Anthony Scilipoti

Just three days to go to our 14th Annual Veritas Real Estate Conference. One of the most interesting panels will be about the condo industry. Build, Hold or Fold? - The Fight to Finance Condos and Purpose-Built Rental Housing Panelists: - Albert Collu, President & CEO, Marathon Mortgage Corp. (moderator) - Adrian Rocca, CEO & Founder, Fitzrovia Real Estate - Nick Stillo, Principal and COO, One Urban Developments - Sasha Cucuz, CEO, Greybrook Securities Inc., Partner, Greybrook Capital Canada needs more housing. Yet the economics of building it have rarely looked worse. Condo presales have collapsed. Construction and financing costs remain high. Purpose-built rental benefits from government incentives and patient capital, but rents do not always support the cost of construction. Meanwhile, investors must decide whether to commit more money, wait for better conditions or rescue projects already under pressure. Four industry leaders operating with very different models debate which projects can still be financed, who will absorb today’s losses and what will actually get built next. The full conference agenda is on our website: veritascorp.com/events/real-… @GreybrookRealty

Employees are returning. Leasing activity is improving. New construction has nearly stopped. Yet vacancy remains elevated, financing is difficult and the recovery is heavily concentrated in the best buildings. Is the office market finally turning, or is this merely a recovery for a small group of trophy assets? Alan MacKenzie, CEO, JLL Canada and Jonathan Pearce, Senior Managing Director, Americas Leasing, Hines, will be holding a fireside chat on the future of office real estate at our 14th Annual Veritas Real Estate Conference next week. Alan and Jonathan will examine how office demand has changed over time, why Canada’s experience has differed from the United States, and what employers now expect from their workplaces. They will explore the widening divide between premium and commodity buildings, whether older offices can be repositioned, and what ultimately happens to the properties that tenants no longer want. Details on our website: veritascorp.com/events/real-…? @JLL @Hines

Please join us for a fireside chat with Vic Gupta, CEO of CreateTO, at our 14th Annual Veritas Real Estate conference on October 14. With private development stalled by high costs, weak economics and scarce capital, Toronto is taking on a new role: public builder. CreateTO is moving beyond preparing and marketing city-owned land. It intends to lead development itself, using public land and government capital to deliver housing and other public assets. But can the city build faster, more affordably and with less risk than the private sector? Or will political oversight, competing objectives and municipal finances create a different set of obstacles? In a fireside chat titled 'The City to the Rescue? - Toronto's Experiment as a Public Real Estate Developer', host Anthony Scilipoti will ask Vic how the CreateTO model is intended to work, where the money and expertise will come from, and how Toronto will determine whether its public-builder experiment is actually succeeding. Please join us for this and more at the National Club and streaming. See the full agenda and ticket information on our website. veritascorp.com/events/real-… @ASclipoti @_CreateTO

We're beginning to announce the featured speakers and panels for our Veritas 14th Annual Real Estate Conference on October 14, 2026. Aled ab Iorwerth, Deputy Chief Economist at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., will be a featured presenter. Title: From Crisis to Constraint:  Canadian Housing Credit in a More Volatile World Canada's housing credit system appears resilient, but resilience is not the same thing as invulnerability. As arrears rise, mortgage terms shorten, and households shoulder more interest-rate risk, the challenge may be shifting from financial stability to economic dynamism.  Aled's talk will explore what that means for housing, credit, and growth in the years ahead. Please join us! Seating is limited and filling up quickly, so sign up now. veritascorp.com/events/real-… @CMHC_ca

Shalabh Garg, our Financial Services Analyst, was quoted in a Reuters article that discussed how the Canadian financial sector's share of the S&P/TSX composite is at its highest level in eight years (37%). Despite their high valuations, Shalabh recently upgraded his view on Canadian banks, recommending that investors at least maintain a market-weight exposure to the Big Six banks, up from an underweight recommendation. "Although the macro backdrop remains uncertain, we believe the Big Six banks can sustain current premium valuations, as they are largely immune to potential disruption from AI tools, will continue to benefit from constructive financial markets, and are unlikely to face a systemic credit event in the near future," he said. $BNS.TO $BMO.TO $CM.TO $NA.TO $RY.TO $TD.TO theglobeandmail.com/investin…

BNN Bloomberg spoke with Martin Pradier, our Materials Analyst, about Newmont Corp.'s Q2-F26 performance and the factors shaping its investment prospects. Martin said production for the quarter came in line with expectations and free cash flow was strong. "I think the important thing is they showed the strength of the free cash flow. In the first half, free cash flow was US$5.5 billion. We're estimating over US$11 billion for the year, and this is for a stock that has only US$100 billion of market capitalization. So, the cash yield is fantastic. The stock is very cheap. It's trading at about nine times P/E, five times forward EBITDA, so we're still very constructive on the stock. Martin also touched on his outlook for gold, rising costs for gold miners, and the dispute with Barrick Mining Corp. over Barrick's plan to spin out its Nevada assets into a separate company. $NEM $B $ABX.TO bnnbloomberg.ca/investing/in…

