Choosing Canada

Q: How would you describe the market thus far in 2018?
Les Stelmach: Interesting is one way of putting it. Small portions, such as Information Technology and Health Care, have been strong. The latter has been inflated by cannabis stocks even though they score low on fundamentals such as cash flow and earnings. In ways, it’s reminiscent of the dot-com days. Conversely, large sectors such as Financials and Energy are lagging. Despite posting strong earnings, banks’ share price appreciation has not kept up. On the Energy side, sentiment is more pessimistic as evidenced by the fact that even those companies posting good results are unable to gain traction. In a number of cases, we’re seeing dividend-paying energy companies raise their dividends, while their share prices remain becalmed.

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