As far as I’m aware, if the president were removed from office by Congress, Mike Pence, the vice president, would become the new leader.

Under such a scenario, it’s possible that the White House’s economic policies wouldn’t change much, so the idea of benefitting from Donald Trump being stripped of his presidency and recommending three stocks to buy for a Trump impeachment could be a moot point.

That said, I don’t see Mike Pence being nearly as combative with America’s allies, which would mean a return to more normal diplomatic and economic relationships. That’s good news for any company currently suffering under the Trump administration’s protectionist tariffs.

America might be doing well today, but many experts suggest long-term, Trump’s trade policies are bad for business.

So, without further delay, these are the three stocks I believe are most likely to benefit from Trump’s removal from office:

Trump Impeachment Stocks: Harley Davidson (HOG)

I don’t think there’s any doubt that Harley Davidson (NYSE:HOG) would benefit from anybody but Donald Trump running the country.

The fact that the president would support the boycott of such an iconic brand just because the company chooses to make some of its bikes closer to its growth markets in Europe and elsewhere is evidence of the man’s failure to grasp simple business.

“Many @harleydavidson owners plan to boycott the company if manufacturing moves overseas. Great!” Trump tweeted on Aug. 12. “Most other companies are coming in our direction, including Harley competitors. A really bad move! U.S. will soon have a level playing field, or better.”

The truth of the matter is that companies who choose to manufacture in the U.S. do so, not because America makes products better than anyone else, but because they want to be closer to their customers.

It makes very little sense to sell a bike in Prague that’s made in Wisconsin. That said, if Trump hadn’t implemented the steel and aluminum tariffs, the EU wouldn’t have slapped a 31% tariff on U.S. motorcycles, and Harley likely wouldn’t have been nearly as quick to move some of its manufacturing overseas. 

I don’t know if Mike Pence understands economics any better, but I’m guessing Harley would like to find out.

Trump Impeachment Stocks: Fiat (FCAU) and the Auto Industry

This one isn’t so much a specific stock as it is a particular industry.

The president seems eager to undo anything that was created or achieved by the Obama administration. He loves the words, “Roll back the Obama policy,” almost as much as MAGA. To heck with the consequences. 

Recently, one of the great CEOs of modern business, Sergio Marchionne, died at the age of 66. President Trump might not like to hear this, but if it weren’t for Obama going against some of his advisors’ advice and opting for a bailout, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (NYSE:FCAU) might not exist today.

Just ask the good people of Windsor, Ontario, where they make a ton of Chrysler vehicles, what they think of Marchionne and praise is all you’ll hear. 

“There was a Great Recession, folks had lost confidence in Chrysler as a company,” said Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens after Marchionne’s death July 25. “But he said, ‘You know what, I see a possibility.’ So, he took a leap that not many others were willing to take, and he took over Chrysler.”

The other thing people forget is that Fiat wasn’t exactly humming along when Marchionne proposed the merger. So, what does Mr. Trump want to do? He wants to slap a 25% tariff on cars coming from Canada and elsewhere.

Both Canadian and American auto parts suppliers would suffer under such a tax as would Fiat Chrysler and the rest of the Detroit automakers. And Windsor, Ontario? It would be crippled.

The entire North American auto industry benefits from a Trump impeachment.

Trump Impeachment Stocks: Amazon (AMZN)

The third company to benefit from a Trump impeachment would be Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN); not that it needs any help because the president’s aggressive attacks against the e-commerce giant have put it in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

“Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money-losing Post Office makes money with Amazon. THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed,” Trump tweeted April 2. “Also, our fully tax-paying retailers are closing stores all over the country … not a level playing field!”

Hmm … Isn’t Amazon the same company that’s opening a second U.S. headquarters that will employ as many as 50,000 employees at a projected cost of $5 billion?

I’m pretty sure that the VP wouldn’t be nearly as hard on the Seattle company knowing that it employs more than 9,000 people in Pence’s home state of Indiana. And it’s adding jobs at its five fulfillment centers in the state.

I thought Trump liked companies who’re creating American jobs?

As of this writing, Will Ashworth did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

Source: Investor Place

Are you having a hard time selecting the best retirement stocks for your portfolio? If so, you’re not alone.

