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.

GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $34 (www.greatwestlifeco.com) sells health and life insurance in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. It also offers mutual funds, retirement planning and wealth management. The company paid out higher life and health insurance claims in the three months ended March 31, 2016....
CANADIAN UTILITIES LTD. $37 (www.canadianutilities.com) distributes electricity and natural gas in Alberta and Australia. It also operates 15 power plants—13 in Canada; 2 in Australia. The company earned $0.65 a share in the first quarter of 2016. That’s up 6.6% from $0.61 a year earlier....
Necessity is the mother of all invention, and declining industries force companies to think about new ways to generate profits.
We advise you to limit investing in gold to gold mining stocks, but if you wish to hold gold or silver in your RRSP, here’s the best way.
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) give you a low-cost, flexible alternative to mutual funds. Here are five ETFs we recommend and one to sell.
LOBLAW COMPANIES $70.28 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 410.2 million; Market cap: $28.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.5%; www.loblaw.ca) currently operates over 1,100 supermarkets and 1,300 Shopper Drug Mart pharmacies across Canada. In the three months ended March 26, 2016, Loblaw earned $338 million, or $0.82 a share. That’s up 12.3% from $301 million, or $0.72, a year earlier. Sales rose 4.8%, to $13.9 billion from $13.6 billion. Excluding gas station revenue, same-store sales rose 2.6% at Loblaw. They rose 6.3% at Shoppers Drug Mart. The company now plans to spend $1 billion to open 50 new locations and renovate 150 stores. Choice Properties REIT (Toronto symbol CHP.UN) will contribute an additional $300 million to the construction projects. Loblaw owns 83.0% of the REIT, which gets 91% of its rental revenue from its supermarkets and drug stores....
MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES $37.43 (Toronto symbol MBT; Shares outstanding: 78.3 million; Market cap: $2.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 3.5%; www.mts.ca) has attracted a $3.1 billion takeover offer from BCE Inc. (see page 38). Under the deal, Manitoba Tel shareholders can choose either $40 in cash or 0.6756 shares of BCE for every MBT share they hold. However, BCE plans to limit its overall cash spending, so most Manitoba Tel investors will likely receive 55% of their payout in stock and the remainder in cash....
ISHARES S&P/TSX GLOBAL GOLD INDEX FUND $13.31 (Toronto symbol XGD; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) aims to mirror the performance of the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index, which is made up of 35 gold stocks from Canada and around the world. The ETF began trading on March 23, 2001. Its MER is 0.61%. The fund’s top holdings are Barrick Gold at 14.6%; Newmont Mining, 12.4%; Goldcorp, 11.2%; Franco-Nevada, 8.7%; Agnico-Eagle Mines, 6.8%; Randgold Resources (ADR), 6.2%; Kinross Gold, 4.5%; and AngloGold Ashanti (ADR), 4.4%. iShares S&P/TSX Global Gold Index is a hold.
GLOBAL X SILVER MINERS ETF $32.963 (New York symbol SIL; buy or sell through brokers; www.globalxfunds.com) tracks the Solactive Global Silver Miners Index. That index includes 21 international firms that mine, refine or explore for silver. It was developed by Germany-based Structured Solutions AG. Canadian firms make up 50.5% of the fund’s holdings, but it also includes miners in the U.S. (22.0%) and Mexico (21.0%). Its MER is 0.65%. The ETF’s top holdings are Tahoe Resources Inc. at 11.5%; Silver Wheaton, 11.1%; Fresnillo plc 10.7%; First Majestic Silver, 7.7%; Industrias Penoles, 7.3%; Coeur Mining, 6.0%; Pan American Silver, 5.7%; Hecla Mining, 5.1%; Fortuna Silver Mines, 4.7%; Alamos Gold, 4.7%; Mag Silver, 4.4%; and Silver Standard Resources, 3.8%....