Top Canadian Stocks For 2018


Figures are in Canadian dollars.

When I began writing this, I had a 76% unrealized gain on my position in Aphria Inc (OTCQB:APHQF). It’s crunch time. This is where most sane individuals would be jumping ship and taking earnings. Me? I’m tempted to stay. Aphria has big things happening. The ramifications of the their developing marketplace in Canada are giving Aphria the potential to start reeling in some serious revenues. Furthermore, they have significant holdings in the United States that offer upside if regulatory hurdles don’t get in the way.

The stock recently ran up over 20% on news that Aphria had obtained its dealer license. This significantly ups the business potential of the company because it can sell in international markets. While this is a good thing, I am far more interested in the company’s progress within its home nation.

Canada is steaming toward creating a massive recreational market for Aphria. The proposed bill to legalize recreational cannabis use throughout the nation passed the house the other day, and now faces the Canadian Senate. Make no mistake, this is where the story is at. Based on the blowout vote in the house of 200-82, it seems very unlikely to me that this doesn’t happen at some point. The momentum seems wholeheartedly in legalization’s favor. That said, implementation will be a wild ride. This is a big undertaking. The events that transpire moving forward with legalization and regulation are what will decide the stocks true long term trajectory. Pay attention to licensing decisions, and provincial regulations.

Top Canadian Stocks For 2018: NRG Energy Inc.(NRG)


Advisors’ Opinion:

  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    NRG Energy (NRG) has gained 2.1% to $18.49 after getting raise to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

    Skechers USA (SKX) has tumbled 5.4% to$28.35 after getting cut to Negative from Positive at Susquehanna.

  • [By Lisa Levin]

    In trading on Wednesday, utilities shares fell 0.25 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included NRG Energy Inc (NYSE: NRG), down 3 percent, and Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) down 1 percent.

  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    NRG Energy (NRG) soared to the top of the S&P 500 today.

    Getty Images

    NRG Energygained 4.5% to $12.85 today, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.2% to 2,262.53.

    In a note released on Dec. 15, Morgan Stanley’sStephen Byrd and team summarized the reasoning behind their overweight rating on NRG:

    NRG Energy (NRG, Overweight, $21 PT) FCF/Equity yield of ~35% and balanced upside from diversified market exposure, higher PJM capacity prices, fleet optimization, and debt reduction. NRG’s generation plus retail matching strategy is an underappreciated source of value, and provides stable cash flow despite current depressed power prices in Texas.


    NRG Energy’s market capitalization rose to $4.1 billion today from $3.8 billion yesterday. It reported a net loss of $6.4 billion on sales of $15 billion in 2015.

    NRG Energy was the Biggest Loser on Nov. 10, and the Hot Stock on Nov. 4.

  • [By Craig Jones]

    Pete Najarian said that there was a big options activity in NRG Energy Inc (NYSE: NRG). Traders were aggressively buying the October 26 calls. Around 6,000 contracts were traded in the first half of the session and they were paying 65 cents for them. The trade breaks even at $26.65 or more than 11 percent above the current market price.

  • [By Rich Duprey]

    I ran a screen to identify the best-performing stocks from the S&P 500 in January. The top three performers during the month were Alcoa (NYSE:AA), CSX (NASDAQ:CSX), and NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG). Let’s see why they were the big standouts and whether they can keep it going.

Top Canadian Stocks For 2018: Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc(VRX)

Advisors’ Opinion:

  • [By Kumar Abhishek] Valeant Pharmaceuticals(NYSE:VRX) stock jumps after the company sold Dendreon for hefty gains.
    Flickr

    Shares of Valeant (NYSE:VRX) jumped more than 14% in pre-market trading yesterday, after the Canadian drug maker announced its long-awaited asset sale plans. The stock later gave away some of its gains after Moody’s released a report stating that the asset sales will not impact its credit rating or outlook, though Valeant’s bond prices jumped by 4.5%. Valeant is a classic example of a shareholder value destroyer. Once the darling of Wall Street, the stock has lost more than 90% of its value since its peak in 2014 and is down by more 80% in the last one year. The stock has dragged portfolios of the likes of Bill Ackman and Prof. Aswath Damodaran. However, the asset saleprovides a ray of hope for Valeant’s shareholders.

  • [By Paul Ausick]

    Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (NYSE: VRX) dropped about 2.4% Monday to post a new 52-week low of $8.31 after closing Friday at $8.51. The stock’s 52-week high is $38.50. Volume of around 13.5 million shares was about 65% below the daily average of around 18.8 million. The company had no specific news, and shares are on track to add about 1.5% by the closing bell.

  • [By Casey Wilson]

    As disgraceful as Mylan’s pricing strategy may be, this next pharmaceutical firm is hated even more – and makes our list for the second year in a row…


    Most-Hated Companies 2016 No. 1: Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (NYSE: VRX)

    The troubled pharmaceutical company is deeply loathed by both consumers and investors alike.

  • [By Paul Ausick]

    Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (NYSE: VRX) dropped about 0.1% Thursday to post a new 52-week low of $9.49 after closing Wednesday at $9.50. The stock’s 52-week high is $38.50. Volume of about 15 million shares was about 25% below the daily average of around 19 million. The company had no specific news.