Last April, I recommended seven of the best retirement stocks no one talks about. These were companies with market caps greater than $2 billion yielding 1.5% or more delivering five consecutive years of operating profits and thinly traded at 500,000 shares in average daily volume.

Some of them you’re familiar with and some you might haven’t a clue what they do.

Together, the seven stocks averaged a one-year total return of 7.7% with just two stocks in negative territory; all of them I’d have no problem owning today, including EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR), which has lost one-fifth of its value over the past year.

Unfortunately, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) nearly doubled the group’s performance at 14.8%.

Undeterred, I’ve selected seven more of the best retirement stocks no one talks about. Only this time, I’m going to up the average daily volume ceiling to a million shares instead of 500,000 to see if we can’t come up with some even better options.

Best Retirement Stocks: Honda (HMC)

Yield: 2.5%

Even though car and truck sales have begun to slow after several years at a torrid pace, Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:HMC) is a great long-term buy because its vehicles remain with car-buying consumers.

The company set record U.S. sales in March despite both the Accord and CRV, which generated 43% of its volume overall, were down 13.1% and 6.5% respectively.

Not to worry, the Acura redesigns of both the TLX and RLX helped save the day; Acura’s March sales increased by 15.7% to 13,537 vehicles with over half from its SUVs.

Fear not, the Accord and CRV aren’t losing their popularity with consumers. The company chose to offer very little in the way of incentives in March on both vehicles. As we head into summer, Honda’s U.S. business will pile on the incentives and sales will come as a result.

In the third quarter ended December 31, 2017, Honda’s revenues increased 13.0% to $35.1 billion, while operating profits increased 37.0% to $2.5 billion.

For the entire fiscal year, Honda expects revenues to increase by 8.6%, while operating profits will decline by 7.8% as a result of pension plan changes and the settlement of its airbag class action suit. Take those out and it should make $913 million, an increase of 8.6% over last year.

Year-to-date it’s outperforming its peers by 215 basis points through April 10.

Best Retirement Stocks: Diageo (DEO)

Dividend Yield: 2.4%

Last year, I had the opportunity to trash a certain ETF only to change my mind less than eight months later.

The ETF in question?

The Spirited Funds/ETFMG Whiskey & Spirits ETF (NYSEARCA:WSKY), a collection of global companies manufacturing alcoholic drinks, including Diageo plc (ADR) (NYSE:DEO), the fund’s largest holding with a weighting of 17.5%.

Originally, I thought it was an expensive way to invest in the global trend to premium liquor brands, suggesting an investment in Diageo would do the same thing without having to pay a management fee.

Over the past year, the ETF generated an annualized total return of 29.6% compared to 25.1% for Diageo and 15% for the S&P 500.

Although I still believe an investment in Diageo is a great way to bet on the future success of premium spirits, you could make a lot worse investment decisions over the next few years than buying the WSKY ETF.

For those of you that care about the issue of gender pay equality, which I do, Diageo’s Great Britain unit has a gender pay gap of –9.8%, which means women at the company on average earn more than men. It is not, however, a reflection of equal pay for similar work.

Cheers!

Best Retirement Stocks: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM)

Dividend Yield: 4.7%

The five big Canadian banks have long been regarded as some of the best-run financial institutions in the world, in large part a result of escaping the 2008 economic crisis relatively unscathed.

As risk-takers, Canadian banks rank well down the list, but for investors seeking juicy dividend yields, they’ve made wonderful investments.

In May 2012, I wrote Canada’s Banks: Better Than Most in which I took a quick look at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE:CM) and how it fared in comparison to JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), two banks that ranked highly in Bloomberg Markets’ second-annual rating of the World’s Strongest Banks.

CIBC was third; Jamie Dimon was 13th.

Also, in that piece, I highlighted three Canadian banks doing a lot of business in the U.S. — CIBC wasn’t one of them.

Well, that has changed in a big way in the past two years.

First, it paid $5 billion to acquire Chicago-based Private Bancorp in June 2017, a move that ups CIBCs U.S. profits to 10% of its overall profits. Eventually, the bank hopes to generate 25% of its annual profits in the U.S.

