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PRIMARIS RETAIL REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $17.32 (Toronto symbol PMZ.UN; Units outstanding: 67.6 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; SI Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 7.0%) owns large malls in medium-sized Canadian cities. It also owns major shopping centres in suburbs of large cities. In all, the trust owns 28 properties that contain 10.5 million square feet of leasable area.
Primaris has …read more »
ALLIED PROPERTIES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $19.87 (Toronto symbol AP.UN; Units outstanding: 39.1 million; Market cap: $777.1 million; SI Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 6.6%) owns office buildings in Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City and Winnipeg. These mainly Class I properties contain over 5.7 million square feet of leasable area.
Class I refers to 19th and early 20th-century light industrial buildings that …read more »
ISHARES DEX SHORT BOND INDEX FUND $28.97 (CWA Rating: Income) (Toronto symbol XSB; buy or sell through a broker) mirrors the performance of the DEX Short-Term Bond Index.
This index consists of a wide range of investment-grade federal, provincial, municipal and corporate bonds with between one- and five-year terms to maturity. The fund holds 185 bonds with an average term to …read more »
Power Corp. trades at a holding company discount, which puts more assets to work for you, and adds a lot of appeal. The company also gives you exposure to a number of high-quality companies.
POWER CORP. $27.32 (Toronto symbol POW; Shares outstanding: 409.1 million; Market cap: $11.2 billion; SI Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.3%) is a diversified holding company. It …read more »
GREAT-WEST LIFECO $25.32 (Toronto symbol GWO; Shares outstanding: 947.4 million; Market cap: $24.0 billion; SI Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.9%) has finally had a quarter of break-even operating profits at its Putnam Investments subsidiary, after six consecutive money-losing quarters.
Great West is Canada’s largest insurance company, with $463.2 billion in assets under administration. It also operates in the U.S. and …read more »
We generally advise against investing in bonds right now, because today’s low interest rates make them unattractive. That’s especially so in light of the potential rise in inflation that may follow the heavy deficit spending and rapid expansion of the money supply that is now underway.
However, if you need stable income and want to hold bonds, here are two bond …read more »
Most real estate investment trusts (REITs), including our two recommendations below, are exempt from Ottawa’s income-trust tax, which comes into effect on January 1, 2011.
Even so, we still advise against overindulging in REITs. But if you stick with REITs that have steady cash flows and sound balance sheets, like the two we recommend on this page, you should earn attractive …read more »
If you want to invest in gold and silver, we think the best way to do it is through shares of companies that mine gold and silver. Our favourite gold stock is Newmont Mining (see box this page). But if you want to hold a number of gold or silver stocks, the two exchange-traded funds below offer a good combination …read more »
ISHARES DOW JONES CANADA SELECT DIVIDEND INDEX FUND $19.08 (Toronto symbol XDV; buy or sell through a broker) holds 30 of the highest-yielding Canadian stocks. Its selections are based on dividend growth, yield and payout ratio. The weight of any one stock is limited to 10%. The fund’s MER is 0.50%. It yields 4.0%.
The ETF’s top holdings are CIBC, 7.9%; …read more »
Members of Pat McKeough’s Inner Circle enjoy a double benefit when it comes to taking advantage of our investment research. They get to address investment questions directly to me and my research associates; AND they get to see all other members’ questions, and our answers (of course, we eliminate any personal information).
Aside from specific investments (such as stocks, income …read more »
