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European defence stocks have vastly outperformed the S&P 500 this year and so far, show no sign of slowing down. Despite the currency risk, Canadian investors may be able to ride the momentum.

Like every consumer industry, investment tastes change to reflect the times. The utilitarian 60/40 portfolio is now deemed passé and poorly suited for these tumultuous times. Alts (a.k.a. ‘alternative investment strategies’) are roaring down the product pipeline. Once the exclusive domain of institutional investors, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals, these often pricey and opaque strategies, such as private equity, private credit, and venture capital, are now being pitched to the hoi polloi. But are they “a must-have”—or “a most hyped”?

In October 2024, the Ontario Securities Commission (“OSC”) released a Consultation Paper 81-737 (the Proposal) for comment to enable retail investors access to illiquid long-term assets through a new type of prospectus-qualified investment fund.

Spring is all about being refreshed, renewed, and new growth. It also offers a good time to look at your portfolio to make sure it is still doing what you intend it to do, particularly as the markets have been bumpy over the last few months. In many cases, the growth story in many individual stocks may have changed over the last few months. That industrial name exposed to tariff risks might not be quite the growth stock you thought it was. Or maybe, that gold mine has had such a significant run that it is time to rebalance a little. Of course, it is not always easy to find those compelling growth names that will help drive your portfolio to the next level. We wanted to look at three metrics that can help an investor cut through the noise, and hopefully, make it easier to find that next great growth stock.

Spring is here and Canadians are getting their gardens ready. At my house, our daughter has a fan blowing on her indoor plants, which she says she will move outdoors on the Victoria Day weekend once the overnight temperature is consistently above 10 degrees Celsius. The plants, she says, will grow tall and are used for making a substance used in rope and industrial textiles. She’s only allowed to grow four of them, she said. Hmm.

Canada is rumbling with construction equipment. In downtown Toronto, dozens of tower cranes pierce the skyline, lifting buckets of concrete and other building materials off trucks far below that seem to block every major street. Outside Toronto, bulldozers and backhoes rumble across fields, building new highways and turning farms into subdivisions.

While Valentine's Day is a time to show some appreciation to those we love, and maybe even a chance to ignite a spark with that special someone you have known for some time, there is also a darker side to Valentine's Day. Maybe it is me, as I was never one to have a mailbox overflowing with Valentine's requests back in the day (believe it or not!), but this special day often seemed to be a day where many would also re-evaluate their relationships and benchmark them against their more popular peers. Many might conclude that “It’s not you; it’s me”, and decide that Valentine's Day (or at least after waiting a reasonable period after the day) is the time to break up and move on.

Everyone knows that Nvidia is doing really well making chips for Generative AI; depending on the day, it’s the world’s most valuable company. I am trying to find an undiscovered stock that might benefit from Gen AI. I read something about liquid cooling in the data centres…does that make sense?

Fifteen years ago, American investor Kevin Vogelsang caught the bug for buying Chinese stocks. He took a position in FAB Universal Corporation, a brand created in 2008 that had over 12,000 self-service kiosks located throughout China where customers would download music, movies, and TV episodes while watching video ads. After several tumultuous years, by 2017, FAB Universal finally ceased operations, making the shares worthless. Looking back on the experience in the Wall Street Journal, Vogelsang admitted he should have paid more attention to the company’s AMEX ticker: FU.