As Canadian banks go, CIBC is my favorite, and not just because it yields the most.

Best Retirement Stocks: Equity Lifestyle Properties (ELS)

Dividend Yield: 2.5%

Of the seven best retirement stocks I’m recommending in this article, Equity Lifestyles Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) would have to be the most boring, yet enticing option of the bunch.

Over the past decade, ELS stock has seen just one negative annual return, and that was a 14% drop in 2008. That year, the S&P 500 lost 37% and its residential REIT peers were off 23%.

All of this from owning land for manufactured home communities, RV resorts and campgrounds across North America. The company was founded in 1969, but it was only after billionaire Sam Zell and partners got involved in 1983, did business really begin to cook.

Since 2008, revenues have doubled to $912 million; operating earnings have more than doubled to $297 million, and dividends have increased five-fold to $1.95 a share.

It has got a wide-moat so large I suggested Warren Buffett should buy it last August.

ELS is the stock you put in a drawer and marvel at how it has grown ten years from now.

Best Retirement Stocks: Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico (PAC)

Dividend Yield: 4.5%

Another stock I recommended Warren Buffett should buy is Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico (NYSE:PAC), an owner and operator of airports based in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Heck, Buffett owns four airline stocks worth almost $10 billion, so a natural extension of that from an infrastructure standpoint would be to buy some of the airports these airlines fly in and out of.

PAC has a little of everything in terms of the types of airports it owns. Guadalajara and Tijuana serve the people living in those major Mexican cities; smaller airports in places like Mexicali and Morelia serve medium-sized Mexican cities; and airports such as Puerto Vallarta and Las Cabos service the tourist trade.

It’s a nicely diversified customer mix that keeps the company and stock moving higher. Over the past five years, PAC delivered an annual total return of 14% to shareholders.

In early January, PAC announced it had obtained long-term financing to make improvements at its Montego Bay airport in Jamaica, one of only two outside Mexico.

Like a lot of the airlines, Mexican airlines continue to grow the number of planes and flights they operate. In conjunction with a number of U.S. low-cost carriers adding flights into Mexico, the company’s future prospects look very good.

However, given the U.S. immigration policy combined with the negative effects of a renegotiated NAFTA agreement, PAC is not without some risk.

Best Retirement Stocks: Wyndham Worldwide (WYN)

Dividend Yield: 2.4%

Operating one of the largest networks of hotel rooms in the world, Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE:WYN) announced in 2017 that it would spinoff the hotel group from its vacation ownership and vacation rental business, to create two independent publicly traded companies.

The separation is expected to happen any day now. Shareholders of WYN will get a pro rata distribution of the new hotel company’s stock.

As part of this move, it announced more of its hotel brands will get the “by Wyndham” moniker added to their nameplates. A total of 12 hotel brands are receiving the change including Super 8, Days Inn and the more upscale Dolce brand.

Why am I recommending a stock set to split in two?

Empirical evidence suggests that spinoffs often before better post-spin than pre-spin. In this case, Wyndham is taking a risk by adding its name to some of its value brands, but the company is boosting its franchise operations by 20% to ensure that all of its hotels are meeting the Wyndham standard.

InvestorPlace’s Lawrence Meyers recently commented that Wyndham’s hotels have occupancy rates of 60-64% compared to 75% for its peers.

By separating the hotel group into its own independent company, you can expect Wyndham to have a laser-like focus in the future on higher standards.

That bodes well for both stocks, post-split.   

Best Retirement Stocks: Snap-on (SNA)

Dividend Yield: 2.3%

Last August, I recommended that investors forget about Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) stock and buy Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE:SNA) instead.

Before I get into why I like the hand and power tools, let me just say that both stocks have been on a wild ride since my article.

SNAP, which I recommended you stay away from, was trading around $14.50 on August 22, 2017, the date of the article. It bounced around this price until February when it spiked to almost $21 on news it was adding users. It has since come back to where it was trading last August.

Nothing’s changed. I still don’t like the stock.

As for SNA, it basically did the same, going from $142 in August all the way to $184 in mid-January, only to be felled by a weak fourth-quarter earnings report. Now, it too is back where it was last August.

