23 Stock Top Picks and 2 ETF (Jan 18-24)

Opinion about BAC-N: The only big bank that missed on the top line, due to a net interest income line miss. They maintained their full-year net interest income forecast. Falling short were markets and banking segments. Shares fell today.

Opinion about BRK.B-N: The Buffett premium is disappearing. Sitting on lots of cash, and the bigger risk right now is what do they do with it. He doesn't know where they're going with that. People are unsure about the new management. He's not enticed, not even for the long term.

Opinion about WIR.UN-T: (A Top Pick Jan 12/21, Up 48%) Great-managed REIT. Taken out.

Opinion about FFH-T: He's been in and out of this one and probably should have just stayed in. Really good company. Trend is good. If you own, definitely hold. Has probably arced off the trendline a bit, so it'll probably pull back a bit and you can buy more.

Opinion about BIP.UN-T: Dividend stock in their income platform. It's OK, not an exciting chart. Not an unsafe stock to own. Can continue to own it for the dividend.

Opinion about YASKY-6506-JP: (A Top Pick Jan 22/19, Up 36%) There is some cyclicality in robotics in Japan, but they are one of two world leaders. He still owns it.

Opinion about WM-N: Bigger and better than its competitor WCN.

Opinion about PNG-X: Natural gas play to benefit from AI infrastructure buildout in US? A 6-bagger over the last 3 years, and revenues have tripled in that time. Underwater technology is being taken into the field for oil & gas.

Opinion about GOOG-Q: In his momentum mandate. Reported 2 days ago and beat on sales, earnings, and other key performance metrics. Earnings up ~22%, sales up 15%. Acceleration of cloud computing, now ~$50B a year and probably the fastest-growing part of the business. Stepping up capital spending on the AI arms race, yet also authorized…

Opinion about BABA-N: The country square in the bullseye of the US during the tariff war is China. Until there's resolution in tariffs, don't touch China. The future is unknown and could be negative. Both countries are at each other's throats.

Opinion about XLNX-Q: The Xilinx-AMD merger, which is supposed to close by year's end. Whoever owns Xilinx will make a lot of money. He recommends AMD over Xilinx, because he doesn't like arbitrage risk. Take some profits on Xilinx.

Opinion about MSFT-Q: It reports Wednesday. Wait until the CEO speak before making a move either way.

Opinion about NTR-T: World's largest crop nutrient business. Upstream production vertically integrated with downstream stores (in US, Canada, and some in South America). Commodity prices for the 3 fertilizer ingredients has bottomed, supported by steadily improving prices for major cash crops (corn, wheat, soybeans). Trades roughly at long-term average multiple. Earnings on cusp of a turning…

Opinion about KL-T: (A Top Pick Feb 25/21, Up 15.3%)Stockchase Research Editor: Michael O’Reilly With the recent completed acquisition by AEM now official, we now consider this position closed. When combined with the previous recommendation to cover half the position, this results in a net investment gain of 22%.

Opinion about TECK.B-T: He likes metals and is buying. Likes copper and precious metals. There is support for Teck going back to late 2023 and it recently bounced up. It's a swing trade. This might hit $60. The chart looks positive, but be ready to sell if the chart fails.

Opinion about TLT-Q: (A Top Pick Mar 12/25, Down 3%) (Note the short timeframe.)  He's not bearish on the market, just wary, so he's being defensive. The US market has more risk on the equity side than normal. His target remains around $90, still an OK place to make a couple of bucks. See his…

Opinion about ZEM-T: Trevor Rose’s Insights - Trevor’s most-liked answers from 5i Research Keep in mind that some international funds, depending on which ones, could hold some emerging market exposure already. The sector continues to be volatile, and many countries (i.e. Vietnam) might be very vulnerable to tariffs if they come back and/or stick around…

Opinion about DOL-T: Last year, even when US dollar stores were struggling, DOL was chugging ahead. Management has been a great acquirer, integrator, and operator. Not cheap. Wouldn't bet against it. Hold and be happy, until something changes.

Opinion about BKNG-Q: (A Top Pick Mar 27/25, Up 20.2%)Stockchase Research Editor: Michael O'Reilly Our PAST TOP PICK with BKNG is progressing well.  To remain disciplined, we recommend trailing up the stop (from $4000) to $5100 at this time.  

Opinion about DG-N: Yesterday they reported a fine quarter: beating revenue, 2.4% same-store sales growth (beating) with strength in every major product category, gross margins beat due to a theft crackdown. Earnings beat and were excellent. DG repeated tat they will keep prices low amid Trump tariffs. DG's customer survey revealed that 60% of their…

Opinion about BCE-T: Should the beleaguered investor hold or move on? He'd stick with it at this point. Have now see the worst news for the telecom sector, as Freedom Mobile and immigration changes were headwinds. Selling MLSE will help. Still getting paid a nice yield of 5.2% to wait.See his Top Picks.

Opinion about TVE-T: It is just below their minimum market cap requirement of $2.8 billion but ranks well in their data base and is reasonably priced. Its earnings estimates are set to decline by 45% this year and 63% next year. Much depends on the price of oil. Imperial Oil ranks better. 

Opinion about SGY-T: Trevor Rose’s Insights - Trevor’s most-liked answers from 5i Research SGY is quite small at $510M, but the stock is very cheap. With a 10% dividend, a buyer (or privatization) could eliminate the dividend and use internal cash flow to pay for the whole company in about three years. But, that doesn't…

Opinion about SDX-LN: (A Top Pick Aug 13/18, Down 61%) They disenfranchised the Canadian shareholders. He sold out sooner before the de listing, so did not do as badly, nor did his subscribers. He disagrees with their move.

Opinion about BXE-T: Debt concerns? BXE took bankruptcy protection when debt became too much. There is no equity value in it any longer. Companies that have debt that matures in 2020 or 2021 will have issues. He sees no issues with BIR or TVE on this topic. The new Federal relief program for large companies…