We recently released our latest Report on Dividends for clients. Since we started our dividend reports in 2024, our Recommended Dividend Stocks have outperformed the S&P/TSX total return index, while our Cautionary Dividend Stocks have underperformed. We note that this is a limited sample size, but it indicates that prioritizing Veritas-calculated FCF growth, normalizing cash flows across sectors, and emphasizing balance sheet strength can outperform the benchmark. lnkd.in/gMjz_g4a? With economic conditions a mixed bag, our analysts continue to advocate for companies that operate with robust balance sheets, prudent payout ratios and sound capital deployment strategies. This approach ensures that our preferred names can mitigate unknown financial shocks and sustain their dividends. Note that for the names we are cautious about, we are not necessarily forecasting a dividend cut, but we suggest that investors be mindful of company-specific risks. Notes: The performance of Veritas' Recommended Dividend List and Cautionary Dividend Lists is measured from its inception date, January 16, 2024, to July 16, 2026. Performance represents total returns over the applicable holding periods based on the Recommended Dividend Stocks Lists and Cautionary Dividend Stocks Lists published on January 16, 2024, July 25, 2024, January 15, 2025, July 16, 2025 and January 23, 2026. The Dividend Lists are equal-weighted and rebalanced upon changes to recommended holdings on dates a new dividend report is published. Returns greater than 1-year are presented as compound annual growth rates.

Our Special Situations Analyst, Ben Butler, CFA, CPA, was quoted in this lengthy Bloomberg feature about Big Tech's growing mountains of off-balance sheet obligations. Specifically, he thinks Meta Platforms Inc. should bring its Hyperion data center project onto its balance sheet. As the sole tenant of the project, an equity investor and property manager, $META appears to have the power to direct its activities, Ben said, adding that the social media giant has also disclosed billions in obligations related to the project. "It can speak levels about what stage we're at if companies are having to rely on SPVs [special purpose vehicles] to make their return on capital look good, to make their free cash flow look good, to make leverage look more attractive," Ben said. news.bloombergtax.com/financ…? #accounting

In our latest Fact Finder podcast, our President and CEO, Anthony Scilipoti, talked to David Thomas, author of The Fairfax Way: Inside Prem Watsa's Secret to Lasting Success. David was previously a senior editor at the Financial Post/National Post, The Globe and Mail, and Rogers publications before transitioning to book writing. The discussion explores Prem Watsa's early life in Hyderabad, India, his immigration to Canada at age 22 for an MBA at the University of Western Ontario, and his introduction to value investing. A significant portion discusses Fairfax's challenging period in the early 2000s, including aggressive acquisitions in the 1990s that led to financial strain, and the subsequent short-seller attack beginning in 2003. It also covers Fairfax's successful "big short" strategy during the 2008 financial crisis, followed by a period of stagnation from 2010 to 2016 due to unsuccessful hedging strategies against deflation. David then explains the pivotal 2017 decision to abandon shorting strategies, with Prem stating they would "never again" engage in such practices. The discussion concludes with observations on Prem's patient-investment approach, his focus on downside risk management, and the current state of business journalism. @ASclipoti @MrDavidThomas $FFH.TO youtu.be/kbM_267N8ts?si=_aoa…

We're hiring! As a Communications and Marketing Specialist, you will help edit newsletters, develop external marketing efforts, manage social media accounts and develop content marketing across the Veritas Group of Companies. linkedin.com/jobs/view/44194…

We'd like to welcome our summer intern at Veritas Investment Research, Matthew Fortier. He is pursuing a Bachelor of Engineering in Engineering Physics at McMaster University. During COVID, the volatility in financial markets piqued his interest and the markets. He started reading investing books and diving into Warren Buffett's work. As an engineering student, he likes solving complex problems, and the stock market may be the most complex of all of them. He is currently working with Will Guy, CPA, CFA, our Diversified Industrials Analyst, on freight volumes and with Liam Gallagher, our Communication Services & Information Technology Analyst, on sports valuations. Welcome to the team!

