(Business Edge columnist Gyle Konotopetz regularly profiles the top stock picks of one of Canada’s most accomplished investment pros).

FEATURED PRO: Ross Healy is CEO of Strategic Analysis Corp., an independent investment firm based in Toronto. Healy, who focuses on value investing, boasts 35 years in the investment industry. Prior to becoming CEO of Strategic Analysis in 1989 he was director of research for Merrill Lynch Canada.

Website: www.strategicanalysis.ca

Ross Healey

Healy’s Perspective:

“The market is pricey. That’s somewhat alarming because when markets get pushed too far, sometimes they can do really unexpected things, like collapse.

“When you keep whipping a mule to pull a greater and greater load as the Fed (U.S. Federal Reserve) is doing, the chances that he’ll buckle increase. If the consumer buckles, the stock market is in real trouble. The Fed should not operate on the market, the market should respond to the economy.

“I favour cash and the resource stocks, particularly oil and gas companies. I think oil and gas is a very cheap area from a P/E (price/earnings) point of view. Analysts keep expecting earnings to go down and they keep getting confounded by earnings going up.”



FIRST STAR
* CASH
* Recent Price: $0.75 - .48 US
* 52-Week Range: $0.66 - .79 US
* Snapshot: Cash, also known as “king” in investment circles, is ready money available in many denominations as paper notes or coins (ie. $1,000 bills, $100 bills, $20 bills, toonies, loonies, quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies). Cash can be stored in a bank or in a coffee can buried in the backyard. Investors who horde cash often become rich by investing it during slumps in the stock market. Those who blow their wad in an expensive market often have their pockets turned inside out.
* Healy’s View: “I think it’s extremely important that investors keep a healthy dollop of cash in such an expensive market.”
* Risk Rating: Extremely Low.



SECOND STAR
* Teck Corp. (TEK.B-TSX)
* Recent Price: $20.33.
* 52-Week Range: $10.10-$23.70.
* Snapshot: Teck is a mining, smeltering and refining
company that produces zinc, copper, gold and coal.
* CEO: David Thompson.
* Head Office: Vancouver (5,631 employees).
* Vital Stats: Current Price/Earnings Ratio, 67.3; Revenue (last 12 mos), $2.3 billion; 5-Yr Revenue Growth, 33.6 per cent; Earnings (last
12 mos), $57 million; Market Cap, $3.66 billion; Shares Outstanding, 180.26 million; Dividend Yield, one per cent.
* Healy’s View: “I like this company because they have a pretty decent exposure to a number of metals, including lead, zinc, copper and gold. Lead and zinc prices have been on fire and copper has been a beautiful performer. I don’t like the gold stocks, broadly speaking, because they’re expensive.”
* Healy’s Risk Rating: Low.
* Web Watch: www.teck.com



THIRD STAR
* EnCana Corp. (ECA-TSX)
* Recent Price: $51.58.
* 52-Week Range: $44.60-$56.
* Snapshot: EnCana is an oil and gas company focused on North American properties. The company is the product of a blockbuster merger two years ago of Alberta Energy Co. and PanCanadian Energy.
* CEO: Gwyn Morgan.
* Head Office: Calgary (2,152 employees).
* Vital Stats: Current Price/Earnings Ratio, 9.0; Revenue (last 12 mos), $13.9 billion; Earnings (last 12 mos), $3.1 billion; Market Cap, $24.36 billion; Shares Outstanding, 472.32 million; Dividend Yield, 0.7 per cent.
* Healy’s View: “One of the things I like about EnCana is that they bought so much land in B.C. I think with any oil and gas company you like to know they’ve got good reserves and developable reserves. EnCana has purchased a good slug of them.”
* Healy’s Risk Rating: Low.
* Web Watch: www.encana.com
Healy’s EDGE Record: +34 per cent. Best Pick: Newmont Mining (NMC-TSX) +90.8 per cent. Worst Pick: Budweiser (BUD-NYSE) -4.2 per cent.

Disclosure: Healy says he does not personally own the featured stocks, but his clients own them.