Brian Acker, president, CEO and chief investment strategist at Acker Finley

Focus: North American large caps
_______________________________________________________________

MARKET OUTLOOK
We believe we are in the middle stages of a secular bull market in the U.S. dollar (now in its fourth year since I first started mentioning this on BNN). This will ignite rates of return of all U.S. assets including equities, real estate, etc.

According to Model Price metrics, we believe the S&P 500 has a fair value of 3,007 — that’s 24 per cent higher than this index is trading at today. And 12 months from June 1 fair value will be 3,475, assuming current earnings estimates.

For a value manager, like us, there are many discarded, unloved, and broken-down growth-story stocks to choose from. If the U.S. economy can struggle along here, or God forbid accelerates, these value names would produce, in our opinion, great rate of returns.

TOP PICKS

APPLE (AAPL.O)
I and family own Apple through the Acker Finley funds. Last purchased on June 28, 2013 at US$56.40. Model Price is $184.29 representing an upside of 28 per cent.

CITIGROUP (C.N)
I and family own Citigroup through the Acker Finley funds. Last purchased on June 29, 2017 at US$67.15. Model Price is $66.84 representing no real upside but big potential for dividend increases.

METLIFE (MET.N)
I and family own MET through the Acker Finley funds. Last purchased on February 28, 2017 at US$52.58. Model Price is $73.24 representing an upside of 30 per cent.
 

PAST PICKS: APRIL 14, 2016

GILEAD SCIENCES (GILD.O)

• Then: $98.19
• Now: $68.84
• Return: -29.89%
• TR: -27.50%

GENERAL ELECTRIC (GE.N)

• Then: $31.02
• Now: $26.09
• Return: -15.89%
• TR: -12.55%

APPLE (AAPL.O)

• Then: $112.10
• Now: $144.85
• Return: +29.21%
• TR: +32.48%

TOTAL RETURN AVERAGE: -2.52%