Daily roundup of research and analysis from The Globe and Mail’s market strategist Scott Barlow
BMO analysts made more than 20 changes to the quarterly Best of BMO list of top stock picks for the next 12 months. The new list goes like:
- Expand Energy Corporation (EXE-Q)
- Headwater Exploration (HWX-T)
- Peyto Exploration & Development (PEY-T)
- Alamos Gold (AGI-T)
- ATEX Resources (ATX-T)
- Cameco (CCO-T)
- Constellium (CSTM-N)
- DuPont (DD-N)
- Endeavour Mining (EDV-T)
- G Mining Ventures Corp. (GMIN-T)
- Mosaic Company (MOS-N)
- Newmont Corporation (NGT-T)
- Torex Gold Resources (TXG-T)
- Trex Company (TREX-N)
- Air Canada (AC-T)
- Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. (CP-T)
- Clean Harbors (CLH-N)
- RB Global (RBA-T)
- AMN Healthcare Services (AMN-N)
- Camping World Holdings
- Capri Holdings Limited (CWH-N)
- Jamieson Wellness (JWEL-T)
- JBS S.A. (JBSAY)
- Linamar (LNR-T)
- Primo Brands Corporation
- Starbucks (SBUX-Q)
- Walmart Inc. (WMT-N)
- Disc Medicine (IRON-Q)
- Gilead Sciences (GILD-Q)
- Legend Biotech (LEGN-Q)
- Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH-T)
- National Bank (NA-T)
- Remitly Global Inc. (RELY-Q)
- TMX Group (X-T)
- Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSH-UN-T)
- Digital Realty Trust (DLR-N)
- Killam Apartment REIT (KMP-UN-T)
- SL Green Realty (SLG-N)
- Welltower (WELL-N)
- Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN-Q)
- Constellation Software (CSU-T)
- DraftKings (DKNG-Q)
- Intuit Inc. (INTU-Q)
- Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO-Q)
- Thomson Reuters (TRI-T)
- Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER-N)
- Entergy Corporation (ENTR-N)
- First Solar Inc. (FSLR-Q)
- TransAlta (TA-T).
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RBC Capital Markets head of global commodity strategy Helima Croft does not trust the recent strength in crude prices,
“the lion’s share of upward price momentum has been tied to systematic flows and event risk headlines. Improving sentiment, a walking back from the worst of the ongoing trade war, near -term incremental tightness from Ekofisk maintenance, and Canadian wildfires in two months can all be attributed some credit in the latest rally. That being said, most of our conversations have revolved around positioning and the systematic angle for the crude complex, which we see as likely overdone. While there has been some confusion around OPEC tapering production cuts and how that translates into physical supply to market, the fundamental picture and the medium -term price equilibrium have remained structurally the same. As we wrote in Bearish Crude Gets Old Fast on the bullish side, the near -term risk reward profile has now flipped strongly in favor of downside risk deployment as option and term structure appear stretched”
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Wells Fargo analysts published their Mid-year Outlook this week and it included the Top five portfolio ideas for the balance of 2025,
“1.Position portfolios for policy and geopolitical uncertainties … one counter Strategy is to seek portfolio exposure to areas that are expected to suffer less negative impact. … reallocating from the Consumer Discretionary equity sector to the Utilities sector could hedge against extended equity-market downside and tariff uncertainty. Our favorable sub-sectors within the Industrials sector like Aerospace & Defense and Commercial & Professional Services have low exposure to broad economic growth and tariffs in general ... 2.Focus on quality and diversifying assets … Although U.S. large-cap and mid-cap equities have been underperforming developed-market equities in 2025, they remain an important longer-term allocation within U.S. investors’ portfolios. Moreover, we also believe sectors like Information Technology and Communication Services have solid long -term growth trends … 3.Cushion portfolios with income-generating assets … fixed-income assets offer a steady stream of cash flow for investors seeking income. As the yields on shorter maturities may fall faster than on longer maturities, we believe the best opportunities are in the intermediate space (five- to seven-year maturities) … 4. Selectively add exposure to Al. Generative Al is transforming industries, and we believe it is ushering in a new era of productivity and innovation… Smart technologies, robotics, and predictive analytics enable streamlined operations, waste reduction, and productivity gains. Al may help to facilitate some of the current administration’s goals such as reshoring production, reducing dependence on global supply chains, and stimulating local economies … 5.Complement U.S. exposure with international assets. Year to date, international stocks have significantly outperformed U.S. equities following a 15-year stretch in which the S&P 500 Index dominated both developed and emerging markets. Going forward, we have little doubt the U.S. can maintain its status as the global leader … We believe U.S. dominance in tech-related sectors will likely persist because the U.S. economy is more service-oriented versus the rest of the world with a more dynamic economy … Our equity guidance favors U.S. over international exposure; however, we prefer to complement U.S. exposure with a neutral (full) allocation to DM ex-U.S. Equities and an underweight exposure to EM Equities as these countries focus on growing their economies and adapting to the new world order”
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Bluesky post of the day: https://bsky.app/profile/ivanthek.bsky.social/post/3lrdwf3qipm2m
Diversion: “Air traffic control in the U.S. still runs on Windows 95 and floppy discs” – Wired (soft paywall)