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

Value Stocks

Finning International Has a Surging Backlog Amid Mining and Infrastructure Boom

Finning Int’l Inc. has a bright outlook spurred by mining and infrastructure growth.

2 min read

Jim Bates

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

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

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

How To Invest

Largest McDonald’s franchisee dominates in Latin America

Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for advice on stock picks, 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 investing in a fast food franchisee. As its name Arcos Dorados (“Golden Arches” in Spanish) indicates, this company operates McDonald’s restaurants in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is McDonald’s single largest franchisee. Pat examines the pros and cons of doing business in an area that is growing rapidly but unevenly and still faces political and economic challenges. Q: Pat: What is your opinion on Arcos Dorados? Thanks....

3 min read

Jim Bates

How To Invest

Our Top U.S. Stocks: Big deal with France’s Alstom is a pivotal move in General Electric’s global expansion plans

Every Thursday we bring you “Our Top U.S. Stocks” as our daily post. In these posts, you’ll 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 covered in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster. “Our Top U.S. Stocks” is part of our new approach offering you regular buy, hold and sell advice in our daily posts. Every week you get “A Stock to Sell” on Monday, “Best Canadian Stocks” on Tuesday and on Friday, our advice on one of the stocks our Inner Circle members have asked about in their weekly Question & Answer sessions. GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. (New York symbol GE; www.ge.com) saw its shares drop from $42 in 2007 to under $6 in 2009, as the financial crisis caused big losses at its banking division. In response, the company decided to shrink this business’s assets to half of what they were before the recession. It expects to complete these cuts by the end of 2014....

4 min read

Jim Bates

How To Invest

Best Canadian Stocks: Powerful brand name keeps this Canadian retail icon growing

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks” as our daily post. In these posts, 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 that are profiled in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor. “Best Canadian Stocks” is part of our new approach offering you regular buy, hold and sell advice in our daily posts. Every week you get “A Stock to Sell” on Monday, “Our Top U.S. Stocks” on Thursday and on Friday, our advice on one of the stocks our Inner Circle members have asked about in their weekly Question & Answer sessions. A key part of successful investing involves picking stocks with hard-to-replace assets, like popular brand names....

3 min read

Jim Bates

How To Invest

A Stock to Sell: High dividends may soon plunge at this Canadian auto parts firm

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. Automodular Corp. (symbol AM on Toronto; www.automodular.com), assembles car and truck components, such as instrument panels, engines and rear suspensions....

3 min read

Jim Bates

Growth Stocks

Yahoo sells for little more than the value of its 24% stake in Alibaba, the Chinese “Amazon.com”

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. 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 one of the top tech stocks competing for market share in online search and content. Two years ago, Yahoo hired a new president and CEO away from rival Google to help the company make up lost ground against Google and Facebook. Pat examines the measures Marissa Mayer has taken to improve Yahoo’s competitive position. He also discusses Yahoo’s big stake in Alibaba, the Chinese “Amazon.com”, and the impact that company’s upcoming IPO will have on Yahoo’s prospects. Q: I would like your evaluation on the prospects for Yahoo. Thank you....

4 min read

Jim Bates

How To Invest

Our Top U.S. Stocks: Federal charges for shipping illegal online drugs won’t slow FedEx’s fast growth

Every Thursday we bring you “Our Top U.S. Stocks” as our daily post. In these new posts, you’ll 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 covered in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster. “Our Top U.S. Stocks” is part of our new approach offering you regular buy, hold and sell advice in our daily posts. Every week you get “A Stock to Sell” on Monday, “Best Canadian Stocks” on Tuesday and on Friday, our advice on one of the stocks our Inner Circle members have asked about in their weekly Question & Answer sessions FEDEX CORP. (New York symbol FDX; www.fedex.com) delivers packages and documents in the U.S. and over 220 other countries through its fleet of 650 planes and over 108,000 trucks and other surface vehicles....

3 min read

Jim Bates

How To Invest

Best Canadian Stocks: Linamar shares double on rising car demand and overseas growth

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks” as our daily post. In these new posts, you’ll 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 that are profiled in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor. “Best Canadian Stocks” is part of our new approach offering you regular buy, hold and sell advice in our daily posts. Every week you get “A Stock to Sell” on Monday, “Our Top U.S. Stocks” on Thursday and on Friday, our advice on one of the stocks our Inner Circle members have asked about in their weekly Question & Answer sessions. LINAMAR CORP. (Toronto symbol LNR; www.linamar.com) survived the 2008 financial crisis, plus the bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler. The company has emerged stronger than ever, and we’ve now upgraded its TSINetwork Rating from “Extra Risk” to “Average.” (See below for a description of how we award our TSINetwork ratings.)...

5 min read

Jim Bates

Acquisitions help Canadian tech stock build on niche market

How To Invest

Our Top U.S. Stocks: Yum Brands moves quickly to solve new food scare in China

Beginning today, we launch Our Top U.S. Stocks, a feature which will appear every Thursday as our daily post. We are also launching a new approach—you will get our specific advice on whether to buy, hold or sell 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 covered in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster. On Monday, look for our new weekly feature on stocks we believe investors should avoid, A Stock to Sell. YUM! BRANDS INC. (New York symbol YUM; www.yum.com) has 40,324 fast-food restaurants in over 110 countries. Its main banners include KFC (fried chicken), Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Mexican food). Franchisees operate 80% of these outlets....

3 min read

Jim Bates