McMurtry Investment Report Portfolios – December 2017

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McMurtry Investment Report – Portfolios (December 2017)

	Income		Growth
Cash	Alterna Bank – High Interest Savings (1.9% current rate)		Alterna Bank – High Interest Savings (1.9% current rate)
	EQ Bank – High Interest Savings ( 2.30% current rate)		EQ Bank – High Interest Savings ( 2.30% current rate)
Bonds	iShares XSB Short Term		iShares XSB Short Term
	iShares XFR Floating Rate		iShares XFR Floating Rate
	iShares CBO 1-5 Ladder Corp		iShares CBO 1-5 Ladder Corp
	iShares CLF 1-5 Ladder Gov’t		iShares CLF 1-5 Ladder Gov’t
Preferreds	Security	Dividend Yield %	Security	Dividend Yield %
	Enbridge Pfd V Enb.pr.V US	4.13	Enbridge Pfd V Enb.pr.V US	4.13
	Horizons Active Mgt. Pfd HPR	3.88	Horizons Active Mgt. Pfd HPR	3.88
Common Stocks	Security	Dividend Yield %	Security	Dividend Yield %
Financials	Royal Bank RY	3.61	Royal Bank RY	3.61
	TD TD	3.28	TD TD	3.28
	CIBC CM	4.40	CIBC CM	4.40
	Sun Life SLF	3.57	Sun Life SLF	3.57
	JP Morgan JPM US	2.14	JP Morgan JPM US	2.14
	Bank of America BAC US	1.70	Bank of America BAC US	1.70
	Citibank C US	1.70	Citibank C US	1.70
	Manulife MFC	3.02	Manulife MFC	3.02
	T. Rowe Price TROW US	2.22	T. Rowe Price TROW US	2.22
	iUnits US Regional Banks IAT US	1.38	iUnits US Regional Banks IAT US	1.38
	Keycorp KEY US	2.21	Keycorp KEY US	2.21
	Blackrock BLK US	1.94	Blackrock BLK US	1.94
			Visa V US	0.69
Energy	Suncor SU	2.86	Suncor SU	2.86
	Freehold FRU	3.94	Freehold FRU	3.94
	Whitecap WCP	3.18	Whitecap WCP	3.18
	Torc TOG	3.40	Torc TOG	3.40
	Pembina Pipe Lines PPL	4.81	Pembina Pipe Lines PPL	4.81
	Enbridge ENB	5.52	Enbridge ENB	5.52
			Centennial Resources CDEV US	0.00
			Parex Resources PXT	0.00
			Spartan SPE	0.00
Materials	Agnico Eagle AEM	0.99	Agnico Eagle AEM	0.99
	Franco Nevada FNV	1.12	Franco Nevada FNV	1.12
			Lundin LUN	1.60
			Trevali Mining TV	0.00
			Roxgold ROXG	0.00
Industrials	DowDuPont DWDP US	2.15	DowDuPont DWDP US	2.15
	New Flyer Ind NFI	2.65	New Flyer Ind NFI	2.65
	WSP Global WSP	2.51	WSP Global WSP	2.51
	Canadian Pacific CP	1.00	Canadian Pacific CP	1.00
	General Dynamics GD US	1.62	General Dynamics GD US	1.62
	SNC Lavalin SNC	1.94	SNC Lavalin SNC	1.94
	Guggenheim Eq WT IND RGI US	1.16	Guggenheim Eq Wt IND RGI US	1.16
Consumer Discretionary	Home Depot HD US	1.98	Home Depot HD US	1.98
	Sleep Canada ZZZ	2.02	Sleep Canada ZZZ	2.02
	Stanley Black and Decker SWK US	1.49	Stanley Black and Decker SWK US	1.49
	Canadian Tire CTC.A	2.21	Canadian Tire CTC.A	2.21
	Amazon AMZN US	0.00	Amazon AMZN US	0.00
	Kohl’s KSS US	4.59	Kohl’s KSS US	4.59
Telecom	Rogers B RCI.B	2.87	Rogers B RCI.B	2.87
Consumer Staples	Alimentation Couche Tard ATD.b	0.55	Alimentation Couche Tard ATD.b	0.55
	Loblaws L	1.59	Loblaws L	1.59
	Pepsico PEP US	2.72	Pepsico PEP US	2.72
	Unilever PLC UL US	2.93	Unilever PLC UL US	2.93
Technology	Apple AAPL US	1.47	Apple AAPL US	1.47
	Microsoft MSFT US	2.00	Microsoft MSFT US	2.00
	Open Text OTEX	1.62	Open Text OTEX	1.62
			Facebook FB US	0.00
			Nvidia NVDA US	0.30
			Shopify SHOP	0.00
			Alphabet GOOGL US	0.00
Utilities	Emera EMA	4.65	Emera EMA	4.65
	Fortis FTS	3.58	Fortis FTS	3.58
Healthcare	Abbott Labs ABT US	1.88	Abbott Labs ABT US	1.88
	Bristol Myers BMY US	2.56	Bristol Myers BMY US	2.56
	Johnson & Johnson JNJ US	2.41	Johnson & Johnson JNJ US	2.41
	Merck MRK US	3.47	Merck MRK US	3.47
	US Healthcare iShares ETF IYH US	1.07	US Healthcare iShares ETF IYH US	1.07
			Celgene CELG US	0.00
			Thermo Fisher Scientific TMO US	0.31
			Aphria APH	0.00
			Knight Therapeutics GUD	0.00
			IBB Biotech ETF IBB US	0.22
Real Estate	Cdn Apt. REIT CAR.un	3.46	Cdn. Apt. REIT CAR.un	3.46
	InterRent REIT IIP.un	2.97	InterRent REIT IIP.un	2.97
	Chartwell REIT CSH.un	3.72	Chartwell REIT CSH.un	3.72
	Pure Industrial AAR.un	4.67	Pure Industrial AAR.un	4.67
European Equity	BMO European ETF ZEQ	1.93	BMO European ETF ZEQ	1.93
Emerging Markets	iShares MSCI Emer. Mkts XEC	1.47	iShares MSCI Emer. Mkts XEC	1.47

