Canadian investors should consider shifting to a more defensive attitude in light of the recent rebound of stock prices, according to an RBC Dominion Securities technical research note.
Given declining momentum in the energy sector, RBC cut its weighting in oil and gas stocks. And after the recent price appreciation of Canadian stocks more broadly, RBC said it is increasing defensive exposure in its portfolio of best technical Canadian investing ideas.
"Equity markets have rallied strongly since February and are now approaching our target in time," said Javed Mirza, an RBC technical analyst. "Given the deteriorating reward-risk ratio, we are adding more defensively themed names with improving technical profiles."
Mr. Mirza added the following names to his list of top picks: BCE, Fairfax Financial, National Bank of Canada, and The North West Company.
The following names were removed: Brookfield Asset Management, Linamar, Raging River Exploration, and Suncor.
Below is the complete list of RBC's top technical stock picks:
| Company | Ticker |
|---|---|
| Keyera Corp. | KEY-T |
| Inter Pipeline Ltd. | IPL-T |
| Enbridge Inc. | ENB-T |
| Agrium Inc. | AGU-T |
| WestJet Airlines Ltd. | WJA-T |
| Canadian National Railway Co. | CNR-T |
| Quebecor Inc. | QBR.B-T |
| Cogeco Cable Inc. | CCA-T |
| Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. | CTC.A-T |
| North West Company Inc. | NWC-T |
| Metro Inc. | MRU-T |
| Toronto-Dominion Bank | TD-T |
| National Bank of Canada | NA-T |
| Great-West Lifeco Inc. | GWO-T |
| Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. | FFH-T |
| CGI Group Inc. | GIB.A-T |
| Open Text Corp. | OTC-T |
| Telus Corp. | T-T |
| BCE Inc. | BCE-T |
| Emera Inc. | EMA-T |