I am wondering if Peter can take some time to put together some words or a video about the Balanced Equity Portfolio and path forward here. We used to get regular commentary on the Portfolio via appearances on shows like Market Call but now we don't get that anymore due to the BNN change in their rules.
Can Peter walk through where he thinks things are headed, potential to find the next great multibagger stocks for the portfolio, view of the current holdings, etc.?
There's a number of solid long term companies in there. Do we ever see a point where they run their course and we sell them BEFORE they have problems and destroy a bunch of our value (thank god we trimmed some ATZ at $60 a little while ago!).
Thanks!
By design, we are comfortable with the holdings. Though all will not work out, and some are 'on watch'. It is not that they are 'bad' but just we may find better uses of the 'capital'. Companies such as CCL.B, TCN, CAE, RCH and ! BNS have not done what we wanted (yet). Others such as ATZ need to show fundamental improvement to stay in the portfolio. We are willing to give these 'a bit' more time. In terms of the market outlook, we are fairly bullish. Corporate earnings are growing again, and it really does look like rates have peaked. There is always something to worry about, but valuations are reasonable and growth is good. The US does look better than Canada right now. We can't predict problems ahead of time, but are always monitoring positions. The trend is our friend and we like to let winners run until something changes in terms of fundamentals. This does cause pain when it happens, but maximizes portfolio returns when there is a long term winner. The portfolio has had a VERY good November, with some positions up 40% and 50%. Some of the laggards such as ATZ are bouncing very well. There is probably more 'excitement' in the growth portfolio as we head into a possible January small cap bounce. Small caps have finally made a move recently, and we think the growth portfolio is positioned well for the current market. We might need some more gold exposure considering the potential there if rates drop and lower the US dollar.