Friday was a strong day in the markets and for our stock picks. The S&P 500 was up 0.7% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
Linamar was up 3.0% as after Martinrea (also an auto parts company) reported strong results. Linamar will report on March 11. According to Yahoo Finance, Linamar is trading at just 5.6 times expected earnings. Basically, it seems that investors are not willing to pay a high multiple for the stock due to fears of earnings decline. The fears relate to trade wars, stagnant or falling world auto sales and the impacts of electrification of vehicles. Linimar does have a history of being a very cyclic stock. But it has also grown through the years and appears to be very well managed.
Couche-Tard was up 2.8%.
TFI International was up 2.2% and Canadian Tire was up 1.8%.
Stantec was down 1.0% in further reaction to its earnings release. Stantec has definitely had some operational stumbles the past few years. It has plans in place for strong earnings growth in 2019. But investors may wait to see actual progress before they are willing to bid the price up. According to Yahoo Finance the stock is trading at (a relatively attractive) 13.6 times expected earnings.