{"id":1036413,"date":"2026-06-19T08:59:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T08:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1036413\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T08:59:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T08:59:16","slug":"why-this-money-manager-is-buying-agnico-eagle-nutrien-and-trimming-alphabet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1036413\/","title":{"rendered":"Why this money manager is buying Agnico Eagle, Nutrien and trimming Alphabet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Martin Pelletier, senior portfolio manager with TriVest Wealth Counsel at Wellington-Altus Private Counsel Inc.
\nIllustration by Joel KimmelThe Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Martin Pelletier is holding more cash these days.<\/p>\n

The senior portfolio manager with TriVest Wealth Counsel at Wellington-Altus Private Counsel Inc. in Calgary is looking to preserve capital in a high-priced market that he believes overlooks many risks, including rising government debt, inflation and ongoing geopolitical tensions.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarkets have had a heck of a rally. We\u2019ve had one of the best years ever for our clients over the past 12 months, so why do we need to get greedy?\u201d says Mr. Pelletier, who oversees more than $400-million in assets.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been trimming some of his better-performing stocks and is holding close to 10 per cent in cash \u2013 a sum he says he may take up to 15 per cent if the market continues to climb. <\/p>\n

\u201cCash is a drag on your portfolio,\u201d Mr. Pelletier says. \u201cBut in near-term environments in which risks aren\u2019t being factored in, it gives you optionality, it gives you some insurance, so when things do correct \u2013 like they did earlier this year \u2013 you can deploy some of that cash.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strategy is part of his investment mandate to protect capital and provide peace of mind to his investors. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe aim to protect against market corrections and not try to predict what\u2019s going to happen, because that\u2019s impossible,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

His $90-million TWC Risk-Managed Balanced Growth Fund holds 25 per cent equities; 10 per cent alternatives (private equity and long-short strategies) and commodities (gold and copper); 28 per cent principal-at-risk structured notes (hybrid debt instruments); 28 per cent fixed income (principal-protected structured notes); and 9 per cent cash.<\/p>\n

The fund has returned 11.5 per cent so far this year. Its one-year gain is 26.8 per cent while its three- and five-year annualized returns are 15.1 per cent and 9.9 per cent, respectively. The performance is based on total returns, net of fees, as of May 31.<\/p>\n

The Globe and Mail spoke with Mr. Pelletier about three stocks he likes right now and a recent sell:<\/p>\n

Name three stocks you like today and why.<\/b><\/p>\n

Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. <\/b>AEM-T<\/a>, the Toronto-based gold producer, is a stock we started buying last year and have been adding to our portfolios recently.<\/p>\n

The stock is down about 40 per cent from its March highs earlier this month [it\u2019s down about 30 per cent from those highs as of June 18] and nothing has really changed. The business is strong: it has quality assets and a really good balance sheet. It\u2019s a levered way to own gold, which we really like right now, and the stock is down more than the gold price [which is down about 24 per cent from its all-time high of about US$5,608 in January]. <\/p>\n

We think gold is a good hedge against possible currency debasement. While there could be some downside, we just don\u2019t see an end to U.S. deficit spending. [Higher U.S. debt can cause investors to lose confidence in the U.S. dollar and turn to gold as a hedge.]<\/p>\n

WSP Global Inc.<\/b> WSP-T<\/a>, the Montreal-based professional services consulting firm, is a stock we bought last summer and we have been adding to our position recently. The stock was hit hard, along with peers such as Stantec Inc. STN-T<\/a>, amid investor concerns that AI is disrupting parts of their engineering consulting models. Investing algorithms will identify potential company exposures and rapidly short or sell those stock positions. The stock is down about 40 per cent from its high last fall [as of June 18]. <\/p>\n

However, our research indicates that AI is actually a benefit to the company, increasing productivity across its business platforms, from procurement to design to project execution, and the margins should get better, too. <\/p>\n

Also, there\u2019s been no change with its inventory backlog, and we think it will benefit from the government\u2019s infrastructure spending push. I like the fundamentals of this company. <\/p>\n

Nutrien Ltd.<\/b> NTR-T<\/a>, the Saskatoon-based crop inputs and services company, is a stock we started buying in early May. The stock is down more than 20 per cent from its April highs. The market is signalling reduced demand for fertilizer because of higher input prices. <\/p>\n

Nutrien is already factoring in a lot of the risks. Overall, the fundamentals still look pretty strong for food demand. There\u2019s still constrained arable land and you need to maintain crop yields. It\u2019s one of our core positions today. <\/p>\n

Name a stock you\u2019ve sold recently<\/b><\/p>\n

Alphabet Inc.<\/b> GOOGL-Q<\/a>, the tech company behind Google, is a stock we trimmed by about half in January, after locking in a close to 75-per-cent gain. We bought a big position last summer when it was trading down at around US$196 a share. It was perceived to be losing the AI race and we didn\u2019t believe it, so we bought a big position. It then rose to about US$340, at which point we trimmed it based on valuation. <\/p>\n

We still like the company. We used the proceeds to buy another large tech company, Microsoft Corp. MSFT-Q<\/a>, for which we saw more upside.<\/p>\n

This interview has been edited and condensed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Martin Pelletier, senior portfolio manager with TriVest Wealth Counsel at Wellington-Altus Private Counsel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1036414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3093],"tags":[73900,9884,285735,51,474,91084,2499,285736,16,15],"class_list":["post-1036413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-advisor-noregwall","tag-appwebview","tag-brenda-bouw","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-globe-advisor","tag-personal-finance","tag-themover","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116775955138807271","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1036413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1036414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1036413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1036413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1036413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}