Stan Wong.
Stan Wong is director of wealth management and portfolio manager, Stan Wong Private Wealth Management, ScotiaMcLeod. His focus is North American large caps and ETFs.
Top Picks:
Citigroup (C-NYSE)
Citigroup is a diversified financial services company providing a wide range of financial services to consumers and corporate customers in over 100 countries globally. Citigroup remains on track towards its longer term goal of strengthening its global presence in consumer and corporate lending while returning meaningful levels of capital to shareholders through share buybacks and dividend increases. Last month, Citigroup signed a successful partnership deal with Costco to issue co-branded credit cards starting in April 2016, replacing American Express. Citigroup shares are attractive, currently trading at a significant discount to its peers with a price-to-book value ratio below 1.0x.
Simon Property Group (SPG-NYSE)
Simon Property Group is the world's largest real estate investment trust by market capitalization. SPG owns, develops and manages retail real estate – primarily regional malls and outlet centres mainly in the U.S. with operations also in Canada, Europe and Asia. Business conditions continue to improve for Simon Property Group as consumer spending is expected to remain firm in the U.S. given lower energy prices and an improving labour market. As well, occupancy levels continue to be tight allowing for leasing revenues to remain strong. In an effort to further boost shareholder value, Simon Property Group announced plans last week to buyback $2-billion (U.S.) of its stock over the next 2 years.
WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity ETF (HEDJ-NYSE)
The WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity ETF provides investors with exposure to large-cap European equities and an underlying hedge against currency fluctuations between the euro and the U.S. dollar. With the European Central Bank's $1.1-trillion asset purchase (quantitative easing) program, an export-friendly slump in the value of the euro currency and falling oil prices, the outlook for European equities have become attractive. Indeed, Eurozone economic data has continued to run at a very positive level (as measured by the Citigroup Economic Surprise Index). Consensus earnings growth estimates for European equity indexes this year are around 10 per cent.
Disclosure: | Personal | Family | Portfolio/Fund |
C | Y | Y | Y |
Spg | Y | Y | Y |
HEDJ | Y | Y | U |
Past Picks: April 9, 2014
Adidas AG (ADDYY OTC MKTS)
Sold in October 2014
Then: $54.51; Now: $40.50 -25.70%; Total return: -24.64%
Gilead Sciences (GILD-Nasdaq)
Then: $70.65; Now: $101.03 +43.00%; Total return: +43.00%
MasterCard (MA-NYSE)
Then: $73.56; Now: $88.93 +20.89%; Total return: +21.70%
Total return average: +13.35%
Disclosure: | Personal | Family | Portfolio/Fund |
ADDYY | N | N | N |
GILD | Y | Y | Y |
MA | Y | Y | Y |
Market outlook:
North American equity markets appear somewhat fatigued amid concerns surrounding corporate earnings growth, higher U.S. dollar headwinds and the timing of rising U.S. interest rates. From a fundamental perspective, both the TSX and S&P 500 are trading at the higher end of historical valuation ranges. As a result, volatility levels have picked up in recent months. Indeed, the pond is getting choppier and there are fewer attractive fishing spots today. It is likely that North American equity markets will remain largely in a sideways pattern until the earnings outlook improves. Some international equity markets are beginning to look more attractive from a relative valuation perspective. Individual stock and sector selection has certainly become more imperative in the current environment. At Stan Wong Private Wealth Management, we continue to be focused on high-quality, reasonably valued stocks that will benefit from the improving global economy, the positive effects of lower commodity prices and continued easy monetary policy around the world.