25 Stock Top Picks and 4 ETF (Jan 4-10)

It is tough to not like on what they have done in one year. Semis have been phenomenal, and this company has been right in there. It has consolidated more in the last little while. He got a little more cautious on tech a number of months ago, when it started to break down on…

Great stock, but not the best time to buy. Makes sense to take a half position right now. Barron's says that MVP (Mastercard, Visa, and PayPal) have done better than the FANGs over the last 3 years. Visa is the best bet. Asset light. Free cash flow is quite high and gives you flexibility.

Worried about the market and U.S. politics. There's some progress in China-US trade and both sides need a resolution. But don't over-emphasize the politics like the U.S. Government shutdown; the economy will still march ahead as recent strong unemployment numbers demonstrate. The wall and shutdown are noise. Be more positive on the market, and corrections…

Why do they have to sell assets? Debt is 65% debt to equity. Cut the dividend. Want to pay down debt by about 1B. In the doghouse right now. Leadership is a question mark, as well as what's a core asset. It's had a bounce, up about 50%. Fabulous recovery. Stocks will cool off in…

Norwegian off-shore oil services. They have more cash than debt. There's a gradual increase in off-shore energy E&P, so this will do well. Sustainable dividend. (6.4% dividend, Analysts' price target: NOK139.87)

They produce oil in Colombia. He likes the balance sheet and the production growth. Management is educated in the region. He thinks this is a good holding for the energy space. They may be a good take out target in the future.

They are doing all the right things. They had assets sales. They are strong at monetizing assets. One of the stronger performing energy names.

Still likes it. One concern is still Line 3 being delayed. In Michigan, government wants an earlier pipeline shutdown. The business itself is fine, but political risk could impact the stock short-term. Buy it at a 3-5% weighting, put it away, hold it for years. Nice dividend with growth.

Internet ETF. Analysts do not make consensus targets for ETFs. The average PE is no different from the overall NASDAQ. The trend is healthy. It is not cheap.

Energy in Brazil. Also commodity related type of economies. Geared to rise and fall very much with the area of energy. Clever way of playing energy and emerging markets at the same time.

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…

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%…

(Market Call Minute) Avoid theatre operators because they are getting pushed out because people will download and watch at home.

He likes it long term. A perpetual model. You will do OK over 5 - 10 years. He missed it before the announcement.

They no longer want to own the hotel, they want to own the franchise and collect the royalties. In 3-5 years, they'll be 100% there. Has some of the best real estate and at a cheaper valuation than Marriott. Yield is 0.9%. (Analysts’ price target is $80.30)

Takeover of WB-T. He does not think there will be another bid. He has not finished researching whether to hold the resulting stock after the takeover closes.

Retail is not an easy place to make money, this is one of the few. Went public earlier this year and have done reasonably well. They are in the retail and fashion business, and have done very well coming out of a private company basis, to manage the fashion risks. The footprint is still rather…

With the US Fed going dovish, it helps HD. Great management, low interest rates and full employment are also tailwinds. They've doubled revenues since 2008 and have increased their operating margins from 6% to 12%. Good dividend, too. (Analysts’ price target is $202.39)

We are all tired, old and want someone to look after us. It was $100 and then there was a sell off. Far East/China is where they are expanding. Cuba offers more opportunities. The population is aging.

Bank of America vs Citigroup – Both of these have earnings forecasts that are growing compared to the rest of the US bank sector that looks weak. He thinks both are excellent value and are good buys currently. He wishes the US banks would stop buying back shares and pay out dividends instead – like…

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%.

2 parts, Brookfield Properties and 60% Brookfield Renewable Properties consisting of renewable power, hydro in NE US and Ontario. Very projectable cash flows and reasonable CapX expenditures. Their properties have about 95% occupancy with about a 4% lease roll over.

(A Top Pick Dec 10/18, Up 14%) It was the only bank last quarter that released results and saw the stock go up. They had under-performed in the first quarter. This is one of his favourites of the Canadian banks.

He likes telecoms because of 5G and data-heavy applications. Data traffic will be enormous; people are consuming more and more data, huge amounts already. This will only grow. Only the huge telcos can support this traffic.

This is doing fine. It provides for hospitals, etc. Relative to US companies, they are having pricing competition in Europe. In their most recent quarter, earnings weren’t great and sales were down because of the currency. It is important for investors to look at these European companies, as to how much exposure they have on…

Located in the Sugar zone in Ontario. They’ve drilled the top 400 m of their deposit, which has a decent grading resource at about 7-8 g a ton, and have about 4000 ounces. That means they have found about 1000 ounces per vertical metre. That is a pretty good metric for the start of a…

China issues? A cyclical stock for sure, so its tough to buy and hold. The balance sheet has been right sized as the debt has been reduced. They are cheap based on earnings. If you believe China trade issues will be resolved, you should continue to hold. (Analysts’ price target is $39.84)

Had owned this in the past. They made a number of acquisitions, so patience is required. Acquired St. Jude, which he had seen losing market share to Boston Scientific. One concern is that they bloated out their balance sheet for this acquisition. Trading at about 18X, so not terribly inexpensive. Also, there are still some…

A head-scratcher. Tech analysis doesn't work with this. You gotta believe the story. They don't deliver on their contracts and it should be a much-higher stock. That said, he'd buy; it's so cheap now.