23 Stock Top Picks and 5 ETF (Feb 01-07)

Opinion about DIS-N: It has been tough to own. She doesn't see a catalyst near term, but they are getting their streaming business in line and will survive streaming, as they invest in their theme parks. 1.3 million Canadian visited Orlando in 2023, so will they come back?

Opinion about SYK-N: (A Top Pick Apr 10/24, Up 0.48%) Down along with the market. About 73% of revenues from US; rest is from other parts of the world, so lots of growth internationally. Very strong demographic play. Great company.

Opinion about MFI-T: She's anticipating economic weakness, hesitant even on the consumer staples space. Consumers in Canada have seen a lot of price increases in the last 24 months; spending same $$, but taking home less. Questions ability to continue to pass on those price increases. 

Opinion about LEN-N: Lennar Corp. engages in the provision of real estate related financial and investment management services. It operates through the following segments: Homebuilding, Financial Services, Multifamily, and Lennar Other. The Homebuilding segment refers to the construction and sale of single-family attached and detached homes and the purchase, development, and sale of residential land…

Opinion about HD-N: He wouldn't buy at this point, consumer is still very weak. YOY organic growth is negative. Still trades at a fairly hefty premium compared to the market and to its own historical levels. He'd wait till consumer and housing are stronger.

Opinion about TD-T: Coming out of a really vulnerable time with money laundering. Settled case, implemented new protocols. US assets capped; but TD shifted some assets around, giving them space to grow without running afoul of the cap. New CEO is very committed to turning over a new leaf.

Opinion about PGR-N: A number of P&C insurers in the US pulled back post-hurricane. Technically, not broken. Sector probably does pretty well going forward. 

Opinion about FFH-T: What explains its tremendous performance? Good operational management long term. Stock's more than doubled in the last year and a half, and he'd have to dig to find out why. Value, instead of growth, has been in favour for the last 6 months or so. Its counterpart, BRK.B, has also done well…

Opinion about XLRE-US: It's all about interest rates. Probably we need to see the 30-year fall below 6.0% to trigger pent-up demand and will likely get it. We're 5 million homes short in the U.S. and have been underproducing for 14 years.

Opinion about CAR.UN-T: Owns it for income. Despite stock slide, demand for rental housing still outstrips supply. Government announced decreased immigration and international student numbers. Lots of condos coming onto the market, condo market's been very weak, and this is causing rental rates to soften. But CAR.UN tends to be outside urban areas and have…

Opinion about CNR-T: Is watching it after falling to current levels. The rails track GDP levels. CN boasts a slightly lower PE and higher ROE than CP, but are paying much more in price-to book than CP, but you get more. Overall, it evens out slightly in CP's favour. You can buy some shares now…

Opinion about WSP-T: High-quality company in a high-quality part of the value chain. Valuation is the only sticking point. Expect them to buy more of their competitors and integrate them well. Good core, long-term holding. Pick your spots.

Opinion about RTX-N: Servicing the aerospace OEM side is very profitable, with long-term recurring revenues. This makes the earnings profile less cyclical. Defense side seeing very strong demand from US and internationally. Very strong backlog in defense. Will benefit from global increases in defense spending. In the face of geopolitical turbulence, defense business should stay…

Opinion about CP-T: Are hurt by the trade war; volumes will decline. CP is more exposed to cars crossing the US border. Buying KC was a great strategy. The rails have never been this cheap, so this will do well in 5 years. Just painful to hold now. A quality company with strong pricing power. 

Opinion about AC-T: Airlines are a a very tough business to invest in. Highly volatile, highly levered. Not for him. He likes recurring revenue, visibility on revenue, and easy to play. You're flipping a coin.

Opinion about ATS-T: (A Top Pick Feb 27/23, Down 28%)Disappointing growth in EV equipment. Rolled over and he got stopped out. Wasn't making higher highs and higher lows, no longer in an uptrend. In your portfolio, you have to quickly carve out the ones that aren't working before they hurt you.

Opinion about BOX-N: Last year they fended off a challenge from an activist investor. Its platform enables remote work, so share soared during Covid. But then earlier this year, the activist threatened to take it over. Instead, in April, Box struck a deal with another investor, KKR, for a $500 million investment to mostly use…

Opinion about GOOG-Q: Pretty well a value stock. You can go ahead and buy this one.

Opinion about BYL-T: Notoriously volatile. BYL has had a rough ride in recent years, but has fixed their balance sheet after selling their money-losing mobile business based in Korea. Are now focused on embedded antennas, infrastructure and satcom. They just announced a big stadium deal in South American for their wireless antennas, in which they…

Opinion about KXS-T: An excellent tech company, one of the few tech stocks up this year because their products are in demand now. Margins are already improving. Will announce a new CEO soon which will be another catalyst. They have the best technology but sales execution was weak, but they can fix this. Is a…

Opinion about META-Q: He has been buying tech during this dip, in April particularly. We will eventually exit this volatility and find stability and confidence in the market again. Meta and Microsoft are some of his key holdings, and they affirmed their capex guidance--they are spending to make incredible investments over the next three years,…

Opinion about NOW-N: Dangerous name to be out of. Huge run, strong Q1. Reinforced leadership in enterprise AI. Guidance is in line. Concern about government cuts, but overall average deal size up by 1/3. 18% growth, but trading at 40x 2026 and 33x 2027. A bit expensive PEG ratio. Have to pay up for good…

Opinion about MA-N: (A Top Pick Jul 25/24, Up 30%) Not as constructive on it, simply because the valuation's been reset. Still a core part of his portfolio, and has been for a decade.

Opinion about XEC-T: Tilted portfolios towards developed and emerging international. Best returns will come from here.

Opinion about EWZ-N: Trevor Rose’s Insights - Trevor’s most-liked answers from 5i Research We are not experts on Brazil, and it has certainly had some economic issues of late. Still, the Brazil market is nicely ahead of the US this year, and positive on the year. EWZ is up 10.17% YTD. Certainly for investors looking…

Opinion about IHI-N: Allan Tong’s Discover Picks IHI's MER is actually higher (at 0.39%) than the yield it pays (0.3%). Like the other names here, IHI trades at a low beta, 0.86 to be precise. So, if you're not buying this for income, what's the growth? Let's look at IHI's largest holdings. TMO offers diversity…

Opinion about XBAL-T: Balanced ETFs for a long-term hold? VBAL and XBAL are great, one-stop shops for smaller accounts. Leave it and forget it. Typically has about 40% fixed income, which would have had a tough run up till about a year ago. VBAL costs about 25 bps for the MER, XBAL costs about 20 bps.…

Opinion about EQE - NEO: (A Top Pick Jan 07/19, Up 14%) They are one of the lead orders on this. There was a technical issue where it was listed on the TSX and NEO. The fund refused to list it on the TSX. It doesn't have good liquidity due to this and so they…