Kash Pashootan, CEO and chief investment officer at First Avenue Investment Counsel
Focus: North American dividend stocks and portfolio construction

MARKET OUTLOOK

"We tend to be on the more cautious side at First Avenue, so as much as it's great to see basically a V-shaped recovery since the meltdown in December, we're quite skeptical. We feel that not a whole lot has changed to warrant that rebound. There's no question we were overdue for a correction and we got that correction; we do recognize that that correction was overdone, which the market tends to do in the short term whether its going up or down. But to see the strength of the recovery that we've seen with some of the challenges that still exist in the global market landscape, we feel that we're back to a point that you can say that we need another correction, because as you know, we've recovered most of what was lost in December."

TOP PICKS

CMS ENERGY (CMS.N)
Last bought in March 2019.

• CMS has seen over 7 per cent earnings per share growth funded by 2 to 3 per cent cost cuts and rate increases.
• It has an over 10 per cent 5-year compounded annual dividend growth rate. Dividend growth is highly correlated to earnings growth.

SUNCOR ENERGY (SU.TO)
Last bought in March 2019.

• Suncor's Canadian Oil Sands acquisition is a platform for solid production growth.
• There's opportunity to displace Venezuela’s declining production of heavy crude.

ALGONQUIN POWER (AQN.TO)
Last bought in March 2018.

• Algonquin has a balanced asset mix with industry-leading growth.
• Its 42 per cent stake in Atlantica Yield (clean energy joint venture) is a high-growth opportunity.

PAST PICKS: FEB. 6, 2018

MAGNA INTERNATIONAL (MG.TO)

• Then: $68.67
• Now: $67.37
• Return: -2%
• Total return: 1%

BROADCOM (AVGO.O)

• Then: $240.38
• Now: $265.81
• Return: 11%
• Total return: 14%

NATIONAL BANK (NA.TO)

• Then: $62.48
• Now: $61.70
• Return: -1%
• Total return: 3%

Total return average: 6%

WEBSITE: firstavenuecounsel.com
TWITTER: @kashpashootan