What if I told you that you can buy shares in a company at a 20% discount to everyone else? Well that offer is now available only to Canadians, who due to a confluence of factors are the coolest kids on the currency block!

We all know how much attention the Loonie has been getting over the last couple of years, all of which is due to some very good reasons (Oil, Gold, Banking System, and Speculative Interest). However, there becomes a point when all that good news gets baked in (priced to perfection so to speak) and one has to look at the other side of the coin.
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Dow 10,000
It doesn’t seem long ago that we stared into the Abyss at Dow 6,500 (7 months ago), but here we are at that headline milestone (for the 27th time). So what if it is exactly the same value ten years ago (Dow 10,021 October 15 1999). The point is that we have seen a powerful cyclical rally off depressed levels. The question is there value left?

It is true that many company’s strong returns were due to them being at severely depressed values. It is also true that the rally has been mainly cyclical in nature via commodities, industrials, and materials. However, in all the excitement there has been a basket of companies which have been largely ignored, namely non-cyclical companies. In some instances, these companies are quietly doing a great job at the company level, but attention has been pointed elsewhere. Thus, today’s note highlights a few companies that we like and which offer excellent absolute and relative gains going forward as attention begins to be paid.

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Building on the last two quarters of positive performance, the Van Arbor Funds had another great quarter with the Canadian Fund returning 14.55% (TSX 9.65%) and the World Fund returning 8.25% (World Index 7.82%). With three fourths of the year complete, both Funds remain the top ranked Canadian Equity and Global Equity Funds in Canada over multiple time frames. Even though 2009 has been a great year so far, we would like to highlight the fact that both Funds are one of the best performing mutual funds (all classes) in Canada over the last 12 months. We highlight this, because although we are enjoying a strong year to date on the upside, we also managed the downside last year just as well. So, while markets are almost returning to their value last fall, both Funds are up just over 40% from before the crash. Just another reason why having an actively managed portfolio that focuses on capital appreciation as much as capital preservation matters in a market that may not favor passive investing.
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