Looking at the 25 most popular Canadian stocks among members of DSR Pro is not only fun, but it can reveal opportunities we might have overlooked. Last week, we covered the top 5. If you missed it, read it here. This article provides the investment thesis for the stocks that are the 6th to 10th most popular, and list those in the 11th to 25th positions along with their respective sectors.
I pulled the most popular stocks from the DSR database based of the number of times they appear across the 2,289 DSR PRO members’ portfolios, not by looking at individual portfolios. This is strictly based on how frequently each stock appears in the database, not on the value invested (which I don’t know).
See also the U.S. stocks most popular with DSR Pro members.
Discover even more great dividend growth stocks. Download our Rock Stars list, updated monthly!
Royal Bank (RY.TO / RY)
6th place – 1165 members
Royal Bank plays a similar role as TD in a portfolio. I prefer RY for its greater diversification. I like its business distribution across classic banking operations (40.4%), wealth management (29.8%), capital markets (18.3%), insurance (7%) and investor & treasury services (4.4%) as per the 2022 annual report. Capital market operations are more volatile and sometimes crash a quarter (we saw this with BMO in 2020). However, it’s also an amazing source of growth. Once again, TD and RY are close in term of assets, popularity, and yield!
Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO / ANCUF)
7th place – 968 members
You know I love Couche-Tard and it was part of the favorites last year. It’s back to the 7th place after being out of the top 10 last year. Couche-Tard has proven quite resilient over the past few years. The company rewards shareholders with constant growth across all business segments. If you think ATD is expensive today, remember that it’s trading at the same PE ratio it was in 2018. The only difference is that ATD has more than doubled its EPS in the past 5 years.
Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP.UN.TO/BIPC.TO)
8th place – 898 members
I like BIPC for its wide diversification across multiple utility businesses: Utilities (30% of FFO) includes gas pipelines, electricity distribution and transmission lines, and smart meters. Transport (30%) includes railroads, terminals (ports), and toll roads. Midstream (30%) includes transmission pipelines, natural gas storage, and processing plants and polypropylene production capacity. Finally, Data (10%) consists of telecom towers, fiber optic cables and 50+ data centers. Keep in mind BIPC’s a complex business with opaque financial statements. It’s not for everyone.
Discover even more great dividend growth stocks. Download our Rock Stars list, updated monthly!
Brookfield Renewable (BEP.UN.TO/BEPC.TO)
9th place – 866 members
BEPC took a big hit on the market this year, with its stock showing a double-digit decline in 2023 and down over 40% over the past 3 years. You’re probably wondering why you bought it if you focus on short-term returns. I feel your pain. I hold shares too, I’m down 20%, but I don’t mind much though since I intend to hold BEPC for a very long time. Brookfield is all about “patient capital”.
Scotiabank (BNS.TO / BNS)
10th place – 845 members
I’m still not a fan of BNS. While it offers a juicy yield, it has lagged its peers for over 10 years now. Turns out its exposure to Central and South America hasn’t paid off as anticipated. It’s a source of volatility rather than one of consistently higher profits.
11th to 25th Most Popular
Many of “usual suspects” in this list. I own shares of many of them.
| COMPANY NAME | TICKER | SECTOR |
| Canadian National Railway | CNR.TO / CNI | Industrial |
| National Bank | NA.TO | Financial services |
| Emera | EMA.TO | Utilities |
| TC Energy | TRP.TO / TRP | Energy |
| Canadian National Resources | CNQ.TO / CNQ | Energy |
| Algonquin Power | AQN.TO / AQN | Utilities |
| CIBC | CM.TO / CM | Financial services |
| Granite REIT | GRT.UN.TO | REIT |
| BMO | BMO.TO / BMO | Financial services |
| Power Corp. | POW.TO | Financial services |
| Manulife | MFC.TO / MFC | Financial services |
| Magna International | MG.TO / MGA | Consumer Discretionary |
| Canadian Tire | CTC.A.TO | Consumer Discretionary |
| Suncor | SU.TO / SU | Energy |
| Brookfield Corp. | BN.TO / BN | Financial services |
Final Thought
While it’s always fun to feed your curiosity, never let a list like this replace your investment process. It won’t do much good to just pile up others’ ideas in your portfolio without the conviction that they fit with your strategy. I see this list as a good group of stocks to start a research project. But that’s definitely just the beginning. There is a lot more digging required before pulling the trigger…