Latest Top Picks

Stock Opinions by Jason Zandberg

TOP PICK
Parkland Fuel Corp
The largest fuel marketer in western Canada. Also operate gas bars. Recently got a contract with Esso. High margin business.
merchandising / lodging
TOP PICK
Agricultural equipment, mainly John Deere. They buy heavy equipment dealerships at about 2 or 3 X earnings. Have also started buying Bobcat dealerships in Alberta.
misc consumer products
TOP PICK
Provide truck and rig based services to the oil/gas industry. Not dependent on new drilling activity. Well diversified geographically in western Canada. Trading at about 12.5% yield. Can see this at above average growth relative to their peers.
oil / gas
BUY
Funeral home operator. Operate out of 27 US states as well as in Ontario. More deaths are fuelling their growth, but attitudes to cremation have changed and % of cremations are expected to rise, which will squeeze margins. 12% yield. There is still growth here.
other services
BUY
Provides prime lending for purchasing automobiles. A great little trust. Based out of Edmonton. Have had 11 consecutive quarters of growth. Has increased distributions 10 times over the last 2.5 years.
Financial Services
DON'T BUY
Like a holding company. They make different investments in various business sections. Likes the model. Had a few stumbles in the past. Prefers others. 15.8% yield is a red flag.
investment companies / funds
DON'T BUY
Specialty stone, brick, limestone etc. Have restarted distributions and the yield is about 8.5%. Have a debt level that is not in the danger zone, but to high for him. They are also using a lot of money to update their Georgian plants. A void until the debt level is a bit better.
misc industrial products
BUY
Likes the energy services sector. Has been a bit weak over the last 5/6 months. Had a week Q2 because of labour costs. Expect it to rebound.
oil / gas
BUY
Underbalanced drilling which is highly correlated with gas wells. Gas has been weak. If you believe that natural gas prices will recover, this should recover.
oil / gas
BUY
Stock is down and was a victim of falling gas prices. This company has a fair amount of business in the US in the Rocky Mountain region and has been growing rapidly. A good buying opportunity.
oil / gas field services
BUY
Big box retailers have definitely been outperforming other retailers. Likes this one. Good format.
income trust
BUY
Impressed with management. They bring an innovative approach to the seafood market. Have had some problems in the past, but seem to have worked through them. The market will probably take some time to warm back up to the story. Strong Cdn$ will hurt.
Financial Services
BUY
Tree Island Steel
Steel products such as nails, galvanized wire etc. Stock prices dropped because of housing fears but is only about 30% exposed to the housing construction market. Commercial construction is doing very well. The high inventories have been worked through and there should be some upside from here on in.
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS
WEAK BUY
Doesn't fit his criteria for picking small cap trusts. There is not the year over year growth that he would expect. However, it has a strong brand name and there is stability. A conservative approach.
food processing
BUY
Bonnett's Energy
Was priced very attractively on its IPO and has outperformed. Good management.
oil / gas
Showing 1 to 15 of 22 entries