26 Stock Top Picks and 3 ETF (Dec 14-20)

Opinion about OLED-Q: Patent on cellphone screens, from which they collect royalties. Good business as long as the patent goes on.

Opinion about NTNX-Q: Very trendy stock. What the markets wants right now - despite valuation. Would wait for weakness before buying. 

Opinion about CSCO-Q: (A Top Pick May 22/24, Up 38%) King of the networking stocks. Hit their stride, mainly because of NVDA selling out of Blackwell and H20 and so on. Started beating on top and bottom, raising guidance (even during the tariff time). Pretty fully priced, with a $70.75 price target within 12 months.

Opinion about V-N: Has owned both for a long time, but are trading near all-time highs, so this isn't the entry point. Wait a little. This as is expensive as they get in terms of PE. They are hard to dislodge, despite the threat of stablecoin. 

Opinion about AAPL-Q: It is a great brand but does not have enough of a margin of safety for him since it trades near 30X forward earnings. Most earnings come from the sale of hardware and there is not a lot of margin in this. Also tariffs could have a big effect. It has other…

Opinion about PE-N: (A Top Pick Sep 01/20, Up 56.4%)Stockchase Research Editor: Michael O'Reilly Our PAST TOP PICK with PE has resulted in the company being acquired by Pioneer Natural Resources. We are considering the position now closed at the last market closing price of $16.93. Combined with the previous recommendation to cover 50%, the…

Opinion about WPX-N: The best valuation opportunities are in Canada, he thinks. He would sell WPX for the tax loss and buy Parsley instead, who has better exposure to Canada.

Opinion about BTE-T: (A Top Pick May 23/24, Down 48%) It's down because of the fall in oil prices, pure and simple. He sold this around $4. The stock will excel if oil returns to $70+, but not at $60. He will revisit this at better oil prices later.

Opinion about WCP-T: There are a lot of choices in the sector. He wants the technical picture to be as supportive as the fundamental picture. Possible that the theme is going to pick up steam. He isn't a value investor, buying cheap and hoping it'll get less cheap. He wants to buy companies recognized as…

Opinion about VET-T: If you own, sell it and buy names like WCP, which pays a higher dividend.  VET's bases are scattered around the world. VET poorly executes.

Opinion about SGY-T: Trevor Rose’s Insights - Trevor’s most-liked answers from 5i Research SGY is quite small at $510M, but the stock is very cheap. With a 10% dividend, a buyer (or privatization) could eliminate the dividend and use internal cash flow to pay for the whole company in about three years. But, that doesn't…

Opinion about TRP-T: Defensive assets are garnering less and less of a bid as people become more comfortable with economic risk. Used this name as a source of cash to add more beta to portfolios. Great company, but relative price performance has started to back off for the pipelines group. Pipelines carry a lot of…

Opinion about LXE-X: They're in northeast BC where Tourmaline is consolidating land and assets, near LXE. So, LXE will become topical. LXE has reached an inflection point after acquiring a lot of land and pushed the Montney play to the northeast. Now, they need a lot of capital to move to full development. They're talking…

Opinion about SPY-N: SPY is the oldest and the biggest. Buy more, hold forever. Starting to be overtaken by VOO, perhaps because of the slight difference in MER cost. Worthwhile contacting the ETF company itself for a tax opinion on which account is best to hold it in.

Opinion about TLT-Q: (A Top Pick Mar 12/25, Down 6%) (Note the short timeframe.)  He wanted to trade the trading range. He never uses physical stop losses, as you can get whipped out. It broke down from $85, so then he counts a minimum of 3 days -- yesterday, today, and he'll see what happens…

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

Opinion about WEED-T: Good for marijuana exposure. Speculative, but quality. 

Opinion about LLY-N: He trimmed. Is trading at 33x PE, down from 55x. Is the front runner in the GLP-1 business with 60% market share.

Opinion about RY-T: Costs and loan loss provisions were both a bit higher than expected last quarter. Usually get 7-10% compound return over time. Over 10 years, return was 13% annualized. Over 15-20 years, 12%. Likes RY for capital markets and wealth management. HSBC acquisition has turned out well. Dividends are growing for all the…

Opinion about PWF-T: (A Top Pick Dec 04/19, Up 13%) He'd buy it again. Nice value stock. Nice yield. Trading at discount to book. Would benefit from rising interest rates, which he expects. Cheaper than all the banks.

Opinion about AFG-N: (A Top Pick Dec 20/18, Up 30%) A mid-cap specialty insurer. It can charge higher premiums as it is in niche markets. Their investing was very successful and they had lower insurance payouts.

Opinion about FTS-T: Great company. Has raised dividend forever, but dividend growth is slow at only 3-4% a year. Fine for the dividend. But for dividend and growth he'd lean toward a large-cap resource producer generating tons of cash, which would give much better inflation protection. Or go with a bank (such as JPM or…

Opinion about TECK.B-T: Doesn't currently own; has been in and out, depending on how he feels about copper. Approximately the 11th largest producer of copper globally, a lot of which is pinned on the QB2 mine (a year behind, struggling to get up to full speed). But it will double copper production by 2027. Once…

Opinion about MAG-T: Trevor Rose’s Insights - Trevor’s most-liked answers from 5i Research We think MAG fits the bill. Its Mexican (safe) mine only recently went into production, and 2024 will be the first year of material revenue/cash flow for the company. The stock is acting well this year as it gets re-rated as a…

Opinion about NTR-T: Within the chemicals space, the fertilizer stocks are much more interesting and have a better technical setup. Recently bought this name. Commodity-oriented space is continuing to firm up. Very long-term base going back to 2016 is being tested, with higher lows.

Opinion about CP-T: Probably some good value here. If you have a long-term investment horizon, not the worst idea to have a 1-2% position in the Canadian rails and just leave it alone. Better run than CNR, with more attractive growth upside. Doesn't have a strong conviction either way right now on CNR versus CP.

Opinion about BIP.UN-T: (A Top Pick Apr 01/24, Up 16%) Came out of it last December after the election on concerns of a global economy challenged by tariff policies. Riding coattails of general market recovery over last few weeks. Still well positioned down the road for global clean energy, but not right now.

Opinion about FDX-N: (A Top Pick May 09/24, Down 13%) He sold in November but still likes it a lot and has put it on their potential buy list if it gets to their price. There is concern over a drop-off in demand.

Opinion about UNS-T: (A Top Pick Jun 30/21, Up 12%) He trimmed a lot of his shares recently. It's a turnaround story, having brought in new managers doing a good job. He's seen many companies in auto supplies run into supply chain shortages--demand is there, but not supply, so this is a near-term risk. Long…