TMX Group (X.TO)

It is more of a defensive position with a bit more yield on it. It is like a monopoly. Their company, Trayport, which does energy trading and has some growth. There has been some consolidation in their space and they are trading at a material discount to their peers. They report earnings tonight. (Analysts’ price target is $126.86)

They're doing amazing by transforming their business by doing data analytics, which is more recurring revenues. Also, 30% of revenues are outside Canada. They're trading at a deep discount to other stock exchange providers. 2.8% dividend. Great management. This stock is undervalued. (Analysts’ price target is $96.20)

Owns the TSX. But more importantly. They are branching off to the subscription services for data. Very undervalued. New management has done a wonderful job.

Would you buy this for the long term? For sure. Core holding for his clients. The Toronto Stock Exchange. Involved in derivatives and selling data. It is exciting that they bought in Europe a company called Trailed Corp which is called the Bloomberg of the commodities trading. It gives them diversification outside of Canada which it is very good for them. Valuation is very reasonable.

(A Top Pick March 1/17. Up 4%.) This one is completely baffling. It should be a $100 stock. They should be making so much hay with the marijuana law, the trading and the amount of new issues and the secondary offerings. Trading at 13X earnings. It has a monopoly on trading in Canada on new listings. Just made an acquisition of a commodities platform in Europe. 50% of their business is going to be recurring revenues.

Undervalued compared to most stock exchanges in the world. Lots of new listings going on. There is very good value there and he is surprised it has not gone up faster. (Analysts’ target: $80.50).

(A Top Pick Sept 1/16. Up 19.59%.) 2015 was a dreadful year, but was one of the best performers in 2016. This year it has cooled off a little, and not sure why because the earnings growth has been pretty significant. A very profitable business. They’ve done a great job of deleveraging, getting rid of businesses that are not profitable. Expects there will be more dividend increases and a smart allocation of capital. Still a Buy. Dividend yield of 2.99%.

This owns the TSX and a bunch of data, so they make money on trading. Expects it will have a pretty good Q2 because there have been more IPOs. This is on track to earn around $4.75 this year, maybe $5 in 2018. Valuation is at 13-14 times earnings, which is very inexpensive for a company with very consistent earnings. Management has done an excellent job righting the ship. They’ve turfed a number of underperforming divisions and even raised the dividend twice in the past year. Generates an enormous amount of free cash flow. He sees upside to at least $80.

This was facing concerns about NASDAQ coming into Canada and taking some listings, but to him, this is much better than Amazon in some ways, because they have all the shoppers and they have all the products. It is going to be very hard for someone to come in and take the listings. They finally raised the dividend last year. The balance sheet is now perfect. They’ve been selling off divisions that were not profitable. The new CEO has done an excellent job. Valuation is quite reasonable when compared to other publicly traded exchanges. He thinks this is an $80 stock and could go a lot higher if we continue to see good markets. Dividend yield of 2.56%. (Analysts’ price target is $76.)