Blog: Cutting Through the Noise

Say it Ain't So

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on May 31, 2011

I learned last week that the HealthShares Dermatology and Wound Care ETF has been shut down. A shame, really. Seemed like a solid backbone for a portfolio. Investors who like their ETFs sharp and narrow need not fret, however, as the Direxion Daily Daily Agribusiness Bear 3X Shares ETF is still around (for the time...

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Commodity Prices Take a Breather

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on May 19, 2011

In Connor, Clark & Lunn’s latest outlook, they assess the recent pullback in commodity prices. After a sharp run-up that began in early 2009, many commodities have been in retreat recently. Silver has grabbed the headlines, falling over 30% since late April, but...

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Fund Company Calls 'The Cleaner'

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on May 10, 2011

“If I’m curt, then I apologize. But as I understand it, we have a situation here and time is of the essence.” - Newman. I’m a Seinfeld junkie. One of my favorite episodes was “The Muffin Tops”, in which Elaine’s former boss (Mr. Lippman) decides to open...

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A Quick Beer

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on April 18, 2011

The following is a recap of Edinburgh Partners Limited’s (EPL) investment in Carlsberg. It’s an example of a turnaround opportunity, which is a common theme in our Global Equity Fund. To re-state the obvious, the recession and credit crisis of 2008/09...

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Podcast: First Quarter Review

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on April 12, 2011

Stock markets pushed forward in the first quarter despite some strong headwinds, including revolutions in North Africa, a powerful earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and lingering sovereign debt issues in Europe. It goes to prove that the linkage between headlines and market returns is anything but precise. In this podcast, we...

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Tom on BNN: Balanced Contrarian

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on April 8, 2011

Tom was on BNN earlier today discussing how Steadyhand’s funds are positioned to tap into the global recovery and growth in the emerging markets. Unlike some managers, our approach isn’t focused on loading up on mining stocks and direct...

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Podcast: Small Talk with Wil Wutherich

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on March 30, 2011

Wil Wutherich, the manager of our Small-Cap Equity Fund, is in town this week on a research trip. We booked an afternoon of his time to review the fund and get some further insights on some of the stocks in the portfolio. Topics of discussion include: performance, valuations, and the resource sector, among others. Listen now...

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Concentrate Dammit!

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on March 23, 2011

If you drive by 3rd & Burrard in Vancouver, you’ll sometimes hear a loud reverberating sound coming from a stand-alone building nestled between the car dealerships and art galleries. Don’t be alarmed. It’s just us screaming our investment philosophy and industry observations from the rooftop. Some of our neighbours (and competitors) find it annoying, while other observers find it refreshing...

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The Japan Earthquake

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on March 11, 2011

As we watch the horrific destruction in Japan, we are well aware that our Global Equity Fund owns a number of businesses in that country. Roughly 20% of the fund is invested in Japanese stocks. At this time, we don’t have any information or insight to pass...

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Buffett Unconstrained

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on March 1, 2011

Tom discussed Longleaf Partners’ annual letter to shareholders in a blog posting yesterday. Today, the grand-daddy of all shareholder letters is in the news – Warren Buffett’s. I’m beating Tom to the punch for a synopsis, as his posts in previous years...

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Japan - Still an Uneasy Conversation

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on February 24, 2011

At our recent client presentations, there was a subtle shuffling of feet and an air of unease when the topic of Japan came up. Japanese stocks have been an area of increasing interest for our global manager (Edinburgh Partners) and we laid out the reasons why: Japanese stocks are cheap on several measures; the proverbial...

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Steadyhand Equity Fund: The Effect of Rising Commodity Prices

Excerpt from Scott Ronalds's blog on February 16, 2011

The manager of our Equity Fund, CGOV, recently published a short piece that addresses a timely topic – inflation. With commodity prices rising across the board, investors may be curious as to how certain companies are affected by this trend...

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