In short: Owned consistently for many years and trimmed less than Loblaw; the stock's been weaker. "Metro is perfectly fine… the story's not broken" — predictable profitability, modest growth, "exactly the kind of high quality compounder that built our franchise." Warrants a role, though not the cheapest name he owns.
Metro is a Quebec-based grocery and pharmacy chain. Aitken has owned it consistently for many years. He and his team bought grocers heavily before and during the pandemic, then trimmed aggressively after the group re-rated upward — but the trimming fell mostly on Loblaw, less on Metro, so a modest position remains.
The stock has lagged on real but temporary issues: a costly distribution-centre build-out and labour disruptions. His read is "Metro is perfectly fine — the story's not broken." Highly predictable profitability, good management, modest growth ahead.
He is candid that it isn't the cheapest thing he owns, but this is the kind of "high quality compounder" — a steady business that grinds out gains year after year — that built his track record, and he thinks it warrants a place in the portfolio "no different than 10 or 20 years ago."
32:00I think that Metro is perfectly fine. I don't think that the story's broken. They've had some pretty heavy spend years. They built out a distribution center. They've had some labor issues to your point, but we're not getting too caught up in the real short term.
Nothing matches this filter.
Verbatim excerpts from the public transcripts (auto-pulled at each mention's timestamp, lightly cleaned). Timestamps link into the video; "source page" opens that commentator's full analysis at this row. Click a mention's header line to expand it (one open at a time). For personal study — not investment advice.