Our past #1 picks

Article Excerpt

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD.$108 (Toronto symbol CP) was our top pick for 2012 at $69. Since then, the stock has gained 56.5%.We’ve long admired CP, but bad weather and poor efficiency have held back its earnings and stock price in the past few years.It seems activist investment firm Pershing Square shared our view, and in 2011 it became CP’s largest shareholder(it now holds 14.2%). We felt Pershing would push management to improve efficiency, and help unlock more of CP’s value. That’s partly why we made CP our #1 buy for 2012.The company’s new management recently announced a major restructuring plan, including cutting 25% of its workforce, making its trains longer and faster, and closing some terminals.These moves should help cut CP’s operating ratio from 74.1% to around65% in 2016. (Operating ratio is calculated by dividing a company’s regular operating costs by its revenue. The lower the ratio, the better.)CP Rail is still a buy.CGI GROUP INC. $24 (Toronto symbol GIB.A)…