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.

ISHARES CANADIAN UNIVERSE BOND INDEX ETF $31.87 (Toronto symbol XBB; buy or sell through brokers) mirrors the performance of the Canadian Universe Bond Index. The 957 bonds in the portfolio have an average term to maturity of 10.26 years. The fund’s MER is 0.33%. The bonds in the index are 72.0% government and 28.0% corporate. The fund yields 2.8%, compared to the Short-Term Bond Fund’s 2.4%. Its yield to maturity is 1.96%, 0.75 percentage points above the Short-Term Fund. That reflects the added risk of long-term bonds....
PENN WEST $1.17 (Toronto symbol PWT; Shs. o/s: 502.2 million; Market cap: $582.5 million; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; No dividends paid; www.pennwest.com) has sold oilproducing properties worth over $1 billion since the start of 2015. Even so, its debt is still a very high $1.9 billion, or 3.3 times its market cap. In the three months ended December 31, 2015, Penn West’s production fell 20.3%, to an average of 77,398 barrels per day from 97,143. Cash flow per share fell sharply, to just $7.0 million, or $0.01 a share, from $137.0 million, or $0.28 a share. Penn West may still need to sell more assets to meet scheduled debt repayments. But without significantly higher oil and gas prices, those sales will further cut its already low cash flow....
RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $26.68 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Units outstanding: 321.9 million; Market cap: $8.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.2%; www.riocan.com) owns all or part of 305 shopping centres in Canada, including 16 properties under development. The trust pays monthly distributions of $0.1175 a unit, for a 5.2% annual yield. These payouts accounted for 90.4% of RioCan’s cash flow in 2015. However, 31.5% of the trust’s investors take part in its distribution reinvestment plan, so they get units rather than cash. On this basis, RioCan’s cash payouts were a more reasonable 62.0% of its cash flow. (If you want the units instead of cash, you still have to pay income taxes on your distributions for the year when you receive them.) This week, RioCan announced that with the April 2016 distribution, it eliminated the 3.1% discount it offered to unitholders who reinvested their distributions....
TORSTAR $1.76 (Toronto symbol TS.B; Shares outstanding: 79.9 million; Market cap: $127.3 million; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 14.8%; www.torstar.com) launched a digital version of The Toronto Star, its flagship newspaper, for tablet computers in September 2015. So far, Star Touch has attracted over 65,000 weekly and 26,000 daily users. The company spent $14 million in 2015 to set up Star Touch, and will spend another $10 million this year. It expects Star Touch will break even in 2017. Torstar is still a buy.
ENCANA $7.75 (Toronto symbol ECA; Shares outstanding: 849.8 million; Market cap: $6.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.1%; www.encana.com) continues to focus on its four key projects: Montney (B.C.), Duvernay (Alberta) and Eagle Ford and Permian (both in Texas). These fields produce large amounts of oil and natural gas liquids such as propane and butane. The company is now using its excess cash to pay down debt. That’s because Encana’s bonds are trading well below their face value due to weak oil and natural gas prices. Encana will now repurchase up to $400.0 million of those bonds by April 12, 2016 (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). That’s up from its earlier goal of $250.0 million....
GREAT-WEST LIFECO $35.17 (Toronto symbol GWO; Shares outstanding: 993.4 million; Market cap: $35.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Yield: 3.9%; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is one of Canada’s largest insurance firms. It also offers mutual funds and wealth management. Power Financial owns 67.2% of Great-West. In the three months ended December 31, 2015, Great-West’s earnings rose 4.5%, to $0.69 a share from $0.66 a year earlier. As of December 31, 2015, the company had $1.2 trillion of assets under administration, up 14.0% from a year ago....
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