February 2020 Pricing Commentary

North American equity markets continued to set new all-time price records in February, up until the last ten days of the month, as escalating coronavirus fears brought extraordinary volatility to global equity markets.

Despite this volatility, we remained committed to our investment stance and refrained from any selling. It is our belief that this setback is temporary and our funds are well positioned with quality large capitalization, dividend paying securities. In fact, during the month a number of our holdings announced better than expected earnings and dividend increases, including Royal Bank of Canada and The Home Depot.

Additionally, all five ABC Funds outperformed their respective benchmarks for both the month and year to date periods. Interestingly, price appreciating stocks during February included our holdings of Algonquin Power, Alibaba, Brookfield Renewable Partners, Minto Apartment REIT, Northland Power, NVIDIA, Tencent Holdings, and Waste Connections, which bolstered our relative performance.

Looking ahead, it is our expectation that global economies will be supported with monetary and fiscal stimulus by central banks and governments. We believe that these eventual actions, over time, will revive consumer and business sentiment, and ultimately, should lift economic activity, corporate profits, and equity prices.

Irwin A. Michael, President
I.A. Michael Investment Counsel Ltd.