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

Opinion about DIS-N: Is up 19% in the last 3 months. Trades at 19x PE, a decent discount to the market, 13-16% earnings growth, movies have rebounded and theme parks are doing well. A great company. 

Opinion about SYK-N: 5-year performance is 15%, creates returns on ROIC, well run, quality.

Opinion about MFI-T: It is the leading protein company in Canada. It is spinning out the bacon division which should increase the profit margins. Chicken sales are picking up. Free cash flow per share is up over 100%. Its free cash flow/capital is 8 times greater than the typical TSX stock. Its P/E for 2025…

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: (A Top Pick Jun 13/24, Up 8%) Covid saw overspending by consumers, then underspending, now normalizing. Rising interest rates have affected lower-income US households, and that's showing up in HD traffic numbers. In US, over 50% of homes are over 40 years old; long-term secular trend to repair and modernize. 

Opinion about TD-T: Surprising how much it's come back, due in large part to sentiment having been so negative. Penalties will dampen growth. Still, numbers for both US and Canadian financials are starting to accelerate. Canadian banks over-provisioned for loan losses; if they don't have to tap into those reserves, should see really strong numbers…

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: Wonderful company, his favourite in the group. Has owned in past, but not now due to valuation. Near record highs. P&C insurance is very defensive, so it draws crowds when people get panicky in the market and the price gets bid up. Wait for a better valuation.

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: Biggest and most liquid apartment REIT in Canada, trades a little closer to NAV. Sold its mobile home segment. Exited Irish REIT this year. Big stake in a Dutch REIT that has been liquidating and return capital to shareholders. So it's been back to basics, concentrating on Canadian apartments.Really good properties and…

Opinion about CNR-T: Same comments as Cargojet: Chart shows a downtrend, being a laggard, but lately is starting to catch up. You can nibble at here. If we're starting a new economic cycle now, it will be positive for CJT and the economy. Expect weakness in a pullback coming. Play the long game and start…

Opinion about WSP-T: Likes the sector, which is growing. Strategic acquisitions at good prices. Just bought a company in Europe to expand presence there. 

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: Likes the railway sector. Oligopolies; infrastructure will never be rebuilt. Its acquisition of KSU will likely be the last acquisition in that area. Somewhat cyclical, but its transport of so many essential goods means it will always have underlying business. Decent pricing power, as rail is less expensive than trucking.Stock pulled back…

Opinion about AC-T: Not compelling right now for transparently understanding where it could go to. With the tariffs, this business is something that could actually be on the table; the dynamics of the Canadian market might change dramatically. Makes most of its money off international flights.

Opinion about ATS-T: It is in the industrial space which she likes. Has a $2 billion backlog. It is now re-focusing on high value sectors. She sees 18% earnings per share growth and 20% upside overall. It has strong momentum and she rates it an 8 out of 10.             Buy…

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: Holds the best value among the Mag 7, in terms of forward PE around 18.5x. He liked this at $140-150, less so now.

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: Doesn't own, but respects the name. Pretty decent valuation. Technicals look strong. One step away from breaking previous all-time highs at $740. Paying 27x forward PE for 15% growth, not a bad PEG ratio. Cornering the whole social media space. Watch out for what it's spending on the Metaverse.

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: Yesterday off by 5.5%, and that's continuing today. Pretty big reversal from high of around $591. See how it plays out. Volume on this drop is not as much as it was in the April downdraft. Indicates it might not have fully played out yet, and selling might continue.He could see it…

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…