Topic: Growth Stocks

Growth stock picks: Why you should follow Buffett’s lead on railways

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. recently announced that it will buy the 77% of U.S.-based railway Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. that it doesn’t already own. The company will pay $44 billion U.S. to complete the takeover.

Burlington Northern owns one of the largest railroad networks in the U.S., with about 51,500 kilometres of track.

Berkshire’s not one of our favourite growth stock picks, but we agree with Buffett on railways

Unlike many holding companies, Berkshire Hathaway trades at a premium to its net asset value. What’s more, the company is heavily reliant on its chairman, and Buffett celebrated his 79th birthday in August. When he dies or if he becomes incapacitated, the stock is vulnerable to a sudden and severe downturn.

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But back to railways: Much investor interest surrounding these firms, including Buffett’s, stems from the belief that they will benefit from higher Asian demand (including India and China) for coal and other commodities from North America.

We agree with Buffett’s outlook on railways, and higher commodity demand should favour two growth stock picks we cover in our Successful Investor newsletter, Canadian Pacific Railway (symbol CP on Toronto) and Canadian National Railway (symbol CNR on Toronto).

CN & CP are poised for commodity gains

CN operates the largest freight-rail network in Canada. It also serves 16 states. CP ships freight over a rail network between Montreal and Vancouver. It also operates in the midwestern and northeastern U.S.

The slower economy continues to hurt demand for rail service, but both of these growth stock picks are heavily focused on shipping resources and commodities, so they’re well positioned to profit from higher Asian demand. For example, 60% of CN’s shipments come from the following segments: petroleum and chemicals; metals and minerals; forest products; and grain and fertilizers.

You can get our latest recommendations on CN and CP, plus buy/sell/hold advice on other stocks you may be considering buying (or selling) in our Successful Investor newsletter. Click here to learn how you can get one month free when you subscribe today.

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