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Trying to buy a stock you like at a lower price can actually expose you to unnecessary risk. For a number of investors, there are two steps to buying a stock.

POWER CORP. $29.88 (Toronto symbol POW; Shares outstanding: 411.4 million; Market cap: $12.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Div. yield: 3.9%; www.powercorporation.com) is a diversified holding company. It holds its financial assets through 65.8%-owned Power Financial.

These financial assets include 68.1% of Great- West Lifeco, one of Canada’s largest life insurers (see column on page 9), and 58.7% of IGM Financial, a leading Canadian mutual fund provider.

Power Financial also owns 50% of holding company Parjointco, which holds 55.6% of Switzerland- listed Pargesa Holdings SA. Pargesa has 95% of its assets in five large European companies: Imerys (minerals), Total SA (oil), Pernod Ricard (wine and spirits), Suez Environnement (energy, water and waste services) and Lafarge (cement and building materials). Power Corp. also has investments in Asia.
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GLOBAL X COPPER MINERS ETF $8.80 (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 41.9% of the fund’s holdings. It also includes companies based in Australia (14.2%), Poland (4.7%), Peru (4.9%) and Mexico (5.0%). Global X Copper Miners ETF’s MER is 0.65%.

Its top holdings are Imperial Metals at 6.5%; Turquoise Hill Resources, 5.7%; Grupo Mexico, 5.1%; Lundin Mining, 5.1%; Glencore International, 5.1%; First Quantum Minerals, 5.1%; Hudbay Minerals, 5.0%; Capstone Mining, 5.0%; Antofagasta plc, 5.0%; and Southern Copper, 5.0%.
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GLOBAL X SILVER MINERS ETF $12.20 (New York symbol SIL; buy or sell through brokers; www.globalxfunds.com) tracks the Solactive Global Silver Miners Index.

This index includes 30 international companies that mine, refine or explore for silver. Germany-based Structured Solutions AG developed the Global X Silver Miners Index.

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ISHARES S&P/TSX GLOBAL GOLD INDEX FUND $11.19 (Toronto symbol XGD; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) aims to mirror the performance of the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index.

This index is made up of 37 gold stocks from Canada and around the world. The iShares S&P/TSX Global Gold Index Fund’s MER is 0.60%. It began trading on March 23, 2001.

The fund’s top holdings are Barrick Gold at 17.9%; Goldcorp, 16.1%; Newmont Mining, 8.6%; Franco Nevada, 5.7%; Yamana Gold, 5.6%; Randgold Resources (ADR), 5.1%; AngloGold Ashanti (ADR), 4.7%; Agnico-Eagle Mines, 4.3%; Kinross, 4.2%; Eldorado Gold, 3.6%; Royal Gold, 2.9%; New Gold, 2.3%, Gold Fields (ADR), 2.1% and Osisko Mining, 2.1%.
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TRANSCANADA CORP. $47.82 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 707.0 million; Market cap: $33.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.9%; www.transcanada.com) has agreed to sell its Cancarb business to Japan’s Tokai Carbon Co.

Alberta-based Cancarb makes thermal carbon black from natural gas. It sells this product to carmakers and other industrial users, who use it as an ingredient in high-grade rubber and ceramics. Cancarb also uses waste heat from its manufacturing operations to generate electricity, which its sells to the local power grid.xzc Tokai will pay TransCanada $190 million when the deal closes in the next few weeks. That’s equal to 43% of the $447 million it earned in the quarter ended September 30, 2013.

TransCanada is a buy....

Algonquin Power & Utilities is still a buy. INNERGEX RENEWABLE ENERGY $10.04 (Toronto symbol INE; Shares outstanding: 95.7 million; Market cap: $961.3 million; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield 5.8%; www.innergex.com) operates 23 hydroelectric facilities, five wind farms and one solar power plant in Quebec, Ontario, B.C. and Idaho. Innergex gets 73% of its power from hydroelectric facilities. Wind farms supply 26% and solar generates 1%.

In contrast to Algonquin, Innergex is growing slowly, mostly by building its own hydroelectric and wind plants, rather than through acquisitions. Right now, it is developing or building eight projects.

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ALGONQUIN POWER & UTILITIES CORP. $7.24 (Toronto symbol AQN; Shares outstanding: 206.3 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.7%; www.algonquinpower.com) has nearly tripled in size over the last two years through acquisitions.

