While 2018 was a year most investors would like to forget, 2019 was the opposite.
The benchmark Toronto Stock Exchange 300 index returned 20.04 per cent last year compared with a loss of 12.1 per cent in 2018.
The five favourite Bizworld stocks for 2019 performed even better than the TSE 300, averaging a total return of 36.76 per cent, handily beating the comparable TSE 300.
About one-tenth of that return was from dividends, the rest from price gains.
Leading performer was Equinox Gold , turning in a stellar 63.2 per cent price gain as it poured the first gold from the Aurizona open pit mine in northeastern Brazil, produced the open pit heap leach Mesquite Mine in California and developed the open pit Castle Line also in the Golden State.
Second was Canadian Western Bank, with a 25.66 per cent total return. The Alberta-based bank continued to expand offerings.
Power Corporation with a 34.5 per cent return was third. Power was undervalued after last fall’s market crash. The merger with daughter holding company Power Financial should create more value in 2020.
Coming fourth was utility Emera Inc. with a 32 per cent total return. Emera has integrated two utilities in Florida and Arizona and will be on the hunt for an acquisition.
Pembina Pipelines, returning 21.2 per cent, was fifth.
Bizworld’s five favourite stocks for 2020 are Equinox Gold, a repeat; Lundin Gold, food retailer Empire Company, owner of Safeway and Sobeys; pipeliner Enbridge; and Air Lease Inc., a Los Angeles-based aircraft leasing company.
Equinox, $9.99, took over Leagold late last year with 700,000 ounces gold production in 2019, up from 500,000 in 2018, a planned 970,000 ounces in 2020 with over one million in 2021.
Lundin Gold, $8.33, has poured the first gold from the Fruarte Del Norte mine in Peru with 340,000 ounces planned in 2020 at a low all-in cost of $583 an ounce.
The controlling owners, the Swedish Lundin family, have a Midas touch in the mining and oil business.
Bizworld chose two gold stocks that will do well under current gold prices and do even better if global turmoil from Brexit, Iran, West Africa, China/U.S. trade or the U.S. presidential election affect markers
Empire, $30.46 is a more stable influence on the five stocks in food retailing with expansion of new store banners.
Enbridge, $51.63, represents a solid pipeline utility with significant holdings in the United States. Delays in Line Three rebuilding to the Midwest have held back the stock.
Line three, important to Canadian producers, is a small, piece of the Enbridge operations.
Air Lease, $47.72 US leases aircraft around the world with 371 in 59 countries and commitments to buy $25 billion aircraft on the books.
Forty-five per cent of business comes from fast-growing Asia, and about one-third of that comes from China.
Potential downsides to Air Lease include China/US trade wars affecting orders, continued grounding of the Boeing Max 737 fleet and potential end of production for the Max.
Air Lease has delayed its Max orders to late 2020 and leases both Boeing and AirBus craft on a large scale.
CAUTION: Remember when investing, consult your adviser and do your homework before buying any security. Bizworld does not recommend investments.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
| Year | Fave 5 | TSE 300 |
| 2015 | (27.2%) | 7% |
| 2016 | (2%) | (9%) |
| 2017 | 15% | 18.6% |
| 2018 | 14.9% | (.1%) |
| 2019 | 36.76% | 20.04% |
