Norman Levine is the managing director at Portfolio Management Corp. His focus is on North American large caps.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Norman Levine is managing director with Portfolio Management Corp. His focus is on North American large caps.
Top Picks:
Corning
Corning's big growth opportunity is in fibre optics, as the worldwide growth of smartphones is driving double-digit data growth and putting pressure on carriers to add capacity to their networks. Corning is the only large-capitalization company with a strong balance sheet and direct exposure to the fibre-optics market.
Badger Daylighting
Badger is in the business of using high pressure water to move earth for utility and energy companies. It recently reported much-better-than-expected earnings. Its yield of 4% and forward P/E multiple of less than 11 times makes the stock very attractive despite it selling at its all-time high.
Sun Life
We like Sun Life due to its positive exposure to rising bond interest rates, rising stock markets, and its exit from the poorly performing variable annuity business in the US. Its current yield of 6.1% is extremely attractive and we believe the dividend to be safe.
Past Picks: April 6, 2011
TransCanada Corp.
Then: $39.46
Now: $43.00
Total return: : +12.20%
PepsiCo
Then: $65.75
Now: $65.45
Total return: +2.73%
International Forest Products
Then: $6.81
Now: $5.43
Total return: -20.26%
Total Return Average: -1.77%
OUTLOOK
The U.S. economy appears to be recovering better than most pundits expected, as recently evidenced by the sharp rise in interest rates on bonds. In addition, the negativity towards Europe and European equities also seems to be abating. As such, we have become more positive on equities and are in the process of favouring companies with more economic sensitivity, as well as ones that will benefit from rising interest rates.
Compiled by Franklin Cameron, BNN Market Call Tonight
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