Barry Schwartz, president and chief investment officer at Toronto-based Baskin Wealth Management. Illustration by Joel KimmelThe Globe and Mail
Money manager Barry Schwartz has a message for investors who are ticked off that their portfolios have underperformed record-setting markets in recent months: Stay the course.
“For investors who have stuck with quality, profitable companies, this period is extremely frustrating and is testing the nerves of both seasoned portfolio managers and their clients, but the market always changes and always adapts,” says Mr. Schwartz, president and chief investment officer at Toronto-based Baskin Wealth Management, which oversees $2.7-billion in assets.
He says the run-up in sectors such as artificial intelligence and gold has overshadowed many long-term, reliable stocks across various sectors, presenting good buying opportunities.
“A lot of damage has been done based on a lot of ‘what-if’ questions, not necessarily because their results are bad,” he says. “This is a time for investors to take a look at some great businesses that have been beaten up.”
His focus remains on companies he believes have strong fundamentals and that will improve over the next three to five years. Some of his holdings today include Alphabet Inc. GOOG-Q, Apple Inc. AAPL-Q, Costco Wholesale Corp. COST-Q, Microsoft Corp. MSFT-Q, Visa Inc. V-N, National Bank of Canada NA-T and Brookfield Corp. BN-T.
His firm’s maximum-growth portfolio returned 0.5 per cent over the past year as of Dec. 31, 2025. He says the underperformance was because of the rising Canadian dollar versus the U.S., and his decision to hold stocks outside the gold and AI sectors that drove North American indexes in 2025.
The maximum growth portfolio’s three-year annualized return is 18.4 per cent and its five-year annualized return is 10.6 per cent. The performance is based on total returns, net of fees, as of Jan. 31.
The Globe spoke with Mr. Schwartz about three stocks he likes right now and a recent sell:
Name three stocks you own today and why.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. TSM-N is a stock we bought in the low US$200 a share range in June last year. While we’ve also been adding to existing names, it’s the only new investment we’ve made in our portfolio over the past 12 months. (We sold CoStar Group Inc. CSGP-Q to buy it).
We purchased Taiwan Semiconductor because we thought it would be the ultimate beneficiary of this AI boom. Unlike buying an Nvidia Corp. NVDA-Q, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD-Q or Intel Corp. INTC-Q product, you don’t have to worry about picking which horse will win the race because Taiwan Semiconductor has a huge monopoly.
It was, and is still, trading at a very reasonable valuation compared to other companies that are growing just as fast. There’s the risk of China-Taiwan flare-ups, which is why the stock is trading at 20 times earnings. Without the risk, Taiwan Semiconductor would be trading at 50 times earnings. This stock is one we intend to hold for a long time.
Netflix Inc. NFLX-Q is a stock we’ve held since the spring of 2020 and have been buying more of recently on the dip.
The market is fixated on what it perceives as competition from AI videos that people can make themselves. I get that younger generations consume media differently, but I still think there’s plenty of room for both that and what Netflix produces.
Netflix owns some of the world’s best IP [intellectual property], and if it buys Warner Bros., it will also own Game of Thrones and DC Comics. Even if it takes on billions of dollars in debt to buy Warner Bros., I think it will be a slam dunk. This is content that can be mined and watched for years. Also, I think it would be buying Warner Bros. at a very reasonable valuation.
I also believe Netflix will continue to add more must-see programming, including more sporting events. To me, the stock is attractive at current levels; it’s rare to find a company predicting 20-per-cent earnings growth trading in the low 20-times earnings. To us, it’s a gift at these levels.
Waste Connections Inc. WCN-T is a stock we’ve held for more than 20 years, since it first went public in Canada as BFI Canada Income Fund [and became Waste Connections after a series of acquisitions]. It’s one of the most durable businesses in the world. It owns landfills and has significant garbage and recycling contracts across North America.
It reported close to double-digit earnings in 2025 and is guiding to a very strong 2026, excluding potential acquisitions. There’s just no end to the amount of garbage people are producing. There’s nothing more AI-proof than garbage. The company says AI will help it, but we won’t be seeing driverless garbage trucks anytime soon. This is another stock we think is a great business with strong fundamentals that investors are throwing away because it’s not part of the recent momentum plays.
Name a stock you sold recently.
Adobe Systems Inc. ADBE-Q is a stock we sold at a loss to beef up our position in Constellation Software Inc. CSU-T. We bought Adobe in 2022 and sold it earlier this month. When we bought it four years ago, we thought we were buying it at a very reasonable valuation. The world was a lot different then; there were no worries about AI. Adobe has delivered strong earnings in recent years, but we believe enterprise software companies, especially non-diversified ones such as Adobe, could be at risk from AI.
We decided to take a loss and buy Constellation, which is more diversified and has a strong balance sheet. Constellation stock has fallen more than 50 per cent in recent months, so we felt it was a good time to buy.
This interview has been edited and condensed.