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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The company continues to expand in Ireland. In 2013, it paid $1.75 billion for Irish Life Group, a major pension manager and life insurance provider. It will also soon complete its purchase of the Irish operations of Legal & General Group for an undisclosed sum. This business provides investment and tax-planning services to wealthy individuals.
Meanwhile, in the three months ended March 31, 2015, Great-West’s earnings rose 19.3%, to $700 million from $587 million a year earlier. Irish Life contributed $80 million, up from $52 million. Due to more shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 18.6%, to $0.70 from $0.59. Revenue rose 27.6%, to $12.7 billion from $9.9 billion.
The company will probably earn $2.82 a share in 2015, and the stock trades at a low 13.1 times that estimate. The $1.30 dividend yields 3.5%.
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Meanwhile, Bank of Nova Scotia earned $1.73 billion, or $1.42 a share, in its fiscal 2015 second quarter, which ended April 30, 2015. That’s up 1.6% from $1.70 billion, or $1.39, a year earlier. Revenue rose 3.7%, to $5.9 billion from $5.7 billion.
Earnings at the Canadian banking division (48% of the bank’s total) rose 0.7%, mainly because it sold most of its shares in mutual fund provider CI Financial (Toronto symbol CIX) in 2014. If you exclude CI and adjust for a change in tax rates, this division’s earnings rose 9% on improving loan and deposit growth.
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As of March 31, 2015, these four holdings had a book value of $2.8 billion U.S. A sale would free up cash for dividends or share buybacks. However, last year’s record crop harvests continue to depress potash prices.
Potash Corp. is a hold.
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Falling oil prices have cut drilling activity in Canada and the U.S. by about 50% in the past six months. As a result, Precision’s revenue fell 23.8% in the first quarter of 2015, to $512.1 million from $672.2 million a year earlier. Earnings declined 76.3%, to $24.0 million, or $0.08 a share, from $101.6 million, or $0.35.
The Supreme Court of Canada recently upheld a lower court ruling in an Ontario income tax dispute involving one of Precision’s subsidiaries. As a result, the Ontario government repaid $55 million of the taxes Precision remitted in 2008, along with interest, for a total of $69 million. The cash will help Precision pay for its plan to spend $506 million on capital upgrades in 2015, down 33.0% from $754.9 million in 2014.
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Last year, the company won contracts to coat underwater pipelines for the South Stream Pipeline project, which pumps natural gas from Russia under the Caspian Sea to Turkey. From there, other pipelines pump the gas to Italy and into Europe. The pipeline’s operators suspended construction in late 2014, but they have recently restarted the project. ShawCor now expects to complete these jobs in the second half of 2015. The company has resumed work on one contract worth $65 million. A second job, worth $60 million, is still suspended. Meanwhile, ShawCor’s revenue fell 1.5% in the three months ended March 31, 2015, to $471.9 million from $479.1 million a year earlier. That’s mainly because the company coated fewer pipelines. However, favourable exchange rates added $16.2 million to its revenue in the latest quarter.
Earnings fell 39.0%, to $37.8 million, or $0.58 a share, from $61.9 million, or $1.03. Aside from the lower revenue, ShawCor completed a highly profitable contract in the year-earlier quarter. These were the main reasons for the lower earnings.
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It also sells heavy equipment from other manufacturers. Finning’s clients are mainly in the mining, forest products and construction industries. The company recently paid $230 million for Saskatchewan Caterpillar distributor Kramer Ltd. The deal that will add $275 million to Finning’s annual revenue.
To put these figures in context, Finning’s revenue fell 9.4% in the three months ended March 31, 2015, to $1.5 billion from $1.7 billion a year earlier. That’s mainly because weak prices for copper and other metals hurt mining equipment demand in Canada and South America. Part of Finning’s response to the lower sales has been to exit Uruguay, which accounts for $30 million U.S. of yearly revenue.
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These are the same allegations that prompted SNC to replace its senior executives in 2012 and bring in a new program to enforce ethical practices. The company plans to fight these charges.
Meantime, SNC has continued to win public works contracts, including one for building a new bridge in Montreal and another for a transit line in Toronto. That’s why the stock has recovered to its current level.
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Peller is Canada’s second-largest wine producer, after Vincor International, but few brokers cover it due to its relatively small market cap. Even so, it has a long history of rising earnings and dividends.
In its 2015 fiscal year, which ended March 31, 2015, Peller’s sales rose 6.0%, to $315.7 million from $297.8 million in 2014. That’s mainly because it launched several new products, including its skinnygrape spritzers and Panama Jack cocktails.
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In the past decade, Fortis has used acquisitions to expand to other parts of Canada. In May 2004, it paid $1.5 billion for regulated power companies in Alberta and B.C. In May 2007, it added Terasen (now called Fortis BC Energy), which distributes natural gas to nearly one million customers in B.C. Fortis paid $3.7 billion for this business.
The company is also buying utilities outside Canada. In June 2013, it paid $1.5 billion U.S. for CH Energy Group, which delivers electricity to 300,000 clients in New York State’s Mid-Hudson River Valley. CH doesn’t own power plants; instead, it buys power from other producers. It also distributes natural gas to 77,000 users.
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