EDITION #885 TIME TO TAKE PROFITS ON BURCON? NOT IN OUR VIEW

‘

    EDITION #885

    TIME TO TAKE PROFITS ON BURCON? NOT IN OUR VIEW

    It was a volatile week for BU, hitting new multi-year highs last week before
    getting whipsawed the following day. When a stock has a run like Burcon
    has, you’re bound to get some trading swings that are downright
    unsettling. But let’s keep our eye on the prize. CEO Johann Tergesen held
                                                                                   Jamie Switzer
    a “business update” on Tuesday following the company’s earnings call           Senior Vice President
    and spoke about the current environment and where the company might            Investment Advisor
                                                                                   T: 604.643.7070
    be heading. As far as I’m concerned, it was nothing but positive and only      E: jswitzer@cgf.com
    enhanced our view that this is still early stages.
                                                                                   www.jamieswitzer.com

                                                                                   MARKET SUMMARIES
    One of the issues that clouds things is how low this stock fell in the “dark
                                                                                   S&P/TSX Composite down 0.41%
    times” not too long ago. Despite having a robust and valuable patent           to 18,384 (up 5.45% ytd)
    book, the stock traded as if it was going to go off the board, and that was
                                                                                   S&P/TSX Venture up 2.90% to
    downright absurd. What’s resulted is a stock that took a number of             1,067 (up 25.48% ytd)
    quarters to trade back to a reasonable valuation. That push should not be      S&P 500 down 0.71% to 3,906 (up
    included in the run as it was in “deeply” oversold conditions. And the         3.99% ytd)

    analyst community is in agreement, with near-term price targets in the         Nasdaq Composite down 1.56% to
                                                                                   13,874 (up 7.65% ytd)
    $6.50 to $8.50 range. So why do we remain excited and why are we
    encouraging our clients to stay long and strong?                               Oil (WTI) down $0.08 to $59.26 (up
                                                                                   $10.78 ytd)

                                                                                   Natural Gas (MMBtu) up $0.10 to
    Burcon has just hired a well-regarded investor relations firm out of New       $3.00 (up $0.48 ytd)
    York that is ready to tackle the huge US market that is starved for plant-
                                                                                   Gold (Spot USD/oz) down $45.80 to
    based stories. Setting eyes on a pure-play plant-based investment is hard      $1,777.40 (down $117.70)
    to find and most opportunities are in multi-nationals that may have big
                                                                                   Copper (USD/lb) up $0.29 to $4.07
    plant-based divisions, but also have meat and poultry and numerous             (up $0.55 ytd)

    other verticals that cloud the performance of any one area. Other plant-       TODAY’S BEST GIC RATES
    based investments may be in a Beyond Meat or Impossible Foods but you          1 Year Coast Capital 0.90%
                                                                                   2 Year Coast Capital 1.10%

2/4

are buying one product. We love the BU route because you are getting high quality ingredients that are feeding
all of these silos and along with Merit Foods, the company has built a state-of-the-art plant that can pivot and
switch from various proteins to capitalize on opportunities – it’s extremely versatile. The opportunity in the US
is massive and will likely coincide with the first commercial runs on the plant as it’s ready for liftoff.

Numerous other catalysts exist with rumours of potential mergers and takeovers as well as non-disclosure
contracts having been signed with nearly 300 global food companies so use your imagine as to how much
runway we have left. A ton in my opinion…

