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
BELL ALIANT INC. $26.56 (Toronto symbol BA; Shares outstanding: 227.8 million; Market cap: $6.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 7.2%; www.aliant.ca) continues to replace copper wires with fibre optic cable. It now has 944,914 high-speed Internet users, up 3.4% from a year ago, and 163,264 digital TV customers, up 52.0%.

In the three months ended September 30, 2013, Bell Aliant’s revenue fell 0.4%, to $694.9 million from $697.4 million a year earlier. Before one-time items, earnings fell 6.7%, to $0.42 a share from $0.45. However, cash flow (after capital expenditures) jumped 28.0%, to $0.64 a share from $0.50.

The stock trades at 16.6 times the company’s likely 2013 earnings of $1.60 a share. The $1.90 dividend still seems safe and yields 7.2%.
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CANADIAN REIT $43.32 (Toronto symbol REF.UN; Units outstanding: 68.7 million; Market cap: $3.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 3.8%; www.creit.ca) owns 194 properties, including retail, industrial and office buildings, across Canada and in Chicago. These holdings contain over 19.7 million square feet of leasable area. The trust’s occupancy rate is 94.9%.

In the three months ended September 30, 2013, Canadian REIT’s revenue rose 6.8%, to $94.3 million from $88.3 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit gained 8.8%, to $0.62 from $0.57.

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H&R REIT $21.22 (Toronto symbol HR.UN; Units outstanding: 269.6 million; Market cap: $5.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 6.4%; www.hr-reit.com) owns stakes in 42 office buildings, 112 industrial properties and 164 shopping malls across Canada. The trust has a 98.2% occupancy rate.

In March 2013, H&R finished building The Bow, a $1.33-billion, two-million-square-foot office complex in Calgary. Encana Corp. has already leased the entire building for 25 years.

In April 2013, H&R completed the purchase of 27 properties from Primaris REIT for about $3.1 billion. These assets include the aging 567,000-square-foot Dufferin Mall in Toronto’s west end, which has huge redevelopment potential. As well, eight of the 27 properties now have Target stores as their main tenants.
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ISHARES AUSTRALIA INDEX FUND $24.15 (New York symbol EWA; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that holds the 71 largest Australian stocks. Its MER is 0.51%.

The fund’s top holdings include Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 11.4%; BHP Billiton, 10.9%; Westpac Banking Corp., 9.0%; Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, 8.0%; National Australia Bank, 7.4%; Wesfarmers, 3.9%; Woolworths, 3.8%; CSL Ltd., 3.0%; Rio Tinto, 2.7%; Woodside Petroleum, 2.3%; Telstra Group, 2.1%, Westfield Group, 1.9%; and Macquarie Group, 1.4%.

Australia benefits from its stable banking and political systems. It is also rich in natural resources, and it’s close to key Asian markets with vast potential, including India and China.
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TRANSCANADA CORP. $47.76 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 707.0 million; Market cap: $33.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.9%; www.transcanada.com) recently completed the purchase of another Ontario solar power facility from Canadian Solar (Nasdaq symbol CSIQ).

TransCanada now owns four of the nine solar farms it agreed to buy from Canadian Solar in 2011. It expects to take possession of the remaining five by the end of 2014. In all, it will pay about $500 million.

The company has 20-year deals to sell the power from these nine solar farms, which cuts the risk of this investment.
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MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $29.70 (Toronto symbol MBT; Shares outstanding: 76.8 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.7%; www.mts.ca) plans to build a new data-storage facility in Manitoba that will help it profit from rising demand for cloud computing services.

Technology firms will be able to rent space in this building to house their servers and related equipment. Manitoba Telecom will also help these tenants manage and operate their systems.

The company will spend $50 million to build this facility. That’s equal to 2.0 times the $25.4 million, or $0.38 a share, that Manitoba Telecom earned in the three months ended September 30, 2013. The company expects to complete this project in 2015.
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ISHARES MSCI BRAZIL INDEX FUND $42.51 (New York Exchange symbol EWZ; buy or sell through brokers) is an exchange traded fund that is designed to track the Brazilian stock market.

Top holdings are Petrobras (oil and gas), 10.7%; Vale do Rio Doce (mining), 9.1%; Cia Itau Unibanco Holding (banking), 7.4%; Cia de Bebidas das Americas (beer and beverages), 6.9%; Banco Brandesco, 5.5%; and BRF SA (food), 3.5%.

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ISHARES MSCI CHILE INVESTABLE MARKET INDEX FUND $45.70 (New York Exchange symbol ECH; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that aims to track the MSCI Chile Investable Market Index, which consists of stocks that are mainly traded on the Santiago Stock Exchange.

The fund’s top holdings are S.A.C.I. Falabella (retail), 9.2%; Empresas Copec SA (conglomerate), 8.6%; Enersis AS (electricity), 8.4%; Empresa Nacional de Electricidad (electricity), 6.7%; Cencosud SA (retailer), 5.7%; LATAM Airlines, 5.6%; Banco Santander Chile (banking), 4.7%; Banco de Chile, 4.3%; Empresas CMPC (pulp and paper), 4.2%; and Quimica y Minera de Chile (mining), 3.5%.

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ISHARES MSCI GERMANY FUND $30.82 (New York Exchange symbol EWG; buy or sell through brokers) tracks the stocks in the MSCI Germany Index.

This index aims to replicate 85% of the total market capitalization of the German stock market. The remaining 15% is unavailable for investment, partly due to limitations on foreign ownership.

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