It’s not often you get a chance to talk to someone who’s been involved in a profession for more than 70 years. But the Vancouver investment community has such a person. Michael Ryan has been a pillar of insight, integrity and sound counsel since the early 1950s, and on June 1, the CFA Society Vancouver is launching an award in his honour: the Michael Ryan Award of Excellence.
Investment
Don’t trust anything you can’t prove and other lessons learned from an investing legend
Ryan had an analytical bent early on. He read the Wall Street Journal as a youngster and went “halfers” on a set of nine investment books from Barron’s with his school chum, Art Phillips, co-founder of Phillips, Hager & North. “We learned as we went,” he said.
He began doing security analysis when few others did. It was rare to talk to company management or even read an annual report. He tells the story of going to see a company and the CEO sliding the annual report across the table and grumbling, “Read this.” Ryan shocked him by saying he already had and had a question about one of the notes in the auditor’s report. “We became very good friends after that.”
Ryan made several other stops along the way, including setting up Ryan Investments, where he trained Murray Leith of Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel. He didn’t have a mentor himself, but mentored many industry notables including Leith, Bill Wheeler and Ken Shields.
Initially, his teachings were about security analysis and markets, but he became an invaluable consultant on management issues. “It was great having Mike around when there was a tough decision to make,” Wheeler said.
Ryan also worked for Pemberton Securities twice (the second time after it bought his firm) and spent many years at Leith Wheeler. He was at the centre of some important investment milestones, most notably the creation of the Portfolio Management Foundation at UBC, which gives aspiring investors real money to manage and a professional committee to report to (many Canadian business schools have used the UBC template). In mid-May, he was bursting with pride when he told me the initial stake of $300,000 in 1986 had grown to more than $10 million.
Along the way, he developed a pension for growth stocks, and learned from Phillips to pay attention to what is now called momentum. Phillips believed a majority of his holdings should be in uptrends. Ryan remembers him saying, “It doesn’t matter if I like the stock. What matters is that others like it.”
As is typical, Ryan is looking ahead, even at 93 years of age. He believes years from now people will be talking about how primitive our work on governance was. “Corporate governance is incredibly important, and we have very poor tools to get at it.” I think you’ll agree, he has the perspective to say that.
Tom Bradley is chair and co-founder of Steadyhand Investment Funds, a company that offers individual investors low-fee investment funds and clear-cut advice. He can be reached at tbradley@steadyhand.com.
Economy
S&P/TSX composite down more than 200 points, U.S. stock markets also fall
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was down more than 200 points in late-morning trading, weighed down by losses in the technology, base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets also fell.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 239.24 points at 22,749.04.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 312.36 points at 40,443.39. The S&P 500 index was down 80.94 points at 5,422.47, while the Nasdaq composite was down 380.17 points at 16,747.49.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.80 cents US compared with 74.00 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down US$1.07 at US$68.08 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.26 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$2.10 at US$2,541.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was down four cents at US$4.10 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Economy
S&P/TSX composite up more than 150 points, U.S. stock markets also higher
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in technology, financial and energy stocks, while U.S. stock markets also pushed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 171.41 points at 23,298.39.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 278.37 points at 41,369.79. The S&P 500 index was up 38.17 points at 5,630.35, while the Nasdaq composite was up 177.15 points at 17,733.18.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.19 cents US compared with 74.23 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up US$1.75 at US$76.27 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.10 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$18.70 at US$2,556.50 an ounce and the December copper contract was down less than a penny at US$4.22 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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