Investment Commentary December 2017

Global economies continue to expand and the probability of a near term US led global recession remains low. The US flattening of the yield curve is more about the supply / demand for longer term maturities than it is about an impending recession.

The probability of US tax reform to be passed by both houses has sharply increased. Even if there are changes to the current proposals, this will most definitely create fiscal stimulus.

I am modestly increasing my equity weight for both the Income and Growth portfolios by 2.5% with both Europe and Emerging Market weights rising by 1.25% each.

While I am reducing my cash weight by 2.5% to pay for the new equity purchases, my overall cash levels remain higher than normal in anticipation of higher rates.

My equity sector weights are as follows:

Continue to overweight the 50/50 benchmark weight in Financials, Industrials, Consumer Discretionary and Technology
Continue to underweight Materials, Telcos, Consumer Staples, Utilities and Real Estate
Continue to market weight Energy and Healthcare

While I remain underweight Materials, I have increased my weight from last month as a result of the poor price performance of this sector. While it is true that commodity prices go down when the US dollar rises against global currencies, both the continuing global economic expansion and the US tax reform should help base metal prices. Having some gold exposure is really like owning a form of insurance from events that we cannot accurately predict.

Recently there has been some equity sector market rotation into Financials and Energy from the higher valued Technology area. There were also some recent research studies indicating the US tech companies will benefit the least from US tax reform. However the technology companies continue to grow their revenues faster than the overall economy and that is not going to change materially if other sectors benefit more from US tax reform.

In the Industrial sector, I am adding DowDuPont to both the Income and Growth portfolios. The company represents the recent merger of Dow Chemical and DuPont. This newly merged company plans to spin off three of its operating divisions into three separate entities in order to create shareholder value. This will transform this massive conglomerate into more focused individual businesses. Cost synergies from the merger are expected to be around $3 billion over the next 18 months.

In the healthcare sector, I am adding Bristol Myers to both the Income and Growth portfolios. Relative to its strong drug pipeline in the lung cancer and cardiovascular areas, the stock is reasonably valued at under 19 times 2018 EPS. Recently the company has brought in Pfizer to share in the development and marketing costs of its fast growth Eliquis blockbuster drug to combat atrial fibrillation. This will materially lower Bristol Myers’ overall risk.

Lastly I am adding InterRent REIT to both my Income and Growth portfolios in the Real Estate sector. It is a Canadian apartment REIT that is growing its operating cash flow and dividends at a nice rate, while keeping its cash dividend payout under 40%.

