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.

DREAM OFFICE REIT $20.59 (Toronto symbol D.UN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (416-365-3535; www.dream.ca/office; Units outstanding: 107.9 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion; Dividend yield: 7.3%) is up more than 23% since its recent announcement of a three-year strategic plan to push up its unit price. The trust will sell non-essential properties worth $1.2 billion to realize their full market value. These properties represent about 17% of its holdings. It will use some of the proceeds to pay down debt, and possibly to buy back units. The trust will also cut its annualized distribution by 33.0%, to $1.50 from $2.24. This will lower its payout ratio to 67% of forecast 2016 cash flow. Dream will also suspend its dividend reinvestment program. The DRIP has a high 38% participation rate. That program lets it conserve cash, but issuing more shares at low prices dilutes the interests of current unitholders. The units yield 7.3%....
WAJAX CORP. $16.85 (Toronto symbol WJX; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (905-212-3300; www.wajax.ca; Shares outstanding:20.0 million; Market cap: $335.9 million; Dividend yield: 5.9%) sells and services cranes, forklifts and other heavy equipment. It also provides related parts (such as ball bearings, motors, hoses and fittings) and power systems (including diesel engines and transmissions). The company’s customers are in the natural resource, construction, manufacturing and transportation industries. In the three months ended December 31, 2015, Wajax’s clients in mining and oil and gas made fewer purchases. As a result, revenue fell 16.0%, to $324.4 million from $386.1 million a year earlier. Earnings, excluding one-time items, declined sharply, to $4.0 million, or $0.20 a share, from $11.0 million, or $0.66....
MCCOY GLOBAL $1.90 (Toronto symbol MCB; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (780-453-8451; www.mccoyglobal.com; Shares outstanding: 27.7 million; Market cap: $54.6 million; No dividends paid) sold its heavy-duty truck-trailer unit in 2014 and is now focused on its Energy Products and Services segment. It sells hydraulic gear, including power tongs, for drilling rigs. (Power tongs are large wrench-like tools that tighten and loosen the pipe in the drill hole.) McCoy has international sales and service centres in Singapore, Dubai and Aberdeen, Scotland. In the three months ended December 31, 2015, McCoy’s revenue fell 57.2%, to $11.6 million from $27.2 million a year earlier. Low oil and gas prices prompted clients to cut back on equipment purchases....
Aecon Group Inc. continued to increase its revenue, earnings and dividend with a steady flow of public infrastructure and private road-building contracts.
ALCOA INC. $8.54 (New York symbol AA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $9.4 billion; Price -to- sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.alcoa.com) continues to cut its bulk aluminum output in response to low prices. It’s also expanding its more profitable businesses, such as making parts for cars and airplanes.

Alcoa’s earnings fell 67.7% in 2012, to $262 million, or $0.24 a share. These figures exclude unusual items, such as gains on asset sales and costs to close plants. In 2011, the company earned $812 million, or $0.72 a share. Revenue fell 5.0%, to $23.7 billion from $25.0 billion. Aluminum shipments rose 3.2%, but average prices fell 11.7%.

The uncertain global economy will probably continue to dampen aluminum prices. However, Alcoa’s long-term outlook remains bright. It owns 25.1% of a joint venture that is building a new smelter in Saudi Arabia; a state-owned mining company owns the remaining 74.9%. This new plant, which should begin operating later this year, will have the lowest operating costs of all of Alcoa’s facilities.
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