Managed Money Reporter NewsletterEditors: Carl Spiess & Allan McGlade |
Issue 254 |
By Carl Spiess, CFP, CIM, FMA, FCSI, MBA, Director, Wealth Management
As 2009 draws to a close, we have been very pleased by the resilience of the markets this year. After the significant declines of 2008, it looked like anyone predicting stability, let alone an increase in markets, was seen as a wide eyed optimist. So as we all reflect on the year, and our thoughts turn to 2010, a smile and some gratitude to the future taxpayers who funded the bailouts and stimulus packages seems appropriate.
Our firm's research department has an interesting piece named "2010 Outlook: Charting a Course with Cautious Optimism". For those interested in reading about what happened in 2008 and 2009, it provides good perspective. And it provides specific comments on the dollar, commodities, and even individual stocks. Naturally, for many clients, especially at this time of year, you may prefer to simply sit back and relax and count on us and the portfolio managers we employ for you to synthesize these ideas into the investments we hold in your accounts. Naturally, if you would like to meet or set up a time to review your account in the New Year, we would be pleased to do so.
Here is our annual holiday greeting picture, please hover over it for a smiling version of your team!
Notable team news from late this year, is that Debbie Ann was recently married, and now is Debbie Ann Espiritu. Andrew McGoey now has a second son, Sean, joining wife Tammy and first son William at home. Allan McGlade's new title is Associate Director. Congratulations to all, and our best wishes to you and your family for the holidays.
Thankfully, with markets being up, there is not much tax loss selling to be done in taxable accounts this year. And Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) and Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) contributions can be made any time, so there is not really a year end rush on these newer types of accounts. But if you have questions about tax planning, please see our helpful list or contact us for details about your accounts. Please note, the last day for trades for tax loss selling for the 2009 tax year is December 24th.
The winners list at this year's Canadian Investment Awards Gala was extensive. After a challenging year, managers who performed well were honoured with recognition in a broad range of categories. Winner of the Morningstar Equity Fund Manager of the Year Award was Eric Bushell, who runs the Signature line of funds for CI Investments. Analysts choice for Fund Company of the Year went to CI funds, and other notable winners included Dynamic Funds, and Industry Commentator Glorianne Stromberg who won the Career Achievement Award. For more details see:
We recently received this interesting chart, below, from Edgepoint, one of the newer fund companies and one we are following closely. After news of a CITI Analyst Downgrade on Research In Motion (RIM) shares hit the media (see a sample of current analyst opinions at The Globe & Mail), they looked at the history of CITI analysis of the stock, and found it lacking in prescience. See below to understand why we generally prefer to follow the opinions and actions of portfolio managers (who will be measured on the timing of their buys and sells), over the investment reports of analysts, whose reports may be interesting, but who are not measured against their peer group and index on a regular basis.
And while we don't always agree with the analysts, we are always interested in their thoughts. We have the full reports available on stocks that Scotia's analysts cover, and are pleased to share those with you, or you can access them online through our ScotiaOnline service. We also pay for the full Bloomberg market data system, and can share that information with you when requested.
Of course, if you really want to know what portfolio managers are doing with their RIM shares, we can always research that for you on Morningstar, where our subscription gets us information on what the managers are buying and selling, see the example of RIM. Naturally, there are always contradictory messages when viewing several of these different of sources, and we are pleased to help make sense of it all. Please contact us if you find an article of interest, have questions, or want our opinion on a specific investment. It's what we do.
Where can you access a good summary of what analysts on the street are saying about an investment? The answer is the GlobeInvestor website. On this free site, you can quickly see how the analysts are rating a particular stock. The site also has links to their popular GlobeFund site, and is packed with articles about investing:
T. 416.863.RRSP (7777)
1.800.387.9273
F. 416.863.7479
E. carl_spiess@scotiamcleod.com
allan_mcglade@scotiamcleod.com
ScotiaMcLeod is a division of Scotia Capital Inc., member of CIPF.
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