This time of the year asset management firms and others usually publish their top stock ideas for the following year. I found the following list from Canada’s RBC Dominion Securities interesting:
| S.No. | Company | Ticker | Industry | Dividend Yield (as of Dec 21, 2012) | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brookfield Asset Management | BAM | Investment Services | 1.53% | Canada |
| 2 | Cameron International | CAM | Oil Well Services & Equipment | No regular dividends | USA |
| 3 | CBS Corp. | CBS | Broadcasting & Cable TV | 1.29% | USA |
| 4 | Clean Harbors | CLH | Waste Management Services | N/A | USA |
| 5 | Concho Resources | CXO | Oil & Gas Operations | N/A | USA |
| 6 | Discover Financial Services | DFS | Consumer Financial Services | 1.45% | USA |
| 7 | Dollarama Inc. | N/A | Retail | N/A | Canada |
| 8 | GAM Holdings AG | GMHLY | Asset Management | No regular dividends | Switzerland |
| 9 | Hologic Inc | HOLX | Medical Equipment & Supplies | No regular dividends | USA |
| 10 | Host Hotels & Resorts | HST | Real Estate Operations | 2.28% | USA |
| 11 | Koninklijke Philips Electronic | PHG | Medical Equipment & Supplies | 3.56% | The Netherlands |
| 12 | Magna International | MGA | Auto & Truck Parts | 2.22% | Canada |
| 13 | PNC Financial Services | PNC | Regional Banks | 2.74% | USA |
| 14 | Precision Castparts | PCP | Misc. Fabricated Products | 0.06% | USA |
| 15 | Prudential Financial Inc. | PRU | Insurance (Life) | 2.99% | USA |
| 16 | Ryder Systems | R | Rental & Leasing | 2.46% | USA |
| 17 | SBA Communications Corp. | SBAC | Telecom | No regular dividends | USA |
| 18 | Schneider Electric | SBGSY | Energy Management | 2.97% | France |
| 19 | Sherwin-Williams Co. | SHW | Chemical Manufacturing | 1.03% | USA |
| 20 | Silver Wheaton | SLW | Gold & Silver | 0.81% | Canada |
| 21 | Statoil ASA | STO | Oil & Gas - Integrated | 4.28% | Norway |
| 22 | Swedbank A | SWDBY | Banking | 4.00% | Sweden |
| 23 | TD Bank | TD | Banking | 3.68% | Canada |
| 24 | Telus Corp. | TU | Telecom | 3.95% | Canada |
| 25 | TransForce Inc. | N/A | Transport and Logistics | N/A | Canada |
| 26 | Travelers Companies | TRV | Insurance (Prop. & Casualty) | 2.53% | USA |
| 27 | Tullow Oil | TUWOY | Oil Exploration and Production | 0.94% | UK |
| 28 | USG Corp. | USG | Construction - Raw Materials | No regular dividends | USA |
| 29 | Valeant Pharmaceuticals International | VRX | Biotechnology & Drugs | No regular dividends | Canada |
| 30 | Wolseley PLC | N/A | Construction Materials Distribution | N/A | UK |
Source: RBC’s 30 top stock picks for 2013, The Globe and Mail
The above list does not include stocks from Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. These stocks have the potential to outperform the market according to RBC’s analysts. On the selection criteria used, the article noted:
The bank culled the names for its best performers from among the 1,500 companies its analysts cover in Canada, the U.S., the UK and Europe. The analysts were told to offer their “best money-making ideas in absolute terms using a risk-adjusted approach.” The only restriction was that they had to pick larger-sized companies with market capitalization of at least $2-billion and a minimum of $20-million in daily trading value, stocks that would be suitable for a global institutional investor.
I am not yet convinced of investments in U.S. stocks based on the housing market recovery theme. Though most of the homebuilders and related companies have had a nice run this year, the real estate market does not seem to have bottomed out according to my non-scientific observation.
Disclosure: Long PNC, SWDBY, TD
