23 Stock Top Picks and 2 ETF (Jan 18-24)

Opinion about BAC-N: In the middle tier you have money-centre banks like BAC. It's not as inexpensive as Citi, and doesn't have quite the pedigree of JPM, but positioned well to do very good things on earnings with a steepening of the yield curve. He's overweight the banks.

Opinion about BRK.B-N: A lot to learn from a business like this. He doesn't own it for client portfolios because of efficiency -- Berkshire's always been reluctant to return cash to shareholders via dividends. Business is designed to just aggregate cash. But as it's grown, harder to find meaningful acquisitions. Best thing would be to…

Opinion about WIR.UN-T: (A Top Pick Jan 12/21, Up 48%) Great-managed REIT. Taken out.

Opinion about FFH-T: In the defensive part of Canadian financial services. Underwriting profitability consistently getting better, the core reason why stock's been doing better. Opportunity to term out its fixed income portfolio. Not a screaming bargain today, but makes sense as part of a diversified portfolio especially as we pivot away from banks and get…

Opinion about BIP.UN-T: Likes that BN continues to source deals for them to do. Well run. Lots of infrastructure opportunities to support both energy and data centres.Best to put in a registered account if you can. (There's a chance in the future that the Brookfield structure gets harmonized, this stock should pop, and a registered…

Opinion about YASKY-6506-JP: (A Top Pick Jan 22/19, Up 36%) There is some cyclicality in robotics in Japan, but they are one of two world leaders. He still owns it.

Opinion about WM-N: Are effected by housing construction, which is on hold. WM shares are bottoming, can buy now.

Opinion about PNG-X: (A Top Pick Jul 09/25, Up 99%) (Note the short timeframe.)  The area of underwater drones is really ramping up. Interest by US investors has really pushed this up. Both the multiple and the revenue have grown.

Opinion about GOOG-Q: (A Top Pick Oct 22/24, Up 54%) Trading at a discount to the S&P average multiple, even after this wonderful run. That's on the back of increased earnings. When earnings increase rapidly but the price does too, the valuation doesn't change, and a company can still remain a very good buy.Depending on…

Opinion about BABA-N: E-commerce and cloud computing (the most nascent piece). E-commerce is under a lot of strain. AI large-language models are compelling in Chinese market, but that entire market is very competitive and ripe for disruptors. A trading stock over the next 2-3 years. Not a buy-and-hold. Tactically a buy today, but be very…

Opinion about XLNX-Q: The Xilinx-AMD merger, which is supposed to close by year's end. Whoever owns Xilinx will make a lot of money. He recommends AMD over Xilinx, because he doesn't like arbitrage risk. Take some profits on Xilinx.

Opinion about MSFT-Q: (A Top Pick Apr 15/24, Up 24%) Steady 10-15% earnings growth, and a lot flows through to FCF. Can easily fund a lot of the AI buildout. Can't actually build fast enough to get the GPUs they need to grow the business, so this might be an issue. Azure still growing almost…

Opinion about NTR-T: (A Top Pick Oct 09/24, Up 28%) He'd buy this one today. Agriculture is a long-term theme, and this is one of the best names out there. Will be more volatile than a name like WMT, so perhaps you only want a 3% position total. Buy 1% today, and look for a…

Opinion about KL-T: (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%.

Opinion about TECK.B-T: (A Top Pick Oct 02/24, Down 12%)December 9 is voting day for the merger. Long-term outlook for TECK.B on its own is very strong. If merger gets done, it'll probably become a very important copper name for institutional investors around the world. Disappointment in QB2 mine over the last year, and that's…

Opinion about TLT-Q: If you want growth from your bond portfolio. But these don't have great tax treatment. Depends on what kind of investor you are.

Opinion about ZEM-T: Trevor Rose’s Insights - Trevor’s most-liked answers from 5i Research Keep in mind that some international funds, depending on which ones, could hold some emerging market exposure already. The sector continues to be volatile, and many countries (i.e. Vietnam) might be very vulnerable to tariffs if they come back and/or stick around…

Opinion about DOL-T: Will be affected if Trump doesn't do a deal with China, because that's where they get their stuff. That's as far as he's going to go on fundamentals; charts tell us everything we need to know. Chart shows the uptrend, and then the arc off trendline is a parabolic move. He'd bet that…

Opinion about BKNG-Q: Is efficient and asset-lite. AI fits in perfectly in what they do to generate future earnings. They own several, large travel sites. Trades at 25x PE, reasonable. The poster child for compounding. (Analysts’ price target is $6113.51)

Opinion about DG-N: Yesterday they reported a fine quarter: beating revenue, 2.4% same-store sales growth (beating) with strength in every major product category, gross margins beat due to a theft crackdown. Earnings beat and were excellent. DG repeated tat they will keep prices low amid Trump tariffs. DG's customer survey revealed that 60% of their…

Opinion about BCE-T: (A Top Pick Nov 12/24, Down 6%) Still sees it as a pretty asset-rich company. Dividend's been reset. Stock has attracted a few upgrades. Bounce from $29 to $34 is already pretty significant. Happy to buy down here where nobody wants it. It's one of those durable companies, need for telecommunications is…

Opinion about TVE-T: His firm prefers the larger caps for safety, durability, and dividend yield. For smaller caps to outperform, you need the commodity to work for you (and right now oil and gas are working against). Gradually people are returning to Canada on the basis of our lower decline rates, better prospects for transporting…

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 SDX-LN: (A Top Pick Aug 13/18, Down 61%) They disenfranchised the Canadian shareholders. He sold out sooner before the de listing, so did not do as badly, nor did his subscribers. He disagrees with their move.

Opinion about BXE-T: Debt concerns? BXE took bankruptcy protection when debt became too much. There is no equity value in it any longer. Companies that have debt that matures in 2020 or 2021 will have issues. He sees no issues with BIR or TVE on this topic. The new Federal relief program for large companies…