Top Canadian Stocks For 2018: ConocoPhillips(COP)


Advisors’ Opinion:

  • [By Chris Lange]

    The number of ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) shares short increased to 15.87 million from the previous level of 13.22 million. Shares were trading at $44.10, within a 52-week range of $38.19 to $53.17.

  • [By Shanthi Rexaline]

    Smaller brethren ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) reported an adjusted loss of $0.14 per share compared to the break-even result the Street was forecasting. However, the loss narrowed notably from the $0.95 per share loss reported a year ago.

  • [By Shanthi Rexaline]

    Phillips 66 is a multi-national company headquartered in Westchase, Houston. It was spun off from ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) in 1917.

    Stock Return (Since 2012): 144.1 percent.

  • [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]

    In the Lightning Round, Cramer was bullish on Salesforce.com (CRM) , Paccar (PCAR) , Cummins (CMI) , ConocoPhillips (COP) , Adobe Systems (ADBE) , Annaly Capital (NLY) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) .

Top Canadian Stocks For 2018: Encana Corporation(ECA)


Advisors’ Opinion:

  • [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]

    In the Lightning Round, Cramer was bullish on Vodafone Group (VOD) , Schlumberger (SLB) , Encana (ECA) , Arconic (ARNC) and AdvanSix (ASIX) .

    Cramer was bearish on U.S. Silica Holdings (SLCA) .

  • [By Paul Ausick]

    Encana Corp. (NYSE: ECA) is rated Buy with an unchanged price target of $16. The EPS estimate for 2017 was lowered from $0.42 to $0.34, and the 2018 estimate was also lowered, from $1.47 to $1.28. The shares ended the weekat $11.44, in a 52-week range of $4.90 to $13.85. The consensus 12-month price target is $14.95.

  • [By Money Morning News Team]

    Canada-based Encana Corp. (NYSE: ECA) was the eighth top oil company stock in 2016, with a 131% gain over the year. ECA and its subsidiaries focus on developing, exploring, producing, and marketing natural gas, liquefied natural gas, and oil in North America.

Top Canadian Stocks For 2018: Transcananda Pipelines Ltd.(TRP)

Advisors’ Opinion:

  • [By WWW.KIPLINGER.COM]

    Energy stocks were driven by a hefty dose of M&A during the third quarter. And that will drive returns for TransCanada Corporation (TRP) during the next one.

  • [By Paul Ausick]

    That includes pipeline companies like Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI), which already operates a pipeline transporting natural gas from Texas into Mexico, and master limited partnerships (MLPs) Energy Transfer Partners L.P. (NYSE: ETP) and TransCanada Corp. (NYSE: TRP), the company that has (so far) failed to get U.S. approval for its Keystone Pipeline expansion from Canada’s oil sands across the U.S. border.

  • [By Matthew DiLallo]

    After a series of setbacks in its attempts to build new oil pipelines, Canadian pipeline giant TransCanada (NYSE:TRP) completed a transformation transaction to acquire U.S. natural gas pipeline company Columbia Pipeline Group for $13 billion, which includes the assumption of debt. The key to that deal was that it increased the combined company’s near-term project pipeline to 23 billion Canadian dollars, which supports TransCanada’s ability to increase its dividend by 8% to 10% annually through 2020. After completing that deal, TransCanada made a bid to acquire all of the outstanding units that it did not own of affiliated MLP Columbia Pipeline Partners (NYSE:CPPL) in a transaction valued at $915 million. These acquisitions solidified TransCanada’s natural gas pipeline growth ambitions, enabling it to diversify away from oil pipelines.

  • [By Matthew DiLallo]

    Energy infrastructure companies ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) and TransCanada (NYSE:TRP) are both emerging from the energy market downturn as stronger entities. Each made smart acquisitions, with TransCanada buying U.S. gas pipeline company Columbia Pipeline Group, while ONEOK is in the process of gobbling up its MLP,ONEOK Partners (NYSE:OKS). While these deals enhanced the growth profiles of both companies, TransCanada still stands out as the better buy for long-term income investors. Here’s why.

  • [By Ben Levisohn]

    In a number of articles recently, following the US recent revival and potential approval of the previously blocked Keystone XL pipeline, a number of estimates have been provided suggesting a pending boom for the US steel industry is on the horizon (and US steel stocks have reacted in kind). In fact, this optimism, we believe, peaked today when a report from one of our competitors was published claiming that, the keystone XL pipeline could increase line pipe demand by 14.7% for 2 years. The problem here, we believe, rests with the facts that: (a) TransCanada (TRP) has already taken, and paid for, the steel to build the Keystone XL pipeline (the steel currently sits in storage facilities in both Regina, Canada and Arkansas, United States), (b) neither US Steel (X; SELL), AK Steel, Steel Dynamics, or Nucor have the ability to make the specialized steel required for the miles of pipe associated with this project, to include both the thickness and pressure requirements, according to this article from Reuters, and (c) assuming some of the pipe does need replacement, this would likely come from international steel makers who are capable of producing the specialized steel (again, as highlighted in this Reuters article).

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