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

Opinion about DIS-N: (A Top Pick Jun 27/24, Up 18%) Streaming turned profitable by end of 2024, finally, after a reorganization, and is now a major growth driver. Theme parks have been the largest profit generator and they keep coming out with new parks; people are paying high amounts to enjoy them. He expects healthy…

Opinion about SYK-N: He hasn't seen valuations like this since 2020 briefly and 1993. Their big growth driver is orthopedics with robot-assisted surgeries, with growth expected to double over 5 years; robots account for roughly 45% of their orthopedics business. (Analysts’ price target is $429.76)

Opinion about MFI-T: Good picture. Something appears to have changed. May be testing old highs from 2022 and breaking out. If the breakout holds (and some breakouts don't), then probably going a lot higher. 

Opinion about LEN-N: Sold it for Canadian tax reasons. LEN spun off the part of the company that held the land, probably a good move, but he wasn't sure about the tax hit. He still likes the US homebuilders given the shortage of housing.

Opinion about HD-N: Cheaper than it's been, probably still a good long-term buy. Dominant market position, and ultimately housing will come back. But housing's in a slowdown, US consumer will go through some difficulties from tariff risk and higher mortgage rates. He has nothing in retail/consumer right now.

Opinion about TD-T: TD's been the best over his career. US issue hit hard. Canadian business is solid and extremely well run. Can't expand the US business, but can upgrade it, so he's not too concerned. Still a large holding, but he's been selling it down and putting profits into BNS.

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: Has done extremely well. If you own it, hold. He's just never had the time to fully research it. People he respects and who own it say to buy, buy, buy. 

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: Decent dividend. He actually has 3 REIT positions (including XRE and NWH.UN) because they're value plays right now, all pay dividends, and are a bit overlooked. His view is that markets may be in for more volatility, so you want stocks with lower beta. Buy here at the bottom of its range,…

Opinion about CNR-T: Commodity exports to the US are probably down. East-west rail merger in the States can take some traffic away from Canada. Glow in the rail stocks is coming off. Don't sell. Extremely well run. Will come back as the Canadian economy grows. 

Opinion about WSP-T: His choice in the space. About 23% compounded annual shareholder return over last decade. Bigger than peers, more global, in better verticals. Into water and environmental remediation -- things with faster growth curve. Serial acquirer.

Opinion about RTX-N: Earnings on Tuesday. There's strong demand for aerospace, and they boast a huge backlog.

Opinion about CP-T: Cash-covered put for $98-99? Rails are close to being monopolies. They're merging, and so there are fewer of them. The kind of stock that you just hold forever. Not a big dividend payer, but good capital allocators.Cash-covered means that you have that money sitting and waiting to buy the stock if it…

Opinion about AC-T: Hit by fewer flights to US. Planes to Europe are full. US will come back at some point. Every time a recession ends, travel blossoms. He's followed it for a long time and sees substantial upside. But airline stocks are very volatile. Thinks $31 is doable in the next 2-3 years.

Opinion about ATS-T: Upward trend from April selloff, showing strong support from the technical side. Fiscal 2025 EPS was slightly down, but forecast to rebound. Price target is 10% upside from here. Still below 52-week high. Analysts remain confident in company's leadership despite CEO stepping down, and she'll be monitoring closely.

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: He just bought it, owning six of the Mag 7. Momentum hasn't been this strong since Q4 2023.

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: Trevor Rose’s Insights - Trevor’s most-liked answers from 5i Research It has a strong balance sheet with $260M net cash. EPS is set to surge this year and rise another 25%+ next year. Cash flow is good and it is a relatively conservative company overall. As a supply chain software solution, it…

Opinion about META-Q: Valuation discount has disappeared. Watching to see what they do with Llama. Good core holding. Hasn't added since April selloff.

Opinion about NOW-N: Has shown some of the most durable revenue growth in the entire market. Though more expensive, definitely likes it more than CRM. Deserves the valuation premium because it executes so well. Good long-term hold. Over time, need to see traction around AI for the story to continue working. Great company.

Opinion about MA-N: The world of business is just fine. Fears of stablecoin, but company has gone ahead and allowed those payments on its credit cards.

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…