Blog

Cutting Through the Noise


November 4, 2010

By Tom Bradley

Not Sad About Potash

At the risk of alienating some of our clients and my Bay Street friends, I admit to being happy that the BHP takeover of Potash Corp was turned down. I keep wondering if it’s just my prairie roots (I want desperately for Saskatchewan and Manitoba to have...

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November 2, 2010

By Tom Bradley

Quality Unappreciated

In recent years I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Danny Bubis, President and Chief Investment Officer of Winnipeg-based Tetrem Capital Management (anyone from my home town is a great person). Tetrem manages private and institutional...

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October 29, 2010

By Tom Bradley

Lighten Up You Bears, It's Not All Gloom

Whenever one investment theme, strategy or person is in the spotlight, it’s important to look in the shadows for a different perspective. That’s because as voices get louder and more confident, a consensus emerges that makes it harder to find the...

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October 22, 2010

By Tom Bradley

Bear Spray

David Rosenberg, the economist, is bearish on the economy and he’s very persuasive. His view is that we’re heading into a period of subdued growth at best, and another recession at worst. His 2011 earnings estimate for the S&P 500 is $75, well below...

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October 18, 2010

By Tom Bradley

Who is Your Steady Hand?

“I’ve been shaking all night long, but my hands are steady” - from ‘Three Pistols’ by the Tragically Hip. David and I have been doing presentations over the last few weeks and we’ve talked about the notion of a ‘steady hand’. The company name came...

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October 15, 2010

By Tom Bradley

Why Volatility Doesn't Always Equal Risk

When investors open their quarterly statements this month, they’ll be pleasantly surprised. Despite all the doom and gloom, the last three months have brought a year’s worth of returns. But despite the fact that the most recent quarter will bring...

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October 12, 2010

By Tom Bradley

Predicting Inflation - Bonds Can't do it

Michael Nairne of Tacita Capital recently published an interesting piece on inflation. He pointed out that the bond market has been a lousy predictor of where inflation is going. He showed that the holders of both long and medium-term bonds failed to...

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October 1, 2010

By Tom Bradley

To Beat the Market, Try a Little Sensitivity

“Maybe you might have, some advice to give, on how to be insensitive.” The chorus from this great Jann Arden song speaks to where the investment industry has gone over the last 20 years. I’m not referring to touchy-feely, relationship stuff, but rather a hard...

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September 30, 2010

By Tom Bradley

Up the Down Market – We’re #1

It’s not very often that we get to say we’re #1 at anything, whether it be on a personal level or as an organization. In this regard, we’re having an unusual year. In June, Steadyhand was at the top of the list on Morningstar’s Stewardship Grades. In...

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September 24, 2010

By Tom Bradley

Closed-end Funds – Math Only a Marketer Could Love

Writing about the unfairness of closed-end funds has been a lonely vigil. Despite the fact that the last year has been a robust period for new issues of these funds, there have only been a few other commentators taking on this egregious industry practice. In...

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September 23, 2010

By Tom Bradley

ING Streetwise - Crossing the Line?

ING has a TV ad running right now on their Streetwise mutual funds. I don’t have any issue with ING or the funds (quite the opposite), but I do think the messaging is misleading. Before I go there, I should provide a little background. Since...

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September 20, 2010

By Tom Bradley

Bank Capital - Another View

To me, the media coverage on the new banking regulations laid out by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision misses the point (Basel was established in 1974 to improve the quality of banking supervision worldwide). The commentary has focused...

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September 18, 2010

By Tom Bradley

Rewiring Investors' Brains with Good Ideas

Every summer Lori and I make a pilgrimage to the famous Highland Cinema in Kinmount, Ont. This summer’s movie was Inception. While I had mixed feelings about the film (movie – 2 stars; conversation after – 4 stars), I found the...

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September 16, 2010

By Tom Bradley

Counterpoint - It's Bad, But Not All Bad

We continue to be barraged with negative news. Even the most positive economists are projecting slow growth for the next few years, and the bearish ones, whose names all seem to start with ‘R’, send chills down my spine. One sentence in Connor...

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September 13, 2010

By Tom Bradley

More Skin in the Game

At Steadyhand, we’re big on client-manager alignment. We think it’s important that investors work with professionals who share their interests. As clients and regular readers know, we walk the walk in this regard. Each year we publish the...

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September 7, 2010

By Tom Bradley

Conficts of Interests? What Conflicts? Part II

It was revealed last week that regulators are looking into potential conflicts of interest between the banks and their clients. According to the Globe and Mail, the enforcement division of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada...

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September 4, 2010

By Tom Bradley

The Case for Dividend Stocks

One of the joys of my day job is talking with smart, turned-on people from all aspects and levels of the investment business. My good fortune comes from having a long and diverse career (as Woody Allen put it, 90 per cent of life is just showing...

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August 30, 2010

By Tom Bradley

Bearish Millionaires - Bring it on

t was reported this week that millionaires are feeling more bearish. The Spectrem Millionaire Investor Confidence Index fell to -18, which represents “mildly bearish territory”. Prior to the August score, the index had been in neutral range (-10 to +10)...

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August 21, 2010

By Tom Bradley

The Fine Art of Making the Right Investment Call

Portfolio management is both a science and an art. The science can be learned from finance professors and investment books. The art part, however, comes from years at the school of hard knocks. Like every grizzled money manager who’s...

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August 9, 2010

By Tom Bradley

When Investors and Their Advisers Don’t See Eye-to-Eye

In my last column I talked about fear and investors who wanted to get out of the market. My advice (don’t do it) was based on valuation, investor sentiment and the difficulty of timing the market. It was aimed at helping the investor make the best decision. But...

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August 6, 2010

By Tom Bradley

The Back Hand – Relief from the Macro Gloom

Everything we read about the economy these days is depressing – too much debt, scary demographics (with regard to social security and healthcare), weak political leadership and a warming planet. As an antidote to this macro gloom, there were lots of positives...

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July 24, 2010

By Tom Bradley

Making a Go of it, Despite the Doom and Gloom

In my quarterly letter to clients I used the word “discouraged” to describe investor sentiment. In the few days since we published it, however, I’m starting to think a better word is “despair.” Too regularly I’m being asked whether it’s time to get out of the...

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July 13, 2010

By Tom Bradley

Summer Reruns – Part II

In this week’s rerun, we travel back to May 2008 for a brief look at the negative sentiment and opportunities in the corporate bond market at the time. As it turns out, the soil was fertile indeed. The managers of our funds report to us formally...

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July 10, 2010

By Tom Bradley

When Browsing for Bargains, Beware the Value Trap

I’ve had a bias to owning higher quality companies since 2007. In a challenging economy with unpredictable credit markets, it seemed reasonable to pay a premium for stable profits, excess cash flow and strong balance sheets. I knew the companies...

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July 9, 2010

By Tom Bradley

The Back Hand – The Heat Is On

Below are some observations and musings on the week that was – a recent feature that we’ve aptly coined The Back Hand. The Next Wall Street? – I’m desperately trying to come up with an investing analogy for the LeBron James signing with the Miami Heat

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