(Business Edge writer David Hatton regularly profiles the top stock picks of some of Canada's most accomplished investment pros.)

FEATURED PRO: Alex Sasso is a Toronto-based vice-president and partner with Hesperian Capital Management Ltd. and co-manages several of its Norrep funds. He has more than 14 years of experience in the investment industry, beginning his career at Altamira Management as an analyst on its North American Recovery Fund. In 1994, he assumed the additional responsibility of managing the large capitalization Manulife Cabot Canadian Equity fund. By 1998 he took over responsibility for all of Altamira's large-cap pension mandates.

Fund form: Norrep Income Growth Class fund has a median trailing return of 13.6 per cent, based on Morningstar data since Jan 1, 2006. Norrep G fund has an average return of 13.1 per cent, based on data since June 1, 2006 and Norrep US Class fund shows a median return of 5.8 per cent since Jan. 1, 2006. Sasso co-manages all three funds.

Management Expense Ratio: Norrep Income Growth: 4.76 per cent, Norrep G: 2.54 per cent, Norrep US Class: 3.84 per cent.

Alex Sasso

Sasso's Strategy: "We look more at the small-cap stocks; the ones that appeal to the value investor. Our strategy is not to spend a lot of time looking at the macro picture. We spend more time looking at fundamentals like return on equity and trailing price earnings. It's that earnings momentum that catches our eye."

First Star

* Neo Material Technologies (TSX:NEM)

* Recent Price: $4.55

* 52-Week Range: $5.60-$2.89 (10/29-03/05)

* Snapshot: Neo Material Technologies is a producer, processor and developer of Neo powders, rare earths and zirconium-based engineered materials and applications through its Magnaquench and AMR Performance Materials business divisions.

* CEO: Constantine Karayannopoulos

* Head Office: Toronto

* Vital Stats: Price/Earnings Ratio (trailing 12 months), 13; Revenue (last fiscal year), $164.49 million; Earnings Per Share $0.35; Market Cap $449 million.

* Sasso's View: "Neo Materials is an interesting company because they produce the rare earth to make magnetic compounds, used in all kinds of products from catalytic converters in automobiles to computer disk drives. It's almost a tech stock. There's a limited enough supply and strong enough demand to make this worthwhile. What we looked at was numbers like 10 times trailing price earnings and a 52-per-cent return on equity, with return on equity being the primary determinant."

Neo Material Technologies

* Risk Rating: High

* Web Watch: www.amr-ltd.com

Second Star

* Stella Jones (TSX: SJ)

* Recent Price: $38.95

* 52-Week Range: $55-$30.73 (04/26-12/18)

* Snapshot: Stella Jones Inc. is a producer and marketer of industrial treated-wood products, specializing in the production of pressure-treated railway ties as well as wood poles supplied to electrical utilities and telecommunications companies. Other principal products include marine and foundation pilings, construction timbers, highway guardrail posts and treated wood for bridges.

* CEO: Brian McManus

* Head Office: Saint-Laurent

* Vital Stats: Price/Earnings Ratio (ttm), 17; Revenue (last fiscal year), $181.72 million; Earnings Per Share (ttm), $0.64; Market Cap, $106 million.

Stella Jones

* Sasso's View: "Stella Jones is growing very quickly. It's a relatively buoyant business where they manufacture utility poles and railway ties. We also like their management team. It's a strategy that has worked well for them in Canada and now they're trying to take that into the United States."

* Risk Rating: Medium

* Web Watch: www.stella-jones.com

Third Star

* Softchoice Corp. (TSX:SO)

* Recent Price: $18.77

* 52-Week Range: $24.78-$11.06 (12/27-02/01)

* Snapshot: Softchoice Corp. is a direct marketer of computer software and hardware.

* Vital Stats: Price/Earnings Ratio, 14.10 (ttm); Total Revenue $704.19 million; Earnings Per Share, $1.33; Market Cap, $325 million.

* CEO: David MacDonald

Softchoice Corp.

* Head Office: Toronto

* Sasso's View: "Softchoice is Canada's largest reseller of Microsoft (computer) hardware and software. It's down quite a bit right now, but we're confident it will bounce back up. They concentrate a lot on the EA (enterprise applications) market, which can be very profitable.

Microsoft has also come out with a rash of new products lately, which points to lots of future demand in Softchoice's pipeline. They also made three significant acquisitions recently, especially Software Plus and Next Innovations, which is a $200-million hardware reseller. In 2008 we're looking at it to do about eight times earnings and a 37-per-cent return on equity."

* Risk Rating: High

* Web Watch: www.softchoice.com Disclosure: Sasso owns shares in some or all of the above companies listed.

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