Top Analysts 2020 was a wild ride for the stock markets.
Against the backdrop of a global pandemic, the markets rallied to new highs, with the TSX rounding out the year at 17,433.40.
At the same time, TipRanks, a financial technology company, tracked the performance of financial analysts who published recommendations throughout 2020, including ratings for the Canadian stock market.
To this end, TipRanks calculated the success rate, or the number of profitable recommendations measured over a three-month period, as well as the average return per rating for the analysts that covered the Canadian market in 2020. What’s more, TipRanks identified the most profitable rating published by each analyst.
In terms of the calculations, we opened a holding for each recommendation, which stayed opened for three months or until the analyst modified their recommendation. A modification could include a rating upgrade or downgrade as well as a price target change.
As for the average return per rating, this was determined using a three-month holding period or until the position was closed. For example, +25% would indicate the average profit over a three-month period.
Here are the results:
Doug Taylor, Canaccord Genuity
Claiming the second spot on TipRanks’ ranking is Canaccord Genuity analyst Doug Taylor.
After graduating from Wilfrid Laurier University, Mr. Taylor kicked off his career as an Equity Research Associate at Thomas Weisel Partners, and later joined the team at TD as an Equity Research Analyst. Then, in 2015, he came on as Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst at Canaccord Genuity, covering the healthcare IT sector for the firm.
Over the past year, Mr. Taylor’s recommendations, on average, notched returns of 31.5 per cent. Additionally, his success rate for 2020 comes in at 77 per cent.
Out of all his picks during the course of the year, his “buy” rating on CloudMD Software & Services Inc. , a healthcare services provider that operates through brick-and-mortar clinics and telemedicine as well as pharmacies, was the most profitable. From June 16 through Oct. 16, shares soared 337.1 per cent.
Commenting on the company’s mixed Q3 results, Mr. Taylor noted, “These results reflect only a portion of the asset base the company has assembled through recent M&A activity,” with many acquisitions being finalized after the quarter wrapped up.
Since the beginning of June, CloudMD has announced 10 acquisitions, with the total consideration landing at roughly $57-million, including all cash, shares and potential earnouts. What’s more, Mr. Taylor points out that it has $60-million in cash that it could put towards additional M&A, which could fuel upside to his estimates.
“DOC trades at 9.2 times 2021 EV/Sales but we note that this valuation could be lowered should the company continue to deploy capital on accretive M&A,” Mr. Taylor added.
All of the above prompted Mr. Taylor to maintain a “buy” rating as well as a $3.25 price target on the stock.