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
ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD $73.50 (Toronto symbol ATD.B: TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1-800-361-2612; www.couchetard. com; Shares outstanding: 179.4 million; Market cap: $13.6 billion; Dividend yield: 0.5%) operates 6,198 convenience stores throughout North America. The Canadian outlets operate under the Couche-Tard and Mac’s banners, while the U.S. stores mainly use the Circle K brand.
< br /> In Europe, Couche-Tard operates 2,287 stores across Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden and Denmark), Poland, the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and Russia.
< br /> In the three months ended July 21, 2013, Couche-Tard’s sales jumped 48.0%, to $8.9 billion from $6.0 billion a year earlier. The gain mostly came from Norway’s Statoil Fuel & Retail chain of European gas stations, which Couche-Tard bought for $2.7 billion in June 2012 (all figures except share price in U.S. dollars). The company also sold more fuel, and expanded its merchandise sales.
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Hewlett-Packard pushes ahead with ambitious turnaround plan
HEWLETT-PACKARD CO. (New York symbol HPQ; www.hp.com) is a leading maker of personal computers and printers. It also makes server computers and networking products for businesses....
‘Cash for gold’ looms large in pawnshop operator’s profits
Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific advice on trading 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....
Deep-drilling rigs and international expansion key to Precision’s profits
PRECISION DRILLING CORP. (Toronto symbol PD; www.precisiondrilling.com) provides contract-drilling services to land-based oil and gas producers, mainly in North America. As of June 30, 2013, it had 324 rigs in service....
PENGROWTH ENERGY CORP. $6.37 (www.pengrowth.com) has gained nearly 30% in the past three months. That’s mainly because the company has successfully completed its plan to sell some of its less important oil and gas properties in Western Canada. The cash from these sales will help Pengrowth speed up the development of its Lindbergh oil sands project in Alberta....
METRO INC. $65 (www.metro.ca) has developed a new mobile app for the Apple iPhone. This program lets Metro offer shoppers customized discounts and promotions based on the location of their nearest Metro supermarket. The app also makes it easier to find specific items within a store and suggests alternative products....
SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $43 (www.snclavalin.com) continues to win new engineering contracts despite last year’s bribery scandal. ZADCO, a joint venture headed by Abu Dhabi’s state owned oil company, recently hired SNC to design a major addition to its oil refinery. Buy.
HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. $72 (Toronto symbol HCG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 34.7 million; Market cap; $2.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www. homecapital.com) gets 90% of its revenue by making residential mortgage loans to borrowers who don’t meet the stricter standards of larger, traditional lenders, like banks. These clients include recent immigrants with limited credit histories and self-employed individuals.

The remaining 10% of Home Capital’s revenue mainly comes from credit cards and other loans to consumers and businesses.


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LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $46 (Toronto symbol L; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 282.1 million; Market cap: $13.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.loblaw.ca) continues to expand its Joe Fresh business, which makes casual clothing and accessories.

In addition to selling these goods in its supermarkets, Loblaw has also opened over 20 stand-alone Joe Fresh stores in Canada and the U.S. In October 2013, Joe Fresh began selling its products in Canada through its own website.

In the U.S., Joe Fresh sells its goods online through an alliance with struggling department store operator J.C. Penney (New York symbol JCP). Joe Fresh has also opened boutiques inside nearly 700 of Penney’s 1,100 department stores in the U.S.
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