Versant's top picks

Here are a few names offered up in these rough times by the research team at Versant Partners:

EVENT

Versant has selected its top picks for the current market environment.

BOTTOM LINE

With the market rebounding slightly after being down over 10% (on July 19 from its intra-day high of 14,647), we have identified stocks that remain attractive and should outperform respective peer groups in both stronger and weaker market conditions.

These stocks generally have a defensive nature (vis-à-vis other stocks in the sector) as well as several catalysts in the near term. The group also has favourable valuation metrics when considering our picks’ fundamentals. While some of these picks have above market risk, we believe our selections will outperform their peer group on a risk adjusted return basis.

SUMMARY

Total Company Symbol Mrkt Cap (C$M) Analyst Recommendation Target Return*

Allen-Vanguard VRS/TSX 710 N. Linsdell Strong Buy C$20.00 115%

Axcan Pharma AXP/TSX; AXCA/NASDAQ 1,104 D. Loe Buy US$25.00 32%

Baja Mining BAJ/TSX 229 I. Parkinson Speculative Buy C$4.40 126%

CAE CAE/TSX; CGT/NYSE 3,217 C. Doerksen Buy C$15.00 17%

Descartes DSG/TSX; DSGX-NASDAQ 214 T. Liston Buy US$4.90 27%

Extendicare REIT EXE.UN/TSX 1,012 D. Loe Buy C$20.25 48%

SXC Health Solutions SXC/TSX ; SXCI/NASDAQ 409 T. Liston Buy US$24.00 26%

Thompson Creek TCM/TSX 1,788 I. Parkinson Buy C$28.25 77%

* Includes return from dividends or distributions

MRM