now

Last week, both the Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve cut their benchmark interest rates by a quarter percentage point. Though we’re two separate countries, both central banks are contending with challenges that monetary policy alone cannot fix. In Canada, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem emphasized that the 25-basis-point cut, which brings […]

Should You Take Some Chips Off the Table with Nvidia?

For clients who didn’t already own it, we added Nvidia (NVDA) to suitable portfolios back in April, during the market sell-off triggered by tariff worries. We purchased the Canadian Depositary Receipt to avoid currency swings, but for context, U.S. shares traded roughly between $102 and $105 on April 23—the day of our purchase. Today, NVDA […]

Would Fewer Earnings Reports Mean More Market Volatility?

President Donald Trump is once again floating the idea of cutting the number of corporate earnings reports in half — from four to two per year. The proposal, first raised during his presidency in 2018, would have U.S. public companies report every six months instead of quarterly. While it may sound like a way to […]

Is Bitcoin Digital Gold or a Digital Tulip?

I have trouble keeping up with the reasons why Bitcoin moves in either direction. It seemed correlated with the Nasdaq coming out of the pandemic; then was compared to “digital gold”; and recently it was a hedge against government mismanagement. Its bull case seems to change each day and I’m not embarrassed to say that […]

Can Algonquin Power Shoot the Lights Out?

It’s not often that a stock jumps almost 7% in a single day because of an analyst upgrade. Nevertheless, that’s what happened on October 1 when Desjardins published a note about Algonquin Power & Utilities (“AQN”).  “We are upgrading AQN to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold,’ largely due to compelling valuation following recent weakness, strong management, and […]

Are We In a Bubble?

Much like the Internet changed the world, so too will artificial intelligence. But with stock prices on fire lately, many are asking if we’re in a bubble that is ready to burst. When people foresee a bubble, anyone that owns stocks is wise to listen up. Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan famously warned about “irrational […]

Our Prognosis on UnitedHealth Group after its Stock Fell 50%

Last spring, shares of UnitedHealth Group (UNH) lost over half their value. The stock even dropped 18% on May 13, its worst single-day plunge since September 2008. With over 50 million people enrolled, UNH is the largest health insurance provider in the United States. Because customers have used their medical benefits at twice the expected […]

Patience with Yukon’s Next Giant Copper/Gold Mine Goes with the Territory

Western Copper & Gold (WRN) is up about 50% so far this year. But if Ottawa puts one particular project on its priority list to develop, the stock may go a lot higher sooner than later. WRN’s Casino Project in the Yukon just as easily could have been called Western Gold & Copper (instead of […]

Would “Big Daddy” Gardiner (Expressway) Buy the Banks Today?

Last month, at a Rotary Club meeting, I found myself sitting next to someone I hadn’t met before. After asking about my profession, he leaned in a few minutes later and said, “Is it true that to get rich, you should only buy Canadian banks?” Well, I know of at least one person who rode […]

Maple Leaf Foods’ Shareholders are Tasting an 80% Gain This Year

To my surprise, Maple Leaf Foods (“MFI”) has been our strongest performer this year, up nearly 80%. On February 26, 2024, we started buying MFI for clients at $22.82. At the time, the stock was about as unpopular with investors as I was with the ladies in high school. Just two trading days earlier, a […]

Why Mutual Funds Often Benefit Banks More Than You

Mutual funds are marketed as safe and simple. But in reality, they often accompany hidden costs and conflicts of interest. We recently reviewed a portfolio managed by another institution. The Management Expense Ratio (“MER”), which is the total cost of owning a mutual fund and is embedded in its price, was much higher than its […]

When in Crisis, Always Bank on Charles Schwab

Anyone who lived through 2008 (or studied the 1930s) knows how frightening banking crises can be. The financial system runs on confidence, and once that’s shaken, restoring trust can take significant time. In 2023, the U.S. regional banking sector faced its own crisis. It started in March with the abrupt collapse of Silicon Valley Bank […]

Don’t Let Scammers Call the Shots

Someone once said that if Al Capone had turned his talents toward legitimate enterprise, he could have been the CEO of General Motors. Today’s fraudsters are no different—highly organized, intelligent, and using sophisticated tools. Unfortunately, they’re applying those skills to deception, not innovation. My Close Call Recently, I received a phone call that appeared to […]