Martin Pradier, our Materials Analyst, joined BNN Bloomberg to discuss Franco-Nevada Corp.'s Q1-F26 results. FNV benefited in the quarter from silver prices rising 165% and platinum rising 128% YoY, outpacing gold's 70% YoY increase. Furthermore, the company has been buying more streams, and Martin expects the Cobre Panama mine to reopen this year, which could be a major catalyst for the stock. "We believe the mine [Cobre Panama] will be restarted because Panama needs that mine," he said. youtu.be/MOtw7fnxKbI?si=rztu… $FNV $FNV.TO

Despite recent volatility, our Industrials Analyst, Will Guy, continues to call Canadian National Railway his TOP PICK, after the quarter. “Capital intensity is resetting lower, while benefits from recent investments are beginning to emerge,” he told the Globe & Mail in this article, adding that railway-specific performance metrics, such as car velocity and gross ton-miles per train and engine, moved in the right direction in the first quarter. “Our thesis rests on evidence of underlying operational and commercial momentum, even if near-term noise challenges headline figures." $CNI $CNR.TO theglobeandmail.com/investin…

We recently held one of our most popular accounting training sessions ever. If you missed it, we're still offering the replay for sale. Our AI Sector Hallucinations seminar, led by President and CEO Anthony Scilipoti and Special Situations Analyst Ben Butler, CFA, CPA, took attendees through our proven Forensic Accounting Framework to uncover the true economic substance of the AI sector's performance. It covered disclosures from the following companies: • Meta Platforms Inc. (NYSE: META) • NVIDIA Corp. (Nasdaq: NVDA) • CoreWeave Inc. (Nasdaq: CRWV) • OpenAI (Private) • Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) 100% of attendees of the live seminar said they would recommend a Veritas Accounting Training course to a colleague or co-worker Visit our website to find out more and purchase the replay. veritascorp.com/Training/Tra…

Darryl McCoubrey, VP and Senior Energy Analyst at Veritas, was on BNN Bloomberg to discuss #oil prices and the escalating war in the Middle East. Leading up to the conflict, Darryl was in the camp believing the industry was facing a supply glut of about three million barrels per day of excess capacity, superimposed on about five million barrels per day of OPEC spare capacity.  Given the ongoing conflict, he raised his WTI oil price forecast this week to US$70/bbl from US$60/bbl and changed his recommendations and valuations accordingly. Of the four oil sands majors, he thinks Canadian Natural Resources and Cenovus Energy stand to benefit the most from higher oil prices. Of the two, he favours CVE. "We increased both of those valuations by 30%," he said. "The difference is that CNQ's stock has performed relatively well compared to CVE over the past month or so, as signs were becoming clearer that this would escalate and last longer than people had first hoped. CVE is a name that stands out as relatively levered to the higher price environment for investors who see this lingering on for months rather than weeks." He also discussed how Suncor Energy would be a better name if the conflict ends more quickly and oil normalizes. bnnbloomberg.ca/business/eco… $CNQ $CNQ.TO $CVE $CVE.TO $SU $SU.TO

We recently released our latest Veritas Report on Dividends: Outlook for 2026 to clients, and once again, it is proving to be one of our most popular reports of the year and is available as part of our Base Subscription. The cross-sector report highlights companies our analyst team thinks are best positioned to deliver robust dividend growth within each sector across our coverage, as well as companies with dividends we think investors should be cautious about in 2026. Since we started our dividend reports in 2024, our Recommended Dividend Stocks have outperformed the S&P/TSX total return index, while our Cautionary Dividend Stocks have underperformed. We note that this is a limited sample size, but it indicates that prioritizing Veritas-calculated FCF growth, normalizing cash flows across sectors, and emphasizing balance sheet strength can outperform the benchmark. For the best yield and dividend growth companies, we generally look for BUY-rated stocks with meaningful yields above 3%, though there are exceptions in sectors such as Consumer Staples & Discretionary, where yields in that range with attractive dividend growth are not available. However, we favour names with long histories of dividend growth, such as grocers, or names that emphasize total shareholder returns (dividends + buybacks), such as the energy sector, over the more cyclical sectors where dividends are not prioritized. Two examples are mining and industrials. For the names that we are cautious about, we are not necessarily forecasting a dividend cut. Rather, we suggest that investors be mindful of company-specific risks. Our Veritas Dividend reports are part of our Base Subscription, which is ideal for private investors and financial advisors who want to make informed decisions but do not need full access to all our research or to consult with our analysts.  See our website for more. veritascorp.com/RESEARCH/div…

We've been tracking our Sell recommendations for 25 years now. As this Globe article says, because we're independent of investment banking, we're able to call them as we see them. 1/3 theglobeandmail.com/investin…

At Veritas, we take pride in being an accounting-first investment research firm. This week, in what has become an annual event, we hosted International Accounting Standards Board members at our office for a lively discussion on upcoming changes to #accounting standards. 1/9

Once again, thank you to everyone who attended and tuned into our 13th Annual Veritas Real Estate Conference last week. For those of you who couldn't join us, we thought we'd share a few key slides from the day. 1/5