Three top stock picks from Northland’s David Cockfield

David Cockfield is managing director and portfolio manager, Northland Wealth Management. His focus is Canadian equities and ETFs.

Top Picks:

Inter Pipeline (IPL-T)

Last purchased in August at $27.16

This is a Calgary based pipeline that transports and stores oil and natural gas liquids. The company operates 7,200 kilometres of pipelines and 4.8 million barrels of storage in Western Canada. The company also operates three natural-gas extraction facilities that can process 6.2 billion cubic feet daily of natural gas to produce 200,000 barrels of natural gas liquids. IPL has long term service agreements with major high quality producers which give it utility characteristics with growth potential plus an attractive yield of 5.7 per cent. The recent acquisition of Williams Canada is accretive.

BMO MSCI Europe High Quality Hedged to CAD Index ETF (ZEQ-T)

Last purchased in August at 18.10

This ETF attempts to replicate the performance of MSCI Europe High Quality – 100-per-cent hedged to CAD Index. The main geographic allocations are U.K. at 43.9 per cent, Switzerland at 19.4 per cent and Germany at 9.4 per cent. The main sector concentrations are consumer staples (31.3 per cent), health care (20.1 per cent), industrials (16 per cent) and consumer discretionary 15 (per cent). The ETF offers good diversification in high quality European multinationals in safe countries and good sectors. While Brexit caused brief market declines, the fall in the U.K. pound has caused a quick recovery in U.K. equities. With a reasonable management fee of 0.46 per cent, the ETF offers good exposure to European markets.

iShares S&P North American Technology Sector Index Fund ETF (IGM-N)

Last purchased in August at $27.16

This ETF tracks U.S. technology equities as represented by the S&P North American Technology Sector Index. The top five holdings are Microsoft, Apple Inc., Amazon, Facebook Class A and Alphabet Class A & C. The tech sector should perform well as U.S. economic growth accelerates. This ETF offers good diversification into the U.S. tech sector at a reasonable cost of 0.47 per cent.

Past Picks: July 31, 2015

Sun Life Financial (SLF-T)

Then: $42.69 Now: $41.67 -2.39% Total return: +1.29%

BMO Low Volatility U.S. Equity ETF (ZLU-T)

Then: $27.10 Now: $30.77 +13.54% TR: +15.75%

TD Bank (TD-T)

Then: $52.77 Now: $57.17 +8.34% TR: +12.70%

Total Return Average: +9.91%

Market outlook:

Financial markets have shown surprising resilience in the face of Brexit and the nasty presidential campaign in the U.S. Both U.S. and Canadian equity markets have risen with only a few setbacks since January of this year. This is happening in spite of large amounts of cash staying on the sidelines and bearish sentiment remaining high. With economic growth accelerating in the U.S. it will take some major negative political or economic event to derail this upward equity market momentum.