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

ISHARES DEX UNIVERSE BOND INDEX FUND $30.37 (CWA Rating: Income) (Toronto symbol XBB; buy or sell through brokers) mirrors the performance of the DEX Universe Bond Index. The 784 bonds in the portfolio have an average term-to-maturity of 9.79 years. The fund’s MER is 0.33%.

The bonds in the index are 66.7% government and 33.3% corporate.

The fund yields 3.2%, compared to the Short-Term Bond Fund’s 2.6%. Its yield-to-maturity is 2.53%, 0.91% above the Short-Term Fund. That reflects the added risk of holding long-term bonds.
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ISHARES DEX SHORT-TERM BOND INDEX FUND $28.60 (CWA Rating: Income) (Toronto symbol XSB; buy or sell through brokers) mirrors the performance of the DEX Short-Term Bond Index.

This index consists of a wide range of investmentgrade federal, provincial, municipal and corporate bonds with between one- and five-year terms to maturity. The fund holds 384 bonds with an average term to maturity of 2.91 years. The bonds in the index are 60.2% government and 39.8% corporate. The fund’s MER is 0.28%.

iShares DEX Short-Term Bond Index Fund yields 2.6%. However, this high yield is due to the fact that some of the fund’s bonds pay above-market interest rates. As a result, they trade above their face value. When these bonds mature, holders will only get the bonds’ face value, which means the portfolio will incur predictable capital losses. These losses will offset some of the appeal of the above-market yields.
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ISHARES MSCI EMERGING MARKETS EASTERN EUROPE INDEX FUND $23.42 (New York symbol ESR; buy or sell through brokers) has 73.6% of its assets invested in Russia, followed by Poland at 20.3%; Czech Republic, 3.0%; and Hungary, 2.4%.

The fund’s top holdings are Gazprom (Russia: gas utility), 16.0%; Lukoil (Russia: oil), 10.0%; Sberbank (Russia: bank), 9.0%; Magnit OJSC (Russia: retailing), 5.0%; PKO Bank Polski (Poland: banking), 4.3%; Novatek (Russia: natural gas), 3.5%; and MMC Norilsk Nickel (Russia: mining), 3.3%.

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Eastern Europe Index Fund’s expense ratio is 0.67%.
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BROOKFIELD RENEWABLE ENERGY PARTNERS L.P. $32.00 (Toronto symbol BEP.UN; Units outstanding: 265.2 million; Market cap: $8.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.7%; www.brpfund.com) is buying the wind power assets of the Irish government’s Bord Gais Energy for $960 million.

The purchase includes 321 megawatts of capacity across 17 projects in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Bord Gais has another 125 megawatts under construction and 300 megawatts in the planning stage.

To put the acquisition in perspective, Brookfield currently operates 196 hydroelectric generating stations, 11 wind farms and two natural-gas-fired plants. In all, it has 6,000 megawatts of generating capacity.
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tech stocks
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 investment advice, including stock trading advice that can help you reduce the risk of more aggressive investing. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investing strategy, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “Although risk and volatility are magnified with thinly-traded stocks, if you can identify the stocks that will grow and prosper, the rewards could be tremendous.”...
Mobile gaming
Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific advice and stock tips as well as questions on investment strategy and the economy. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. While we reserve our buy-hold-sell advice for Inner Circle members, these excerpts provide a great deal of information and analysis on stocks we’ve covered for members of Pat’s Inner Circle. This week we received a question from an Inner Circle member about a company that is in the “gaming” business. Glu Mobile develops games for smartphones and tablets and gives them away free, making money by selling additional content to players, and through advertising. Pat examines the company’s business, including its latest release and a recent celebrity partnership. He also looks at whether the company’s shares are likely to go on another run, after rising with the popularity of one game and then falling back....
investment risks
Anthia Cumming
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 investment advice on stocks and other topics that will help you develop a successful approach to investing. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “There are times when the advantages touted in the marketing for an investment may actually turn out to be the biggest dangers for investors.”...
MONSANTO CO. $112 (New York symbol MON, Aggressive Growth Portfolio; Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 524.2 million; Market cap: $58.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.9; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.monsanto.com) sells technology-based agricultural products, such as genetically modified seeds, to farmers, grain processors and food producers. The company’s seeds make crops more resistant to pests, diseases and bad weather.

Monsanto gets about 70% of its revenue from genetically modified seeds for corn, soybeans and other crops. The remaining 30% comes from selling herbicides, mainly under the Roundup brand.

New businesses cut risk

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INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. $192 (New York symbol IBM, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $192.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ibm.com) continues to benefit from rising demand for cloud-computing services and analytics software, which helps businesses analyze large amounts of data. However, weaker mainframe computer sales are offsetting these gains.

In the three months ended March 31, 2014, IBM earned $2.6 billion, down 21.7% from $3.4 billion a year earlier. The company spent a high $8.2 billion on share buybacks in the latest quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share fell at a slower pace of 15.3%, to $2.54 from $3.00.

Revenue declined 3.9%, to $22.5 billion from $23.4 billion. IBM gets two-thirds of its revenue from overseas. If you adjust for foreign exchange rates, revenue declined by 1%.

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