Top Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2014

Below is the May 25th ��houghts from the Frontline��newsletter, republished in full.

Notes from SIC 2014

I and many others are still trying to digest the massive amount of useful and original information that was offered at last week�� Strategic Investment Conference. In this week�� letter I want to recap some of what I learned but do so in a little different manner. I find it quite instructive to listen to and read what other people have to say about their takeaways from the conference. I have come across several very good summaries and reviews that I am going to excerpt rather liberally, along with sharing some of my own thoughts.

Nearly everyone noted that there was somewhat of a divide in the opinions as to whether things in the US and global economies are getting better or getting worse. Upon reflection, I think that John Nicola (my Canadian partner of the eponymous wealth management firm, who sent me his comments, which I will use freely below) had it right. If we all examine a glass that is filled up to the mid-level, some of us will describe it is half-full, and others will describe it as half-empty. And of course there is plenty of data to back up either the optimistic or the pessimistic position.

Top 5 Low Price Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Oshkosh Truck Corporation(OSK)

Oshkosh Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets a range of specialty vehicles, and vehicle bodies worldwide. Its Defense segment manufactures severe-duty, heavy, and medium-payload tactical trucks for the Department of Defense, including hauling tanks, missile systems, ammunition, fuel, and troops and cargo for combat units. The company?s Access Equipment segment offers aerial work platforms and telehandlers used in a range of construction, agricultural, industrial, institutional, and general maintenance applications. This segment also manufactures towing and recovery equipment and related parts; and leases equipments for short-term to rental companies. The company?s Fire and Emergency segment provides custom and commercial fire apparatus, and emergency vehicles, including pumpers, aerial and ladder trucks, tankers, rescue vehicles, wildland rough terrain response vehicles, mobile command and control centers, bomb squad vehicles, hazardous materials control vehicl es, and other emergency response vehicles. This segment also offers snow removal vehicles in airports; custom ambulances for private and public transporters, and fire departments; mobile medical trailers for medical centers and service providers; mobile command and control centers and simulation units; and vehicles for broadcasters, TV stations, broadcast production, and radio stations. Oshkosh Corporation?s Commercial segment manufactures refuse collection vehicles for the waste services industry; front and rear discharge concrete mixers, and portable and stationary concrete batch plants for the concrete ready-mix industry; and field service vehicles and truck-mounted cranes for the construction, equipment dealer, building supply, utility, tire service, and mining industries. The company was formerly known as Oshkosh Truck Corporation and changed its name to Oshkosh Corporation in February 2008. Oshkosh Corporation was founded in 1917 and is based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  Principal contractors, should the sales be approved, include Textron (NYSE: TXT  ) for the helicopter sale and General Dynamics (NYSE: GD  ) for the Strykers. No single principal contractor has been identified as associated with the spare parts sale, but both the HETTs and the HEMTTs, for example, are manufactured by Oshkosh (NYSE: OSK  ) , while Britain's BAE Systems (NASDAQOTH: BAESY  ) builds the recovery vehicles, howitzers, and M113s.

• [By Rich Smith]

  The Department of Defense started off the week slow Monday, awarding only a bare half-dozen contracts, and most of them for relatively small dollar values (in Pentagon terms). Among traditional "defense" contractors, the winners were:

Top Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2014: (AUQ)

AuRico Gold Inc. engages in the exploration, development, and production of gold and silver projects and properties in Canada, Mexico, and Australia. Its principal property includes the Ocampo mine covering approximately 15,000 hectares located in Chihuahua State. The company was formerly known as Gammon Gold Inc. and changed its name to AuRico Gold Inc. in June 2011. AuRico Gold Inc. was founded in 1986 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  Then there's the company's El Cubo mine, which it purchased in 2012 from AuRico Gold (NYSE: AUQ  ) with a combination of its own shares and cash for up to $250 million ($50 million is contingent on mine productivity over a three-year period). As fellow Fool Christopher Barker has commented previously, AuRico did a disastrous job of managing the El Cubo mine, which leaves Endeavour with a tremendous opportunity to reap the rewards of AuRico's failures.

