In a search for your top 2024 buys, we’ve once again selected three stocks (one each from the Conservative, Aggressive and Income Portfolios).


We feel all three are poised to deliver big gains for our readers, not only this year but for many years to come....

A: J.M. Smucker Co., $130.49, symbol SJM on New York symbol (Shares outstanding: 106.1 million; Market cap: $13.7 billion; www.jmsmucker.com), is the largest maker of jams, jellies and peanut butter in the U.S....

A: Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., $87.75, symbol CNQ on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $94.7 billion; www.cnrl.com), is a producer of oil and natural gas in Western Canada, the U.K....

A: Valmont Industries Inc., $227.53, symbol VMI on New York (Shares outstanding: 20.9 million; Market cap: $4.8 billion; www.valmont.com), was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.

The company operates in two main segments:

Infrastructure (72% of sales) offers products to serve the infrastructure markets of utility, solar, lighting, transportation, and telecommunications, along with coatings services to preserve metal products.

Agriculture (28% of sales) is a leader in mechanized irrigation equipment for agriculture, aiming to enhance food production while conserving natural water resources....

A: Sphere Entertainment Co., $33.72, symbol SPHR on New York (Shares outstanding: 28.2 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; www.sphereentertainmentco.com), is one of the leading live entertainment and media companies in the U.S.

The company was spun off from Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp....

We may see some wild market action from now till next week, due to the January 13 election in Taiwan. China’s Communist party may once again send fighter jets to make threatening aerial maneuvers over the island, as it has in the past when it felt it wasn’t getting the respect it deserves.

In this case, it hopes to encourage Taiwanese voters to favour politicians/political parties that Beijing sees as less opposed to its long-term intention of claiming Taiwan.

Some media kibitzers may dwell this week on Beijing’s dreams of an easy Taiwan takeover....

TMX GROUP LTD., $31.50, symbol X on Toronto, is an operator of public trading platforms and a provider of ancillary services. The company owns Canada’s two primary stock exchanges, the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Montreal Exchange, as well as clearing entities for domestic Canadian markets (CDS and CDCC)....

RUSSEL METALS INC., $44.00, is a buy. Through their shares, investors tap one of North America’s largest metal distributors: the company (symbol RUS on Toronto) serves 33,000 clients at 48 locations in Canada and 16 others in the U.S.

Russel has now added Stewart Burton to its board of directors....

IMPERIAL OIL LTD., $78.60, Toronto symbol IMO, is a buy.

The company gets over 90% of its production from oil sands operations in Alberta. Imperial also has conventional oil and natural gas operations in the West and holds stakes in offshore projects in Atlantic Canada.

Its other operations include three refineries (one in Alberta, two in Ontario) and a petrochemical plant in Sarnia, Ontario.

With the July 2023 payment, the company raised your quarterly dividend by 13.6%, to $0.50 a share from $0.44....

CHEVRON CORP., $150.40, New York symbol CVX, remains s a buy for the Resources portion of your portfolio.

Through your shares, you tap the operations of the second-largest integrated oil producer in the U.S. by revenue. That’s after ExxonMobil (New York symbol XOM).

Due to regulatory changes in California, the company plans to scale back its spending on some of its oil-producing properties in the state....