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.

Posts by the author
Learn which Canadian sectors have historically delivered more dependable dividends—and why. This safety-first guide explains the cash-flow mechanics, key risks (rates, regulation, credit cycles), and how to build a balanced income mix without chasing yield.
PENGROWTH ENERGY $6.70 (Toronto symbol PGF; Shares outstanding: 527.5 million; Market cap: $3.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Divd. yield: 7.2%; www.pengrowth.com) plans to build a 15-kilometre pipeline to pump diluted bitumen from its new Lindbergh oil sands project in Alberta. The new line will connect to a larger one operated by Husky Energy.

The company will spend $20 million on this pipeline, which will make it easier for Pengrowth to sell Lindbergh’s oil to customers in Canada and the U.S. when the project starts up next year.

Lindbergh will add 12,500 barrels to Pengrowth’s overall daily production, which totalled 73,823 barrels in the latest quarter.

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ENERPLUS CORP. $23.21 (Toronto symbol ERF; Shares outstanding: 204.2 million; Market cap: $4.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.7%) produces an average of 94,167 barrels of oil equivalent a day (59% gas and 41% oil).

The company’s properties are mainly in Alberta, Saskatchewan, B.C., North Dakota and Montana, as well as the Marcellus shale, which passes through Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia.

In the three months ended June 30, 2014, Enerplus’s production rose 15.5% from a year earlier. However, cash flow per share increased just 2.0%, to $1.04 from $1.02, as it realized lower prices for its Marcellus shale gas.

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CRESCENT POINT ENERGY CORP. $43.17 (Toronto symbol CPG; Shares outstanding: 398.1 million; Market cap: $17.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 6.4%; www.crescentpointenergy.com) produces oil and natural gas in Western Canada, with a focus on its Bakken light oil development in southeastern Saskatchewan. Its output is 91% oil and 9% gas.

In the three months ended June 30, 2014, Crescent Point’s cash flow rose 26.2%, to $636.7 million from $504.4 million a year earlier.

The company increased its output by 16.7%, to 137,368 barrels of oil equivalent from 117,799. That, plus higher oil and gas prices, was the main reason for the higher cash flow. Cash flow per share rose at a slower rate of 18.3%, to $1.55 from $1.31, because Crescent Point issued shares to pay for acquisitions.

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MANULIFE FINANCIAL $22.36 (Toronto symbol MFC; Shares outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $41.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 2.8%; www.manulife.ca) sells insurance, mutual funds and wealth management services. The company operates globally and has $637 billion of assets under management.

The company has just announced strong quarterly results and a 19.2% dividend increase, to $0.155 a share from $0.13. The stock yields 2.8%.

This is the first hike since Manulife cut its payout by 50% in 2009 to preserve capital after 2008’s stock market declines.

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BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $72.16 (Toronto symbol BNS; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $88.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Div. yield: 3.7%, www.scotiabank.com) is the third-largest of Canada’s five big banks, with $791.5 billion of assets.

In the three months ended July 31, 2014, the bank earned $1.85 a share, up 36.0% from $1.36 a year earlier. The latest quarter included a one-time gain of $0.45 a share from the sale of most of the bank’s stake in mutual fund company CI Financial for $2.3 billion. Without one-time items, earnings per share rose 8.5%, to $1.40 from $1.29.

Higher loan demand and deposits pushed up the Canadian banking division’s earnings by 2.7%. That includes ING Direct, which Bank of Nova Scotia bought for $3.1 billion in late 2012.

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Investment Counsellor
Every Monday we feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With every stock we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in the stock at this time. Empire Company Ltd. (symbol EMP.A; www.empireco.ca), is a diversified Canadian firm based in Stellarton, Nova Scotia....
Investment Counsellor
Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific investing advice on the widest possible variety of topics. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice. Today’s tip: “There’s a high failure rate for those who start their own businesses, but if you know how to make the right choices, it’s still your best chance of getting rich.”...
Investment Counsellor
Every Monday we feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With every stock we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in the stock at this time. Timbercreek Senior Mortgage Investment Corp. (symbol MTG on Toronto; www.timbercreek.com), is a mortgage investment corporation....
CONAGRA FOODS INC. $34 (New York symbol CAG; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 424.5 million; Market cap: $14.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.conagra foods.com) makes a wide variety of packaged foods, including Chef Boyardee canned pasta, Hunt’s tomato sauce, Peter Pan peanut butter, Orville Redenbacher popcorn and Reddiwip whipped cream. Consumers account for 70% of ConAgra’s sales. Businesses, like restaurants and other food makers, provide the remaining 30%.

Sales rose 9.8%, from $12.1 billion in 2010 to $13.3 billion in 2012 (fiscal years end May 31).

Ralcorp acquisition boosted results

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