It was not surprising to see the markets down on Thursday. The good news of the Joe Biden strength in the primaries was yesterday’s news and now the focus is back on the coronavirus and its impact on the economy.
The S&P 500 was down 3.4% and Toronto was down 1.3%.
Individual decliners are basically too numerous to list.
Couche-Tard was an exception and was up 1.7% and has really weathered the storm well. I was tempted today to take some profit on it. But I don’t have a huge position and it is a great company and in the past I have always regretted when I sold it.
And Aecon Group was up 5.2% perhaps on the thought that government infrastructure spending will be increased if a recession does develop.
I added to a couple of positions today – Boston Pizza Royalty units and AutoCanada. It’s hard to say if buying is wise at this point but I want to deploy some cash on dips.
Boston Pizza has been buying back some units as recently as today. They have a new buyback plan in palace and started buying 16,900 shares each day since February 20. This was planned at least a month ago but it is a good sign that they are going ahead with it. The buybacks are accretive to cashflow per unit.
The Melcor REIT reported Q4 results after the close. Although down a little versus last year the tone was quite upbeat and an acquisition in the middle of Q4 will add to results as of the start of Q1. Hopefully their upbeat tone will also be seen in the Melcor Development results but that is a MUCH more cyclical business.
Costco reported another strong quarter…