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.

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Knowing how dividends are taxed in Canada can save you money
< p> METRO INC. $37 (www.metro.ca) spent $355.2 million on share buybacks in the 12 months ended September 9, 2015. That’s equal to 4% of its $8.9-billion market cap. Under its new authorization, the supermarket operator can repurchase up to 7.4% of its outstanding shares by September 9, 2016....
RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $47 (www.rbi.com) plans to open over 150 Tim Hortons coffee-anddonut stores in Cincinnati, Ohio, over the next 10 years. The company currently has 4,776 Tim Hortons outlets in Canada, the U.S....
POTASH CORP. OF SASKATCHEWAN $29 (www.potash corp.com) has dropped its $8.8-billion U.S. offer to buy German fertilizer producer K+S AG. That price is equal to 48% of Potash Corp.’s $23.8 billion (Canadian) market cap....
AGRIUM INC. $126 (Toronto symbol AGU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 142.8 million; Market cap: $18.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 3.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.agrium.com) has shifted its focus in the past few years from making fertilizers to selling them, along with seeds and other products, to farmers. That has cut its exposure to volatile bulk-fertilizer prices.

< p>Agrium now gets 75% of its sales and 60% of its earnings from its retail stores, which consist of 1,500 locations in North America, South America and Australia. < p>The remaining 25% of sales and 40% of earnings comes from making nitrogen-based fertilizers from natural gas. Agrium also operates potash and phosphate fertilizer mines....
BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $1.75 and BBD.B $1.70; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $2.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.2; Dividend suspended in February 2015; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.bombardier.com) recently ended talks with European aircraft maker Airbus that would have given that company a controlling stake in Bombardier’s new CSeries passenger jet. In exchange, Airbus would have helped Bombardier pay for the new plane’s development costs.

< p>The company still plans to begin delivering the CSeries in 2016: it has firm orders for 243 planes worth roughly $16 billion U.S. However, ongoing delays have halted new orders. < p>Bombardier is still a hold....
< p>CAE INC. $15 (Toronto symbol CAE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 268.6 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cae.com) has won several contracts for flight simulators and related equipment from the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy and the German Air Force. < p>In all, these deals are worth $100 million, or 5% of CAE’s $2.2 billion of annual revenue. The company’s military businesses supply 35% of its sales, which cuts its reliance on cyclical airlines. CAE is our #1 buy for 2015. < p> CENOVUS ENERGY INC. $21 (Toronto symbol CVE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 833.2 million; Market cap: $17.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cenovus.com) is working on new phases at its Alberta oil sands projects that will boost its overall output by 25%. As a result, the company now plans to open a new marketing office in Houston, Texas, that will help it sell this additional crude to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast....
< p>TELUS CORP. $42 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 602.4 million; Market cap: $25.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) plans to speed up its fibre optic network in Vancouver. < p>Initially, clients will be able to connect at 150 megabits a second, or 50% faster than the network’s current top speed. Eventually, Telus plans to boost that to one gigabit (or 1,000 megabits) per second. < p>The company will spend $1 billion on this project over the next five years. Faster speeds should spur demand for Telus’s other services, like digital TV....
FORTIS INC. $38 (Toronto symbol FTS; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 279.9 million; Market cap: $10.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.fortisinc.com) owns electrical utilities across Canada and in the U.S. and Caribbean. It also distributes natural gas in British Columbia.

< p>The company recently raised its quarterly dividend by 10.3%, to $0.375 a share from $0.34. The new annual rate of $1.50 yields 3.9%. Fortis has raised its payout every year for the past 43 years. The company also plans to increase the payout by around 6% each year through 2020. < p>Fortis is a buy....