Top Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2014: Prestige Brand Holdings Inc.(PBH)

Prestige Brands Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in marketing, selling, and distributing over-the-counter healthcare and household cleaning products primarily in North America. The company?s Over-The-Counter Healthcare segment offers a portfolio of OTC products under nine core OTC brands, including Chloraseptic sore throat remedies, Clear Eyes eye drops, Compound W wart removers, Dramamine motion sickness products, Efferdent and Effergrip denture products, Little Remedies pediatric healthcare products, Luden's cough drops, PediaCare pediatric healthcare products, and The Doctor?s brand of oral care products. This segment also provides other significant brands that include Dermoplast first-aid products, Murine eye and ear care products, NasalCrom allergy relief product, New-Skin liquid bandage, and Wartner wart removers. Its Household Cleaning segment markets household cleaning products, such as abrasive and non-abrasive tub and tile cleaner, scrubb ing pads and sponges, dilutables, anti-bacterial hard surface spray for counter tops, and glass cleaners under the Comet, Chore Boy, and Spic and Span brands. Prestige Brands Holdings distributes its products through various retail channels, including drug, food, dollar, and club stores, as well as supermarkets and mass merchandisers. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Irvington, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Prestige Brands (NYSE: PBH  ) is reaching to the other side of the world for its latest acquisition. The company announced that it has purchased the privately held Care Pharmaceuticals, based in New South Wales, Australia. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, although Prestige Brands did admit that it would be funded by monies drawn from an existing credit facility combined with cash on hand.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Prestige Brands Holdings (NYSE: PBH  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Top Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2014: Yamana Gold Inc.(AUY)

Yamana Gold Inc. engages in gold and other precious metals mining, and related activities, including exploration, extraction, processing, and reclamation. It also explores for copper, molybdenum, zinc, and silver metals. The company's portfolio includes 7 operating gold mines namely Chapada; El Pen Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jim Jubak]

  In this context, I can't say whether this is the time to start buying shares of Yamana Gold (AUY). If gold moves lower, so will the shares of gold miners. Those shares have, by and large, outperformed gold itself in 2014.

• [By Paul Ausick]

  Shares of Yamana Gold Inc. (NYSE: AUY) have bounced about 23% off their 52-week low of $8.31 set on December 2. The company reported fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday, missing estimates and cutting the dividend by nearly 35%, from an annual level of $0.26 to $0.15. The company also wrote down $574.2 million in impairment charges for 2013, virtually all of it in the fourth quarter.

• [By Daniel Putnam]

  The second factor working in gold stocks��favor is that analysts are growing optimistic again. Yesterday, HSBC put out a bullish note on gold and upgraded Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM), Yamana Gold (AUY), Barrick Gold, Iamgold (IAG), and Goldcorp. Most gold stocks are ranked ��old��or ��uy��(as opposed to ��trong Buy�� by the majority of analysts, meaning that there�� plenty of room for continued positive news flow on this front.

Top Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2014: Waste Management Inc.(WM)

Waste Management, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides waste management services to residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers in North America. It offers collection, transfer, recycling, and disposal services. The company also owns, develops, and operates waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. Its collection services involves in picking up and transporting waste and recyclable materials from where it was generated to a transfer station, material recovery facility, or disposal site; and recycling operations include collection and materials processing, plastics materials recycling, and commodities recycling. In addition, it provides recycling brokerage, which includes managing the marketing of recyclable materials for third parties; and electronic recycling services, such as collection, sorting, and disassembling of discarded computers, communications equipment, and other electronic equipment. Further, the company e ngages in renting and servicing portable restroom facilities to municipalities and commercial customers under the Port-o-Let name; and involves in landfill gas-to-energy operations comprising recovering and processing the methane gas produced naturally by landfills into a renewable energy source, as well as provides street and parking lot sweeping services. Additionally, it offers portable self-storage, fluorescent lamp recycling, and medical waste services for healthcare facilities, pharmacies, and individuals, as well as provides services on behalf of third parties to construct waste facilities. The company was formerly known as USA Waste Services, Inc. and changed its name to Waste Management, Inc. in 1998. Waste Management, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Tuesday’s session are Forest Laboratories Inc.(FRX), Coca-Cola Co.(KO) and Waste Management Inc.(WM)

• [By Geoff Gannon]

  For example, a company involved in a mundane business like running hair salons ��like Regis (RGS), dentist offices ��like Birner Dental (BDMS), grocery stores ��like Village Supermarket (VLGEA), or garbage dumps ��like Waste Management (WM), may be easy to estimate as essentially a no-growth business.

• [By Helix Investment Research]

  We note that Keating Capital's co-investors in many of its portfolio companies are not simply other venture capital or existing investors, but strategic investors as well. Examples include Agilyx, where Waste Management (WM) is a co-investor, BrightSource, where Chevron (CVX) and BP (BP) are co-investors, Kabam, where Google (GOOG) and Intel (INTC) are co-investors, or Tremor Video (TRMR), where Time Warner (TWX) is a co-investor. As of the end of Q2 2013, 9 (excluding Jumptap) of Keating Capital's portfolio companies had unrealized gains, with an average gain of 25.6% (again excluding Jumptap, which had unrealized gains of 8% as of the end of Q2 2013). The remaining 6 companies had an average loss of 44.46%. However, on an overall basis, Keating Capital's portfolio currently has an average unrealized gain of 2.15%. While this is not a large gain, we note that the bulk of Keating Capital's profits are realized upon exiting an investment in conjunction with the portfolio company's IPO or sale. Furthermore, portions of Keating Capital's portfolio are defended by structurally protected appreciation clauses that the company has struck with its portfolio companies, clauses that are not reflected on its balance sheet. These clauses, which are negotiated between Keating Capital and its portfolio companies, allow the company to receive shares in the portfolio company's IPO at a discount, or grant it warrants to purchase additional shares in an IPO for a nominal price. Since inception, Keating Capital has negotiated structurally protected appreciation clauses in 11 of the 20 companies it has invested in. As of the end of Q2 2013, 6 of Keating Capital's 15 portfolio companies were protected by structurally protected appreciation clauses, representing $22 million in total capital (almost 43% of the company's invested capital), thereby entitling Keating Capital to a weighted-average aggregate value of 1.9x its investment at the time of an IPO.

