Raymond James has released its annual list of top stock picks representing the firm's best Canadian investing ideas for the year ahead.
The list is heavily weighted in resources, despite last year's top picks having been dogged by commodity price weakness.
Raymond James' best picks for 2015 generated an average return of -5.3 per cent. That's better than the S&P/TSX small cap index, which returned -11.4 per cent over that same time. But the broader S&P/TSX total return index edged out the firm's list with a one-year return of -5.1 per cent.
The nine resource sector stocks on the Raymond James list for 2015 posted an average return of -20.1 per cent. Those losses were partially offset by the firm's five non-resource names, which generated a 33.9 per cent average return.
The best performing stock from last year's list was DIRTT Environmental Solutions Ltd., which generated an 81.4-per-cent return over the last year. DIRTT is one of three of last year's picks remaining on the Raymond James list of recommendations, the other two being Gildan Activewear Inc. and Secure Energy Services Inc.
Below is the full list of top stock picks as recommended by Raymond James' analysts.
| Company | Ticker | Target Price ($) |
|---|---|---|
| Aimia Inc. | AIM-T | 15.00 |
| Allied Properties REIT | AP.UN-T | 40.00 |
| Boyd Group Income Fund | BYD.UN-T | 78.00 |
| Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP | BIP-N | 50 (U.S.) |
| Cameco Corp. | CCO-T | 25.00 |
| Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. | CNQ-T | 39.00 |
| Canyon Services Group Inc. | FRC-T | 9.50 |
| Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund | CHE.UN-T | 23.00 |
| Crew Energy Inc. | CR-T | 7.50 |
| DIRTT Environmental Solutions Ltd. | DRT-T | 9.50 |
| Element Financial Corp. | EFN-T | 24.00 |
| First Quantum Minerals Ltd. | FM-T | 9.00 |
| Gildan Activewear Inc. | GIL-N | 38 (U.S.) |
| Goldcorp Inc. | GG-N | 21.5 (U.S.) |
| Interfor Corp. | IFP-T | 17.00 |
| Kelt Exploration Ltd. | KEL-T | 8.50 |
| Open Text Corp. | OTEX-Q | 60 (U.S.) |
| Secure Energy Services Inc. | SES-T | 11.00 |
| Tahoe Resources Inc. | THO-T | 16.00 |