Latest Stock Advice
It is important to note that some types of investments provide more security than others. Investors seeking safe investment options should look for well-established companies with hidden assets among other key characteristics.
Sun Life Financial Inc. and Manulife Financial Corp. each offers a combination of solid earnings growth, ongoing share repurchases, and impressive dividend yields.
Top pick Yum Brands Inc. gives you sales growth, steady EPS growth, and a solid dividend
Nutrien Ltd. offers exposure to potash and nitrogen prices, a stable retail base and strong profitability.
Become a Successful Investor
Tax shelters in Canada aim to reduce or eliminate your tax liability, they are great ways for Canadian investors to cut their tax bills.
In some ways, stock buyback benefits are better than dividends. In particular, they give you a tax-deferral option that you don’t get with cash dividends.
TransCanada is now challenging the U.S. government’s recent decision to block its proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would have pumped crude oil from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Even if it has to abandon this project, the company still has many other projects under development. These investments will also let TransCanada increase its dividend by between 8% and 10% each year through 2020. TRANSCANADA CORP. $44.61 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 709.0 million; Market cap: $31.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.7%; www.transcanada.com) operates 68,000 kilometres of natural gas pipelines and over 11,800 megawatts of power generation in Canada and the U.S. In the three months ended September 30, 2015, the company earned $440 million, or $0.62 a share, down 2.2% from $450 million, or $0.63, a year earlier. That was mainly because of lower power prices in Alberta and unplanned power plant outages. However, gains from its pipelines and U.S. power plants boosted revenue by 20.1%, to $2.9 billion from $2.45 billion....
ENCANA $6.96 (Toronto symbol ECA; Shares outstanding: 840.8 million; Market cap: $6.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Divd. yield: 1.2%; www.encana.com) continues to take steps to conserve cash while it waits for oil and gas prices to recover. Encana has cut its quarterly payout by 78.6%, to $0.015 a share from $0.07 (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). The stock now yields 1.2%. This should save the company $185 million a year. As well, Encana will spend $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion to expand and upgrade its properties in 2016, down about $600 million from 2015....
PEMBINA PIPELINE $29.06 (Toronto symbol PPL; Shares outstanding: 354.7 million; Market cap: $10.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 6.0%; www.pembina.com) owns pipelines that carry half of Alberta’s conventional oil, 30% of Western Canada’s natural gas liquids (NGLs) and almost all of B.C.’s conventional oil. Pembina also owns facilities that extract, process and store NGLs. In the three months ended September 30, 2015, the company’s cash flow per share jumped 25.0%, to $0.60 from $0.48 a year earlier. That’s mainly because of new plants starting up and boosting volumes at its NGL extraction business....
ENBRIDGE INC. $44.58 (Toronto symbol ENB; Shares outstanding: 856.7 million; Market cap: $39.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.8%; www.enbridge.com) will make a final decision on its proposed Northern Gateway pipeline in the second half of 2016. This $7.9-billion project would pump crude from Alberta to the B.C. coast. From there, tankers would ship the oil to Asian markets. Regulators have approved the line, but the new federal Liberal government plans to ban tanker traffic off of B.C.’s northern coast, which hurts the project’s viability. Meanwhile, Enbridge has raised its dividend by 14.0%. The new annual rate of $2.12 a share yields 4.8%....