Top Canadian Stocks To Watch For 2014: 3M Company(MMM)

3M Company, together with subsidiaries, operates as a diversified technology company worldwide. The company?s Industrial and Transportation segment offers tapes, coated and non-woven abrasives, adhesives, specialty materials, filtration products, energy control products, closure systems for personal hygiene products, acoustic systems products, and components and products that are used in the manufacture, repair, and maintenance of automotive, marine, aircraft, and specialty vehicles. Its Health Care segment provides medical and surgical supplies, skin health and infection prevention products, inhalation and transdermal drug delivery systems, dental and orthodontic products, health information systems, and food safety products. The company?s Display and Graphics offers optical film solutions for LCD electronic displays; computer screen filters; reflective sheeting for transportation safety; commercial graphics sheeting and systems; and mobile interactive solutions, includin g mobile display technology, visual systems products, and computer privacy filters. The company?s Consumer and Office segment provides office supply products, stationery products, construction and home improvement products, home care products, protective material products, certain consumer retail personal safety products, and consumer health care products. Its Safety, Security and Protection Services segment offers personal protection products, safety and security products, cleaning and protection products for commercial establishments, track and trace solutions, and roofing granules for asphalt shingles. The company?s Electro and Communications segment provides packaging and interconnection devices; fluids that are used in the manufacture of computer chips, and for cooling electronics and lubricating computer hard disk drives; high-temperature and display tapes; insulating materials, including tapes and resins; and related items. The company was founded in 1902 and is based in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Laura Brodbeck]

  Notable earnings released on Thursday included:

  Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) reported a third quarter loss of $0.09 per share on revenue of $17.09 billion, compared to last year�� loss of $0.60 on revenue of $13.81 billion. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) reported EPS of $0.62 on revenue of $18.53 billion, compared to last year�� EPS 0f $0.53 on revenue of $16.01 billion. Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) reported third quarter EPS of $0.45 on revenue of $33.90 billion, compared to last year�� EPS 0f $0.40 on revenue of $30.25 billion. 3M Company (NYSE: MMM) reported third quarter EPS of $1.78 on revenue of $7.92 billion, compared to last year�� EPS 0f $1.65 on revenue of $7.50 billion. Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) reported third quarter EPS of $1.51 on revenue of $5.84 billion, compared to last year�� EPS of $1.51 on revenue of $6.04 billion.

  Pre-Market Movers

• [By Matt Thalman]

  Shares of 3M (NYSE: MMM  ) slid lower today by 0.04%. The move came after the stock was downgraded by Morgan Stanley from an overweight rating to equal weight. The reason given for the downgrade was valuation, as the stock had risen 17.73% during the first six months of 2013. You may be wondering if the valuation is high, and my colleague Rich Smith tackled that question earlier today after hearing of the news. Rich believes that even though the company has a solid dividend yield of 2.3% and the stock's stated P/E is 17, he feels that it's trading closer to 20 times its actual annual cash profits, making the stock more expensive than it may seem. �

• [By Jeremy Bowman]

  Only one Dow stock reported earnings today, 3M (NYSE: MMM  ) , which finished up 0.2%. The maker of everything from office products to health-care supplies posted earnings per share of $1.71, slightly up from $1.66 a year ago, and better than the analyst estimates by $0.01. Revenue increased 2.9%, to $7.75 billion, just shy of the experts' mark at $7.77 billion. CEO Inge Thule cited "challenging conditions" in the first half of the year, but said the company performed well, adding that he expected demand to improve in the second half of the year.

• [By Muhammad Bazil] leased its second-quarter results. A quick glimpse into the quarterly report reveals this:

  Revenue increased marginally compared to the comparable quarter in 2012.GAAP EPS also recorded growth. Overall margins fell across the board.Revenue Details

  3M recorded revenues of $7.75 billion. This was lower than the $7.77 billion that was forecast by 11 analysts earlier polled by the S&P Capital IQ. GAAP sales equaled those of Q2 2012.