Momentum Change ?

Friday’s very positive stock performance could signal a change in market psychology as autumn has arrived. Market opportunities should begin to unfold soon but caution is still recommended. As the deadline for Trust Units transforming into Corporations nears, I recommend gradually pulling out of this sector to await developments in the new year. This move will also highlight top paying dividend stocks including Telecoms, Financials & Pipelines.

Top Holding Recommendations include:

• Telecom: BCE, Rogers (RCI.B) & Telus (T)
• Financials: Bank of Montreal (BMO), CIBC (CM), Manulife (MFC), National Bank (NA), Royal (RY), Sunlife (SLF) & TD
• Pipeline: Enbridge (ENB) & TransCanada (TRP). Husky (HSE) might finally take off owing to high yield.

Resource Stocks should bounce back with growing market confidence. Top Holding Recommendations include:

• Precious Metals: Agnico Eagle (AEM), Goldcorp (G), Kinross (K), & Teck (TCK.B);
• Energy: Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ), Encana (ECA), Nexen (NXY), Suncor (SU), & Talisman (TLM).

Top Speculative Recommendations include: Research in Motion (RIM) & SXC Healthcare (SXC).

Trades I made this past week: Bought RIM @ $46.46 & sold @ $49.21 (5.9% gain), repurchased RIM @ $48.82 & sold @ $49.95 (2.3% gain).

Stock Recommendations to purchase on weakness include: Agrium (AGU), CNR & CP.

Income Recommendations:

• Preferred Shares: Bombardier (BBD.Pr.C & D), Brookfield Properties (BPO.PR.L) and Canadian Western Bank (CWB.PR.A).
• Corporate Bonds: Citigroup Finance Nov. 2012 @ 2.84%, Consumers Waterheater April 2014 @ 4.76%. YPG Holdings Strip Coupon Bonds 2018-2020 if held to maturity pay between 5.93% - 6.87%.

Buy on weakness – sell into strength. Good luck.

Canadian Large Cap Stocks: Market Hold Recommendation

8 of 14 stocks recommended last blog (Sep. 5^th) increased in value for an average 0.5% gain. Top performers included Kinross (K) +4.30%, Agnico Eagle (AEM) +3.33%, Royal Bank (RY) +3.03%, Canadian Oil Sands Trust (COS.UN) +2.82%, & Research in Motion (RIM) +2.73%. Weakest performers included Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ) -3.27%, Encana (ECA) -2.32% & Power Financial (PWF) -2.08%.

The market has been range bound and appears to be near its short term top. Recommendation is to hold or accumulate on weakness without venturing too heavily into stocks for now. Best positions are higher paying dividend yielding stocks. The market should improve later in fall towards year end.

Top Holding Recommendations include: Telecom: BCE: 5.47% dividend, Rogers (RCI.B) 3.33% & Telus (T) 4.57%; Financials: Bank of Montreal (BMO) 4.64%, CIBC (CM) 4.69%, Manulife (MFC) 4.00%, National Bank (NA) 3.76%, Power Financial (PWF) 4.80%, Royal (RY) 3.68%, Sunlife (SLF) 5.23%, & TD 3.22%.

Top Picks in the above include: Telus, Manulife & Royal Bank.

Resource Stocks: For longer term picks, I recommend Agnico Eagle (AEM), Goldcorp (G), Kinross (K), Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ), Canadian Oil Sands (COS.UN), Cenovus, (CVE), Encana (ECA), & Suncor (SU). Agrium (AGU) is still a top pick but is at a 52 week high. This is still recommended as a hold.

Top speculative pick is still Research in Motion (RIM).

Income: Most preferred shares recommended in this blog have increased substantially in price (decreased in payout) since being highlighted. A few still offer reasonable income including Bombardier BBD.PR. C & D (between 6.5-6.7%), Canadian Western Bank CWB.PR.A (6.43%) & Brookfield Properties BPO.PR.L (6.37%). Still paying above 5.8% include: Brookfield Asset BAM.PR.M & N, Brookfield Properties BPO.PR.N, Great West GWO.PR.M, Industrial Alliance IAG.PR.E & F, IGM Financial IGM.PR.B, Laurentian LB.PR.D, Manulife MFC.PR.B & D, National Bank NA.PR.O & P, & Weston WN.PR.A & C. Lastly, bank of Montreal BMO.PR.N pays 5.75%. A few other individual bank and insurance preferreds pay 5.5-5.6%%, most less. Stay defensive and be prepared  for opportunities coming this autumn.  Good luck.

 

 

Canadian Large Cap Stocks: Latest Recommendations

Last blog early Wednesday, August 25, I recommended certain opportunities based upon many stocks hitting or nearing their 52 week lows. All 11 stocks recommended increased in price for an average gain of 9.91%. Top gainers included Sunlife (SLF) +18.02%, Manulife (MFC) +17.39%, Kinross (K) +14.68%, Nexen (NXY) +12.33% & Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ) +10.79%. Top recommendations were Encana (ECA) +7.47% & Royal Bank (RY) +8.09%.

This past week a number of Large Cap Canadian Stocks hit new 52 week highs including: Agrium (AGU), Barrick Gold (ABX), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), Canadian National (CN), Canadian Pacific (CP), Eldorado Gold (ELD), BCE, Shaw Communications (SJR.B), & Telus (T).

In the past 9 trading days I purchased Agrium (AGU) @ $73.20 (closed $75.46), Manulife (MFC) @ $11.88 ($13.23) & Royal Bank (RY) $49.20 ($52.80). I also purchased Yellow Pages 2020 Corporate Bond yielding 6.78% if held to maturity.

Recommendations going forward include Precious Metals: Agnico Eagle (AEM), Barrick (ABX), Eldorado (ELD), Goldcorp (G), and Kinross (K). Financials: Bank of Montreal (BMO), Manulife (MFC), Power Financial (PWF), and Royal Bank (RY). Energy: Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ), Canadian Oil Sands (COS.UN), Encana (ECA), and Suncor (SU). Speculative: Research in Motion (RIM). Be careful; market could flip quickly. Good luck.