Stock Picker’s Market

Ever since the middle of September, even though it may not feel like it, the TSX Index has been trading in a flat range. Markets are essentially digesting this year’s big gains. Van Arbor has had a nice feast on material, energy, and cyclical companies for most of the year, but as of late we have been repositioning into companies with better current risk/reward prospects.

More recently we have been snacking on food stocks (pardon the pun) as well as high yielding telecom & utility stocks. These have been doing great relative to the market and should benefit from earnings momentum and developing macro trends. See the charts below to get an idea of why this is a stock picker’s market.

So with markets digesting, that begs the question: when is the next big meal? As opposed to business which is about creating opportunities; investing is all about spotting the best opportunities before everyone else. Usually 90% of a good trade is planning, while 10% is executing it.
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