Caldwells Bad Investment Advice

Theo Caldwell, yes the Caldwell Investment Banker,

- Theo Caldwell, president of Caldwell Asset Management, Inc., is an investment advisor in the United States and Canada.

in the National Pest whines about Canada's support for Cuba through both business investment and tourism. He makes spurious claims, unsubstantiated by a single fact, in his opinion piece.

He claims;

"It grates against our national character that Canada continues to do business with Cuba, thereby helping to prop up Fidel Castro's tyrannical regime."

Oh really. Which national character is that? Perhaps it grates the right wing supporters of the Reform/Alliance/Conservative Party, but they are far from the majority of Canadians. In fact one of the ironies is that Alberta, home of the Republican Lite Right Wing in Canada is also the source of the greatest trading partners with Cuba; Sherritt Mining.

As well Albertans travel to Cuba, as Caldwell further whines about claiming that Cubans will go to jail and be tortured if they visit Canada's Delta Hotel Resorts.

The tragic irony of sipping a Cuba Libre beside the pool in a hotel that native Cubans are forbidden from entering under pain of imprisonment, and within walking distance of one of Castro's torture chambers,

And Alberta farmers have long traded cattle and bull semen with current Cuban Leader Raul Castro, who has spent years cross breeding Latin American cattle with Alberta Angus.

He concludes;

"But whether or not the despot has gone on to his reward, passing power to his equally brutal brother Raul, tyranny is tyranny and Canada ought to have nothing to do with it."

Not good investment advice. One would expect better from a capitalist like Caldwell. But with his cold war mentality he is out in the cold on his anti-Cuba strategy.

Cuba Fund Has Biggest-Ever Surge After Castro Resigns (Update3)
Bloomberg
Castro's decision is ``a clear step towards the possibility of the US resuming trade with Cuba,'' Miami-based investor Thomas J. Herzfeld said during a ...
How to profit from Castro's resignation CNNMoney.com
Investing in a Post-Castro Cuba U.S. News & World Report
Equity revolution! Globe and Mail
Stocks with Cuban exposure rise on Castro resignation CBC News
Cuba: The Investment Play Conde Nast Portfolio

The real question here is does Caldwell live by the principles he espouses? Well not really. Sure his Caldwell Canada Mutual Fund (Caldwell Investment Mgmt Ltd.) isn't invested in Sherritt.

But they are invested in Talisman Energy, the big oil company that invested in Sudan known for promoting slavery, torture, etc. making Cuba look like a workers paradise. That offended the national character of Canadians who forced Talisman to divest of its investment in Sudan.

No thanks to Theo Caldwell or his investment fund.

Caldwell focuses on companies with at least $500 million in market capitalization, and his current Caldwell Canada holdings are predominantly mid-cap stocks. He will re-assess the portfolio at least once every quarter and expects the portfolio turnover to be 100% or higher.

He wants to be fully invested at all times and is comfortable having a stock holding of 5% to 10% of the portfolio. In terms of his sell discipline, "once stocks stop going up, we sell," he says.

Caldwell will make significant sector bets. Compared to the S&P/TSX Composite Index benchmark, as of Feb. 15, Caldwell Canada is close to 100% overweight in both the energy and the basic materials sectors, and "considerably" overweight in communications and media.

By comparison, the fund is underweight by more than 80% in financial services. "As an owner of the fund, you will be overweight in the sectors that have been doing the best," he says.

But Caldwell will limit his sector exposure. Overall, his portfolio won't hold more than double the index weight in any sector or 10%, whichever is greater.

He'll also avoid some well known "sin stocks." Along with the strategy of owning "high flyers," the focus is on companies that at their core are "deep down helping people," says Caldwell. "So we don't own alcohol, tobacco or gambling companies. I don't need to own them to make this work."

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Cuban Boom

Cuba booms thanks to Canada.

Speaking Friday at a congress of leftist economists, Rodriguez said Cuba had transformed its economy since the collapse of the Soviet Union, once its chief supporter and trade partner.

An economy whose exports were 90 percent goods and only 10 percent services in 1989 now leans toward services, he said. Services now account for 76 percent of Cuba’s overall economy while primary goods, such as crops, amount to only 4 percent.

Rodriguez said growth in Cuba’s GDP "should reach more than 10 percent this 2007" despite high prices for imported food and fuel. Cuba has been aided by steadily rising domestic oil production as well as by significant fuel aid from Venezuela.

He said that if social services and commerce were dropped from the count, Cuba still would have shown 9.5 percent growth last year.

Cuba was aided last year by high prices for nickel and cobalt and by a continuing flow of tourists.

Rodriguez put the number of tourists for 2006 at 2.22 million – a slight drop from the 2.3 million Cuba reported for 2005 to the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

And it is far safer as a tourist resort than Mexico.

Air Canada launches seasonal Cuba link

Cuba ranks among Canadians' top three holiday destinations, Smith noted, adding that Air Canada flies to the Caribbean island 27 times per week.

And Canada's economic and political relationship with Cuba not only includes the tourist industry, but Sherritt and its unique bilateral trade agreement with Cuba for production of coal, oil, nickel and cobalt. Despite American attempts to apply their laws against Sherritt and other Canadian companies doing business in Cuba.

The U.S. government also appears to be stepping up its enforcement of the best known of its extra-territorial measures - laws enforcing its 45-year-old Cuban embargo.

One law prevents foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies from having virtually any dealings with or in Cuba, while another allows U.S. entry to be refused to executives and directors of any company found to be "trafficking" assets confiscated by Cuba after the 1959 revolution.

Under the latter legislation, executives and directors of the Toronto resource company Sherritt International have been barred from the U.S. because the company has interests in a nickel mine and oil-and-gas ventures in Cuba.

And thankfully Canada continues to exert its sovereignty when dealing with Cuba.

Canada's silence on Washington's Cuba policy speaks volumes

Canadians continue to visit Cuba by the millions each year. Canadian businesses pursue mining, tourism and other interests on the island. And the Canadian government maintains normal diplomatic relations with Havana, normal being the operative word, says longtime Cuba observer John Kirk.

Both Kirk and Ritter, who visit the island regularly, emphasize that nothing is likely to shift in Cuba for many years, with or without Castro. They note that Cuba's economy has been getting progressively stronger over the past decade, with higher nickel prices, cheap oil from Venezuelan ally Hugo Chavez and more tourists - all developments that point away from civil unrest in the country.

That cheap oil from Chavez is payment for one of the service industry exchanges that Cuba is exporting; Docs-for-oil trade shows Cuba's flair

The OAS is now looking at its position on Cuba, and Canada as a member of the OAS is in the position of offsetting the United States, which opposes any rapprochement with Cuba.

And thanks to Canada you have a further extension of civil liberties in Cuba

US-based Episcopal Church names woman bishop in Cuba

Cuba was a diocese of the U.S. church until 1967, when it was forced to break away because hostility between the U.S. and Cuban governments made contacts difficult. Cuba's communist leaders were embracing official atheism at the time, a stance abandoned in the early 1990s.

It has operated under a Metropolitan Council now chaired by the archbishop of Canada, Andrew Hutchison. It also includes Jefferts Schori and the archbishop of the West Indies.

And Cuba's export Rum; Havana Club is number two in world sales, which included Canada and Europe but not the United States. Their loss.

I particularly like the Havana Club seven year old amber, which is has a smoky chocolate flavour and is so smooth you can drink straight or on the rocks, no mix. It is like a fine brandy or cognac.

The number one brand is Bacardi which continues to use its wealth to fund anti-Cuban Terrorists in Florida.

See

Cuba

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