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With everyone handing out their Best of ’23 awards, I decided to join the fun. So here are my picks – with a few “worst of” categories tossed in to add some spice.
Cameco Corp. (TSX: CCO). After the 2011 disaster at Fukushima, Japan, no one wanted to hear about atomic power plants. Germany even went so far as to cancel all further developments and promised to decommission existing facilities. Now, nuclear is respectable again – in fact, U.S. special climate envoy John Kerry said at the UN Climate Conference recently that emissions targets cannot be reached without it. Guess which country has a lot of uranium? Guess who mines it? Cameco stock has doubled in value this year.
Green Energy. It costs millions to build new renewable energy infrastructure. Most of the money comes from lines of credit. Interest rates rose. Borrowing became increasingly expensive. Bottom lines crumpled. So did share values.
Twitter. Elon Musk decided he wanted to own Twitter so he could fix it and offered US$44 billion for the privilege. Twitter’s board agreed. On second thought, Musk decided, hmm, maybe not. Twitter sued. A court said: “It’s yours, Mr. Musk.” Elon paid up and changed the name to X, which may be how he signs cheques. He spent the rest of the year trying to kill the business.
Arm Holdings plc (NYSE: ARM). The company went public on Sept. 14, with an IPO worth US$54.5 billion. That was the largest IPO since EV maker Rivian in 2021. Arm Holdings generates revenue from producing and designing chips and licensing its products to customers. IPO shareholders, who got in at US$51, are happy campers. The stock closed recently at US$77.47.
Silicon Valley Bank. So, you thought a run on the bank only happens in movies? No such luck. SVB was shut down in March by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation after its depositors discovered there was no Jimmy Stewart around to rescue them.
Technology. Second place goes to technology. Also, third.
Utilities. High debt loads and rising interest rates are a toxic blend. It’s no surprise utility companies developed painful tummy aches.
Sam Bankman-Fried. Following the epic collapse of FTX, the one-time darling of the crypto world was convicted of seven counts of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering in November. He’ll be sentenced in March.
Artificial intelligence. Developers have been working on it for years. It all became real in 2023, as students used ChatGPT to write essays and Sports Illustrated used it to replace reporters. Recently, Alphabet unveiled its new generative AI model, called Gemini. It accepts multiple types of data as inputs, combining text, images, audio, video, and programming code. Whose job is safe?
Grocery CEOs. Rightly or wrongly, they became the face of greed for many Canadians in 2023. People were fed up with price increases in produce, meat, and just about everything else. Politicians saw easy pickings and hauled the CEOs before Parliamentary committees to harass them. Sacrificial lambs for an angry populace. Meanwhile, the folks who control dairy and poultry prices were left in quiet anonymity.
Shopify Inc. (TSX: SHOP). After the stock dropped about 80% in 2022, investors were concerned they had another Nortel or BlackBerry on their hands. Not this time. The company’s innovative approach to empowering small businesses is resonating globally, making it a driving force in the ever-evolving world of online commerce. The stock rebounded, up 110% for the year.
Tiff Macklem. The Governor of the Bank of Canada presents a benign exterior. But underneath, he’s the devil in disguise. At least, that’s how homeowners with variable rate mortgages saw him every time the central bank ratcheted up rates another notch. Yes, it was all in the laudable fight to tame inflation. But that wasn’t much consolation when the monthly mortgage bill soared into the stratosphere.
Next time: TSX winners of 2023
Gordon Pape is one of Canada’s best-known personal finance commentators and investment experts. He is the publisher of The Internet Wealth Builder and The Income Investor newsletters, which are available through the Building Wealth website.
Follow Gordon Pape on X at X.com/GPUpdates and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GordonPapeMoney.
Notes and Disclaimer
Content © 2024 by Gordon Pape Enterprises. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. The foregoing is for general information purposes only and is the opinion of the writer. Securities mentioned carry risk of loss, and no guarantee of performance is made or implied. This information is not intended to provide specific personalized advice including, without limitation, investment, financial, legal, accounting, or tax advice. Always seek advice from your own financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Image: iStock.com/stsmhn
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