Air Canada, Couche-Tard & More at 52-week Highs and Lows (Feb 6-12)

(A Top Pick Oct 10/24, Up 27%)Stockchase Research Editor: Michael O'Reilly Our PAST TOP PICK with AC has achieved its target at $22.  To remain disciplined, we recommend covering half the position at this time and trailing up the stop (from $15) to $17.

Always likes to have a pick for people looking for income. Gives you a bit of opportunity for growth and income for a very long  time. Very diversified, global. Payout ratio is quite reasonable, so a safety play for income. Yield is 4.6%. (Analysts’ price target is $52.06)

One of the stronger companies and brands in Canada. Successful transition to a digital company, offering subscriptions to data. Low capex, recurring revenue. Profitability was challenged, but now improving nicely. Very expensive at 43x PE. Small yield of 1.3%.Stay away for now on valuation, but watch, consider buying if shares correct.

The space has been a fantastic investment. There aren't a lot of options for getting rid of garbage. Once you're on their books, they can gradually increase prices. The issue is that valuations are quite high, and always have been. High barriers to entry. When stocks come off, the expensive ones come off the fastest.

Customized, prefabricated environmental office interior solutions. High net cash position. Significant upside because of their flexible business model. Surge in office reconfiguration taking place across North America. Top management. No dividend. (Analysts’ price target is $3.46)

Office has suffered since the pandemic, supply/demand are out of balance everywhere. Occupancy has slipped to lowest level in 2 years. Leverage is quite high, while net operating income is down this quarter. An execution story. Some wonder if distribution can be sustained.

Preferred shares. He does invest in some selective preferred shares for some clients with balanced mandates. Unique because BPY.UN used to be a separate, publicly traded company, so you got full transparency. But then Brookfield privatized it, so you don't get the same transparency. But Brookfield has always been a fairly good corporate citizen and…

(A Top Pick Nov 07/23, Up 5.7%)Stockchase Research Editor: Michael O'Reilly Our PAST TOP PICK with CHP.UN has triggered its stop at $13.75.  To remain disciplined, we recommend covering the position at this time.  

Like Choice REIT is to Loblaw, CRT is to Canadian Tire. The 6% dividend is safe, based on a safe payout ratio. If interest rates stay pat, these shares won't move much, but if rates fall, CRT will do well.

Trevor Rose’s Insights - Trevor’s most-liked answers from 5i Research EPS of 5c beat estimates of 4.3c; revenue of $66M beat estimates of $61M. New originations were $625.7M vs $571M last year. Guidance was afffirmed for 2024 but boosted for 2025 (19c to 25c vs 18c estimated). The company has streamlined its cost structure and…

Great properties, but diversification means it doesn't get a great valuation from the market. Sunbelt properties are over-supplied. Owns office properties and retail. Transforming to multi-family and industrial. Trade action starting to pick up. Secure yield of about 6.7%. Growth will be a while, depends on your time horizon. Better names in the meantime.

Reports on November 5. Now trading at an interesting level, over 15% discount to NAV. Fallen perhaps because of announcement on immigration being curtailed. 60% of portfolio in Atlantic Canada, actively diversifying in Ontario and BC. Likes that 44% of assets are not subject to rent control. Expecting results to be good. Stay the course.

It is a subject of a takeover and you might consider holding it until the close of the take out transaction. You could also move to another apartment REIT. Your upside is capped from here with NVU.UN-T.

(A Top Pick Sep 28/22, Up 45%) Got taken out. Traded at a 25% discount in a sector that was in high demand.

This would be a hold for him, if not a sell. It has US grocery stores in small centres. It has an external management contract, which he feels is not in alignment with share holders.

(A Top Pick Jun 14/18, Up 59%) It is another example of an undervalued tech company in Canada. It was taken out by MS-N just over a month ago.