The biggest concern from analysts is that the company’s non-financed tool purchases are slowing meaning the company’s financial services business is propping up sales, something I recommended investors keep an eye on.

Why do I still recommend it as one of the best retirement stocks to own?

Because every company goes through cycles where business is booming. Now isn’t one of those times but it also isn’t terrible either.

The automotive repair business isn’t sexy, I’ll grant you. But given the average age of cars on the road is still pretty high, the company’s customers (tool buyers) are going to have plenty of cars to fix in the years ahead.

Five years ago, I might have been concerned that its tool business was losing a few sales. However, its three operating businesses provide the company with a much greater balance to see its way through the hiccups every business goes through.

Snap-on hasn’t traded this low very often over the last few years. Buy now and ride them to retirement.

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Source: Investor Place 

What are platform stocks? Which are the best platform stocks to buy and how can they make you rich?

Uber is a platform business. So is Airbnb. At its core, a platform businesses connect consumers of products and services with producers of those products and services through a marketplace created and managed by the platform company.

The general idea is to build something so useful that you create a platform that turns into a quasi-monopoly.

CEO Alex Moazed of Platform consultant Applico defines a platform company as follows:

“Successful platforms facilitate exchanges by reducing transaction costs and/or by enabling externalized innovation. With the advent of connected technology, these ecosystems enable platforms to scale in ways that traditional businesses cannot.”

Moazed points out that S&P 500 pure-play platform businesses are valued at an average of 8.9 times revenue, significantly higher than traditional companies at 2-4 times sales.

It’s this reality that makes the Applico Platform Index (API) — a group of 27 platform companies that each have a market cap higher than $2 billion — so successful.

Over the past ten years, the API generated an annualized total return of 15.6%, 510 basis points higher than the tech-heavy NASDAQ, and a testament to the success of platform businesses.

Here are the 7 best platform stocks to buy right now.

7 Platform Stocks to Buy: Ritchie Bros. (RBA)

Before I get into the more obvious platform stocks, I thought I’d go with a couple of index constituents that most investors wouldn’t name when rattling off platform companies.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc (NYSE:RBA) is a Canadian company that got its start in the auction business in 1958 and has grown to annual revenues of $611 million by bringing buyers and sellers together to carry out transactions. In 2017, RBA transacted $4.5 billion in business by connecting these buyers and sellers, online and in person.

In the company’s fourth quarter, it saw revenues increase by 22% to $178.8 million as a result of its May 2017 acquisition for $777 million of IronPlanet, a California company that specializes in the sale of used heavy construction equipment.

On March 27, it launched Marketplace-E, a user-friendly digital platform that will make it easier for businesses to dispose of their assets.

Up 7.4% year to date through April 4, Ritchie Bros. platform solutions should continue to grow the business for years to come.

7 Platform Stocks to Buy: American Express (AXP)

American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), along with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), were the APIs first two platform companies back in 1984, the date of the index’s inception.

American Express qualifies as a platform company because it operates a closed-loop networkwhere it acts as both card issuer and bank cutting out the middleman.

Additionally, AXP launched Serve in 2011, a platform that enabled its customers to make person-to-person payments using their phone. In 2017, American Express announced that it was selling the U.S. distribution rights and technology of its prepaid reloadable and gift card products — including Serve —  to InComm Holdings.

The platform technology was useful to AXP’s prepaid business. But it turns out the low-end customer didn’t generate enough revenue for it to keep distributing the Serve prepaid cards.

2017 was a transformative year for American Express for two reasons.

First, Ken Chenault retired as CEO of the company in October after 16 years in the job, passing the reins to Stephen Squeri. Secondly, it grew its business at a nice pace over the past year. Highlights include growing the total number of cards in force by 2.9 million and increasing the number of cardmember loans by 12% while adding 1.5 million new merchant locations.

All of that added up to total revenues of $33.5 billion and $7.4 billion in pretax income. Both numbers decent, if not spectacular results. As it continues to work on generating more revenue from each cardholder, I’d expect both the top- and bottom-line to improve in 2018 and beyond.

