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La-Z-Boy Inc. is a debt-free market leader that’s poised earnings growth while offering a solid payout.
Extendicare lets you tap into an ironclad Canadian demographic shift through the nation’s largest, most technologically efficient home healthcare operator.
Top pick Finning International gives investors direct, high-quality exposure to multi-year critical mining expansions and global infrastructure spending.
Perimeter Solutions Inc. reported strong revenue and earnings as it benefits from its unique position in aerial retardants backed by a multi‑year government contract base.
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We’ve long advised Canadians own two or more of the Big Five bank stocks—Scotiabank, BMOl, CIBC, TD and RBC—because of their dividends
The past year’s plunge in oil prices has forced all three of these producers to slash their costs and delay new projects. Like Imperial Oil (see page 81), Suncor and Cenovus have refineries that help offset oil’s drop. Encana doesn’t have refineries, but it has narrowed its operations to four main projects that give it a better balance between oil and natural gas. We see all three firms as buys for patient investors. SUNCOR ENERGY INC. $37 (Toronto symbol SU; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $51.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 3.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.suncor.com) gets 80% of its crude production from its huge Alberta oil sands projects. The remaining 20% comes from traditional oil and gas wells....
PENGROWTH ENERGY CORP. $1.71 (Toronto symbol PGF; Aggressive Growth and Income Portfolios, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 540.7 million; Market cap: $924.6 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 14.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.pengrowth.com) plans to spend $190 million to $210 million on its oil and gas properties in 2015, down from its earlier forecast of $220 million to $240 million. The company also wants to sell $600 million worth of less important assets. It will use the cash to pay down its debt of $1.9 billion, which is a high 2.1 times its market cap. Meanwhile, Pengrowth continues to benefit from its hedging program, which locks in selling prices above today’s low oil and gas prices. That should help it keep paying monthly dividends of $0.02 a share. The annual rate of $0.24 yields a high 14.0% due to the stock’s depressed price....
TRANSCANADA CORP. $48 (Toronto symbol TRP; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 709.0 million; Market cap: $34.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.2; Dividend yield: 4.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.transcanada.com) wants to build the Energy East pipeline, which would pump oil from Alberta to Eastern Canadian refineries. In response to environmental concerns and political opposition, TransCanada has adjusted the route and scrapped plans to build an export terminal in Quebec. These moves will certainly increase Energy East’s $12-billion cost; the company has already spent $700 million on the project. If regulators approve, the new pipeline could begin operating in 2020. TransCanada is a buy.
THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $54 (Toronto symbol TRI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 784.1 million; Market cap: $42.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.3; Dividend yield: 3.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.thomsonreuters.com) sells specialized information products in four main areas: financial (53% of 2014 revenue, 39% of earnings); legal (28%, 39%); tax (11%, 12%); and intellectual property and science (8%, 10%). The company continues to see rising demand for its financial-information products in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. It’s also doing a good job of getting traders and portfolio managers to upgrade their older electronic terminals, through which Thomson supplies them with news and financial data, to its new Eikon platform. In the three months ended June 30, 2015, Thomson’s revenue fell 3.8%, to $3.0 billion from $3.2 billion (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Without the negative impact of the high U.S. dollar on its overseas operations (40% of the total), revenue rose 2%....