Portfolio Manager Commentary – September 2018

admin 18 Oct 2018

Horizons Inovestor Canadian Equity ETF (INOC)

The S&P/TSX Total Return Index ended the month of September down 0.89% as the Canadian equity
market was pressured lower on uncertainties surrounding a new trade agreement with the US.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Canada decided to maintain its overnight rate target at 1.5% and adopt a wait
and see approach. The Canadian dollar rose on higher crude oil prices and hawkish comments from
Governor Poloz at the Bank of Canada on a potential rate hike next month. Our Nasdaq Inovestor
Canadian Equity Index (NQICA) fell 1.83% for the same period, 94bps below the benchmark. Our sector allocation contributed -15bps as our decision to overweight discretionary, and underweight health care proved to be detrimental. Our stock selection contributed -79bps as a couple of our stocks clearly underperformed. You will find below the top three and bottom three contributors to performance.

The top three contributors to performance were:

Equitable Group (EQB:CN), a thrifts & mortgage provider, rose 6.4% after origination activity,
borrowing retention, loan growth all came better than expected in Q2 2018 last month.
Linamar (LNR:CN), an auto part manufacturer, gained 3.7% as investors are optimistic the US
and Canada will reach a trade agreement that won’t impose auto tariffs on Canadian vehicles.
Couche-Tard (ATD.B:CN), a convenience store operator, increased 3.6% as it posted strong Q1
2018 results: EPS of $1.15 (beat by $0.09) on Revenues of $19.3B (beat by $1.4B).

The bottom three contributors to performance were:

Canadian Tire (CTC.A:CN), a general merchandise retailer, declined -7.3% after DOL reported
weaker same-store sales and revised its guidance downward, which is a bad omen for CTC.A.
Norbord (OSB:CN), a wood-based panel maker, dropped -13.8% after CIBC analyst downgraded
the company’s outlook on lower-than expected building permits in the U.S. housing sector.
Dollarama (DOL:CN), a chain of dollar store operator, fell -17.6% after disappointing investor
expectations in its Q2 2018: EPS of $0.43 (miss by $0.01) on Revenues of $868M (miss by $24M).

Best,

The Inovestor Asset Management Team