Dividend Stocks

Dividends can produce as much as a third of your total return over long periods, and you can even retire on dividends.

There are 4 key stock dividend dates that are involved with dividend payments:

1- The Declaration Date is several weeks in advance of a dividend payment—it’s when company’s board of directors sets the amount and timing of the proposed payment.

2- The Payable Date is the date set by the board on which the dividend will actually be paid out to shareholders.

3- The Record Date is for shareholders who hold the stock before the payable date and receive the dividend payment. That date is set any number of weeks before the payable date.

4-The Ex-Dividend Date is two business days before the record date and it’s when the shares begin to trade without their dividend. If you buy stocks one day or more before their ex-dividend date, you will still get the dividend. That’s when a stock is said to trade cum-dividend. If you buy on the ex-dividend date or later, you won’t get the dividend. The ex-dividend date is in place to allow pending stock trades to settle.

We think very highly of stocks that have been paying dividends for five or more years, at TSI Network. Many of these stocks fit in well with our three-part Successful Investor philosophy:

1- Invest mainly in well-established companies;

2- Spread your money out across most if not all of the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry; Resources & Commodities; Consumer; Finance; and Utilities);

3- Downplay or avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight.

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LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $33 (Toronto symbol L; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 281.4 million; Market cap: $9.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.loblaw.ca) is buying most of the Zellers department store chain’s prescription drug accounts.

U.S.-based Target Corp. (New York symbol TGT) recently acquired over 220 Zellers stores as part of its plan to expand into Canada. However, it will take Target several months to renovate these locations. As a result, Target decided not to take over Zellers’ drug business and will instead open its own pharmacies in these stores.

Loblaw will pay $35 million for the Zellers accounts. That’s equal to 5% of its 2011 earnings of $769 million, or $2.73 a share. Selling drugs is more profitable than sales of food or general merchandise, so these new accounts should boost Loblaw’s earnings. The purchase will also draw more traffic to Loblaw’s stores.

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CANADA BREAD CO. LTD. $46 (Toronto symbol CBY; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 25.4 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.canadabread.ca) earned $3.43 a share in 2011, up 18.3% from $2.90 in 2010, mainly due to a one-time tax benefit. The company’s plan to close three older bakeries and shift their operations to a new, more efficient facility in Hamilton, Ontario will also improve its earnings.

Sales rose just 0.4% in 2011, to $1.60 billion from $1.59 billion. That’s largely because the company sold its fresh sandwich business in February 2011.

Canada Bread is a hold.

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IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $43 (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap: $36.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 1.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.imperialoil.ca) has slowed work on its proposed Mackenzie pipeline project, which would pump natural gas from the Arctic to Alberta. (Imperial owns 34.4% of this project, which has already received regulatory approval.)

That’s because rising production of natural gas from shale rock has depressed gas prices in the past few years. As well, higher prices for raw materials would increase the project’s estimated cost of $16.2 billion.

If Imperial decides to proceed, the new line could start up in 2018. The company feels that gas prices will be higher by then, as more coal-fired power plants switch to cleaner-burning natural gas.

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IGM FINANCIAL INC. $46 (Toronto symbol IGM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 256.7 million; Market cap: $11.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.3; Dividend yield: 4.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.igmfinancial.com) reports that it had $124.1 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2012. That’s down 7.4% from $134.1 billion a year earlier. Lower share prices were the main reason for the drop.

IGM’s fee income rises and falls with the value of the mutual funds and other securities it manages, so the company’s revenue and earnings suffer when the value of these assets falls. Still, low interest rates will probably spur investors to shift from fixed-income investments to equity-based mutual funds over the next few months.

IGM Financial is a buy.

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BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $4.04 and BBD.B $3.93; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $6.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bombardier.com) has won a contract to build 300 subway cars for the New York City public transit system. The company will begin delivering these trains in 2016.

The $600-million deal is small next to Bombardier’s annual revenue of $18.3 billion (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). However, orders like this will help Bombardier win more contracts from other major cities.

Bombardier is a buy. The cheaper class B shares are the better choice.

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SHAWCOR LTD. $30 (Toronto symbol SCL.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 70.6 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 1.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.shawcor.com) gets 88% of its revenue by making sealants and coatings that keep oil and gas pipelines from rusting. It gets the remaining 12% by making electrical wire and protective sheaths.

ShawCor has won over $800 million of new contracts since October 2011. That includes a $400-million U.S. deal to coat an undersea natural gas pipeline in western Australia.

These new orders pushed up the company’s revenue by 11.9% in 2011, to $1.2 billion from $1.0 billion in 2010. ShawCor gets two-thirds of its revenue from outside Canada, and the high Canadian dollar cut the contribution of its overseas operations by $22.4 million.

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PRECISION DRILLING CORP. $8.91 (Toronto symbol PD; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resource sector; Shares outstanding: 276.1 million; Market cap: $2.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; No dividends paid since February 2009; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.precisiondrilling.com)
provides contract drilling services to land-based oil and gas producers, mainly in North America. It had 337 rigs in service at the end of 2011.

The company continues to gain as oil producers step up their drilling activity to take advantage of rising oil prices. In 2011, Precision’s revenue rose 36.5%, to $1.95 billion from $1.4 billion in 2010. Earnings soared 344.4%, to $193.5 million, or $0.67 a share, from $43.5 million, or $0.15 a share.

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CAE INC. $10 (Toronto symbol CAE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 257.9 million; Market cap: $2.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cae.com) makes flight simulators and runs pilot training schools.

In its 2012 third quarter, which ended December 31, 2011, CAE’s revenue rose 10.3%, to $453.1 million from $410.8 million a year earlier.

Demand for the company’s pilot training services continues to rise as airlines upgrade their fleets. That pushed up revenue by 13% at CAE’s civil division (which supplies 45% of the company’s overall revenue).

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TRANSCANADA CORP. $43 (Toronto symbol TRP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 704.1 million; Market cap: $30.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.3; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.transcanada.com) gets 9% of its revenue from its minority stake in the Bruce nuclear power complex in central Ontario.

The company and its partners are nearly finished upgrading two of the plant’s eight reactors, which have been out of service since 1995. They plan to restart both by September 30, 2012. The plant will then supply 25% of Ontario’s power. Right now, Bruce’s six operating reactors account for 19% of the province’s power.

TransCanada is a buy.

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DUNDEE CORP. $24 (Toronto symbol DC.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 55.0 million; Market cap: $1.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 6.6; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.dundeecorp.com) is a holding company with subsidiaries in wealth management, real estate, resources and agriculture.

Dundee is riskier than the big five banks. That’s because sales of individual investments can have a big impact on its earnings. For example, in 2011, it recorded an $870.8-million gain on the sale of subsidiary DundeeWealth. Without that gain, Dundee’s earnings fell 13.1%, to $173.2 million from $199.3 million in 2010. Earnings per share rose 5.9%, to $2.17 from $2.05, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue fell 15.7%, to $574.0 million from $680.8 million.

Dundee is still a buy.

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