Credit Suisse The Credit Suisse research team published an admirably succinct forecast for Canadian markets, including stock picks, on Wednesday:
“For 2020 YTD, the S&P/TSX Composite delivered a 2.8% capital return that significantly lagged the most common comparative of the S&P 500′s 13.4% ... Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine positioning that should help the return to “more normal”… Sector Selection: The Financials sector has the greatest weight in the Canadian market and our teams have a moderate view on the outlook for banks, but a generally positive view for the alternative asset managers. For the next largest sector, Energy, there are a series of positives after a rather challenging year for producers/integrated and generally positive on Energy Infrastructure… Stock Specifics: Outperform-rated stocks include: (a) Banks: Royal Bank (RY) and National Bank (NA); (b) Life Insurance: Sun Life Financial (SLF); (c) Consumer: Canada Goose (GOOS), Lululemon Athletica (LULU) and Restaurant Brands International (QSR); (d) Energy: Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ); (e) Energy Infrastructure: Keyera (KEY); (f) Forest Products: Mercer International (MERC); (g) Gold: Newmont (NEM); Barrick (GOLD); and, Endeavour Mining (EDV); (h) Industrials: Brookfield Business Partners (BBU); Thomson Reuters (TRI); Canadian Pacific Railway (CP); Canadian National Railway (CNR); and, Magna International (MGA); (i) Infrastructure: TransAlta Corp. (TA); AltaGas Ltd (ALA); and, (j) Non-bank Financials: Brookfield Asset Management (BAM).’