23 Stock Top Picks and 7 ETF (Nov 30 Dec 6)

Apple vs. Amazon. Own both. Apple's a great, big, powerful company that will work out its problems. Both really well run, and moving into healthcare in a big way. Amazon has loads of runway, as does Apple. Buy a bigger chunk of Amazon, as it's performed better. Cloud computing and content business are going to…

Global secular trend over the next 10 - 20 years. Use of digital currency and electronic payments will continue to expand. The growth in E-commerce is undeniable. Last Tuesday they announced a $6 billion share buy back and boosted the dividend by 32%. Forward P/E is 27 with 29% growth. Good growth company. (Analysts’ price…

It owns the major utilities and the covered call generates a little more income. This is an income play; don't expect much capital appreciation--this is a decent strategy.

DEX Floating Rate ETF (XFR-T) or Vanguard Cdn. Aggregate Bond ETF (VAB-T)? If interest rates rise, which would you Buy? The aggregate bond is a little bit longer in duration with an average of 6 or 7 years and might be a little bit more sensitive to interest rate hikes so this one might be…

A simple basket of US names that have a history of increasing their dividends over the last 10 consecutive years. As US interest rates move higher, he thinks dividend growth companies will outperform those with little or no dividend growth. Year-to-date and over the past year, this has outperformed the broader S&P 500.

Expensive right, now trading at over 20X PE, and they are slow growing stocks. But, in the summer months, investors are willing to pay a little more for that stability.

Is the 8% dividend sustainable, and is there any upside to the ETF? This is an energy ETF, so you want to think about this like you think about the Enbridge Income Fund. He doesn’t think the 8% is sustainable. Performance has been so-so, mainly because oil prices have slipped quite dramatically. There will be…

He likes the concentration of the specialized real estate holdings – including hospitals, multi-residential, high rises, etc. He sees this as a bond proxy that is better than telcos and utilities.

Which stocks for RESP and University in 8 years? He would use healthcares such as SPDR Health Care (XLV-N) or SPDR Pharma (XPH-N). These are in a secular bull market. You could also use Van Eck Vectors Biotech (BBH-Q). This gives you a little bit of mix of all 3 sectors. He would suggest 40%…

A lot of EM exposure, where there's more growth, but they've been under pressure. Not a huge fan of it right here today. But looking 3-4 years down the road, there's nothing wrong with it. Yield is 4.9%.

A spin-off of Brookfield Asset Management. For every 170 shares of BAM-T one owned, they received one share of TSU-T. They underwrite smaller BTB insurance. They can sell-off re-insurance for a recurring fee stream in the US – a process called “fronting”. On paper it looks like they operate at a loss, but it will…

The NASDAQ has been on fire and this represents that as a proxy. It is back to recent highs, so he would wait for a break to new highs, wait two days and then buy if it holds strength. He would not buy until the new highs have been made.

A US hedge fund manager is shorting this stock. His premise is that credit losses will increase and she expect that this and next year. He's really making a call on the Canadian economy, but she doesn't see the Canadia economy to go into recession or our housing market to implode. Recent laws have cushioned…

Cheap at 9 X earnings with a 2 1/2% dividend. Florida insurance is under a seperate entity, so hurricane is not a problem.

This is a great entry point. A play on the US single-family real estate market. They earn profits on their own property and management fees on the properties they manage. It trades at under 10 times earnings and pays a US dollar dividend.

A sub-sector he likes in the U.S. are single-family homes. Institutional investors bought up distressed homes during the Recession, then rented out those homes after that period. INVH is a major player in this space and it's trading at a discount to NAV now.

They specialize in technology and life-sciences clusters. Their tenants will be repatriation cash, so ARE's partnership with these tenants will create value and rent growth. (2.9% dividend yield)

Had a tremendous run up to about $12, but got completely blindsided, and it pulled back heavily. Got stopped out around mid-$6. Thinks they are going to be okay long-term. There were some issues with insider selling at higher levels. If you own, continue to hold as it looks like it has bottomed.

It's the old Valeant. It has a future, cleaned up their act, but too much debt. Stable now, so maybe good for the long-term, certainly better than the Valeant days.

18X foward earnings. ROE is 20% average over 5 five years. Healthcare gies you (Analysts’ price target is $301.58)

Nice chart. Really nice base in May/June around $79. If it can stay above $83, it’s looking pretty good. Potential to consolidate around $100, as an end of year target. If it drops another $8, start reducing. Take a small position only.

It is a stable stock with stable earnings. But the price momentum is weak.

Hasn't had his name in his portfolio for the last 5 years so can't say a lot about it. Pays a high dividend yield (5.3%) but it doesn't have a lot of growth, which concerns him. Had some negative earnings surprises over the years that scare him.

Merck vs. Pfizer Two large pharma companies that are treading water. A lot of the drugs they develop are coming off patent. You must look at their pipelines, with Merck doing very well while Pfizer has some good franchises, like Lipitor. Merck likely has the better pipeline. Neither has enough revenue growth or cash flow…

They bought a UK company with their largest markets being the UK and Hong Kong. Those two markets have been depressed. It could turn out in the long run to be a very good move for NFI-T. He thinks their dividend is fairly safe at these levels. Longer term he thinks they are in a…

Global leader of valves from Montreal. Classic value play, trading just above 1 times NAV. They report in US dollars. About 11 times earnings. The founder is 97 years old. If it is ever sold he figures it could get as much as $30 a share.

Global Japanese company. Makes equipment to test environmental equipment. Growing revenues around 10% a year, and bottom line by 10-15% a year. On sale. Lots of cash. Amazingly cheap and unique. Yield is 3.1%. (Analysts’ price target is $2800.00)

He used to own this. The CEO he knew suddenly and abruptly resigned. They brought a new CEO but then there were reimbursement problems. Their balance sheet is not pristine. Centric doesn’t look like a quick fix.

It was flatlined for three or so years as they acquired, but they have done well recently. He has a similar idea in his top picks, so he won't comment much here.

This and CNQ-T are the two trophy stocks in Canada. The company is a cash generating machine. If you are looking for total return then stay with it. You will see good returns if you are patient.