7 Platform Stocks to Buy: Apple (AAPL)

Apple is the other original platform stock in the index. It operates a number of different platforms that connect the Apple user to the iOS ecosystem. If you own an iPhone, you know what I’m talking about. Whether it be the App Store, iTunes, Apple Music, iCloud or any of its other services, Apple products are tied into all of these.

I’ve recently considered buying a laptop. Most likely, I’ll buy an Apple product because of the iOS platform. It might be more expensive, but already owning an iPhone and iPad mini, I’m committed to it.

To get me off the Apple platforms the company either has to mess up the ecosystem and products colossally, or the competition delivers something so unbelievably useful I want to switch.

Personally, I don’t think either of those is going to happen. I’m not saying the competition is bad; just that they’re not lights out great. Tim Cook’s job is to deliver new products that are solid, if not spectacular, to feed the platforms, which continue to grow by double digits in terms of revenue.

People like myself will always be okay with just good, and that’s why Apple has the highest market cap in the world. Of all the platform stocks to buy, Apple is the one I’d recommend to buy-and-hold investors.

7 Platform Stocks to Buy: Microsoft (MSFT)

You can’t include Apple in a discussion about platform stocks without also talking about Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). When it comes to platforms, they’re tied at the hip.

With Microsoft’s cloud and AI initiatives taking center stage at the company, the original Windows platform is looking like a tiny fraction of its overall business. It’s still an essential component through Office 365, but less so than a decade or even five years ago.

Microsoft just announced that it’s spending $5 billion over the next four years on the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The key to any good platform is the level of connectedness it provides its customers and Microsoft knows it.

In an April 4 blog post, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Julia White  wrote .

“Microsoft’s IoT offerings today include what businesses need to get started, ranging from operating systems for devices, cloud services to control and secure them, advanced analytics to gain insights, and business applications to enable intelligent action. We’ve seen great traction with customers and partners who continue to come up with new ideas and execute them on our platform.”

7 Platform Stocks to Buy: Redfin (RDFN)

In November 2013, I recommended Zillow Group Inc (NASDAQ:ZG), suggesting “if you want to make a lot of money in 3 to 5 years, buying Zillow stock is a smart move.”

Over the past five years, its stock price has doubled, a good, if not spectacular return. Now considered relatively pricey, I thought I’d turn my attention to another real-estate stock on the index — Redfin Corp (NASDAQ:RDFN).

The company’s business model is simple.

It offers real estate agents a technology-enabled, vertically integrated real estate brokerage. It provides buyers and sellers a better experience for less. According to Redfin’s latest March presentation, if you sell a $500,000 home through them and then buy a $500,000 house through them, you’ll save $12,000 assuming the traditional listing-agent and buying agent fees are both 3%.

Houses sell faster through Redfin and for a better price. It’s technology disruption to the max.

“We expect the competitively compelling value prop and simplicity of the ‘1 percent’ product to resonate with consumers this year and potentially accelerate RDFN share gains,” D.A. Davidson analyst Tom White recently told clients in a note.

A good business always makes or saves people money. Redfin does both making it a winner in my books.

7 Platform Stocks to Buy: Amazon (AMZN)

Despite President Trump’s assertion that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is scamming the Post Office out of billions and cheating the Treasury Department out of significant taxes, it’s hard not to appreciate the platform Jeff Bezos has built since its founding in 1994.

People think Jeff Bezos wants to own online retail. And Amazon certainly has a big chunk of the market — the company generated 44% of the U.S. e-commerce sales in 2017. But that’s just a small part of a bigger picture.

Amazon doesn’t want to own online retail; it wants to own your home — figuratively, not literally.

I wrote March 2:

“Costco’s business model allows it to survive on razor-thin margins because of its annual membership. Through Prime, Amazon could do the same. Instead of offering just speakers, video streaming, doorbell cameras and all the other things it sells online, why not provide everything a homeowner (and renter) could need to keep the household functioning.

“Amazon could provide insurance, mortgages, wealth management, travel, legal advice, healthcare insurance (it’s on that), actual healthcare, the list goes on.”

Amazon’s biggest platform is Prime. That single membership will take the company much farther than merely focusing on e-commerce. Soon, Prime members are said to be getting a 10% discount when they shop at Whole Foods.

