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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SCOTIA CANADIAN GROWTH FUND $63.03 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (Scotia Securities, 40 King Street West, 6th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 1H1. 1-800-268-9 269; Website: www.scotiabank.com. No load — deal directly with the company.) uses fundamental analysis to identify what the managers sees as investments that have the potential for above-average growth. The $571.6 million Scotia Canadian Growth Fund’s 10 largest holdings are Manulife, Suncor Energy, Royal Bank, TD Bank, Barrick Gold, Alcan, CN Railway, CIBC, Talisman Energy and EnCana. Scotia Canadian Growth currently holds 29.3% of its portfolio in the Financial services industry. Its next-largest holding is Energy at 21.3%....
CIBC CORE CANADIAN EQUITY FUND $23.21 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (CIBC Securities, 5140 Yonge Street, Suite 900, Toronto, Ontario M2N 6X7. 1-800-631-7008; Website: www.cibc.com. No load — deal directly with the company.) uses a “bottom-up” approach (using fundamentals such as earnings, cash flow and low debt) to identify companies that trade at reasonable valuations and yet have growth potential. The $627.6 million fund’s top holdings are Petro-Canada, EnCana, Manulife Financial, Falconbridge, Bank of Nova Scotia, TD Bank, Canadian National Railway, Bank of Montreal, Canadian Natural Resources and Suncor Energy. CIBC Core Canadian Equity holds 33.4% of its portfolio in Financial services stocks and 26.4% in Energy stocks....
BMO EQUITY FUND $31.50 (BMO Mutual Funds, 77 King Street West, Suite 4200, Royal Trust Tower, Toronto, Ont., M5K 1J5, 1-800-665-7700; Web site: www.bmo.com. No load — deal directly with the bank) (CWA Rating: Conservative) generally invests in the shares of 20 to 40 “blue-chip” Canadian companies. These stocks are selected based on the manager’s outlook for the industry they operate in, the earnings record of each company, the strength of management, and the potential for growth. BMO Equity Fund’s 10 largest holdings are Manulife Financial, Suncor Energy, Royal Bank, TD Bank, Sun Life Financial, Petro-Canada, Canadian National Railway, CIBC, Bank of Nova Scotia and EnCana. The $2 billion BMO Equity currently holds 37.6% of its portfolio in the Financial services industry. Its next-largest holding is Energy at 23.2%....
RBC CANADIAN EQUITY FUND $25.15 (CWA Rating: Conservative)(RBC Funds, P.O. Box 7500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario. M5W 1P9. 1-800-463-3863; Web site: www.royalbank.com. No load — deal directly with the bank) invests mostly in larger-capitalization stocks, but also looks for opportunities in small and mid-cap stocks. The fund’s 10 largest holdings are TD Bank, Manulife Financial, Bank of Nova Scotia, Royal Bank, EnCana Corporation, Petro-Canada, CN Railway, Talisman Energy, Suncor Energy and Canadian Natural Resources. The $4.4 billion fund holds a relatively high 28.8% of its holdings in Financial stocks. It also holds 25.3% in Energy stocks....
TD CANADIAN EQUITY FUND $30.99 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (TD Asset Management, P.O. Box 7500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario. M5W 1P9. 1-800-463-3863; Web site: www.tdcanadatrust.ca. No load — deal directly with the bank) uses a “bottom-up” approach (using fundamentals such as earnings, cash flow and low debt) to identify undervalued companies with strong growth potential. TD Canadian Equity Fund’s 10 largest holdings are Manulife Financial, Suncor Energy, Royal Bank, TD Bank, Western Oil Sands, Canadian Oil Sands Trust, CN Railway, Inco, Falconbridge and Teck Cominco. The $2.6 billion fund currently holds about 28.6% of its portfolio in Financial services shares. It also has a bias towards Energy stocks, with 28.9% of its holdings in that sector....
TIMBERWEST FOREST CORP. $14.30 (Toronto symbol TWF.UN; SI Rating: Speculative) is an income trust operating in the forest products industry. It is the largest owner of private forest lands in western Canada. To raise cash, TimberWest is selling land to real-estate developers, and selling non-core assets....
GATEWAY CASINOS INCOME FUND $15.07 (Toronto symbol GCI.UN; SI Rating: Speculative) operates the Burnaby Casino and Cascades Casino in Vancouver, B.C., the Palace Casino in Edmonton, Alberta and the Lake City Casinos in Kamloops, Kelowna, Penticton and Vernon, B.C....
CANWEL BUILDING MATERIALS INCOME FUND $3.76 (Toronto symbol CWX.UN; SI Rating: Speculative) is a Canadian national wholesale distributor of hardware, building materials and home renovation products. CanWel has struggled to meet its distributions despite buoyant housing and building markets....
GENERAL DONLEE INCOME FUND $4.90 (Toronto symbol GDI.UN; SI Rating: Speculative) makes precision-machined products for the military, commercial and general aerospace industries. The fund yields 13.5%. General Donlee is looking at several “strategic options” to boost value, including a restructuring or the sale of the entire fund....
ATLAS COLD STORAGE INCOME FUND $6.26 (Toronto symbol FZR.UN; SI Rating: Speculative) provides temperature-controlled storage and logistics services to processors, distributors, food service providers and retailers across North America. Growing losses forced Atlas to halt distributions in 2003....