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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Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on specific stocks and other investing topics from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on a selection of the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And every Friday, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. This week, one Inner Circle question concerned a potentially fast-growing stock market investment, convenience store chains. Pat looks at how one U.S. chain is doing following its successful fight to resist a takeover bid from a big Canadian chain. ...
CGI GROUP INC. (Toronto symbol GIB.A; www.cgi.com) is Canada’s largest provider of computer outsourcing services. It also operates in 15 other countries. Canada and the U.S. each accounted for 47% of its revenue in the latest fiscal year; Europe and Asia supplied the remaining 6%. The company often uses acquisitions to fuel its growth. CGI’s most important purchase in the past few years was its $932.2-million acquisition of Stanley Inc. in September 2010. Stanley provides computer outsourcing services to military and civilian agencies of the U.S. government....
Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific advice on successful investing. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Tip of the week: “Short sellers can make money in a hurry, but there are more losers than winners.”...
Buy a house that suits your needs, and let the potential real estate investment profits take care of themselves. As real estate investments, homes
ENCANA CORP. $19.59 (Toronto symbol ECA; Shares outstanding: 737.6 million; Market cap: $14.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 4.1%; www.encana.com) is selling two plants in the Cutbank Ridge area of northeastern B.C. to VERESEN $15.31 (Toronto symbol VSN; Shares outstanding: 169.8 million; Market cap: $2.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 6.5%). Veresen owns and operates energy pipelines and processing plants across North America.
These plants process natural gas from nearby wells. The sale also includes 370 kilometres of pipelines. Veresen will pay Encana $920 million (Canadian) when the deal closes in early 2012.
Including this deal, Encana sold or agreed to sell $3.5 billion U.S. of non-essential assets in 2011. The sales are part of its plan to focus on its main gas-producing properties in Alberta, B.C., Wyoming, Michigan, Colorado and Louisiana.
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These plants process natural gas from nearby wells. The sale also includes 370 kilometres of pipelines. Veresen will pay Encana $920 million (Canadian) when the deal closes in early 2012.
Including this deal, Encana sold or agreed to sell $3.5 billion U.S. of non-essential assets in 2011. The sales are part of its plan to focus on its main gas-producing properties in Alberta, B.C., Wyoming, Michigan, Colorado and Louisiana.
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VANGUARD GROWTH ETF $62.76 (New York symbol VUG; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the MSCI U.S. Prime Market Growth Index, a broadly diversified index that mainly consists of stocks of large U.S. companies. Its MER is just 0.12%.
The $20.8-billion fund’s top holdings are Apple Inc., IBM, Google, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Philip Morris International, Oracle Corp., Schlumberger, Wal-Mart and Cisco Systems
Vanguard Growth ETF is broken down by economic segment as follows: Information Technology (30.1%), Consumer Discretionary (17.0%), Industrials (12.6%), Consumer Staples (12.1%), Energy (9.4%), Health Care (9.3%), Financials (4.6%), Materials (3.4%), Telecommunication Services (0.8%) and Utilities (0.2%).
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The $20.8-billion fund’s top holdings are Apple Inc., IBM, Google, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Philip Morris International, Oracle Corp., Schlumberger, Wal-Mart and Cisco Systems
Vanguard Growth ETF is broken down by economic segment as follows: Information Technology (30.1%), Consumer Discretionary (17.0%), Industrials (12.6%), Consumer Staples (12.1%), Energy (9.4%), Health Care (9.3%), Financials (4.6%), Materials (3.4%), Telecommunication Services (0.8%) and Utilities (0.2%).
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VANGUARD EMERGING MARKETS ETF $39.22 (New York symbol VWO; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which is made up of common stocks of companies located in emerging markets around the world. The fund has an MER of 0.22%.
The fund’s top holdings are Samsung Electronics (South Korea: electronics), Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Brazil: oil and gas), Vale SA (Brazil: mining), Gazprom (Russia: gas utility), China Mobile (China: wireless), Taiwan Semiconductor (Taiwan: computer chips), America Movil SAB de CV (Latin America: wireless), China Construction Bank (China: banking), Itau Unibanco Holding SA (Brazil: banking), and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (China: banking), CNOOC Ltd. (China: oil and gas) and MTN Group (South Africa: telecommunications).