It’s not about online sales. It’s about total sales to the homeowner or renter. That’s exponentially larger.

7 Platform Stocks to Buy: Alibaba (BABA)

 Amazon is all about the home, but Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) goes at this from a slightly different angle. It wants to provide all the platforms and big data necessary for small businesses to compete and thrive — both in its home country of China and around the world.

I neglected to mention AWS in the section about Amazon, the highly profitable piece of its business that helps businesses compete more effectively. I did so, in part, because I believe AWS got its start to provide the infrastructure necessary for AMZN to be a big player in e-commerce retail and moved beyond its walls when it realized it had more capacity at its data centers than it needed in-house.

Suffice to say, Amazon hasn’t forgotten about its business clients, but I digress.

Last May, I called Ma the next Jeff Bezos. Like Bezos, he wants to reinvent retail by owning the consumer, but he knows he can’t do that without successful small businesses.  So, he’s building the same infrastructure that Amazon has such as the cloud, AI, data analytics, whatever it takes to understand what the consumer wants and needs and get it to them.

Eventually, the two companies could be only dominant global players in the business-to-consumer space. Amazon’s well ahead of Alibaba, but Jack Ma’s closing the gap. The next ten years should be exciting.

Source: Investors Alley 

Good things come in small packages goes the saying. Nowhere is that truer than in the markets where stocks under $10 grow to be $100 and possibly even $1,000 over time.

A classic example is Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), which traded under $10 in November 2001, hit $100 in October 2009 and $1,000 in May 2017.

On both occasions, it took approximately eight years to achieve cumulative total returns of 900%. For anyone who’s held AMZN stock for the entire 18-year period, I salute you because a $10,000 investment today is worth $1.5 million.

Who needs to work, right?

However, picking stocks under $10 is easier said than done. In March 2014, I selected five cheap stocks under $10 to buy now.

Here’s how they did.

Ok, so my five picks had a few bumps in the road, but that’s going to happen with stocks under $10.

A glutton for punishment, I’m going to do it again. Only this time I’m picking ten stocks, not five. 

Best Stocks Under $10: Arcos Dorados (ARCO)

Source: Mike Mozart via Flickr

I might be going to the well once too often picking Arcos Dorados Holding Inc (NYSE:ARCO), the largest franchisee of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) and a major player in the Latin American restaurant industry, but I just love this company.

In January last year, I recommended ARCO as one of three restaurant stocks to buy in 2017; it gained 92% in 2017 on the heels of a 74% gain the year before that.

McDonald’s is facing tougher market conditions at the moment and that’s got analysts a little concerned in the near term, but over the long haul, Arcos Dorados is in an enviable position.

“While we are cautious on MCD in the near term, we believe the chain has ample opportunities to course correct and re-accelerate SSS growth in the coming quarters,” wrote RBC Capital Markets analyst David Palmer in a note to clients.

Best Stocks Under $10: Trivago (TRVG)

Source: Shutterstock

If you didn’t know who Trivago NV (ADR) (NASDAQ:TRVG) was a year ago, you probably do now, given how much advertising the hotel comparison site’s doing to spread the word.

“The past year has been focused on building a solid foundation that we can use to execute our vision of building the best product for our users, and to further strengthen trust in our brand,” stated CEO and founder Rolf Schrömgens in the company’s Q4 2017 press release. “Having significantly increased our brand awareness, optimized our back-end structures and broadened our offering to include alternative accommodation over the course of the year, we believe we are now in the strong position to move forward.”

While Trivago is still growing — revenues grew by 37% in 2017 — it is still losing money. However, on the plus side, it was able to cut the loss by almost 75% in the past year, providing hope to investors that it will deliver GAAP profits in 2018.

I like its chances to break through $10 by the end of the year.

Best Stocks Under $10: Algonquin Power & Utilities (AQN)

Source: Shutterstock

I figure if I’m going to pick the ten best stocks under $10, being Canadian, at least one of my selections ought to be based north of the border.

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (NYSE:AQN) is an Ontario-based diversified power generation, transmission and distribution utility with CAD$10 billion in total assets.