Algonquin bought four companies in 2012 and another five in 2013. These moves included a $140.7-million U.S. deal for a natural gas distributor in Georgia with 64,000 clients.

The company’s regulated utility businesses now provide water, electricity and natural gas to over 470,000 customers, up sharply from 120,000 a year ago. In addition, Algonquin’s hydroelectric, thermal energy and wind facilities generate 1,100 megawatts of power, up from 460.
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CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY $164.15 (Toronto symbol CP; Shares outstanding: 175.2 million; Market cap: $28.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 0.9%; www.cpr.ca) transports freight between Montreal and Vancouver and connects with hubs in the U.S. Midwest and northeast.

CP continues to benefit from its plan to improve its efficiency with new locomotives, better tracks and software that optimizes train loads and speeds. That’s helping it deal with colder-than-normal winter weather.

In the three months ended December 31, 2013, CP’s earnings per share rose 49.2%, to $1.91 from $1.28. Revenue gained 7.0%, to a record $1.6 billion from $1.5 billion.
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VANGUARD FTSE EMERGING MARKETS ETF $37.39 (New York symbol VWO; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) Transitions Index, which is made up of common stocks of companies in developing countries. The fund has an MER of just 0.18%.

Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF’s top holdings include Taiwan Semiconductor (Taiwan: computer chips), China Mobile (China: wireless), Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Brazil: oil and gas), Vale SA (Brazil: mining), Gazprom (Russia: gas utility), China Construction Bank, Tencent Holdings (China: Internet), Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, Naspers Ltd. (South Africa: media) and MTN Group (South Africa: wireless telecommunications)

The $62.4-billion fund’s breakdown by country is as follows: China (22.1%), Taiwan (13.6%), Brazil (13.2%), South Africa (9.5%), India (9.3%), Russia (7.1%), Mexico (5.8%), Malaysia (4.9%), Indonesia (2.5%), Thailand (2.5%), Chile (1.9%), Poland (1.7%), Turkey (1.7%) and others (4.2%).
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VANGUARD GROWTH ETF $88.97 (New York symbol VUG; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) U.S. Large Cap Growth Index, a broadly diversified index that mainly consists of stocks of large U.S. companies. The fund’s MER is just 0.10%.

The $37.5-billion Vanguard Growth ETF’s top holdings are Apple, IBM, Google, Coca-Cola, Philip Morris International, Oracle, Amazon.com, Comcast, Qualcomm and Walt Disney Co.

The fund’s breakdown by industry is as follows: Technology (25.6%), Consumer Services (20.3%), Industrials (12.1%), Financials (11.9%), Consumer Goods (10.6%), Health Care (10.0%), Oil and Gas (7.1%), Materials (1.6%), Telecommunication Services (0.4%) and Utilities (0.4%).
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ISHARES CDN REIT SECTOR INDEX FUND $15.52 (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds the 15 Canadian real estate investment trusts in the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index. The weight of each REIT is limited to 25% of the ETF’s value.zxc iShares CDN REIT’s expenses are 0.60% of its assets....

ALLIED PROPERTIES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $32.88 (Toronto symbol AP.UN; Units outstanding: 68.5 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.3%; www.alliedpropertiesreit.com) owns 133 office buildings, mostly in major Canadian cities. These mainly Class I properties contain over 9.5 million square feet of leasable area.

Class I refers to 19th- and early-20th-century light industrial buildings that have been converted to retail space. They usually feature exposed beams, interior brick and hardwood floors.

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RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $25.35 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Units outstanding: 302.3 million; Market cap: $7.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.6%; www.riocan.com) is Canada’s largest real estate investment trust (REIT), with interests in 346 shopping malls containing over 83 million square feet of leasable area. That total includes 51 U.S. malls with over 14 million square feet.

In the quarter ended September 30, 2013, Rio- Can’s revenue rose 3.1%, to $272 million from $248 million. Cash flow rose 6.6%, to $113 million from $106 million. Cash flow per unit rose 2.8%, to $0.37 from $0.36, on more shares outstanding.