An uncommon compounder. First bought in 1998. It had a simple strategy, and was overlooked in the market. Over 26 years, has executed its strategy bigger and bigger -- buy into a new market, buy a business that fits in, build that position. Repeat. Grows at 4% per annum, and a further 15% or so…

(A Top Pick Jul 06/23, Up 4%) Struggling a little with debt. Solid managers. Industrial REITs are doing gangbusters. Are fully occupied and lease rates are rising. As they have been selling non-core assets, the market has pressured shares. Doesn't think they will cut the dividend. Is moving in the right direction. Lower rates will…

Very strong business - founder led & owned. Exception creator of wealth the past ~20 years. Has owned shares since 2014. Very good consolidator of convenience stores. High quality capital allocation skills. Recent 7-Eleven M&A is interesting, but depends on the final price that is settled on. Would recommend holding and/or buying. 

For consumer staples, he likes to stay close to home. Very few competitors. Stock's done very well for him.

She scores it 6 out of 10 for value and fundamentals, and it's on her watch list. Likes it. Sees 11.5% upside. Analysts are mixed, though. A lot depends on the future economy---will benefit as interest rates decline and people eat out more.

Trevor Rose’s Insights - Trevor’s most-liked answers from 5i Research NWC slightly missed EPS forecasts of 60c coming in at 57c. Revenue marginally beat estimates of $617.16M coming in at $617.5M displaying growth of 4% year-over-year. Same-store-sales growth was 3.8%. Adjusted profit increased 13% to $29.4M, from $26.1M last year due to due to gross…

(A Top Pick Oct 06/23, Up 20%) Is tied to interest rates. Long rates have rebounded lately. A very well-managed company with 51 straight years of raising their dividend. It will remain a core position.

A good dividend play. The yield is at 4.6%. People tend to focus on the tech side of green stocks, but this has utilities that have consistent income. They are a potential takeover target for Brookfield so the price has recently shot up. Could get decent returns.

A lot of success is tied to Gaz Metro in Québec, but they also have some wind farms that have recently come online in the last year or 2, and giving good returns to the company. Recent earnings were solid and they raised the dividend by 3.7%, and plan to raise it 4% next year.…

It's hoping to win more contracts as well as benefit from AI. Every single company is trying to implement AI into their products. Slow-growing business, more acquisition-based. Hasn't knocked it out of the park. A quite reasonable valuation. Actively looking at, would love to buy on a material pullback.

Strong company with good outlook. Stock has a lot of upside. Trading at premium so would recommend holding for the long term. Founder led with a large amount of skin in the game. 

Trevor Rose’s Insights - Trevor’s most-liked answers from 5i Research. The stock drifted along under $12 through 2022 to August when it moved up to about $16 which held to the start of November when it fell to its month-end close of $13.24. ABST is a leading provider of self-healing endpoint and secure access solutions.…

(A Top Pick Feb 25/21, Up 15.3%)Stockchase Research Editor: Michael O’Reilly With the recent completed acquisition by AEM now official, we now consider this position closed. When combined with the previous recommendation to cover half the position, this results in a net investment gain of 22%.

One of the most senior producers of silver. Silver is better than gold, as the bulk of silver production comes from copper mines. Silver just crossed $24, and there's lots of upside. SSRM has a $28 price target. He wants something that will benefit once inflation is realized.

An interesting one. Brazil. They have some high-grade veins that they have done some work on. They are drilling and it will prove it one way or the other. There will be lots of entry points coming up.

De-risking 40% of a portfolio at age 59. Likes the idea of PSA. TLT, he believes, is a leveraged play on the bond market and wouldn't do that. BNS high interest savings, for example, pays 4.75% for optionality and no risk. For an ETF filled with 1-year bonds that's very low risk, look at ZST.L. Pays…

XRE vs. IYR Totally different products because of the country, given XRE is Canada and IYR is the US. XRE top 31% investments are in retail. IYR has only 9% retail. For residential, it's 25% XRE and only 15% IYR. Largest holding in IYR is AMT. IYR is more diversified, less exposed to retail which…

In a rising rate environment, you might want to stick to a shorter term. XSH is a short-term, corporate, investment-grade ETF. Had drawdowns, but not as bad as a typical aggregate bond or high-yield ETF.

