Scotia strategist updates his list of quantitatively-driven top Canadian stock picks

Daily roundup of research and analysis from The Globe and Mail’s market strategist Scott Barlow

Scotiabank strategist Jean-Michel Gauthier has made four changes to the firm’s quantitatively-driven Canada Top 30 list of stock picks, adding Finning International Inc. (FTT-T) and Quebecor Inc. (QBR.B-T) to replace CES Energy Solutions Corp. (CEU-T) and Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC-T).

The list has dramatically outperformed the TSX recently, beating it by 6.9 per cent year to date and 14.9 per cent over the last 12 months.

The list now is Birchcliff Energy, NuVista Energy, Peyto Exploration & Development, ARC Resources, Secure Waste Infrastructure, Athabasca Oil, Keyera, OceanaGold, Dundee Precious Metal,s Lundin Gold, New Gold, Wesdome Gold Mines, Kinross Gold, Torex Gold Resources, IAMGOLD, Orla Mining, Transcontinental, Finning, Gildan Activewear, Empire, George Weston, Loblaw Cos, North West Co, CIBC, IGM Financial, Fairfax Financial Holdings, Great-West Lifeco, Quebecor, AltaGas and ATCO.

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BMO chief strategist Brian Belski updated clients on his North American Dividend Income Guided Portfolio,

“Our North American Dividend Income Guided Portfolio was up 3.6 per cent in May, outperforming its blended dividend aristocrats benchmark by 76 basis points. 25 of our 30 names posted positive returns in May. Microsoft, Canadian Tire and National Bank were top performers in May. These gains were partially offset by weakness from UnitedHealth, Apple and LyondellBasell Industries. Performance: May = Outperformed by 0.8 per cent; Year-to-date = Outperformed by 0.9 per cent”

The list is now Telus Corporation, Verizon Communications Inc,. Canadian Tire Corporation, Restaurant Brands International Inc., Staples, Altria Group Inc., Enbridge Inc., Suncor Energy Inc., Bank of America Corp, Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. Class A, BlackRock Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase 8 Co., Morgan Stanley, National Bank of Canada, Power Corporation of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Gilead Sciences Inc., UnitedHealth Group Incorporated, Canadian National Railway, General Dynamics Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Waste Management Inc., Apple Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Eastman Chemical Company, LyondellBasell Industries NV, Brookfield Infrastructure Corp. (New York) Class A, and Emera Incorporated.

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Also from BMO, senior economist Priscilla Thiagamoorthy pointed out the collapse in U.S. imports,

“The ISM Manufacturing Index slipped 0.2 pts to 8.5 in May, as expected. Notably, the imports sub -index plunged 7.2 points to 39.9. That was the lowest level since 2009, as firms held off on overseas purchases amid heightened tariff uncertainty. Last quarter, tariff front -running resulted in an import surge that subtracted about 5 ppts from GDP growth. But, with imports now retreating big time, as suggested by the ISM survey, net exports should help Q2 GDP make a decent turnaround, assuming consumer spending holds up”

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