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 $36.57 (Toronto symbol GWO; Shares outstanding: 997.4 million; Market cap: $36.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Yield: 3.6%; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is one of Canada’s largest insurance firms. It also offers mutual funds and wealth management. Power Financial owns 67.1% of Great-West.

In the three months ended March 31, 2015, Great-West’s earnings per share rose 18.6%, to $0.70 from $0.59 a year earlier.

The company’s expansion in the U.S. and Ireland continues, helping it end the latest quarter with $1.2 trillion of assets under administration. That’s up 46.0% from $805.9 billion a year earlier and 102.6% from $581.9 million on March 31, 2013.

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BLACKBERRY INC. $10 (www.blackberry.com) aims to unlock more of its QNX software’s value; QNX powers communication and entertainment systems in 60 million cars. The application has 50% of this market but faces strong competition from Microsoft and free Linux-based systems....
RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $51 (www.rbi.com) has joined McDonald’s and KFC in bringing back old mascots. The company’s Burger King chain is now using its big-headed “King” mascot for the first time since 2011....
Profits have soared for Electronic Arts, but the need to keep turning out successful video games makes it a high risk stock in our view.
Two U.S. stocks that tap into “big data” to serve financial firms are good stocks to buy as they trade near their all-time highs.
Two of Canada’s biggest insurance firms have the assets to forge ahead with expansion and still rank among our best low risk investments.
NVIDIA CORP. $20 (www.nvidia.com) plans to focus on designing high-end graphic chips for computer games, cars and cloud computing applications. As a result, it aims to sell its Icera subsidiary, which designs energy-efficient chips for mobile phones....
RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $43 (www. rbi.com) earned $0.30 a share in the three months ended June 30, 2015, up 25.0% from $0.24 a year earlier. These figures exclude costs related to Burger King Worldwide’s December 2014 acquisition of Tim Hortons....
GENUINE PARTS CO. $88 (New York symbol GPC; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 152.3 million; Market cap: $13.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.genpt.com) gets 53% of its sales and 55% of its earnings by selling replacement auto parts: Genuine operates 1,100 outlets under the NAPA banner, and its distribution business serves 4,900 independent stores in North America, Australia and New Zealand.

The company also distributes industrial parts (31% of sales, 29% of earnings), office products (12%, 11%) and electrical equipment (4%, 5%).

As the economy improved after the 2008/09 recession, the company’s sales rose 36.9% from $11.2 billion in 2010 to $15.3 billion in 2014. Overall earnings jumped 49.6%, from $475.5 million to $711.3 million. Per-share profits gained 53.7%, from $3.00 to $4.61, on fewer shares outstanding.

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