XUT is market cap, ZUT is equal weighted. ZUT gives you more exposure to smaller players. HOG gives you more pipeline and energy services business, which acts similarly to utilities. It also hedges you on the downside. Could be a compliment to the other utility ETFs.

Trevor Rose’s Insights - Trevor’s most-liked answers from 5i Research PMIF is a more active fixed income fund designed to be adapt the portfolio to market conditions. We think fixed income funds in general can be good options offering low-risk, predictable cash flows which offer a diversification from equities. While returns have not been exceptional,…

ZJK-T vs. ZHY-T. High yield is a sexy name for junk bonds. They are the worst quality bonds. In a downturn these companies will not be able to pay back their bond holders first. If equities fall 20%, high yield bonds fall 13%. There is more risk for a portfolio.

(A Top Pick Jul 25/24, Up 8.9%)Stockchase Research Editor: Michael O'Reilly Our PAST TOP PICK with QBR.B has triggered its stop at $33.  To remain disciplined, we recommend covering the position at this time.  This will result in a net investment gain of 11%, when combined with our previous guidance.  

It comes down to the Rogers deal, which the street thinks will happen, but this is the fourth deadline extension. The deal has been priced into shares, so there isn't much upside. Better to buy Rogers or Telus than Shaw.

Shale gas in the US. A spin out from Bankers Petroleum (BNK-T). There is a lot of potential excitement but it just doesn't have the same management quality team. Just too risky in the market at this point.

Great company. Looking at the chart, big wall of resistance it just couldn't get through. Then it broke out. If you own it, hold. If it pulls back to the neckline, he'd be all over it.

He stayed away because they went to the states to make acquisitions. He did not know why the Americans would not already take these assets. He stays away from it.

Trucking and logistics primarily to the oil and gas industry. Well run. Tough business. When oil does well, this one does very well. Good dividend. You could own it here, but he'd rather own an oil business instead.

Better names in market.Will face issue of paper sellers with recent sale.Shares not cheap enough.

Sees no change to the dividend theory. The 3 Irish business millionaires actually control the company and are holding it long-term for the dividends. The company has some costs going on disadvantaging it. The diamond sector itself has not produced really stellar performance. This is a “wait and see”.

They have a done a deal with a private equity company, effectively taking the company private. Their hard rock lithium project is challenged due to the infrastructure constraints -- including rail and power. They needed more money, creating an opportunity for the private equity company.

It looks interesting, but is too small for his funds. It has under-performed for the past few years. They are in the right place at the right time, but we need to see some good drill results soon.

Billy Kawasaki’s Insights - Billy’s most-liked answers from 5i Research. They have been growing their top-line quickly over the last quarters. Net profit margins are improving. Although debt is quite elevated, they have cash balances and equity positions that are decent. Valuation is cheap and future growth estimates are good.A smaller size so could see…

He covers the stock and owns it. The business is doing well. They are a leader in their space. There was a big investor out of China that fell on hard times and has had to sell shares. It may be poised for a turnaround.

Has an old mine outside of Los Angeles that was run in the 1930s. Closed down during the Second World War and they are doing open pit mining in the area. Has some issues, but at these gold prices, it will probably start to work again. Under followed. Highly speculative.

They made wood pellets which are used in biomass generation facilities. He has owned this, but it's volatile due to management and operational issues. Wood pellets are vulnerable to fire, which is what happened last year. Their backlog in Japan and Korea is robust is good, but he doesn't like their concentration risk in a…

Good business. Would buy. 

It is now focusing on Mobile EV charging. It had previously sold Covid test kits. Has a $32 million market cap. It is a difficult business to make money in, is not profitable, and there are better options. (Analysts’ price target is $0.12)

A play that could be triple / quadruple. Optical chips for next, next generation. 100 Gig data rates. High risk.

Where you talk about a bear or bull ETF that is levered, they have no future. You are supposed to trade them on a day to day basis or possible a weekly basis. They are guaranteed to lose over the long term because of the way the gains are translated over night. These are a…

It's leveraged. Don't buy it.