It operates two primary businesses: Liberty Utilities, which provides rate-regulated natural gas, water, and electricity to over 785,000 U.S. customers; and Liberty Power, which generates renewable power from wind, thermal, and solar energy.

Thanks to tax reform, the company feels it will be able to grow its rate base at a faster pace than it otherwise would have been able to do before the December 2017 corporate tax cut.

Acquisitions over the past year have helped the company grow. First, in January 2017, it paid $2.4 billion to acquire Empire District Electric Co., which has 200,000 customers in four states.

Then, this past November, it entered into a joint-venture partnership with Spanish utility Abengoa SA to develop renewable energy projects around the world. As part of the agreement it acquired a 25% interest in Atlantica Yield PLC from Abengoa; Atlantica Yield operates renewable energy facilities in Europe, Africa, and South America.

Going global will pay dividends, literally and figuratively, in the years to come.

Best Stocks Under $10: Sirius XM (SIRI)

Source: Vinod Sankar via Flickr

A lot’s going right for Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) these days pushing SIRI stock to recent 52-week highs; yet it still only trades between $6-$7.

A big highlight from the satellite radio company’s fiscal year was the addition of 1.56 million self-pay subscribers in 2017, 160,000 higher than its projections, bringing the overall total to 27.5 million.

Another notable highlight was the Trump tax cut which is expected to add $900 million in operating cash over the next four years.

And if that wasn’t enough, Sirius XM’s board approved a $2 billion increase in its share buybacks as well as a 10% hike in the dividend. While you’re not going to buy SIRI for the dividend, the company is trying to increase the rate at which it rewards shareholders.

When you generate as much free cash flow as SIRI does, it’s only natural that share repurchases and dividends are a part of its capital allocation program.

SIRI could be my favorite large-cap stock under $10.

Best Stocks Under $10: ICICI Bank (IBN)

Source: Shutterstock

India is one of my three favorite emerging markets; Brazil and South Africa being the others.

Canadian financier Prem Watsa has done very well in recent years by investing in the country where he was born. Watsa’s considered the Canadian version of Warren Buffett.

In July 2017, Watsa’s company, Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd (OTCMKTS:FRFHF), terminatedits joint venture with ICICI Bank Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:ABN) after 17 years to carry out the IPO of ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company, itself a joint venture between the two companies.

ICICI Chairman M.K. Sharma finished his 2017 message to shareholders by stating:

“The ICICI Group represents a unique financial services franchise that will benefit from the growth and formalisation of the Indian economy and the Indian financial sector. It will continue its commitment to being a partner in India’s growth and development.”

I believe that India will continue to grow at a faster rate than the emerging markets as a whole. Owning the largest private sector bank in India is a good proxy for benefiting from that growth.

Best Stocks Under $10: Gazit Globe (GZT)

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Talk about your global real estate company.

Based in Tel Aviv, Gazit Globe Ltd (NYSE:GZT) owns properties in Israel, U.S., Canada, Brazil and Europe; its stock trades on three major stock exchanges: New York, Toronto and Tel Aviv. It’s about as internationally diverse as they come.

Its best-known investment here in America would probably be its 11% ownership interest in Regency Centers Corp (NYSE:REG), a REIT with 59 million square feet of retail space with 80% of its 426 centers anchored by grocery stores, a stabilizing factor in a changing retail marketplace.

I’m more of a fan of Gazit Globe because of its 32.6% ownership interest in First Capital Realty Inc (OTCMKTS:FCRGF), one of Canada’s most interesting retail real estate owners.

Not coincidentally, Gazit-Globe director Dori Segal, was CEO of First Capital for 15 years from 2000 to 2015 when he stepped down to devote more time to Gazit-Globe.

Segal’s one of the most respected real estate people anywhere.

Best Stocks Under $10: WisdomTree Investments (WETF)

Focused on ETPs, WisdomTree Investments, Inc. (NASDAQ:WETF) has taken a long and very circuitous route from its founding in the 1980s as a finance magazine to where it is today — an ETP provider with $46 billion in assets under management.

