Sun Life Financial
Toronto symbol SLF, offers savings, retirement, pension and life and health insurance products and services to individuals and corporations.
ISHARES DIVIDEND INDEX FUND $16.92 (Toronto symbol XDV; buy or sell through a broker) currently holds the 30 highest yielding Canadian stocks. Stocks are included in the index based on their dividend growth, yield and average payout ratio.
The weight of any one stock in the fund is limited to 10% of the fund’s assets. iShares Dividend Index Fund’s MER is …read more »
BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $33.65 (Toronto symbol BNS: Shares outstanding: 991.9 million; Market cap: $33.4 billion; SI Rating: Above average) has completed the $2.3 billion purchase of Sun Life Financial’s 37% stake in TSX-listed CI Financial Income Fund, Canada’s third-largest mutual fund company.
Bank of Nova Scotia’s revenue in its fiscal year ended October 31, 2008 fell 4.9%, to $11.9 billion …read more »
ISHARES DIVIDEND INDEX FUND $14.89 (Toronto symbol XDV; buy or sell through a broker) currently holds the 30 highest yielding Canadian stocks. Stocks are included in the index based on their dividend growth, yield and average payout ratio.
The weight of any one stock in the fund is limited to 10% of the fund’s assets. Its MER is 0.50%. The fund …read more »
BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $38 (Toronto symbol BNS; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 990.0 million; Market cap: $37.6 billion; SI Rating: Above average) is Canada’s third-largest bank after Royal Bank and Toronto-Dominion Bank, with total assets of $462.4 billion. It provides a wide variety of financial services through 2,560 branches and offices in Canada and over 50 other …read more »
The worldwide credit crisis has hurt all of Canada’s big five banks. Still, we continue to have a positive view of all of them. The banks have already taken substantial writedowns, which may cover most of the damage. As well, Ottawa’s new plan to buy up to $75 billion of home mortgages from the banks, if needed, further cuts their …read more »
ALGONQUIN POWER INCOME FUND $2.88 (Toronto symbol APF.UN; Shares outstanding: 77.4 million; Market cap: $222.8 million; SI Rating: Extra Risk) dropped sharply in price recently after the fund cut its monthly distribution by 73.9%, to $0.02 from $0.0766. The units now yield 8.3%.
Prior to the cut, the fund paid out around 100% of its cash flow in distributions. That payout …read more »
TD CANADIAN EQUITY FUND $19.01 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (TD Asset Management, P.O. Box 7500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario. M5W 1P9. 1-866-222-3456; Web site: www.tdcanadatrust.ca. No load — deal directly with the bank) uses a “bottom-up” approach (using fundamentals such as earnings, cash flow and low debt) to identify undervalued companies with strong growth potential.
TD Canadian Equity Fund’s 10 largest holdings …read more »
The performance of these five large funds — one from each of Canada’s big-five banks — has suffered over the last year. That’s because they held high weightings in Financial services and Resources stocks. Financial services have dropped due to turmoil in credit markets. Resources have fallen along with commodity prices on fears that an economic slowdown will cut demand …read more »
BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $44 (Toronto symbol BNS; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 990.0 million; Market cap: $43.6 billion; SI Rating: Above average) is taking advantage of the credit crisis to expand its wealth management operations. Sun Life Financial Inc. wants more flexibility to pursue acquisitions, so it has agreed to sell its 37% stake in CI Financial …read more »
RBC CANADIAN DIVIDEND FUND $46.18 (RBC Funds, P.O. Box 7500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario. M5W 1P9. 1-800-463-3863; Web site: www.royalbank.com. No load — deal directly with the bank) has 43.5% of its portfolio in Financial services stocks. It has a further 19.4% in Energy stocks and 6.5% in Consumer discretionary.
The $9.6 billion RBC Canadian Dividend Fund’s top stock holdings are …read more »
