Greg Newman, director and portfolio manager at Scotia Wealth Management
Focus: North American dividend stocks and protection strategies

MARKET OUTLOOK

Supportive central banks, encouraging U.S.-China trade momentum, earnings that are coming in good enough, a favourable historical time in the U.S. election cycle, strengthening China, some recent green shoots in Europe and a U.S. president that’s hyper-focused on stock market appreciation combine to make this a favourable time for investors. Valuations are OK and positioning is still not unfavourable for equities. While the market may need a short-term breather, there are still many ways to score points in an environment like this.

TOP PICKS

ALPHABET (GOOG.O)

Alphabet has many tools to drive growth, spanning from its core search segment to other businesses such as the cloud, YouTube and newer plays such as self-driving cars and health sciences on the Internet. The company trades at very a reasonable multiple for its anticipated growth rate.

APPLE (AAPL.O)

With its 1.4 billion devices globally, Apple is leveraging its services platform for growth. The company also stands to be a good play on the proliferation of 5G technology over the medium term. Optimism in China along with momentum in other core businesses combine with a strong share buyback and reasonable valuation to make Apple an attractive choice.

BROOKFIELD INFRASTRUCTURE PARTNERS (BIP_u.TO)

Brookfield Infrastructure offers investors an attractive combination of earnings growth, dividend growth, a high dividend while trading at a reasonable valuation.

PAST PICKS: MAY 3, 2018

TD BANK (TD.TO)

• Then: $72.64
• Now: $76.12
• Return: 5%
• Total return: 9%

MANULIFE FINANCIAL (MFC.TO)

• Then: $23.77
• Now: $24.62
• Return: 4%
• Total return: 8%

RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL (QSR.TO)

• Then: $69.97
• Now: $88.43
• Return: 26%
• Total return: 31%

Total return average: 16%

WEBSITE: newmangroup.ca