Jim Bates

Jim is an associate editor at TSI Network. He is the lead reporter and analyst for The Successful Investor and Wall Street Stock Forecaster and a member of the Investment Planning Committee. Jim has held the Chartered Financial Analyst designation since 1992 and spent more than a decade at the Financial Post DataGroup before joining TSI Network. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto.

Posts by the author
Baxter International’s Low Valuation Is Weighed Against Turnaround Potential by Investors
Growth Stocks
Baxter International’s Low Valuation Is Weighed Against Turnaround Potential by Investors
Baxter International Inc. has been under pressure from a skeptical market as it continues its turnaround strategy.
2 min read
Jim Bates
J.P. Morgan Chase Extends Streak of Rising Revenues and Shareholder Payouts
Dividend Stocks
J.P. Morgan Chase Extends Streak of Rising Revenues and Shareholder Payouts
2 min read
Jim Bates
Stantec Posts Double‑Digit Earnings Growth
Growth Stocks
Stantec Posts Double‑Digit Earnings Growth
2 min read
Jim Bates
Stock Investing
Dividend Stocks
Best Canadian Stocks: How we pick a best buy in Canadian banks
Despite pessimistic media forecasts, Canada’s banks remain strong and international exposure helps make Scotiabank a best buy.
2 min read
Jim Bates
Stock Investing
How To Invest
Best Canadian Stocks: Building on success, RioCan unlocks more wealth in its properties
Building on the strong performance of its shopping mall empire, RioCan REIT unlocks more property value in a deal with Hudson’s Bay.
3 min read
Jim Bates
Income Investing
Dividend Stocks
Best Canadian Stocks: Big growth for BCE in smartphones and Fibe TV
Prompted by an increase in smartphone contracts and success with Fibe TV and Crave TV, BCE Inc. hikes its dividend by 5.3%.
3 min read
Jim Bates
stock picks
Wealth Management
Famous glassworks grows with the help of high technology
Old enough to have helped Thomas Edison with the light bulb, Corning glassworks keeps expanding operations with many high-tech applications.
3 min read
Jim Bates
Income Investing
Dividend Stocks
Alliant ready for tough greenhouse gas regulations
Income Investing
Every Thursday we bring you one of our best U.S. stock picks. You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You will read about stocks making moves you should know about, most often from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to bring in new rules forcing power plants to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030.

Alliant is upgrading its facilities in response. Regulators will probably let it pass along most of the extra costs to customers in the form of higher rates. We feel Alliant is in a good position to handle the new regulations.

ALLIANT ENERGY CORP. (New York symbol LNT; www.alliantenergy.com) sells electricity and natural gas to 1.4 million customers in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.

The company has earmarked $5.2 billion for plant upgrades and replacing older transmission lines and pipelines between 2014 and 2018. These funds include $750 million for a gas-fired plant that should replace some of its older coal facilities (coal accounts for about half of Alliant’s electricity production).

...
2 min read
Jim Bates
Stock Investing
How To Invest
Best Canadian Stocks: Transcontinental profits by knowing what to keep, what to sell
Transcontinental’s ability to keep the right assets in the fast-changing publishing industry makes it one of our top stocks to buy.
3 min read
Jim Bates
Income Investing
Growth Stocks
Texas Instruments has better things to make than mobile phone chips
Investment Counsellor
Every Thursday we bring you one of our best U.S. stock picks. You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You will read about stocks making moves you should know about, most often from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster. This week’s U.S. pick comes from our advisory for more aggressive investors, Stock Pickers Digest.

Over 30 billion devices—including things like home thermostats and appliances—will be connected to the Internet by 2020.

That means you’ll be able to control them with a smartphone, set them up to adapt to factors like outside temperatures and have them notify you if, for example, there is smoke or carbon monoxide in your home.

...
2 min read
Jim Bates
Commodity Investments
Dividend Stocks
Best Canadian Stocks: As pipelines thrive, Enbridge embarks on timely reorganization
Income Investing
Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendations on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor. ENBRIDGE INC. (Toronto symbol ENB; www.enbridge.com) gets 90% of its revenue from pipelines that pump oil and natural gas from Western Canada to Eastern Canada and the U.S. The remaining 10% mainly comes from distributing gas to 2.1 million consumers in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and New York State. Since 2008, Enbridge has spent $20 billion on 39 new pipelines and other projects. Thanks to these investments, the company’s revenue soared 164.1%, from $12.5 billion in 2009 to $32.9 billion in 2013. Its revenue probably increased to $37.7 billion in 2014....
3 min read
Jim Bates
investing for beginners stock market profits
How To Invest
Cintas targets small competitors as it expands market share
Stock Investing
Every Thursday we bring you one of our best U.S. stock picks. You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You will read about stocks making moves you should know about, most often from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster.

CINTAS CORP. (Nasdaq symbol CTAS; www.cintas.com) provides a range of products and services to over one million businesses, mainly in North America.

The company gets 71% of its revenue by renting uniforms that it makes and cleans. This business also rents a variety of related products, such as mats, towels, mops and cleaning supplies. Cintas gets a further 10% of its revenue by selling uniforms.

In addition, the company sells first aid kits, fire extinguishers, sprinklers and emergency-exit lights (11%). It also shreds corporate documents (8%). In April 2014, it merged its shredding operations with Shred-it International. In exchange, Cintas received 42% of the combined company, which uses the Shred-it brand, plus $180 million in cash.

Cintas used the proceeds from the deal to pay a special dividend of $0.85 a share. It also increased its regular annual dividend by 10.4%, to $0.85 a share from $0.77. The new rate yields 1.1%. The company has now raised the payout annually for the past 31 years.

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3 min read
Jim Bates
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