How To Invest
In addition, Pat thinks then beginner investors should cultivate two important qualities: a healthy sense of skepticism and patience.
Investors should approach all investments with a healthy sense of skepticism. This can help keep you out of fraudulent stocks that masquerade as high-quality stocks. It will also keep you out of legally operated, but poorly managed, companies that promise more than they can possibly deliver.
If you are a new investor, you should also realize that losing patience can cause you to sell your best choices right before a big rise. All too often, investors buy a promising stock just as it enters a period of price stagnation. Even the best-performing stocks run into these unpredictable phases from time to time. They move mainly sideways in a wide range for months or years before their next big rise begins. (Stock brokers often refer to these stocks as “dead money.”)
If you lack patience, you run a big risk of selling your best choices in the midst of one of these phases, prior to the next big move upward. If you lose patience and sell, you are particularly likely to do so in the low end of the trading range, when stock prices have weakened and confidence in the stock has waned.
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VERESEN $14.40 (Toronto symbol VSN; Shares outstanding: 193.7 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Yield: 6.9%) owns pipelines, power plants and natural gas processing facilities across North America. One of its major holdings is 50% of the Alliance gas pipeline, which runs 3,000 kilometres from Fort St. John, B.C., to Chicago. Enbridge owns the other 50%.
As well, the company owns the Alberta Ethane Gathering System, and Veresen and Enbridge together own 85.4% of the Aux Sable natural gas liquids plant.
In December 2011, Veresen bought the Hythe/ Steeprock gas gathering and processing complex in the Montney region of B.C. and Alberta from Encana Corp. for $920 million. Encana has also agreed to buy most of the facility’s gas under a long-term contract.
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As well, the company owns the Alberta Ethane Gathering System, and Veresen and Enbridge together own 85.4% of the Aux Sable natural gas liquids plant.
In December 2011, Veresen bought the Hythe/ Steeprock gas gathering and processing complex in the Montney region of B.C. and Alberta from Encana Corp. for $920 million. Encana has also agreed to buy most of the facility’s gas under a long-term contract.
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PEMBINA PIPELINE $29.78 (Toronto symbol PPL; Shares outstanding: 285.0 million; Market cap: $8.5 billion; TSI Network Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.4%; www.pembina.com) owns pipeline systems with a total length of over 7,500 kilometres. These lines pump oil and gas from fields in B.C. and Alberta to refineries, or feed into major pipelines, such as the Enbridge Pipeline System.
Pembina also owns the Syncrude, Horizon and Cheecham pipelines, which pump crude oil from the Alberta oil sands. In addition, the company holds a 50% stake in the Fort Saskatchewan Ethylene Storage Limited Partnership. It also owns the Cutbank Complex, a network of natural gas gathering and processing facilities.
In the three months ended December 31, 2011, Pembina’s cash flow rose 2.9%, to $66.8 million, or $0.40 a share, from $64.9 million, or $0.39 a share, a year earlier.
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Pembina also owns the Syncrude, Horizon and Cheecham pipelines, which pump crude oil from the Alberta oil sands. In addition, the company holds a 50% stake in the Fort Saskatchewan Ethylene Storage Limited Partnership. It also owns the Cutbank Complex, a network of natural gas gathering and processing facilities.
In the three months ended December 31, 2011, Pembina’s cash flow rose 2.9%, to $66.8 million, or $0.40 a share, from $64.9 million, or $0.39 a share, a year earlier.
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ENCANA CORP. $20.61 (Toronto symbol ECA; Shares outstanding: 735.4 million; Market cap: $15.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 4.3%; www.encana.com) expects to earn $1.02 a share this year. However, cash flow could be as high as $4.58 a share.
Encana’s forecast 2012 cash flow is so much higher than earnings because it includes not only earnings, but also non-cash charges including depletion of its natural gas assets.
In Encana’s case, those depletion charges include writing off natural gas assets acquired at much higher prices.
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Encana’s forecast 2012 cash flow is so much higher than earnings because it includes not only earnings, but also non-cash charges including depletion of its natural gas assets.
In Encana’s case, those depletion charges include writing off natural gas assets acquired at much higher prices.
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IBM $208 (New York symbol IBM; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $249.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.6%) is the world’s oldest computer company (it began operating in 1911), with operations in over 170 countries.
In the three months ended March 31, 2012, IBM earned $3.1 billion. That’s up 7.1% from $2.9 billion a year earlier. The company spent $3.0 billion on share buybacks in the latest quarter, and $15 billion in 2011. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 13.0%, to $2.61 from $2.31.
