26 Stock Top Picks and 3 ETF (Dec 7-13)

It is the best run of the grocery stores. They made an acquisition to get into delivery in the downtown core. Nice dividend yield and you can sleep at night. (Bruce Murray)

A plummet in shares last week. But it has a very good brand and he believes a positive catalyst of some sort will happen, like someone will buy it. This is a speculative buy. Expect more pressure because of tax-loss selling, but then it can only go up. (Analysts’ price target is $5.44) (Mike S.…

They own pawn stores in America, Mexico and now Colombia . They do well when the economy weakens and trade a lot in gold jewllery. As the US dollar falls and price rises, he'd rather own this than gold or a gold ETF. Dividend has been rising 15% yearly. (Analysts’ price target is $94.14) (David…

Smaller-tier Canadian bank. Don't fool around, own one of the top-quality banks instead. Declining loan growth, issues with mortgages, which impacted the balance sheet, and it's in the penalty box. Earnings are not growing at the moment. Sell, and buy National or TD or any of the others. (Barry Schwartz)

Valuation in the bank group is compelling. Only one with yield over 5%. Trading at 1.4x book, strong balance sheet. Negative has always been that it's domestic, and more exposed to the mortgage market. If your outlook is longer term, and you want the dividend, it's a good buy today. (Michael Sprung)

It is the 9th or 10th largest bank in the US. They are more retail focused in the US. They have a stake in Ameritrade. Earnings coming up should be fairly robust. (Michael Simpson, CFA)

(A Top Pick Feb 16/18, Down 11%) It's going to have some resistance about $100. He thinks it is a quality bank and soon we should see a challenge of the previous high at $120. (Hap (Robert) Sneddon FCSI)

US banks didn't do well last year. First 3 quarters showed strength in global markets. Negative performance in client engagement. Corporate business OK. If you own 3 banks, sell 1 and diversify. (David Driscoll)

They produce safety and testing equipment found in buildings, such as elevators. In bad markets, HLMA does not go down. A steady company. They have only 25% of revenues in UK/Europe. The dividend has been rising 7-8% yearly. A safe, defensive stock. (Analysts’ price target is $1404.17) (David Driscoll)

He has recommended it in the past. It is back to its bottom end of valuation. They have an influx of deliveries next year. They are a distributor for planes outside North America. (Analysts’ price target is $58.38) (Teal Linde)

Pure play on water. They transport and treat and test water. As a scarce resource this is a good long term play. They tend to operate locally. At this level after the pullback they are adding to clients' portfolios. Good entry point. (Christine Poole)

(A Top Pick Dec 15/18, Down 20%) Tariffs on steel and aluminum worked against them. They were set back by the closing of all the Sears stores. They raised their dividends for 50 years. 14.5 times earnings. A good company and he is sticking with it. (Michael Simpson, CFA)

As a gold producer, it has good upside earnings growth potential without needing a rally in gold prices. The stock trades at 1.5 times book value. Yield 0%. (Analysts’ price target is $17.45) (Ross Healy)

Attractive 5.4% dividend especially in relationship to the 10-year 1.9% Canada bond. A huge spread. Likely that the stock will rise and the yield will decrease. (Analysts’ price target is $58.94) (David Baskin)

Pessimism on this was overdone. Sustainable dividend and could even rise. They have a lot of debt, but interest rates likely won't rise as much. Surprised to see the stock price come back. (David Baskin)

Oil was down today, and so did CNQ. They won't run out of their product, oil, but they're at the mercy of the price of oil which they can't control. He owns zero Canadian energy. (David Baskin)

Pipeline assets and they are building a PDH plant in Alberta. It is a big capital project. He would buy it here. They may do a preferred or equity issue later in the year. The yield is a reflection of what happened in December. There is not a lot of international investors buying energy names.…

High quality. They can fund their capex with their own cash flow. Their projects are low-profile and don't attract opposition like Keystone. Strong balance sheet. Decen 8% growth rate this year. Dividend growth. Only problem is their tax pools that they use to shelter taxes are being used up faster than expected. (Greg Newman)

It's #5 in revenue of all US companies. They'll do $250 billion in revenue in 2019. It's down only 7-8% during this market carngage, so it's held its own. The CEO belives they just started a growth boom. Has a good runway ahead, working closely with government agencies and in South America. Good defensive stock.…

This is combined entity of Patient Home Monitoring and Biomed. They develop monitor services for the home. They have cleaned up their accounts receivables and it trades at less than 6 times earnings compared to competitors at 13 times. Yield 0% (Analysts’ price target is $0.50) (Bruce Campbell (2))

These guys are focused on extraction in the cannibas space. Over 50% of the US business in this space is focused on extraction and the thinks Canada is headed in this direction. They have signed a number of supply agreements and thinks the stock trades cheap. They have a partnership that produces water-soluable technology which…

Given that markets will be lack luster he is looking for defensive names. They are focused on the diabetes space. The disease is growing at double digit rates. With their economies of scale, their profit margin is higher than their competitors. The most significant growth in diabetes is in emerging markets where they pay for…

A super safe company. He used to own it, but doesn't see upside in it now. There's little money made in hardware, but much more in software. Cisco is a hardware platform. But CSCO is very strong, but beware of lack of growth in the future. (Chris Stuchberry)

The CEO has done an amazing job since 2014, changing the business model from hardware to service. Now, they're only behind Amazon in the cloud. Has a strong team. Execution has been superb. They've added debt, but still have a AAA rating and are buying back stock. (Analysts’ price target is $125.14) (Kim Bolton)

They own the patent for a new type of display screen on smartphones. So, they receive royalties. Apple, Huawei and Samsung will be using OLED screens by 2020. It's been volatile the last few years, because it's taken time for the manufacturers to incorporate these new screens. But a year from now, OLEDs will be…

He uses US tech's. There is nothing negative to say about OTEX-T but there is more compelling value in the US. It holds in very well and trades very well. He would not buy this multiple. The company is well run. (Rick Stuchberry)

It's the first ETF that tracks the UN's sustainable development goals. Companies here align with one or more of those goals. You get broad international, including EM, exposure. The holdings aren't perfect (i.e. P&G), but it's the first attempt at an impact investing ETF. (Tim Nash)

Tracks the broad U.S. market, basically swapping out the S&P, but it's the first ETF to be socially responsible, fossil fuel- and gun-free. Caveat: It haas few assets and limited volume. Use a limit order when buying. Maybe give this a little more time to add more assets. This is good for couch potatoes who…

He wants liquidity to be able to take advantage of continued volatility going into 2019. This pays about 2% yield. Think of it as cash. It is an option to step in and do some buying later. (Kash Pashootan)