Pat McKeough

A professional investment analyst for more than 30 years, Pat has developed a stock-selection technique that has proven reliable in both bull and bear markets. His proprietary ValuVesting System™ focuses on stocks that provide exceptional quality at relatively low prices. Many savvy investors and industry leaders consider it the most powerful stock-picking method ever created.

As early as 1980, Pat was recognized as #1 in the world of published investment advice by the Washington, DC–based Newsletter Publishers Association, and he was the first multi-year winner of The Globe and Mail’s stock picking contest.

Both CBS MarketWatch and The Hulbert Financial Digest recognized Pat as one of North America’s top stock analysts. The Wall Street Journal called him “one of only four investment newsletter advisors who have managed to serve their readers well over the long haul.”

A best-selling Canadian author, he wrote Riding the Bull, his 1993 book that predicted the stock-market boom of the last half of that decade. Through his many television appearances, he is well-known to investors for his insightful analysis and his candid, unpretentious style.

Bottom line: Pat’s conservative, reduced-risk strategy is a proven approach to safe investing.

Posts by the author
To determine when to buy an ETF, some investors use technical analysis and other tools. But you need to dig deeper.
TELUS $39.66 (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 593.3 million; Market cap: $23.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.6%; www.telus.com) is Canada’s second-largest wireless carrier (behind Rogers Communications) with 8.4 million subscribers. In addition, its wireline division serves 3.1 million landline phone customers in B.C., Alberta and eastern Quebec. This business also has 1.5 million Internet users and 980,000 TV customers. Telus will now extend its reach into Manitoba with BCE’s takeover of Manitoba Tel (see page 33). To satisfy Canadian telecom regulators, BCE plans to sell to Telus about one-third of Manitoba Telecom’s current postpaid wireless accounts, or a block of about 140,000 subscribers. BCE will also transfer one-third of Manitoba Tel’s retail outlets to Telus. In the three months ended March 31, 2016, the company earned $414 million, down 3.0% from $427 million a year earlier. However, earnings per share were unchanged at $0.70, due to fewer shares outstanding. Revenue gained 2.6%, to $3.11 billion from $3.03 billion....
TD BANK $55.77 (Toronto symbol TD; Shares outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $103.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.9%; www.td.com) is the first Canadian bank to use Visa’s new tokenization technology in its mobile banking app. This system uses encrypted “tokens” instead of credit card numbers and other account information. That helps protect sensitive client information from online intruders. It also speeds up mobile payments and other transactions. Better security should encourage more of TD’s customers to do their banking online. That would cut its costs as electronic transactions are cheaper to process than those in physical branches....
ENBRIDGE INC. $50.95 (Toronto symbol ENB; Shares outstanding: 924.3 million; Market cap: $47.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Divd. yield: 4.2%; www.enbridge.com) has received Canadian regulatory approval to replace its Line 3 pipeline, which began operating in the 1960s. It pumps crude oil from Hardisty, Alberta, to Superior, Wisconsin. U.S. regulators have already approved the plan. The project will also enlarge the line’s capacity, from 390,000 barrels a day to 760,000 barrels. Enbridge expects to complete these upgrades by 2019. Regulators have imposed 89 conditions on the project—mainly additional measures to improve safety and environmental protections. But these conditions are unlikely to increase the project’s $7.5 billion cost....
PENGROWTH ENERGY $1.82 (Toronto symbol PGF; Shares outstanding: 543.0 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; No dividends paid; www.pengrowth.com) started up its Lindbergh oil sands project in Alberta in April 2015. The project includes an electrical power plant that provides the operation with steam used to melt the tar-like bitumen. That makes it easier to pump to the surface. The provincial power grid then buys the company’s excess power. Pengrowth is now selling this plant to a local First Nations group for $35 million. As part of the deal, Pengrowth will lease back the facility for 20 years and continue to operate it....
IMPERIAL OIL $40.37 (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap: $34.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.5%; www.imperialoil.ca) is raising its quarterly dividend by 7.1% with the July 2016 payment, to $0.15 from $0.14. The company has paid dividends every year for over a century and has increased its annual dividend payment for 21 consecutive years. Imperial Oil is a buy....
CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY $181.49 (Toronto symbol CP; Shares outstanding: 153.0 million; Market cap: $27.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.1%; www.cpr.ca) has abandoned its plan to merge with U.S.-based railway Norfolk Southern Corp. (New York symbol NSC). Norfolk rejected CP’s latest offer of about $30 billion U.S. in cash and shares. In addition, U.S. transportation regulators probably would have blocked any deal no matter how CP structured the transaction. The company will now use some of the cash it had set aside for the takeover to raise its quarterly dividend by 42.9%, starting with the July 2016 payment. The new annual rate of $2.00 a share yields 1.1%....
PROCTER & GAMBLE CO. $80 (New York symbol PG; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 2.7 billion; Market cap: $216.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield: 3.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pg.com) is one of the world’s largest makers of household and personal care goods. It began operating in the U.S. in 1837, and now sells its products in over 180 countries. Overseas markets account for 60% of its total sales. The company has five main business lines: fabric and home care products such as Tide laundry detergent (29% of fiscal 2015 sales, 24% of earnings); baby and family care goods, including Pampers diapers (27%, 26%); beauty items such as Olay cosmetics (24%, 23%); grooming products, including Gillette razors (10%, 16%); and health care items such as Crest toothpaste (10%, 11%). Wal-Mart accounts for 14% of the company’s sales. In response to rising competition from generic products, Procter is narrowing its focus from 166 different brands to 65. Of those remaining brands, 21 have annual sales of over $1 billion. Another 11 have annual sales of between $500 million and $1 billion....
GANNETT CO., INC. $18 (New York symbol GCI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector: Shares outstanding: 116.5 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 3.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.gannett.com) publishes daily newspapers in 107 U.S. markets, including its flagship newspaper, USAToday. It also has 19 papers in the U.K., and over 200 magazines and other publications. The company has offered to buy Tribune Publishing Co. (New York symbol TPUB). This firm owns 11 daily papers, including the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, as well as 160 weekly papers and 120 websites. Including Tribune’s debt, the offer is worth $815 million. Eliminating overlapping operations would let Gannett cut $50 million from its annual costs; it earned $209.1 million, or $1.79 a share, in 2015....
KRAFT HEINZ CO. $79 (Nasdaq symbol KHC; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $94.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.2; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.kraftheinzcompany.com) makes condiments and sauces (such as Heinz Ketchup) as well as other packaged foods. These include Velveeta and Philadelphia Cream Cheese, processed meats (such as Oscar Meyer hot dogs) and beverages (such as Maxwell House coffee). Kraft Heinz took its current form on July 2, 2015, through the merger of Kraft Foods Group and H.J. Heinz. The combined firm is the fifth-largest food and beverage producer globally. The new company’s sales fell 5.8%, to $27.5 billion in 2015 from $29.1 billion in 2014. Adjusting for currency exchange rates and businesses it sold, sales for 2015 fell just 1.6%....