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
If you want to ensure a higher (and safer) rate of return for your retirement portfolio, then it’s important to know what not to invest in after retirement
General Mills keeps raising its dividend while it seeks to revive profit growth
GENERAL MILLS INC. (New York symbol GIS; www.generalmills.com) is one of the world’s largest food makers. Its top brands include Big G (cereal), Green Giant (canned and frozen vegetables), Pillsbury (baking dough), Old El Paso (tacos), Progresso (soups and salads) and Yoplait (yogurt)....
Canadian junior boosts copper production amid high political risk
Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific advice on stocks 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 had a question from an Inner Circle member about a junior mining stock operating in Africa. Nevsun is one of those mining stocks that bears a good deal of political risk, with its main property located in Eritrea, in the often-troubled Horn of Africa. However, the company has a productive mine and pays a high-yielding dividend. Pat examines the chain of events that have left Eritrea one of the poorest nations on earth and looks at Nevsun’s prospects of success in this environment. ...
Investor toolkit image
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 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: “Instead of getting trapped in the narrow focus of most investment ‘plans’ and ‘systems’, you’re better off with a balanced approach that helps you make effective decisions instead of automatic ones.”...
Home Capital profits from borrowers rejected by banks
HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. (Toronto symbol HCG; www.homecapital.com) gets around 90% of its revenue by making residential mortgage loans to borrowers who don’t meet the stricter standards of larger, traditional lenders, like banks. Its clients include recent immigrants with limited credit histories, and self-employed people....
TEMPUR SEALY $47.64 (New York symbol TPX; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (800-878-8889; www.tempursealy.com; Shares outstanding: 60.7 million; Market cap: $2.9 billion; No dividends paid) completed its $1.3-billion purchase of rival Sealy in March 2013. This was a major acquisition for Tempur Sealy (formerly Tempur-Pedic), but it has let the company diversify into traditional spring-coil beds.

The purchase is also helping Tempur Sealy offset rising competition in its current business; the company makes and distributes mattresses and neck pillows made of its Tempur material, which conforms to the body to provide support and alleviate pressure points.

Competitors Simmons Bedding and Serta have both successfully launched a range of memory-foam mattresses that directly compete with Tempur Sealy’s products.

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WYNDHAM WORLDWIDE $70.50 (New York symbol WYN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (973-753-6000; www.wyndhamworldwide.com; Shares outstanding: 128.1 million; Market cap: $8.9 billion; Dividend yield: 2.0%) is one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, with 7,440 franchised hotels worldwide.

Wyndham also manages vacation resorts, rental properties, luxury clubs and time-shares. The company now has over 106,000 vacation-rental properties in 100 countries.

In the three months ended December 31, 2013, the hotel and resort operator’s revenue rose 9.2%, to $1.20 billion from $1.09 billion a year earlier. Wyndham gets most of its revenue from vacation rather than business travel, and vacation bookings rose in the latest quarter. That helped push up the company’s occupancy rate by 1.9%.

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TIM HORTONS $61.19 (Toronto symbol THI; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (905-845-6511; www.timhortons.com; Shares outstanding: 138.2 million; Market cap: $8.3 billion; Dividend yield: 2.1%) continues to successfully launch new products that take advantage of consumer trends. The latest is its Tims Crispy Chicken Sandwich.

This sandwich sells for $4.99 and is made fresh with breaded, seasoned white meat, lettuce, tomato and light mayonnaise on a soft, bakery-style bun.

The new sandwich will also help the company compete with McDonald’s, which has targeted Tims by improving its coffee offerings.

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AMAZON.COM $316.08 (Nasdaq symbol AMZN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (206-266-1000; www.amazon.com; Shares outstanding: 459.3 million; Market cap: $145.4 billion; No dividends paid) has just unveiled Fire TV, a $99 Internet video-streaming box that plugs into a high-definition TV set. It will compete against similar devices, like Apple TV, Roku and Google Chromecast.

The device, which is about the size of a CD case, runs Google’s Android operating system and offers Netflix, Hulu Plus, Crackle, Pandora, ESPN and other streaming channels.

Fire TV can also be used for gaming. Customers can play popular games, such as Minecraft, as well as thousands more titles to be released soon. Many games will be free, while paid games from Amazon will cost an average of $1.85. Amazon will offer a compatible game controller for $39.99.

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WESTJET $25.59 (Toronto symbol WJA; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1-877-493-7853; www.westjet.com; Shares outstanding: 129.4 million; Market cap: $3.3 billion; Dividend yield: 1.9%) carried 4.8 million passengers in March 2014, up 7.0% from 4.5 million a year earlier.

The company’s load factor fell to 84.0% from 86.1% in March 2013. (Load factor is the percentage of available seats that are occupied by paying passengers.) However, the decline was low considering that WestJet increased its capacity by 6.6% to meet higher demand.

Demand for its flights remains high, and the launch of its new Canadian regional airline, WestJet Encore, has gone well.

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