McMurtry Investment Report – Sector Weights (December 2017)

Equity Sector Weights (%)
Sector	My Weight	TSX Comp	S&P 500	50/50
Financials	28.00	34.90	14.80	24.85
Energy	12.70	19.60	5.80	12.70
Materials	6.30	11.20	3.00	7.10
Industrials	12.50	9.40	10.10	9.75
Consumer Disc.	10.20	5.50	12.10	8.80
Telecom	1.50	4.90	2.00	3.45
Consumer Staples	3.00	3.70	8.10	5.90
Technology	15.50	3.30	24.00	13.65
Utilities	1.40	3.80	3.10	3.45
Real Estate	1.50	2.90	2.90	2.90
Healthcare	7.40	0.70	14.10	7.40
Totals	100.00	99.90	100.00	99.95

McMurtry Investment Report Asset Mix (December 2017)

Asset Mix – Income and Growth Portfolios
%	Income	Growth
Cash	30.00	20.00
Bonds	10.00	5.00
Preferreds	10.00	10.00
Equities	50.00	65.00
CDN	20.75	28.25
US	20.75	28.25
Europe	5.25	5.25
Emerging Markets	3.25	3.25

Also available in PDF: MIR Portfolios April 2019

Investment Commentary (April 2019)

Asset Mix Changes

Last week both the Canadian and US yield curve inverted where short rates exceeded longer maturities. For most of the past economic recessions, an inverted yield curve occurred 6-18 months before the onslaught of an economic slowdown. Consequently, this signal should not be taken lightly and brushed off as is frequently the case with economists stating that things are different this time.

This week the inversion of the curve went away in both Canada and the US with longer rates now slightly exceeding shorter maturities. However, the negative yield curve is still present in Europe where their economy continues to suffer.

US corporate bond spreads for both investment and High Yield securities had been creeping up in late December. However, year to date corporate spreads over US Treasuries have been coming down once again. Historically when corporate spreads widen this is a danger signal for an economic slowdown. The recent reduction is spreads is a positive sign that the economy may not be as weak as many pundits are saying.

Overall economic activity is definitely slowing globally. This is also true in the US but their economy is still growing on a relative basis much faster than Europe and Canada. Economic growth in the Chinese economy had been coming down sharply, but this week an announcement came out stating that their domestic industrial production started to revive after nearly nine months of decline. Several months ago the Chinese authorities began stimulating their domestic economy by lowering corporate taxes and increasing government spending. Once again this is a positive development.

The Federal Reserve has stopped increasing rates by emphatically stating that there will be no more rate increases for the remainder of the year.

US corporate profit growth has slowed dramatically from last year, while equity prices have rebounded sharply year to date. Equity valuations are no longer cheap as they were in late December.

This week the US / China trade talks have taken a more positive tone which is good for markets.

Taking all these factors into consideration, I have decided to leave the asset mix for both portfolios the same as last month. The jury is still out if an economic recession is imminent or only years away.

McMurtry Investment Report Asset Mix (April 2019)

Asset Mix – Income and Growth Portfolios
%	Income	Growth
Cash	35.00	30.00
Bonds – Regular	20.00	10.00
Bonds – High Yield	5.00	5.00
Preferreds	0.00	0.00
Equities	40.00	55.00
CDN	15.75	22.50
US	19.25	27.50
Europe	5.00	5.00
Emerging Markets	0.00	0.00

Equity Sectors

The main change to my equity sector recommendations is to reduce the Financial equity exposure from overweight to market weight the 55% US 45% Canada benchmark. This works out to a new weight of 21.25% of my North American equity exposure.

The reason for my reduction in weight for the Financial sector is all to do with interest rates and the slope of the yield curve. Lower rates combined with either a flat or inverted yield curve is not positive for the bank’s net interest margins. A slowing economy normally results in an increase in loan losses, another possible headwind.

For the other groups I remain market weight Energy, Utilities and Healthcare.

I remain overweight Technology, Industrials, Real Estate, Communication Services and Consumer Staples

I remain underweight Materials and Consumer Discretionary.

McMurtry Investment Report – Sector Weights (April 2019)

Equity Sector Weights (%)
Sector	My Weight	TSX Comp	S&P 500	55 % US /45% CDN
Financials	21.25	31.70	12.70	21.25
Energy	11.07	18.00	5.40	11.07
Materials	5.66	11.20	2.60	6.47
Industrials	10.40	10.90	9.50	10.13
Consumer Disc.	6.40	4.10	10.10	7.40
Comm. Services	8.50	5.80	10.10	8.17
Consumer Staples	6.25	3.90	7.30	5.77
Technology	14.00	4.50	21.20	13.69
Utilities	3.71	4.20	3.30	3.71
Real Estate	3.75	3.50	3.10	3.28
Healthcare	9.02	2.20	14.60	9.02
Totals	100.00	100.00	99.90	99.95

Common Equity Changes

In the Financial Services sector, I am replacing National Bank with Intact Financial for both portfolios. Intact is the largest property / casualty company in Canada and will benefit from the recent departure of AIG, a large US competitor from the Canadian market. Intact is raising insurance rates in Ontario and this will help to increase operating margins. Differing from life insurance companies, property and casualty insurance companies have much shorter term liabilities and are consequently not as negatively affected from flat to falling interest rates as the life companies are.

