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: She's anticipating economic weakness, hesitant even on the consumer staples space. Consumers in Canada have seen a lot of price increases in the last 24 months; spending same $$, but taking home less. Questions ability to continue to pass on those price increases. 

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: Will have to work through the pessimism of US blunder. The discount on that was excessive. Will continue to make good ROE and drive the business forward, regardless of whether the Canadian economy slows down in the next year or two.

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: Most broadly balanced across the country, though it is more focused in Ontario. Largest, so it's the most liquid; very easy to get in and out of. Selling older properties with higher energy and maintenance costs. Loves the cycle of selling old, get the capital, pay down debt, buy newer properties. Buying…

Opinion about CNR-T: Pricing power. Good track record on safety. Last year, economy was weaker, and this hit the rails. Labour disruptions. Volumes were affected. Affirmed guidance after Q1 reporting, expects 10-15% EPS growth (assuming there's still volume growth and no recession). Valuation is now at a very attractive multiple compared to historical levels and…

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: It is a trading opportunity and not a long term hold. There is still upside and there has been insider buying. It has announced an issuer bid. 18% of shares have been bought and cancelled in a year so revenue per share is going up. It is trading at a discount to…

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: In his firm's momentum portfolio. Dominant in Search and leader in digital ads, which are tremendously cash-generative. YouTube is an increasingly valuable ad property. Cloud services growing rapidly, one of top 3 players. Innovative AI investments should pay off nicely. Waymo is interesting for its cash-generating potential.

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: An excellent tech company, one of the few tech stocks up this year because their products are in demand now. Margins are already improving. Will announce a new CEO soon which will be another catalyst. They have the best technology but sales execution was weak, but they can fix this. Is a…

Opinion about META-Q: Still owns it. The market liked what Meta said on the ad front, where clients can create their own ads with tools that Meta supplies--a game changer.

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…