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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LOBLAW COMPANIES $70.28 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 410.2 million; Market cap: $28.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.5%; www.loblaw.ca) currently operates over 1,100 supermarkets and 1,300 Shopper Drug Mart pharmacies across Canada. In the three months ended March 26, 2016, Loblaw earned $338 million, or $0.82 a share. That’s up 12.3% from $301 million, or $0.72, a year earlier. Sales rose 4.8%, to $13.9 billion from $13.6 billion. Excluding gas station revenue, same-store sales rose 2.6% at Loblaw. They rose 6.3% at Shoppers Drug Mart. The company now plans to spend $1 billion to open 50 new locations and renovate 150 stores. Choice Properties REIT (Toronto symbol CHP.UN) will contribute an additional $300 million to the construction projects. Loblaw owns 83.0% of the REIT, which gets 91% of its rental revenue from its supermarkets and drug stores....
MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES $37.43 (Toronto symbol MBT; Shares outstanding: 78.3 million; Market cap: $2.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 3.5%; www.mts.ca) has attracted a $3.1 billion takeover offer from BCE Inc. (see page 38). Under the deal, Manitoba Tel shareholders can choose either $40 in cash or 0.6756 shares of BCE for every MBT share they hold. However, BCE plans to limit its overall cash spending, so most Manitoba Tel investors will likely receive 55% of their payout in stock and the remainder in cash....
ISHARES S&P/TSX GLOBAL GOLD INDEX FUND $13.31 (Toronto symbol XGD; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) aims to mirror the performance of the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index, which is made up of 35 gold stocks from Canada and around the world. The ETF began trading on March 23, 2001. Its MER is 0.61%. The fund’s top holdings are Barrick Gold at 14.6%; Newmont Mining, 12.4%; Goldcorp, 11.2%; Franco-Nevada, 8.7%; Agnico-Eagle Mines, 6.8%; Randgold Resources (ADR), 6.2%; Kinross Gold, 4.5%; and AngloGold Ashanti (ADR), 4.4%. iShares S&P/TSX Global Gold Index is a hold.
GLOBAL X SILVER MINERS ETF $32.963 (New York symbol SIL; buy or sell through brokers; www.globalxfunds.com) tracks the Solactive Global Silver Miners Index. That index includes 21 international firms that mine, refine or explore for silver. It was developed by Germany-based Structured Solutions AG. Canadian firms make up 50.5% of the fund’s holdings, but it also includes miners in the U.S. (22.0%) and Mexico (21.0%). Its MER is 0.65%. The ETF’s top holdings are Tahoe Resources Inc. at 11.5%; Silver Wheaton, 11.1%; Fresnillo plc 10.7%; First Majestic Silver, 7.7%; Industrias Penoles, 7.3%; Coeur Mining, 6.0%; Pan American Silver, 5.7%; Hecla Mining, 5.1%; Fortuna Silver Mines, 4.7%; Alamos Gold, 4.7%; Mag Silver, 4.4%; and Silver Standard Resources, 3.8%....
GLOBAL X COPPER MINERS ETF $15.44 (New York symbol COPX; buy or sell through brokers; www.globalxfunds.com) tracks the Solactive Global Copper Miners Index, which includes 20 to 40 international companies that mine, refine or explore for copper. Germany-based Structured Solutions AG created this index. Canadian firms make up 36.6% of the ETF’s holdings. They also include companies based in Australia (14.2%), Peru (5.1%), Mexico (5.0%) and China (4.5%). The fund’s MER is 0.65%. Its top holdings are Teck Resources at 7.7%; Oz Minerals, 7.0%; CST Mining Group, 6.5%; Glencore plc, 5.8%; First Quantum Minerals, 5.8%; Capstone Mining, 5.6%; Kaz Minerals plc, 5.5%; Lundin Mining, 5.0%; Southern Copper, 4.8%; Freeport-McMoran, 4.7%; Sandfire Resources, 4.5%; and Grupo Mexico, 4.5%....
PEYTO EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT CORP. $30.95 (Toronto symbol PEY; Shares outstanding: 159.2 million; Market cap: $4.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.3%; www.peyto.com) produces and explores for oil and natural gas in Alberta. Its average daily production of 97,028 barrels of oil equivalent is 93% gas and 7% oil. In the three months ended December 31, 2015, Peyto’s cash flow fell 15.9%, to $0.95 a share from $1.13 a year ago. It raised its production by 16.5%, but that was offset by lower oil and gas prices. Its realized oil price year over year fell 28.1%, and natural gas prices fell 20.9%. The company has cut it’s original 2016 capital spending of $600 million to $650 million down to between $500 million and $550 million. It spent $594 million in 2015....
BONAVISTA ENERGY $2.76 (Toronto symbol BNP; Shares outstanding: 214.0 million; Market cap: $626.1 million; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.4%; www.bonavistaenergy.com) explores for oil and gas in Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C. Its output is 68% gas and 32% oil. In the quarter ended December 31, 2015, Bonavista’s cash flow per share fell 30.2%, to $0.44 from $0.63 a year earlier. Most of that drop came from lower oil and gas prices, but also because of falling output. It declined 6.9%, to 79,862 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 85,810 barrels. Like many producers, the company will cut its exploration and development. In 2016, it plans to spend $145 million to $190 million. That’s a reduction from Bonavista’s initial announcement of $210 million, which is down from the $283.4 million it spent in 2015. It spent $639.6 million in 2014....