In the Technology sector, I am deleting Nokia from both portfolios. Huawei, the Chinese company and major competitor to Nokia has been continuously lobbying the global wireless providers to encourage them to continue buying their products. It is only in the US that the Chinese company has been banned with its alleged cybersecurity activities. Thus, Nokia has not been as much of a beneficiary from the 5G wireless ramp up as originally expected. In addition, a law firm has recently alleged that Nokia’s Alcatel – Lucent division has some very serious potential claims for security law violations. This creates a lot of uncertainty. My recommendation is to sell your Nokia shares and use the proceeds to purchase more Cisco, which will be a major beneficiary from the upcoming 5G implementation.

In the healthcare sector I am adding the Swiss dental implant company, Straumann Holdings ADR to my Growth portfolio. This American Depositary Receipt is not very liquid in the US market, so please always use limit orders when buying and selling this security. Despite this shortfall, this is a good quality company and one of the global leaders in the dental implant industry. The company is experiencing strong annual revenue and gross profit growth in addition to record EBITDA margins. The company has strong organic growth and operates in 100 countries globally. The global dental implant market is expected to grow at 4-5% globally this year and Straumann’s organic growth is sharply outperforming its competitors.

Lastly in the Materials sector, I am adding Osisko Metals to my Growth portfolio. The company is a small cap zinc exploration company that operates in both the Far North and in New Brunswick. The company has no long term debt and the level of insider buying is unusually high. Normally I do not even discuss insider buying, but the level of insider buying for this company is extraordinary. The supply / demand situation for zinc is the most favourable for all the base metals with inventory stockpiles at very low levels. Should the Chinese economy rebound the demand for zinc will increase accordingly.

Peter McMurtry, B.Com, CFA
Financial Writer
Objective Investment Advice for Everyone
Monthly Investment Newsletter and Sample Portfolios
Personalized Portfolio Reviews
https://mcmurtryinvestmentreport.ca

McMurtry Investment Report – Portfolios (April 2019)

