Ep. 295: To invest or not to invest: stocks during COVID-19

Guest: Murray Leith, Odlum Brown

The stock market plunged and now it’s rebounding.

Is that an indication that the economy will do the same? Or are the markets acting in a hopeful manner? Or are they a reflection of opportunists trying to capitalize? Or not! Those who are fortunate enough to have money in investments are watching the swings and asking themselves, “What do I do?”

If you have money in the market, you may very well be asking, “Do I hang on, or do I sell this stock and buy another one? Do I get out of the market now and take a wait and see attitude?’ The questions are many and the answers are varied.

Murray Leith heads up Odlum Brown’s research department and he says, “Quality companies are essential to a well rounded portfolio, they provide stability.” However, wild fluctuations create opportunities and capitalizing on those opportunities requires an in-depth understanding of how markets function. Leith says, “There’s a real tough trade-off in markets where out-of-favour stocks sometimes get so cheap and so hated that they can do well as stocks, even while the business struggles. They can go from hated to just disliked and in doing so jump 50% in value.”

Leith goes on to say in the past, that strategy has proven to be successful. But he says, “The underlying fundamentals of the market were different then than they are now.” He says you need to have a long term strategy that takes into account the economic backdrop and what types of companies you want to invest in.

We invited Murray Leith to join us for a Conversation That Matters about the state of the investment world, its relationship to the economy and how to proceed if you are in a position to invest.