SOUNDBITES

      •   With the markets moving as quickly as they are these days, it almost seems like the GameStop saga was
          months behind us now, not a few weeks. Well, last week the key characters admist all the chaos faced
          lawmakers, including Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin,
          Melvin Capital founder Gabe Plotkin, and the now-infamous trader Keith “Roaring Kitty” Gill. Gill was one
          of the most influential internet personalities that helped push GameStop to ludacris levels, and was
          officially sued for securities fraud. The suit noted that the YouTube star was actually a licensed
          securities professional who manipulated the market, all while making massive profits himself. “Gill’s
          deceitful and manipulative conduct not only violated numerous industry regulations and rules, but also
          various securities laws by undermining the integrity of the market for GameStop shares,” the suit said.
          If I were a betting man, these type of headlines are likely to continue like wild fire.
      •   Three North Korean computer programmers have been indicted for developing a series of cyber
          attacks on companies and financial institutions. The attacks led to $1.3 billion USD in stolen and
          extorted proceeds according to the Department of Justice. These three were extremely aggressive and
          even deployed a “spear-phishing” campaign targeting employees at the State and US Defense
          Departments, as well as firms in aerospace, technology, defense contractors and energy firms that had
          US security clearance. The hackers were able to eventually control bank ATMs and take out cash with
          no resistance. The three have been indicted in Los Angeles and were said to be key players in a North
          Korean military intelligence agency designed for criminal activity.

3/4

MARKETWATCH – A LOOK AT THE WEEK’S NEWSMAKERS

Bumble (BMBL) Everyone’s favourite dating app finally made it’s public debut just in time for Valentine’s Day. For
investors, it was love at first swipe as the stock surged as much as 80% during its first day of trading. The female-
focused dating app, led by its 31 year old founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, represents Bumble’s
competitive advanatage. Herd became the youngest women ever to take a company public, a massive milestone
for equality. Bumble has grown into much more than simply a dating app, boosting approximately 42 million
monthly users, with 2.4 million users paying for the service.

Walmart (WMT) spooked the markets a bit last Thursday, following the company’s earnings report where profit
and sales forecasts for the year sliding. Adding more fuel to the downside, Walmart execs estimate nearly $14
billion in capital expenditures such as worker salaries, automation and other technology. The discount retailer
witnessed unprecendeted traffic in 2020 as the year was marked by shortages in household necessities and a
surge in online web traffic as customers ordered their household goods online. Shares were down nearly 5% in
pre-trading and continued to drift during Thursday’s market hours.

Roku (ROKU) Investors have been celebrating the rise of Roku shares this past year, but one in particular has
been accumulating quite the fortune. CEO Anthony Wood has steered the streaming giant into mega-cap
terriority and has done a terrific job. Wood has also benefitted from the company’s rise more than anyone as per
recent securities filings from 2021 alone. The 54-year old CEO has already sold $270 million worth of shares so
far in 2021, which represents more in seven weeks than he did all of last year. Shares have been on fire, up nearly
270% over the last 12 months and approximately 40% year-to-date after stringing together fantastic
consecutive quarters. Wood bet big on his own company back in 2018 when he reduced his annual salary in
exchange for monthly grants of vested stock. Clearly Wood made the right call and has accumulated a jaw-
dropping amount of wealth…

4/4

FROM THE TWITTERSPHERE                                                       TWITTER

Jamie Switzer @jamie_switzer                                                 For those of you looking for
                                                                             more timely market-related
Why are Canadians not more enraged by the pathetic #vaccine rollout          alerts; please follow me on
in #Canada? Extremely poor planning and execution!                           twitter @jamie_switzer
#TrudeauVaccineFail

Jamie Switzer @jamie_switzer

So #Bell clearly thinks low cost and zero ratings is better than a great
sports radio station with a large and passionate following. What a bunch
of tools. @TSN_Sports #1040
                                                                             Investing in any of the securities
Jamie Switzer @jamie_switzer                                                 mentioned above may not be
                                                                             suitable for all investors, as there
I’ve heard some brutal bowl game names, but the #Nascar                      are different types of risks involved
title takes the cake this weekend. The “Beef, it’s what’s for dinner 300.”   with these investment strategies.
Classic...                                                                   Even if suitable to your level of risk
                                                                             tolerance, any or some of those
                                                                             securities may not be appropriate
                                                                             for your portfolio, depending on
                                                                             what other investments you hold.
                                                                             Please note that, from time to time,
                                                                             we may have personal investments
                                                                             in any or some of those securities
                                                                             and that past performance may not
                                                                             be repeated. Please do not hesitate
                                                                             to contact us should you want to
                                                                             know more about them or have any
                                                                             related questions.