	Income		Growth
Cash	Alterna Bank – High Interest Savings (2.35% current rate)		Alterna Bank – High Interest Savings (2.35% current rate)
	EQ Bank – High Interest Savings ( 2.30% current rate)		EQ Bank – High Interest Savings ( 2.30% current rate)
Bonds -Regular	iShares XSB Short Term		iShares XSB Short Term
	iShares CBO 1-5 Ladder Corp		iShares CBO 1-5 Ladder Corp
	iShares CLF 1-5 Ladder Gov’t		iShares CLF 1-5 Ladder Gov’t
Bonds – High Yield CORP	iShares XHY US High Yield CDN$		iShares XHY US High Yield CDN $
Common Stocks	Security	Dividend Yield %	Security	Dividend Yield %
Financials	Royal Bank RY	4.05	Royal Bank RY	4.05
	Bank of Montreal BMO	4.00	Bank of Montreal BMO	4.00
	Bank of Nova Scotia BNS	4.89	Bank of Nova Scotia BNS	4.89
	Intact Financial IFC	2.69	Intact Financial IFC	2.69
	TD TD	4.08	TD TD	4.08
	Sun Life SLF	3.90	Sun Life SLF	3.90
	JP Morgan JPM US	3.16	JP Morgan JPM US	3.16
	Bank of America BAC US	2.17	Bank of America BAC US	2.17
	Citibank C US	2.89	Citibank C US	2.89
	Morgan Stanley MS US	2.84	Morgan Stanley MS US	2.84
	T. Rowe Price TROW US	3.04	T. Rowe Price TROW US	3.04
	Keycorp KEY US	4.32	Keycorp KEY US	4.32
	PNC Fin’l PNC US	3.10	PNC Fin’l PNC US	3.10
Energy	Suncor SU	3.85	Suncor SU	3.85
	Freehold FRU	7.43	Freehold FRU	7.43
	Torc TOG	5.62	Torc TOG	5.62
	Pembina Pipe Lines PPL	4.55	Pembina Pipe Lines PPL	4.55
	Enbridge ENB	6.04	Enbridge ENB	6.04
	Trans Canada TRP	4.91	Trans Canada TRP	4.91
			Parex Resources PXT	0.00
Materials	Agnico Eagle AEM	1.15	Agnico Eagle AEM	1.15
	Franco Nevada FNV	1.29	Franco Nevada FNV	1.29
			Osisko Metals OM.V	0.00
			iShares Global Gold ETF XGD	0.20
Industrials	Toromont TIH	1.55	Toromont TIH	1.55
	Air Products APD US	2.44	Air Products APD US	2.44
	WSP Global WSP	2.06	WSP Global WSP	2.06
	Canadian Pacific CP	0.94	Canadian Pacific CP	0.94
	CNR	1.79	CNR	1.79
	Raytheon RTN US	2.03	Raytheon RTN US	2.03
	Aecon Group ARE	3.33	Aecon Group ARE	3.33
	Guggenheim Eq WT IND RGI US	1.35	Guggenheim Eq Wt IND RGI US	1.35
	Honeywell HON US	2.07	Honeywell HON US	2.07
	TFI Int’l TFII	2.45	TFI Int’l TFII	2.45
Consumer Discretionary	Home Depot HD US	2.80	Home Depot HD US	2.80
	Sleep Canada ZZZ	3.77	Sleep Canada ZZZ	3.77
	Canadian Tire CTC.A	2.88	Canadian Tire CTC.A	2.88
	Amazon AMZN US	0.00	Amazon AMZN US	0.00
	Lowes LOW US	1.75	Lowes LOW US	1.75
Communication Services	Rogers B RCI.B	2.78	Rogers B RCI.B	2.78
			Facebook FB US	0.00
			Alphabet GOOGL US	0.00
Consumer Staples	Alimentation Couche- Tard ATD.B	0.64	Alimentation Couche Tard ATD.b	0.64
	Loblaws L	1.79	Loblaws L	1.79
	Constellation Brands STZ US	1.69	Constellation Brands STZ US	1.69
	Unilever PLC UL US	3.06	Unilever PLC UL US	3.06
Technology	Apple AAPL US	1.54	Apple AAPL US	1.54
	Microsoft MSFT US	1.56	Microsoft MSFT US	1.56
	Open Text OTEX	1.58	Open Text OTEX	1.58
	Paychex PAYX US	2.79	Paychex PAYX US	2.79
	Cisco CSCO US	2.59	Cisco CSCO US	2.59
			Kinaxis KXS	0.00
			ETFMG Prime Cyber Sec. HACK US	0.15
			Visa V US	0.64
Utilities	Algonquin Power AQN	4.58	Algonquin Power AQN	4.58
	Northland Power NPI	5.12	Northland Power NPI	5.12
	Fortis FTS	3.64	Fortis FTS	3.64
Healthcare	Abbott Labs ABT US	1.60	Abbott Labs ABT US	1.60
	Becton Dickinson BDX US	1.23	Becton Dickinson BDX US	1.23
	Merck MRK US	2.65	Merck MRK US	2.65
	US Healthcare iShares ETF IYH US	1.84	US Healthcare iShares ETF IYH US	1.84
	United Healthcare UNH US	1.46	United Healthcare UNH US	1.46
			Danaher DHR US	0.52
			Thermo Fisher Scientific TMO US	0.28
			Straumann ADR SAUHY US *	0.63
			IBB Biotech ETF IBB US	0.28
Real Estate	Cdn Apt. REIT CAR.un	2.76	Cdn. Apt. REIT CAR.un	2.76
	InterRent REIT IIP.un	2.03	InterRent REIT IIP.un	2.03
	Dream Industrial DIR.un	5.83	Dream Industrial DIR.un	5.83
	Summit REIT SMU.un	4.35	Summit REIT SMU.un	4.35
European Equity	iShares MSCI Europe XEU	2.96	iShares MSCI Europe XEU	2.96

* Be careful purchasing and selling Straumann ADR’s as it is very illiquid. Always use a limit order.

McMurtry Investment Report and Model Portfolios™

McMurtry Investment Report Portfolios – December 2017

Investment Commentary (April 2019)

Peter McMurtry, B.Com, CFA

MCMURTRY INVESTMENT REPORT™

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