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Portfolio Manager Commentary – September 2018

Horizons Inovestor Canadian Equity ETF (INOC)

The S&P/TSX Total Return Index ended the month of September down 0.89% as the Canadian equity

market was pressured lower on uncertainties surrounding a new trade agreement with the US.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Canada decided to maintain its overnight rate target at 1.5% and adopt a wait

and see approach. The Canadian dollar rose on higher crude oil prices and hawkish comments from

Governor Poloz at the Bank of Canada on a potential rate hike next month. Our Nasdaq Inovestor

Canadian Equity Index (NQICA) fell 1.83% for the same period, 94bps below the benchmark. Our sector allocation contributed -15bps as our decision to overweight discretionary, and underweight health care proved to be detrimental. Our stock selection contributed -79bps as a couple of our stocks clearly underperformed. You will find below the top three and bottom three contributors to performance.

The top three contributors to performance were:

  1. Equitable Group (EQB:CN), a thrifts & mortgage provider, rose 6.4% after origination activity,

    borrowing retention, loan growth all came better than expected in Q2 2018 last month.

  2. Linamar (LNR:CN), an auto part manufacturer, gained 3.7% as investors are optimistic the US

    and Canada will reach a trade agreement that won’t impose auto tariffs on Canadian vehicles.

  3. Couche-Tard (ATD.B:CN), a convenience store operator, increased 3.6% as it posted strong Q1

    2018 results: EPS of $1.15 (beat by $0.09) on Revenues of $19.3B (beat by $1.4B).

The bottom three contributors to performance were:

  1. Canadian Tire (CTC.A:CN), a general merchandise retailer, declined -7.3% after DOL reported

    weaker same-store sales and revised its guidance downward, which is a bad omen for CTC.A.

  2. Norbord (OSB:CN), a wood-based panel maker, dropped -13.8% after CIBC analyst downgraded

    the company’s outlook on lower-than expected building permits in the U.S. housing sector.

  3.  Dollarama (DOL:CN), a chain of dollar store operator, fell -17.6% after disappointing investor

    expectations in its Q2 2018: EPS of $0.43 (miss by $0.01) on Revenues of $868M (miss by $24M).

Best,

The Inovestor Asset Management Team

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