RioCan continues to see growth opportunities in Canada and the U.S. In 2012, it spent $926 million on properties. In the first three quarters of 2013, it bought 16 more for a total of $576 million.
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PENGROWTH ENERGY $7.14 (Toronto symbol PGF; Shares outstanding: 519.8 million; Market cap: $3.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 6.7%; www.pengrowth.com) plans to spend $715 million to expand and upgrade its oil and natural gas properties in 2014. That’s down 7.1% from the $770 million it probably spent in 2013.

The company ended 2013 with cash of $430 million, and it expects to generate $500 million to $540 million of cash flow this year. That should let it invest in its properties and maintain its monthly dividend of $0.04 a share, for a 6.7% yield.

Pengrowth is still a buy....

BONAVISTA ENERGY $14.96 (Toronto symbol BNP; Shares outstanding: 187.0 million; Market cap: $3.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 5.6%; www.bonavistaenergy.com) explores for oil and natural gas in Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Its production is 63% gas and 37% oil.

In the three months ended September 30, 2013, Bonavista’s cash flow per share gained 27.1%, to $0.61 from $0.48 a year earlier. Its production rose 12.5%, to 73,632 barrels of oil equivalent a day (including gas) from 65,464.

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ENCANA CORP. $20.83 (Toronto symbol ECA; Shares outstanding: 740.2 million; Market cap: $15.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.4%; www.encana.com) is one of North America’s largest natural gas producers.

In the three months ended September 30, 2013, Encana’s cash flow per share fell 28.2%, to $0.89 from $1.24 a year earlier (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). The decline mostly came from lower realized gas prices.

Encana now plans to cut its dependence on gas. This year, it will devote 75% of its $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion of capital spending to five properties that produce oil and natural gas liquids (NGLs), such as butane and propane. The company expects oil and NGLs to supply 75% of its cash flow by 2017, up from about 35% today.
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GREAT-WEST LIFECO $30.77 (Toronto symbol GWO; Shares outstanding: 999.4 million; Market cap: $30.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Yield: 4.0%; www.greatwestlifeco.com) bought Irish Life Group, Ireland’s largest pension manager and life insurance provider, for $1.75 billion last year.

Excluding costs to integrate Irish Life, earnings per share rose 7.3% in the three months ended September 30, 2013, to $0.59 from $0.55 a year earlier.

The company has $705.1 billion of assets under administration.
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BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $60.94 (Toronto symbol BNS; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $72.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Div. yield: 4.1%, www.scotiabank.com) is the third-largest of Canada’s five big banks, with assets of $743.8 billion.

In its fiscal 2013 fourth quarter, which ended October 31, 2013, the bank earned $1.30 a share, up 10.2% from $1.18 a year earlier.

Higher loan demand and an increase in deposits pushed up the Canadian banking division’s earnings by 23.3%. That includes ING Direct, which the bank bought for $3.1 billion in late 2012. This business offers a variety of no-fee banking services, mainly over the Internet. It has 1.8 million customers and $30 billion of deposits.
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SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. (Toronto symbol SNC; www.snclavalin.com) is a leading Canadian engineering and construction company that specializes in large-scale public works projects, such as roads, bridges, transit systems and water treatment plants. SNC has offices in over 40 countries....

Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific investing advice as well as questions on investment strategy and the economy. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. While we reserve our buy-hold-sell advice for Inner Circle members, these excerpts provide a great deal of information and analysis on stocks we’ve covered for members of Pat’s Inner Circle....

Technology stocks tend to be riskier than our other recommendations in the Manufacturing & Industry sector. That’s mainly because innovations can quickly make today’s products obsolete....

Suncor is shipping more oil by rail while waiting for governments to approve new pipeline, such as TransCanada’s Keystone XL. At the same time, recently completed oil sands projects are raising the company’s production....

The price of gold hit a low of around $1,200 in July 2013. It then moved up to $1,400 in two months. The price subsequently moved back down and is now close to $1,320....

BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $4.08 and BBD.B $4.04; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $7.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bombardier.com) has won a contract to build 65 railcars for a new public transit line in London, U.K. The company will build these cars at its plant in the country and deliver them from May 2017 to December 2018. Bombardier will also build a maintenance depot for the new line. The deal is worth $1.6 billion U.S., or 9% of Bombardier’s annual revenue of $17.9 billion U.S. The cheaper class B shares are the better choice because of their slightly better liquidity and higher dividend....