Scott Clayton

Scott is an associate editor at TSI Network. He is the lead reporter and analyst for Dividend Advisor, Power Growth Investor and Canadian Wealth Advisor and a member of the Investment Planning Committee. Scott began his investment and financial career working with Pat McKeough at The Investment Reporter in the 1980s. Subsequently, he worked at the Financial Post Corporation Service for 10 years. He joined TSI Network in 1998. He is a Bachelor of Economics graduate of York University, and he also has an M.B.A. from the Schulich School of Business.

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How To Invest

5 Facts About Investing in Stocks You Should Know to Maximize Profits

Discover five facts about investing in stocks that will help you make better investment decisions over the long term. Learn more in this article now.

4 min read

Scott Clayton

Growth Stocks

Successful Investors Use These Key Tips to Find the Best Growth Companies to Invest In

4 min read

Scott Clayton

Growth Stocks

How to Find the Best Growth Stocks to Invest in Right Now

4 min read

Scott Clayton

How To Invest

Best Canadian Stocks: Target closure one more victory for expanding Loblaw

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendations on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor.

Loblaw is doing a good job of competing with U.S. retail giants like Wal-Mart, which are aggressively expanding in the grocery market. In addition to improving its efficiency and profiting from its Joe Fresh clothing line, it has bought Shoppers DrugMart, which nicely complements its main business. And now it has seen its competition diminish with Target’s decision to close its Canadian stores.

LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. (Toronto symbol L; www.loblaw.ca) is Canada’s largest food retailer, with about 1,050 stores.

The company is benefiting from sales of other products beyond food. For example, in 2006 it launched its popular Joe Fresh line of clothing, shoes and accessories.

Loblaw sells these goods in over 330 of its supermarkets and through 17 stand-alone stores in the U.S. and Canada. It plans to open 140 more Joe Fresh stores outside of North America in the next four years.

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2 min read

Scott Clayton

Dividend Stocks

Best Canadian Stocks: Veresen hooks up with Wall Street buyout kings

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendations on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor.

VERESEN (Toronto symbol VSN; www.vereseninc.com) owns pipelines, power plants and gas-processing facilities across North America.

A major holding is 50% of the Alliance gas line, which runs 3,000 kilometres between Chicago and Fort St. John, B.C.

Veresen also owns the Alberta Ethane Gathering System, 42.7% of the Aux Sable NGL plant, and the Hythe/Steeprock natural gas gathering and processing complex in the Cutbank Ridge region of Alberta and B.C.

In the quarter ended September 30, 2014, Veresen’s cash flow per share rose 4.5%, to $0.23 from $0.22.

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2 min read

Scott Clayton

How To Invest

Best Canadian Stocks: After 6 years, Thomson’s financial division rises

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendations on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor.

THOMSON REUTERS CORP. (Toronto symbol TRI; www.thomsonreuters.com) is seeing higher demand for its financial information products for the first time since the 2008 economic crisis. Sales at its legal and tax and accounting businesses are also improving.

In the three months ended September 30, 2014, Thomson’s overall revenue rose 1.1%, to $3.11 billion from $3.07 billion a year earlier (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars).

The financial division’s revenue (54% of the total) fell 0.7%. But banks and other clients are buying more products than they’re cancelling, which should raise this division’s future revenue.

Revenue rose 1.3% at the legal-products division (28%), 11.5% at tax and accounting (10%) and 3.3% at intellectual property and science (8%).

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2 min read

Scott Clayton

Energy Stocks

Best Canadian Stocks: Agrium has an answer to low potash prices

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendations on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor.

A sinkhole recently forced Russia’s Uralkali to close its Solikamsk-2 mine, which accounts for 20% of Uralkali’s potash production and 3.5% of global capacity.

Uralkali didn’t say how long it would take to reopen the mine, but it could close it permanently.

Regardless of the length of the shutdown, high potash inventories will continue to weigh on prices. Moreover, this year’s record U.S. harvest has hurt corn, soybean and wheat prices, prompting farmers to store excess crops while they wait for a rebound.

However, we feel that steady sales from Agrium’s retail stores give it an advantage over bulk fertilizer producers like Potash Corp.

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2 min read

Scott Clayton

Energy Stocks

Best Canadian Stocks: Strong niche points to big rebound for pipeline specialist

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor.

ShawCor makes coatings for oil and natural gas pipelines. Its shares have fallen with the recent drop in the price of oil. However, it is a leader in its niche industry and should rebound strongly when energy prices recover. The drop also means the stock now trades at an attractive multiple to its projected earnings.

SHAWCOR LTD. (Toronto symbol SCL; www.shawcor.com) makes sealants and coatings that keep oil and natural gas pipelines from rusting. It also makes industrial products, like electrical wire and protective sheaths.

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2 min read

Scott Clayton

How To Invest

Best Canadian Stocks: Flight training specialist set to soar

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks - The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor.

CAE INC. (Toronto symbol CAE; www.cae.com) gets 55% of its revenue by selling flight simulators and pilot-training services to commercial airlines. Another 40% comes from simulators and training for military clients, mainly in the U.S.

CAE gets the remaining 5% of its sales by making medical-simulation products, such as mannequins, for training nurses and medical students.

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3 min read

Scott Clayton

Mining Stocks

Cuba specialist eyes profit boost in shift from coal to nickel

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor.

SHERRITT INTERNATIONAL (Toronto symbol S; www.sherritt.com) sold off all of its coal interests for $793 million in cash in April 2014.

The company is now focused on nickel production, with operations in Cuba and Canada. As well, it has a 40% interest in the Ambatovy nickel mine on the island nation of Madagascar, off Africa’s east coast. Sherritt also produces oil and gas in Cuba, Spain and Pakistan and manages 506 megawatts of power generation capacity in Cuba.

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2 min read

Scott Clayton

Dividend Stocks

Best Canadian Stocks: Irish and U.S. acquisitions pump up Brookfield Renewable’s power output

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor.

BROOKFIELD RENEWABLE ENERGY PARTNERS L.P. (Toronto symbol BEP.UN; www.brookfieldrenewable.com) owns 196 hydroelectric generating stations, 11 wind farms and two natural-gas-fired plants. In all, it has 6,700 megawatts of generating capacity.

Roughly 31% of that capacity is in Canada, with another 52% in the U.S. and 17% in Brazil.

In the quarter ended September 30, 2014, Brookfield’s cash flow per share fell 46.3%, to $0.22 from $0.41 a year earlier. That’s because below-normal rainfall slowed the company’s hydroelectric production. However, rainfall averages out over time: in the nine months ended September 30, cash flow per share fell just 4.1%, to $1.65 from $1.72....

2 min read

Scott Clayton

How To Invest

Best Canadian Stocks: Encore regional airline adds to strong profits at WestJet

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor. WESTJET AIRLINES (Toronto symbol WJA; www.westjet.com) serves 90 destinations in North America, Central America, the Caribbean and Europe. Its fleet of 107 modern Boeing 737s are 30% more fuel efficient than older jets. In June 2013, the company launched WestJet Encore, its Canadian regional airline. This business now operates 13 Bombardier Q400 NextGen turboprop planes, which seat 78 passengers....

2 min read

Scott Clayton