Here are our top picks for 2019

Article Excerpt

We have lots of attractive long-term buys among the stocks we cover, and overall we’re positive about the long-term outlook for stocks, in general. We feel just as strongly about the need to diversify. That’s why we’ve chosen three top picks for 2019 from our Stock Pickers Digest recommendations. Each is a high-quality stock that offers particularly strong prospects based on a sound growth strategy. ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD $71.82 (Toronto symbol ATD.B: TSINetwork Rating: Average) (1-800-361-2612; www.couchetard.com; Shares outstanding: 567.4 million; Market cap: $40.9 billion; Dividend yield: 0.6%) operates 12,661 convenience stores throughout North America and Europe. In the three months ended October 14, 2018, sales rose 21.1%, to $14.70 billion from $12.14 billion a year earlier (all figures except share price in U.S. dollars). The jump was mostly due to acquisitions, including the purchase of convenience-store chain CST Brands (symbol CST on New York) for $4.4 billion. Revenue in the latest quarter beat the consensus estimate of $13.9 billion. More important, same-store sales of merchandise rose 5.1% in Canada,…