(Business Edge columnist Gyle Konotopetz regularly profiles the top stock picks of some of Canada's most accomplished investment pros.)

FEATURED PRO: Martin Ferguson is a partner and portfolio manager with Calgary-based Mawer Investment Management (www.mawer.com). He is the lead manager of the Mawer New Canada Fund.

Fund Form: The Mawer New Canada Fund has a five-year compound annualized return of 24.1 per cent, compared to the group average of 15.5 per cent.

Management Expense Ratio: 1.5 per cent.

Ferguson's Perspective: "Our portfolio has been doing fine, but we haven't been keeping up with the tremendous increases in the materials sector (ie. stocks that have benefited from strength in commodity prices). One of the things we pride ourselves on is our discipline. We stick to our strategy regardless of economic conditions or market conditions. Right now, there's a party in that part of the market. Even though the rest of the market isn't doing badly, it just pales by comparison (to commodities stocks).

"We look for what we call wealth-creating companies, and those are companies with strong competitive advantages in terms of market share, better processes, unique assets or whatever. Commodity stocks don't have the strong competitive advantages that we look for."

First Star

* Canadian Energy Services L.P.

(TSX:CEU.UN)

* Recent Price: $9.70.

* 52-Week Range: $9.50-$10.50.

* Snapshot: Canadian Energy Services provides fluid drilling systems for oil and natural gas wells.

* CEO: Tom Simons.

* Head Office: Calgary.

* Vital Stats: As a recent issue, 12-month revenue and earnings are not yet available. Market Cap, $65.5 million; Shares Outstanding, 6.75 million; Monthly Cash Distribution, $0.0792 per unit.

* Ferguson's View: "We bought the IPO (initial public offering) of this company at $10 earlier this year. This company has the expertise to help drilling companies use the correct drilling fluids. This is a company that focuses on the more difficult or challenging wells to drill and has about 12-per-cent market share overall in that area of the market. There are about 50 mudding companies, as I refer to them, in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. I also like the management team very much. While their cashflows will more than cover their distributions for the year, their second-quarter results will probably look ugly, simply because of the seasonality of the business."

* Ferguson's Risk Rating: Moderate to high.

* Web Watch: www.ceslp.ca

Second Star

* Supremex Income Fund (TSX:SXP.UN)

* Recent Price: $10.19.

* 52-Week Range: $9.51-$10.25.

* Snapshot: Supremex is Canada's only national envelope manufacturer, producing about 7.5 billion envelopes per year at 13 manufacturing facilities in nine Canadian cities.

* CEO: Gilles Cyr.

* Head Office: LaSalle, Que.

* Vital Stats: As a recent issue, 12-month earnings and revenue not yet available. Market Cap, $319.07 million; Shares Outstanding, 31.3 million; Monthly Cash Distribution, $0.0958 per unit.

* Ferguson's View: "Supremex is the largest envelope manufacturing company in Canada with approximately 55-per-cent market share and the company is really well managed. It has a fairly stable business, it has low capital expenditure requirements and I quite like the management team. Their margins are higher than those of their competitors. This was also an IPO in the first quarter and came out at $10. The envelope industry is a mature industry and there will probably be a decrease in demand or volumes for the side of their business that manufactures transactional envelopes as more people are doing Internet banking. But offsetting that to a certain degree, but not entirely, is that direct mail is one of the fastest growing forms of advertising. Growth for Supremex will come through acquisitions and I believe there's an opportunity for them to grow in that manner."

* Ferguson's Risk Rating: Moderate to high.

* Web Watch: www.supremex.com

Third Star

* EGI Financial Holdings Inc. (TSX:EFH)

* Recent Price: $10.35.

* 52-Week Range: $9.50-11.

* Snapshot: EGI, through its Echelon General Insurance subsidiary, is an underwriter of non-standard auto insurance and other niche insurance products.

* CEO: Douglas McIntyre.

* Head Office: Mississauga, Ont.

* Vital Stats: Current Price/Earnings Ratio, 8.0; Revenue (last 12 mos), $84.1 million; Earnings (last 12 mos), $11.2 million; Market Cap, $122.6 million; Shares Outstanding, 11.9 million.

* Ferguson's View: "This is a holding company which operates in the property and casualty insurance industry.

The biggest part of its business is in non-standard automobile insurance and a small part of the business is in specialty general insurance products.

"There is no debt in the company and it has a management team with a very long track record in non-standard automobile insurance."

* Ferguson's Risk Rating: Moderate to high.

* Web Watch: www.egi.ca

Ferguson's Edge Record (past 12 mos): +18.7 per cent. Best Pick: VFC Inc. (TSX:VFC) +77.4 per cent. Worst Pick: Global Railway Industries (TSX:GBI) -29.7 per cent.

Disclosure: Mawer partners are restricted from owning the individual stocks held in their funds, but may own shares in the funds.

(This feature is provided for information purposes. Investors are advised to do their own research or consult a qualified investment professional before making investment decisions.)