The company’s stock has performed poorly in 2018, down 21% year to date through March 6. As a result, it now trades below $10, a level it hasn’t seen on a consistent basis since 2013.

Why the retreat? The quick answer is it missed its Q4 2017 earnings estimate by three cents. Bigger picture, things look pretty good.

In 2017, if you exclude both the WisdomTree International Hedged Equity Fund (NYSEARCA:HEDJ) and WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund (NYSEARCA:DHJ) ETFs, it had net inflows of $2.9 billion. In the fourth quarter, also excluding DXJ/HEDJ, it had $1.1 billion in net inflows, its strongest quarter in the last five years.

In November, WisdomTree announced it was acquiring $18 billion worth of European AUM from ETF Securities. The $611 million cash-and-stock deal, which is expected to close by the end of March, will bring the ETP provider’s global AUM to more than $66 billion making it the ninth largest ETP sponsor in the world.

New products and innovations along with future potential acquisitions will help WisdomTree thrive in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Best Stocks Under $10: BBX Capital (BBX)

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Last July, I called BBX Capital Corp (NYSE:BBX) one of the seven best buy-and-hold “holdings” on Wall Street. Since then, it’s up 45% and ready to blow past $10. BBX stock hasn’t had a losing year since 2011.

BBX Capital is probably best known for its vacation ownership business, Bluegreen Vacations, which operates in a very hot industry. Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corp (NYSE:VAC), the industry leader, has delivered an annualized total return of 25% over the past three years as consumers look to own a tiny fraction of the places they choose to vacation.

In November, BBX Capital spun-off its timeshare business into its own publicly traded company, Bluegreen Vacations Corp (NYSE:BXG), selling 10% of the company to investors at $14 a share; it’s now close to $20.

In addition to its vacation ownership business, it also has a private equity division that invests in middle-market consumer-facing companies such as IT’SUGAR, a candy company it acquired in June 2017 for $57 million. It’s also opening as many as 50 MOD Pizza locations in Florida.

Now that Bluegreen Vacations is operating on its own, I’d look for BBX Capital to pick up the M&A pace and burst into the mid-teens.

Best Stocks Under $10: J. Jill (JILL)

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This is a speculative bet all the way, so if you’re thinking about using your retirement fund or your kid’s college fund, don’t. Run away from J. Jill Inc (NYSE:JILL) as fast as you can.

However, if you’re an aggressive investor and can afford to lay down a small bet with the full understanding you could lose the entire sum, by all means, take a closer look at it.

First, a little history.

J. Jill was founded in 1959 as an apparel brand catering to women over 40. Fast forward to 2015; it was acquired by TowerBrook Partners, the same private equity firm behind True Religion Brand Jeans, for $400 million.

Two years later, J. Jill did an IPO in March 2017 at $13 a share allowing TowerBrook to get back a big chunk of the cash it put into acquiring J. Jill back in 2015. Still owning 59% of the company, TowerBrook wants to exit with as much cash as it possibly can.

Retail holiday sales across the industry were good this past year, so I’m hoping the two-day delayof Q4 2017 results isn’t anything more other than the retailer wanting to get the numbers right.

Analysts expect J. Jill to be one of the big retail beneficiaries from the corporate tax rate cut, so that’s a bonus.

Bottom line: At $13, JILL stock was probably a little pricey. At $8 and change, it’s got some upside, especially given the extra profits from lower taxes.

Best Stocks Under $10: Oaktree Specialty Lending (OCSL)

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Business Development Companies (BDCs) aren’t nearly as popular as they once were, but this one caught my attention while writing a piece about the best alternative asset management stocks available.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Corp (NASDAQ:OCSL) is managed by Oaktree Capital Group LLC (NYSE:OAK), the alternative asset management firm co-founded by Howard Marks, one of the best investors of our time.

Oaktree Specialty Lending provides first and second lien loans, unsecured and mezzanine loans, as well as preferred equity to middle-market companies across all industries, preferably ones with strong financials.

It’s been less than a year since Oaktree Capital acquired Fifth Street Finance Corp. It’s going to take the asset manager time to remodel the 122-company portfolio.

At $4 and change, I’m betting Oaktree Capital will turn this around.

Source: Investors Place