TOP PICK

Announced 2 asset sales, gives them a lot of dry powder. Last quarter beat by ~5%; showed strength in midstream, utilities, data, and transport. Boosted distribution by 6%. Inflation-linked revenues. Large backlog. Data centre growth is a great piece of growth. Trades at 8.5x 2027 AFFO, modeling ~11% growth. Yield is 5.8%.

(Analysts’ price target is $57.86)
COMMENT
Advice for the nervous investor.

He's looking for bond proxies. Things that can work if we have a growth scare or worse. You can make $$ from bear markets. For example, some names actually buy assets that have come way down in a recessionary environment,  making money from those acquisitions.

WATCH
Trevor Rose’s Insights - Trevor’s most-liked answers from 5i Research

Many nuclear power stocks benefited from the AI trade and expectations for increased energy demand for AI data centers, but the expected need for increased power may not be as big as expected, and investors are worried about the AI CAPEX cycle rolling over. NXE is a $3.8B company that is pre-revenue, and mostly funds its operations through share dilution. Like most stocks, NXE has fallen a lot over the past several months, and given the recent weak momentum, we would prefer to see some stabilization in its price before adding to the name, but we would be comfortable holding it here. Its future prospects look good, but it is not expected to be profitable for a few years, and so much of its price will be determined by expectations for future nuclear energy demand. 
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PARTIAL BUY
Trevor Rose’s Insights - Trevor’s most-liked answers from 5i Research

EPS of 1.6c missed estimates of 2.8c; revenue of $20.59M beat estimates of $19.42M. EBITDA of $5.0M beat estimates by 9%. Cash is $90M, and the CEO noted the four acquisitions last year and expects a continued strong M&A pace this year as well. Organic annual recurring revenue ARR rose 15%. Total organic growth was 5%, acquisition growth 27%. Gross margins 81%. Net income did fall year over year. But EBITDA rose 27%. Not a perfect quarter, but the ARR growth is good to see, and the company is certainly still in growth mode set-up overall. Consensus calls for at least 50% EPS growth this year. 
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BUY ON WEAKNESS
Trevor Rose’s Insights - Trevor’s most-liked answers from 5i Research

MX has been hit hard with economic and tariff concerns, and now trades at only 8X earnings, with a 2.05% dividend. It is somewhat leveraged, but consensus still calls for earnings growth in the next two years. We think it has good bounce potential over the next few years. We would be OK slowly accumulating this. We would see no rush, and it is going to take a better market for it to perform, but we do think this happens over time. 
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COMMENT
Trevor Rose’s Insights - Trevor’s most-liked answers from 5i Research

Losing money in the stock market: Underestimating how much it costs to be public

Many investors seem enthralled by tiny micro-cap companies, those with market capitalization of $10M or less. We guess these investors are looking for “lottery tickets.” Yes, we know one way to get rich is to buy a million shares of a 10-cent stock and watch it go to $5. But seriously, how often does this happen? Answer: not very. Speculative investors seem to forget how expensive it is to be a public company. Suppose you are looking at an $8 million market cap company. Being public, with listing fees, regulatory fees, accounting fees, lawyer fees, shareholder costs and a PR firm might cost upwards of $400,000 annually. That is a five per cent expense drag on the entire company, every single year. If your broker tried to sell you a fund with a five per cent expense ratio, you would laugh at them. Of course, this discussion doesn’t even address the fact that small companies constantly need money and dilute shareholders with continued stock issuance. And guess what? If your stock is 10 cents, and you need $1 million in capital, you are going to have to sell a lot more shares to meet your capital budget than if your stock is $5. Our thoughts: Just forget about micro caps. Let others take these risks.
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DON'T BUY

They report Monday. An apparel company that include Calvin Klein among its brands. We've become so used to disappointments from retail that we will glaze over if they deliver bad numbers. Estimates have been consistently cut for PVH, so there's little hope of a beat.

RISKY

It reports Wednesday. It's a retail stock, a tough sector. It's fallen with the sector. Wait for the bounce, but in this market it feels like a bet and not an investment.

DON'T BUY

It reports Thursday. Their last quarter was disappointment. The above 5% dividend yield is a warning.

DON'T BUY

Nike has lost its edge. ON is a better company, and Nike's peers aren't standing still as Nike turns around.

BUY

Surprisingly is up 24% this year. Telcos are safe in a tough economy; they aren't cyclical and enjoy steady business (i.e. cell phones). Also, they pay pretty good dividends. That said, ATT was a value trap for record decades (high dividend, sinking stock price). But ATT has changed, no longer diversifying away from the phone business, but sticking with it. Last year, they sold their disastrous stake in DirecTV. Meanwhile, the wireless business has gotten less competitive, and so allowing them to raise prices to consumers. Last December's investor day projected 3% annual adjusted EBITDA growth, $18 billion free cash flow in 2027 to be paid in dividends (under 4%) and share buybacks. Their growth target in fibre broadband (they are market leader) is 45 million locations in the US by 2029 (3 million per year); these investments generate higher revenue per user. The buildout is expensive though, but ATT expects margin expansion out of it. The company is confident that Washington will give them tax incentives again. It's no longer a value trap.

DON'T BUY

They have a hideous balance sheet. They need to make money or find an investor.