Latest Stock Advice
Gen Digital Inc. is trading quite cheaply for a firm that just grew revenue nearly 26% while providing plenty of cash flow for innovation, dividends and buybacks.
H.B. Fuller Company’s consistent dividend growth and rising earnings offer a sound total‑return profile versus many industrial and chemical peers.
Top pick North West Company offers a 3.1% yield as a defensive retailer with entrenched remote markets.
Twilio Inc. adds AI capabilities to stay ahead of rivals and win more strategic multi-year partnerships.
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CENOVUS ENERGY $18.88 (Toronto symbol CVE; Shares outstanding: 833.2 million; Market cap: $15.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.1%; www.cenovus.com) owns oil sands operations and conventional wells in Western Canada. It ships its oil to its 50%- owned refineries in Illinois and Texas. Due to low oil prices, Cenovus has shrunk its workforce by 31% since the start of 2015. These cuts will save it $200 million this year. They should also help expand its cash flow when oil prices recover. In the first quarter of 2016, the company’s cash flow was just $26 million, or $0.03 a share, Meanwhile, the balance sheet is strong: Cenovus holds cash of $3.9 billion, or $4.68 a share. Long-term debt of $6.1 billion is a manageable 38% of its market cap....
ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX ETF $20.09 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) is a good low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index—the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. Expenses are just 0.18% of assets, and it yields 2.9%. The index mostly consists of high-quality companies. However, it must ensure that all sectors are represented, so it holds a few we wouldn’t include. The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 8.6%; TD Bank, 7.7%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.9%; CN Railway, 4.6%; Suncor Energy, 4.4%; Bank of Montreal, 3.9%; BCE, 3.8%; Enbridge, 3.6%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.1%; CIBC, 3.0%; and Brookfield Asset Management, 2.8%....
ISHARES CANADIAN SELECT DIVIDEND INDEX ETF $21.88 (Toronto symbol XDV; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds 30 of the highestyield Canadian stocks. Its selections are based on dividend growth, yield and payout ratio. The weight of any one stock is limited to 10% of the ETF’s assets. The fund’s MER is 0.55%, and it yields 4.3%. iShares Canadian Select Dividend’s MER is higher than, say, the iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF because it’s more actively managed. Most market indexes are set up so that the stocks in the index are those with the highest market capitalization and also the most widely traded. However, the iShares Canadian Select Dividend Index ETF aims to zero in on the 30 stocks that it sees as having the highest dividend yields—and yet also the best propects for dividend growth and sustainability. The fund’s top holdings are CIBC, 8.4%; Agrium, 7.4%; Bank of Montreal, 6.0%; Royal Bank, 5.8%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.0%; BCE, 4.5%; IGM Financial, 4.1%; Laurentian Bank of Canada, 4.1%; National Bank, 4.0%; TransCanada Corp., 4.0%; TD Bank, 3.5%; and Emera, 3.1%....
SPDR S&P 500 ETF $205.01 (New York symbol SPY; buy or sell through brokers; www.spdrs.com) holds the stocks in the S&P 500 Index, which consists of 500 major U.S. companies chosen based on their market cap, liquidity and industry group. The index’s highest-weighted stocks are Apple, ExxonMobil, Microsoft, Facebook, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, AT&T, General Electric, Berkshire Hathaway and Wells Fargo. The fund’s MER is just 0.11%, and it yields 2.1%. SPDR S&P 500 ETF is a top ETF pick for 2016.