The $56.3-billion Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF’s breakdown by country is as follows: China (17.1%), Brazil (15.4%), South Korea (14.9%), Taiwan (10.9%), South Africa (7.5%), India (7.4%), Russia (6.6%), Mexico (4.7%), Malaysia (3.4%), Indonesia (2.9%), Thailand (1.8%), Chile (1.7%), Poland (1.5%), Turkey (1.3%) and Other (0.9%).
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The fund’s top holdings are Samsung Electronics (South Korea: electronics), Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Brazil: oil and gas), Vale SA (Brazil: mining), Gazprom (Russia: gas utility), China Mobile (China: wireless), Taiwan Semiconductor (Taiwan: computer chips), America Movil SAB de CV (Latin America: wireless), China Construction Bank (China: banking), Itau Unibanco Holding SA (Brazil: banking), and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (China: banking), CNOOC Ltd. (China: oil and gas) and MTN Group (South Africa: telecommunications).
The $56.3-billion Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF’s breakdown by country is as follows: China (17.1%), Brazil (15.4%), South Korea (14.9%), Taiwan (10.9%), South Africa (7.5%), India (7.4%), Russia (6.6%), Mexico (4.7%), Malaysia (3.4%), Indonesia (2.9%), Thailand (1.8%), Chile (1.7%), Poland (1.5%), Turkey (1.3%) and Other (0.9%).
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IBM $186 (New York symbol IBM; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $223.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.6%) continues to expand its software business.
In early December 2011, the company agreed to buy DemandTec Inc. (Nasdaq symbol DMAN), which makes software that retailers and consumer products makers use to analyze their customers’ spending habits. This information helps them predict consumer behaviour and quickly adjust their prices.
Adding DemandTec will also enhance IBM’s expertise in cloud computing. That’s where data and software are kept on central servers. Users then access this information over the Internet through a variety of devices
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In early December 2011, the company agreed to buy DemandTec Inc. (Nasdaq symbol DMAN), which makes software that retailers and consumer products makers use to analyze their customers’ spending habits. This information helps them predict consumer behaviour and quickly adjust their prices.
Adding DemandTec will also enhance IBM’s expertise in cloud computing. That’s where data and software are kept on central servers. Users then access this information over the Internet through a variety of devices
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H&R REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $23.16 (Toronto symbol HR.UN; Units outstanding: 157.3 million; Market cap: $3.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.8%; www.hr-reit.com) owns stakes in 39 office buildings, 117 industrial properties and 133 retail properties across Canada. H&R has a 98.9% occupancy rate.
In the three months ended September 30, 2011, the REIT’s revenue rose 11.0%, to $169.6 million from $152.8 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit rose 5.7%, to $0.37 from $0.35.
H&R is nearly finished building The Bow, a $1.33-billion, two-million-square-foot office building in Calgary. Encana Corp. has already leased the entire building for 25 years.
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In the three months ended September 30, 2011, the REIT’s revenue rose 11.0%, to $169.6 million from $152.8 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit rose 5.7%, to $0.37 from $0.35.
H&R is nearly finished building The Bow, a $1.33-billion, two-million-square-foot office building in Calgary. Encana Corp. has already leased the entire building for 25 years.
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CANADIAN REIT $36.18 (Toronto symbol REF.UN; Units outstanding: 67.3 million; Market cap: $2.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.0%; www.creit.ca) owns over 160 properties, including retail, industrial and office buildings, located across Canada and in the Chicago area. These properties contain over 24 million square feet of leasable area. Its occupancy rate is 93.7%.
In the three months ended September 30, 2011, the real estate investment trust’s revenue rose 5.5%, to $83.7 million from $79.4 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit rose 5.3%, to $0.60 from $0.57.
Canadian REIT bought $264.5 million of properties in 2011, including its June 2011 purchase of two fully leased malls in Mississauga, Ontario, for $174.4 million. Tenants include Future Shop, Famous Players, Chapters, Rona and National Sports.
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In the three months ended September 30, 2011, the real estate investment trust’s revenue rose 5.5%, to $83.7 million from $79.4 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit rose 5.3%, to $0.60 from $0.57.
Canadian REIT bought $264.5 million of properties in 2011, including its June 2011 purchase of two fully leased malls in Mississauga, Ontario, for $174.4 million. Tenants include Future Shop, Famous Players, Chapters, Rona and National Sports.
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