BMO BMO chief strategist Brian Belski favours companies emphasizing dividend payouts as primary use of capital,
“There was a clear “risk on” trade during the month as high risk and high beta companies meaningfully outperformed low risk and low beta companies. Furthermore, there was a clear fundamental tilt to the market as companies with strong earnings growth, low valuations, and strong operating efficiency all meaningfully outperformed. Overall, we continue to believe the market will remain bumpy and we favour a more selective approach to investing. As such, we believe investors should remain focused on capital deployment strategies, including dividend growth, cash flow, and even GARP style strategies.”
The strategist presented a list of dividend stocks ranked by those “with the largest amount of shares repurchased in relation to market capitalization.”
The outperform-rated companies on the 25 member list are Advantage Energy Ltd., Altagas Ltd., ARC Resources Ltd., CI Financial Corp., Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., BRP Inc., Element Fleet Management Corp., First Capital REIT, Home Capital Group Inc., H&R REIT, Interfor Corp., Nutrien Ltd., Parex Resources Inc., RioCan REIT, Suncor Energy Inc., West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd and Sleep Country Canada Holdings.