Momentum is driving several big names higher, and one veteran investor says it is revealing opportunities across banking, precious metals, technology and pharmaceuticals. His model screens for stocks where positive momentum aligns with manageable volatility and strong risk-adjusted returns.
BNN Bloomberg spoke with Shiraz Ahmed, CEO of Sartorial Wealth, about the four stocks currently ranking well in his momentum-based model and why he’s maintaining conviction despite sector-specific risks.
Key Takeaways
- Royal Bank continues to screen strongly on positive price momentum after its HSBC Canada acquisition and a year of solid performance.
- Franco-Nevada remains a preferred way to gain exposure to gold through a lower-volatility royalty model despite recent pullbacks in the metal.
- Alibaba’s momentum is improving as the stock rebounds, offering exposure to Chinese consumer trends and AI development at a modest weighting.
- GSK has delivered strong gains thanks to pipeline progress, favourable legal outcomes and ongoing buybacks that support share performance.
- The Sartorial Opportunities model emphasizes momentum and risk-adjusted returns, favouring names where volatility remains contained relative to upside.
Read the full transcript below:
ANDREW: Next week we get earnings reports from the big Canadian banks. Royal Bank is due on Wednesday, and that is one of our guest’s high-conviction stocks. Let’s get more from Shiraz Ahmed, CEO of Sartorial Wealth. Great to see you.
SHIRAZ: Thank you for having me back.
ANDREW: Now, just remind us — you’re quant, so momentum is a crucial criterion for you.
SHIRAZ: Absolutely. In our Sartorial Opportunities model, we follow a momentum-based strategy where we use a lot of math, ultimately, to help determine if a security has positive momentum at any given point in time. If it does, then we participate. It’s a way for us to have more dispassionate decision-making.
ANDREW: But you don’t just jump on a stock even because it’s going up. You’re interested in risk as well.
SHIRAZ: Absolutely. The primary factor that we’re solving for is risk-adjusted return. We want to see how it is doing relative to its overall volatility, and it’s extremely important. Even if it’s trending upwards, if it’s increasing its risk while it’s doing that, it may not be a name we want to hold for at least the long term.
ANDREW: And risk means volatility?
SHIRAZ: Primarily. We look at standard deviation and then ultimately compute it into the Sharpe ratio to see if it’s worth its weight, frankly.
ANDREW: And the Sharpe ratio technically measures risk-adjusted return.
SHIRAZ: That’s correct.
ANDREW: Royal Bank is showing up in your screen. Tell us what’s jumping out for you here. That stock has been hitting record highs.
SHIRAZ: Absolutely. Other than the obvious — being the largest bank in Canada — it’s a name that’s been performing quite well. The banks have been on a tear in recent months. So it’s a name that we like. I appreciate that earnings are coming up next week. While that’s not necessarily a factor we look at very closely, at the moment momentum has been very, very positive for it. I think, on the back of the HSBC acquisition, it’s been performing well.
ANDREW: Let’s have a look at a 10-year chart for Royal Bank, because it has been hitting record highs — slipping slightly today, but up well over 20 per cent in the past year, excluding dividends.
SHIRAZ: Absolutely. Again, it’s been a solid performer and a great name. It’s a household name in Canada and even internationally. One of your earlier guests was talking about the top nine picks, so it is up there. It’s a name that we have high conviction in. So long as the momentum stays positive, it’s a name we’re happy to hold.
ANDREW: Franco-Nevada, FNV, shows up well on the precious metals side.
SHIRAZ: Yes, absolutely. In recent months, given gold’s volatility, we have decreased our weighting in it slightly, but it is still a name we like and it has scored well. The momentum in the gold space overall has been positive. That’s one of our favourite ways to play gold.
ANDREW: It’s actually down from its record high, but a lot of the gold names are, because gold is not quite at record highs. Do you ever buy individual gold producers, or are they just too volatile?
SHIRAZ: The volatility on them is just a little bit higher. We find Franco-Nevada is a little bit more stable, especially with the company having as much capital as it does at its disposal. It’s gold with a dividend, frankly, and we like it.
ANDREW: Here’s an interesting name — Alibaba.
SHIRAZ: Yes. Alibaba is a name that was recently introduced into the international side of our holdings. Again, it’s a large Chinese consumer company. They have a lot of different opportunities within them, and it’s another way for us to play AI in China, frankly. It’s a name we’ve liked.
ANDREW: It’s interesting. I mean, it is off its highs, but you do see decent momentum for this name.
SHIRAZ: Momentum is starting to pick up again. It’s still a fairly low weighting in our model overall, but it is starting to pick up and is a name that we do like.
ANDREW: There was a story yesterday suggesting the U.S. military is wary of Alibaba over its connections to the Chinese military. But of course, your model — that’s not a thing that enters into this model anyway.
SHIRAZ: Not specifically. Again, we’re aware of it. It goes into some of the fundamental analysis we do for names going into the model. But overall, the rhetoric on Chinese political intervention is there for a lot of Chinese securities, for sure. How much of it is truth versus speculation is hard to determine. So for our purposes, we tend to look at price momentum as our main variable.
ANDREW: Yes, and the stock is up about 86 per cent this year. And then finally, GSK — a huge name in health care.
SHIRAZ: Again, another one that has scored quite well. It’s been a pretty substantial holding. There’s a little bit of R&D risk with any of the pharma names, so we try to keep that in check while we have it in our overall portfolio. But so far it has, number one, helped with international exposure, and more importantly, it has been a fairly solid performer over the last little while.
ANDREW: Yes, you can see it’s up about — wow — almost 40 per cent in the past year. Not sure if we can pop up a five-year chart for that one. I’m not entirely clear on whether it’s hitting record highs, but it’s certainly moving up sharply in the past year. That’s interesting because these health-care stocks, sometimes these pharma stocks, it feels a bit like showbiz. If you have a hot product — a hot movie or a hot pill — investors love to get into the shares.
SHIRAZ: Absolutely. They do. It’s also news-based as well, like there is with most securities. For example, the recent lawsuit they’ve had — it’s been favourable on GSK’s side. That’s been positive for the stock overall. And there have been some share buybacks over the last little bit, which again have been positive for the stock.
ANDREW: Shiraz, thank you very much indeed.
SHIRAZ: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.
ANDREW: Shiraz Ahmed, CEO of Sartorial Wealth.
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This BNN Bloomberg summary and transcript of the Nov. 28, 2025 interview with Shiraz Ahmed are published with the assistance of AI. Original research, interview questions and added context was created by BNN Bloomberg journalists. An editor also reviewed this material before it was published to ensure its accuracy and adherence with BNN Bloomberg editorial policies and standards.
