An advisor at National Bank Financial shares his three top investment picks
Grant White, an Investment Advisor at National Bank Financial, shares his three top investment picks.
Edgepoint Canadian Portfolio – EdgePoint may not be one of the more well-known fund companies, but we are ok with that. We have been following this fund for some time now and have more recently been making purchases into it. One of the things we appreciate most about the management is their disciplined approach. Taking a page out of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger’s playbook, they run concentrated portfolios of quality companies which they buy at value prices. I often tell clients of ours that one of the things I like most about their management style is that they respect their investors’ money. They won’t put money to work just for the sake of putting it to work, instead they will wait until they can identify the right opportunity. We don’t buy a lot of funds in our group, however, this particular fund we feel makes sense for a lot of our clients, especially in markets that are looking a little bit expensive.
Freshii Inc. – Freshii, the new kid on the block! I’m choosing to include Freshii in my list, not because it’s something we are currently buying, but because it is an interesting company which I am a customer of. I always keep an eye on companies which I am supporter of (through purchasing their product) because quality products often lead to strong long-term share price growth. Undoubtedly many advisors have received questions from clients about buying Freshii, or maybe another hot social media IPO recently. For the same reasons that EdgePoint will only buy good companies at good prices, we are staying away from Freshii… for now. As long as I am a customer I will continue to follow it, but for now I have a tough time justifying buying it at the current valuations.
Artis REIT – Artis is another great home grown story which makes us a bit biased with this one, being proud Winnipeggers. With that being said, we feel there is a lot to like about Artis going forward. With an attractive yield around 8% and low leverage we don’t see a lot of near or mid-term threats to the distribution. We are viewing their increased exposure to the U.S. as a positive. Artis now generates nearly 40% of its NOI from the U.S. We view this as a positive for the future, as U.S. properties are now paying higher yields as compared to Canadian properties, with comparable or even higher quality properties.
National Bank Financial is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of National Bank of Canada. The National Bank of Canada is a public company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (NA: TSX). The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of National Bank Financial. The securities or sectors mentioned herein are not suitable for all types of investors. Please consult your investment advisor to verify whether the securities or sectors suit your investor’s profile as well as to obtain complete information, including the main risk factors, regarding those securities or sectors.
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