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Sun Life Financial Inc. and Manulife Financial Corp. each offers a combination of solid earnings growth, ongoing share repurchases, and impressive dividend yields.
Groupe Dynamite Inc. is a high‑quality specialty retailer with gains ahead.
Teck Resources Ltd. is a solid bet on higher copper prices with its big merger winning approvals
Toromont Industries Ltd. should see continued earnings growth thanks to its leading market share and Canada’s plan to increase spending on infrastructure projects.
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When investing in rare earth metals, you need to look at the unique geographical and political environment the mining company produces in.
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MACY’S INC., $43.43, New York symbol M, operates 885 Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s department stores and sells goods online. The company earned $544 million in its fiscal 2016 third quarter, which ended January 30, 2016. That’s down 31.4% from $793 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings dropped 23.5%, to $1.73 from $2.26, on fewer shares outstanding. Macy’s earned $2.09 a share in the latest quarter, if you exclude charges related to the company’s plan to close 35 to 40 of its stores in the next few months. The result beat the consensus estimate of $1.89....
BANK OF MONTREAL, $74.15, Toronto symbol BMO, reported better-than-expected results this week, thanks mainly to strong gains from its U.S. operations. In its fiscal 2016 first quarter, which ended January 31, 2016, the bank’s revenue rose 0.4%, to $5.08 billion from $5.06 billion a year earlier. That beat the consensus forecast of $4.88 billion. Overall earnings increased 13.2%, to $1.2 billion from $1.0 billion. Earnings per share gained 14.4%, to $1.75 from $1.53, on fewer shares outstanding. These figures exclude unusual items such as the cost to integrate recent acquisitions. On that basis, they exceed the consensus estimate of $1.72 a share....
NEWELL RUBBERMAID INC. $38 (New York symbol NWL; Aggressive Growth and Income Portfolios, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 267.1 million; Market cap: $10.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.newellrubbermaid.com) makes plastic storage bins, tools, pens and many other household goods. Its main brands include Sharpie markers, Parker and Paper Mate pens, Calphalon cookware, Irwin tools and Graco car seats and strollers. Newell is up 26.7% since we named it our Stock of the Year for 2014 at $30. That’s mainly because of its successful multi-year cost-cutting plan, which included closing plants and merging distribution centres. Since it began the plan in October 2011, these moves have reduced its annual expenses by $360 million. The company is also selling less-important businesses and using the proceeds to buy smaller firms with more-profitable products, such as baby strollers and reusable water bottles....
UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP. $94 (New York symbol UTX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 836.4 million; Market cap: $78.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.utc.com) jumped $5 on news that rival Honeywell International (New York symbol HON) seeks to merge the two firms. Anti-trust regulators are unlikely to approve such a merger: the combined company would dominate several markets, including aerospace products (such as jet engines and landing gear) and building equipment (elevators, thermostats). Meanwhile, United Technologies earned $5.6 billion in 2015. That’s down 5.5% from $5.9 billion in 2014. The company used the $9.1 billion it received from last year’s sale of its Sikorsky helicopter operations to buy back $10.0 billion of its shares. As a result, its per-share earnings fell just 2.5%, to $6.30 from $6.46. If you factor out exchange rates, per-share earnings gained 0.5% to $6.49....