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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If you want to find out how to hire a stock broker who meets your needs, you need to watch out above all for conflicts of interest
INTACT FINANCIAL $89.80 (Toronto symbol IFC; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-341-1464; www.intactfc.com; Shares outstanding: 131.5 million; Market cap: $11.8 billion; Dividend yield: 2.4%) is Canada’s largest provider of property and casualty insurance. Its brands include Intact Insurance, Canada BrokerLink and belairdirect.

In the three months ended March 31, 2015, Intact’s revenue rose 5.3%, to $1.57 billion from $1.50 billion a year earlier. The company earned $186 million, or $1.37 a share, up 44.2% from $129 million, or $0.94.

The latest results reflect a $64-million reduction in catastrophic losses, mostly related to weather. That helped Intact report an improved combined ratio, or claims paid out divided by premiums taken in (the lower, the better) of 93.4%, down from 97.1%.

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As hepatitis attacks 150 million people, Gilead has the leading drugs to fight it but also fights criticism that its prices are too high.
With one big contract lost, cuts in energy spending and older-generation rigs, Hercules Offshore faces a sharp decline in earnings.
Despite a takeover expanding its cloud coverage, Shaw Communications has a tough fight with Telus for Western cable and Internet dollars.
METRO INC. $36 (www.metro.ca) split its shares on a 3-for-1 basis in February 2015. That will improve the stock’s liquidity. The company also recently raised its dividend payout target to 25% of earnings from 20%. The current annual dividend of $0.47 a share (adjusted for the split) yields 1.3%. Buy.
RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $49 (www.rbi.com) is testing a new premium coffee blend from Colombia at five of its Tim Hortons outlets in Canada. The company hopes this new blend is as successful as its dark roast blend, which it launched in mid-2014 and now accounts for 15% of Tim Hortons’ coffee sales. Hold.
BOMBARDIER INC. $2.70 (www.bombardier.com) has 243 firm orders for its new CSeries passenger jet. If customers exercise their options to buy an additional 360 aircraft, the 603-plane total would be worth about $43 billion U.S. That’s equal to 2.1 times Bombardier’s 2014 revenue of $20.1 billion U.S....
p>CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD. $232 (Toronto symbol CP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 164.2 million; Market cap: $38.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 7.1; Dividend yield: 0.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cpr.ca) transports freight over a 22,000-kilometre rail network between Montreal and Vancouver, as well as hubs in the U.S. Midwest and Northeast. The U.S. supplies 40% of its revenue. CP’s shares have soared 236.2% since we made it our Stock of the Year for 2012, when it was trading at $69. That’s mainly due to a major restructuring that has improved its efficiency with new locomotives, better tracks and software that optimizes train loads and speeds.

Speedier service boosted results

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ATCO LTD. (Toronto symbols ACO.X [class I non-voting] $46 and ACO.Y [class II voting] $46; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 115.1 million; Market cap: $5.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.atco.com) owns 50% of Torngait Services, a partnership with a Labradorbased aboriginal firm.

Torngait recently won a contract to provide support services to 1,000 workers building a line that will transmit power from Labrador’s Muskrat Falls to the island of Newfoundland. Under the deal, Torngait will supply catering, laundry and janitorial services until mid-2018.

The contract is worth $40 million to $45 million; using the midpoint of that range, ATCO’s share is worth $21.25 million. That’s small next to the company’s revenue of $1.2 billion in the quarter ended December 31, 2014. However, deals like this enhance ATCO’s already strong reputation and should help it win more contracts in this region. The class I (X) non-voting shares are more liquid than the class II (Y) voting shares.

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