This just came out a few minutes ago so obviously the targets are wrong (even using US$ doesn't look right). GLTA
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:
Rob Goff, Echelon Capital Markets
Coming in fourth place, Rob Goff has built an impressive 34-year career as an analyst, working at firms like Credit Suisse, Haywood Securities, Northland Capital and Byron Capital.
Focusing primarily on the telecom and new media spaces, Mr. Goff joined Echelon Capitol Markets as Managing Director and Head of Research in 2013.
Mr. Goff’s stock picking abilities speak for themselves, with the analyst boasting a 68-per-cent success rate for 2020. What’s more, the analyst saw an average return per rating of 49.7 per cent throughout the year, the highest among this group of pros.
When it comes to Goff’s most profitable recommendation, his “buy” rating on Acuityads Holdings Inc. generated the biggest return in 2020. In the three-month period starting from September 15, shares skyrocketed approximately 290 per cent.
AcuityAds’ announcement that it was included in the 2020 AdExchanger Programmatic Power Players List, a directory of 60 globally leading agencies, solutions providers and partners in the industry, only reaffirmed Mr. Goff’s bullish thesis. This inclusion is primarily tied to the success of illumin, its Self-Serve AdTech platform.
“We believe the event will build momentum around the illumin brand and service capabilities as it opens additional market opportunities for AT. The nomination reflects impressive industry response to the illumin platform. We have discussed the potential for the platform to gain million-dollar+ contract wins along with the earlier-than-anticipated commercial traction of the product. AT has indicated that it anticipates booking revenues in Q420 ahead of its original expectations,” Mr. Goff commented.
On top of this, “financial and technology momentum has clearly made it a more attractive acquisition candidate,” according to the Echelon analyst. “Alternatively, we would expect potential acquisitions to be well received as the Company’s platform (in-house technology) would be expected to support immediate accretion or alternatively acquisitions could lever illuminTM to expand its total addressable market,” Mr. Goff added.
To this end, Mr. Goff kept a “buy” rating on the stock. In a further bullish signal, the analyst increased the price target to $13.50, up from $9.75.