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

McDonald's Corp. plans to keep aggressively opening locations to continue to power its sales.

Blue Chip Stocks

McDonald’s Reports Higher Sales Despite Economic Headwinds

McDonald’s Corp. plans to keep aggressively opening locations to continue to power its sales.

2 min read

Jim Bates

Dividend Stocks

T. Rowe Price Group Offers a High 4.8% Yield Enhanced by a Key New Strategic Alliance

1 min read

Jim Bates

Mattr Corp. (formerly ShawCor Ltd.) has a strong position in an expanding infrastructure materials market.

Growth Stocks

Mattr Is a High-Growth Infrastructure Materials Play, Trading Cheaply Right Now

2 min read

Jim Bates

Enbridge expansion goes on despite Northern Gateway controversy

Energy Stocks

Best U.S. Stocks: U.S. giant Chevron banks on strong long-term potential of LNG projects

Every Thursday we bring you “Best U.S. Stocks.” 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, from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster. We feel the best way to invest in the cyclical oil and gas industry is through well-established producers whose high-quality operations give them plenty of cash flow to replenish their reserves and pay for share buybacks and dividends. CHEVRON CORP. (New York symbol CVX; www.chevron.com) is the second-largest integrated oil company in the U.S. by revenue, after ExxonMobil (New York symbol XOM)....

3 min read

Jim Bates

investing for beginners stock market profits

How To Invest

Best Canadian Stocks: Holding company discount helps ATCO stand out among utilities

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendation 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. We continue to advise against investing in bonds, because low interest rates hurt their appeal, while rising rates would push down their future value. For stable income and growth, we prefer high-yielding utilities. Their dividends also qualify for the dividend tax credit. ATCO LTD. (Toronto symbols ACO.X [class I non-voting] and ACO.Y [class II voting; www.atco.com) holds 53.2% of Canadian Utilities. It also owns 75.5% of ATCO Structures & Logistics, which builds temporary buildings for construction and energy exploration firms; Canadian Utilities owns the remaining 24.5%....

3 min read

Jim Bates

Growth Stocks

Computer chip maker prepares to do a big deal with Apple

Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for advice on specific stocks, as well as questions on investment strategy and the economy. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week we offer you a report on one of the stocks profiled in these Q&A sessions. Beginning this week, we give you Pat’s buy-hold-sell recommendation as well as his analysis of the stock. This is part of our new approach offering you regular and specific buy, hold and sell advice in our daily posts. Every week you’ll get “A Stock to Sell” on Monday, “Best Canadian Stocks” on Tuesday, and “Our Top U.S. Stocks” on Thursday. This week we had a question from an Inner Circle member about one of the lesser-known tech stocks that makes it money by supplying an essential component to the giants of the industry. InvenSense makes chips that track motion, and its clients include such well-known names as Amazon. Samsung and Google. Now it appears that Apple will become a key customer. Pat examines the details of the projected deal with Apple and its impact on the company’s prospects. Q: Hi Pat: I was wondering, what are your thoughts on InvenSense? Thanks....

3 min read

Jim Bates

Why “averaging down” to buy stocks can be a bad bargain

Growth Stocks

Best U.S. Stocks: New growth in store as Motorola Solutions focuses on its core business

Every Thursday we bring you “Best U.S. Stocks.” 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, from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster. MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS INC. (New York symbol MSI; www.motorolasolutions.com) took its current form on January 4, 2011, when the old Motorola Inc. spun off its struggling cellphone business, Motorola Mobility, as a separate firm. The remaining operations became Motorola Solutions after the breakup. The company makes specialized communications equipment, such as radios for police and fire vehicles. Government clients account for about 70% of its revenue....

3 min read

Jim Bates

How To Invest

Best Canadian Stocks: Smart mortgage policies have Home Capital’s shares and dividends rising

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendation 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. HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. (Toronto symbol HCG; www.homecapital.com) gets 90% of its revenue by offering mortgages to borrowers who don’t meet the stricter standards of larger, traditional lenders, like banks. Clients include self-employed people and recent immigrants with limited credit histories. The remaining 10% of its revenue mainly comes from credit cards and other loans to consumers and businesses....

3 min read

Jim Bates

Wealth Management

A Stock to Sell: Investors recommended to sell and take profits with Dundee Corp.

Every Monday we now feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With every stock we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in the stock at this time. DUNDEE CORP. (Toronto symbol DC.A; www.dundeecorp.com) owns businesses in the wealth management, real estate, natural resource and agriculture industries. The company lost $92.6 million, or $1.88 a share, in 2013. That’s a big drop from the $25.2 million, or $0.29 a share, it earned in 2012. Revenue fell 6.3%, to $200.7 million from $214.2 million....

2 min read

Jim Bates

Energy Stocks

First Quantum Minerals balances risk and potentially big rewards with Argentinian acquisition

Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for advice on specific stocks, as well as questions on investment strategy and the economy. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week we offer you a report on one of the stocks profiled in these Q&A sessions. Beginning this week, we give you Pat’s buy-hold-sell recommendation as well as his analysis of the stock. This is part of our new approach offering you regular and specific buy, hold and sell advice in our daily posts. Every week you’ll get “A Stock to Sell” on Monday, “Best Canadian Stocks” on Tuesday, and “Our Top U.S. Stocks” on Thursday. This week an Inner Circle member asked us about an acquisition by the largest of Canada’s copper stocks. First Quantum Minerals became the leading Canadian copper producer with its 2013 acquisition of Inmet Mining. Now it is making a major acquisition in Argentina. Pat assesses the company’s projected production from the Taca Taca deposit, as well as the considerable political risk of doing business in financially troubled Argentina. Q: Hi Pat: I’d like to know what you think of First Quantum Minerals. They are in the process of acquiring Lumina Copper, which I own. As always, thank you for your valuable input....

2 min read

Jim Bates

Growth Stocks

Best U.S. Stocks: Agile IBM making big strides in cloud computing and analytics software

Every Thursday we bring you “Best U.S. Stocks.”. 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, from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster. IBM has a long history of drifting in and out of investor favour, mainly due to fear that new technologies will put it out of business. However, IBM also has long history of successfully shifting out of slowing businesses into faster-growing fields. For example, as computer prices fell in the 1990s, IBM expanded its more-profitable software and consulting operations. Later it unloaded its struggling personal computer operations, and now it’s selling its low-end server business. It will invest the proceeds in areas such as cloud computing and analytics software....

5 min read

Jim Bates

Starbucks forges ahead with more stores in more countries

Growth Stocks

A Stock to Sell: Solar power component maker faces huge challenges

Every Monday we now feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With each sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in these stocks. This is part of our new approach offering you buy, hold and sell advice in our daily posts. You also get “Best Canadian Stocks” on Tuesday, “Our Top U.S. Stocks” on Thursday, and every Friday, our advice on one of the stocks that members of Pat’s Inner Circle have asked about in their weekly Question & Answer sessions. Eguana Technologies (symbol EGT on Toronto; www.eguanatech.com), formerly called Sustainable Energy Technologies Ltd., makes products that convert the high-current/low-voltage (DC) electricity from solar cells into high-voltage alternating current (AC) power, which is used by power grids and most industrial and consumer electronics....

3 min read

Jim Bates