Revenue rose 0.3%, to $24.7 billion from $24.6 billion. Computer hardware sales fell 6.7%, but that was offset by higher sales of software (up 5.5%) and computer services (up 0.7%).
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In the three months ended March 31, 2012, IBM earned $3.1 billion. That’s up 7.1% from $2.9 billion a year earlier. The company spent $3.0 billion on share buybacks in the latest quarter, and $15 billion in 2011. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 13.0%, to $2.61 from $2.31.
Revenue rose 0.3%, to $24.7 billion from $24.6 billion. Computer hardware sales fell 6.7%, but that was offset by higher sales of software (up 5.5%) and computer services (up 0.7%).
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This is the latest in a series of video interviews in which Pat McKeough will give his advice on a variety of topics. Some will deal with his overall investment philosophy, others on specific investment strategies and still others will be comments on events that are affecting the markets and the economy. This time, he discusses one of the most venerable of Canadian stocks. A reader asked about CP Rail, Pat’s #1 Stock Pick for 2012, and all of the media attention it’s receiving. Shouldn’t we avoid stocks in the limelight? Not in this case, says Pat, and he explains why.
The Real News About CP Rail...
The Real News About CP Rail...
Dividends are in fashion with investors right now, and that’s always a good thing. Creative accounting can produce false impressions of prosperity and hide embarrassing financial problems. But accounting can’t create cash for this year’s dividend, let alone conjure up a history of past dividends. If you restrict your stock market picks to dividend payers, you’ll avoid most of the market’s greatest disasters. It’s odd that while investors periodically crave cash dividends, they rarely get excited about stock buybacks. But in some ways, stock buybacks are better than dividends. In particular, they give you a tax-deferral option that you don’t get with cash dividends....
When the market is as turbulent as it has been lately, investors can easily panic and make mistakes. Our investment advice is to avoid three common mistakes we have seen over the years:
- Overanalyzing: During this week’s market turmoil, the media has been focusing on the uncertainty in Europe. The election of a socialist president in France and electoral confusion in Greece is fuelling further fears about the ongoing European debt crisis....
TRANSCANADA CORP. $43.51 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 704.2 million; Market cap: $30.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.1%; www.transcanada.com) is expanding its Tamazunchale pipeline, which pumps natural gas from Mexico’s state-owned oil company to gas-fired power plants. This extension will cost $500 million U.S. The company expects to complete the project in 2014.
The company has a 25-year supply deal with the state-owned power company, which cuts the risk of this project. Mexico continues to convert oil-fired power plants to gas, and TransCanada’s expertise should help it win more pipeline contracts.
TransCanada is a buy.
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The company has a 25-year supply deal with the state-owned power company, which cuts the risk of this project. Mexico continues to convert oil-fired power plants to gas, and TransCanada’s expertise should help it win more pipeline contracts.
TransCanada is a buy.
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NEWMONT MINING $48.42 (New York symbol NEM; Shares outstanding: 490.2 million; Market cap: $23.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 2.9%; www.newmont.com) stopped construction of its 51.35%-owned Conga gold/copper mine in Peru in November 2011. The move was in response to protests by local farmers who fear the mine will contaminate water supplies.
Newmont has a long record of responsible mining in Peru. However, an independent group is now reviewing the $4.8-billion mine’s environmental impact. Meanwhile, Newmont has cut 6,000 jobs at Conga. That will lower its losses until it can restart the project. It also puts pressure on Peru to resolve the dispute.
Newmont is a buy.
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Newmont has a long record of responsible mining in Peru. However, an independent group is now reviewing the $4.8-billion mine’s environmental impact. Meanwhile, Newmont has cut 6,000 jobs at Conga. That will lower its losses until it can restart the project. It also puts pressure on Peru to resolve the dispute.
Newmont is a buy.
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ISHARES DEX UNIVERSE BOND INDEX FUND $31.01 (CWA Rating: Income) (Toronto symbol XBB; buy or sell through brokers) mirrors the performance of the DEX Universe Bond Index. The 591 bonds in the portfolio have an average term to maturity of 9.45 years. The fund’s MER is 0.32%.
The bonds in the index are 69.2% government and 30.8% corporate.
The fund yields 3.2%, compared to the Short Term Bond Fund’s 2.9%. Its yield to maturity is 2.51%, 0.76% above the Short Term Fund. That reflects the added risk of holding long-term bonds.
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The bonds in the index are 69.2% government and 30.8% corporate.
The fund yields 3.2%, compared to the Short Term Bond Fund’s 2.9%. Its yield to maturity is 2.51%, 0.76% above the Short Term Fund. That reflects the added risk of holding long-term bonds.
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