Thursday was not a good day for our stock picks.
The S&P 500 was up 0.15% while Toronto was down 0.25%.
Canadian Western Bank was down 6.9% after posting disappointing results for Q4. It has not increased its loan loss provisions. As long as it does not experience unusually high loan losses it will continue to grow earnings going forward.
Canadian Tire was down 2.8% after the release of a short-seller report. Canadian Tire responded this evening saying “The report contains numerous inaccuracies, which we believe are solely intended to benefit its author. It would be extremely unfortunate if investors took action based on the report.”
Boston Pizza was down a further 2.1% to $13.24. The yield is just over 10%. The market certainly seems to be anticipating a reduction in the distribution. I believe they are set to make their monthly distribution announcement next week. I suspect that they will not cut this month but they might cut in January or February if the Q4 same-store sales are down.
The U.S. market continues to largely ignore the impeachment progress and is more concerned about the prospects for a trade deal with China.
I think CN Rail is a reasonable buy with its recent decline. Q4 will be weak due to the strike but CN will likely continue to do well over time.