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Too much investor attention tends to be focused on economic forecasts. The fact is, forecasts provide little, if any, advantage when it comes to helpful stock market advice. That’s especially true today in light of the uncertainty over America’s looming “fiscal cliff” and the bitter political debate over how to tackle that country’s federal budget deficit and exploding debt....

Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions about specific stock market investments and other investment topics from the members of his Inner Circle. 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. This week, one Inner Circle member asked us about one U.S. stock that sells three popular fast food items—donuts, coffee and ice cream. Pat looks at the company’s chances to expand in the U.S. and overseas and also examines its venture in the fast-growing business of K-Cups for home coffee machines....

Asset allocation funds are mutual funds whose managers believe they can improve returns and/or reduce risk by switching back and forth among stocks, bonds and cash. Many in the investment industry promote these funds as a simple and profitable way to assemble a diversified portfolio. But as is so often the case with such investment “products,” the results rarely live up to the hype....

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific advice on investments, including errors to avoid when you are buying stocks. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investing strategy, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “If you can avoid these 3 common investor errors, you significantly improve your chances of achieving positive returns.”...

Dividends often don’t get the respect they deserve, especially from beginning investors. That’s because a dividend stock’s yearly 3% or 5% yield may not seem impressive alongside yearly capital gains of 10%, 20% or 30% or more. Yet dividends are far more reliable than capital gains. So with today’s low interest rates, investors are paying more attention to dividend yields (a company’s total annual dividends paid per share divided by the current stock price). That’s why the high dividend yield of a company like Bell Aliant stands out....

Knowing when to sell a stock is one of the keys to successful investing. That’s why we advise investors to follow an important rule when it comes to rising stocks. When prices go down, investors naturally focus on when to sell aggressive stocks. However, you also need to consider when to sell after strong moves up by hot stocks....

H&R REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $24.13 (Toronto symbol HR.UN; Units outstanding: 187.3 million; Market cap: $4.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 5.2%; www.hr-reit.com) has increased its distribution for the 10th consecutive quarter. The REIT began raising its payout in early 2010 with the goal of reaching an annual rate of $1.25 in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The latest increase of 4.2%, to $0.10417 per month from $0.10, lets it achieve that goal.

But its strong cash flow, up 35.1% to $0.50 a unit from $0.37 a year ago, prompted it to go further, raising its distribution by 8%, to $0.1125 per month, or $1.35 a year, starting in January 2013. That gives it a 5.6% yield.

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CANADIAN REIT $41.64 (Toronto symbol REF.UN; Units outstanding: 68.0 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 3.6%; www.creit.ca) owns over 190 properties, including retail, industrial and office buildings, located across Canada and in Chicago. These properties contain over 19.6 million square feet of leasable area. The trust’s occupancy rate is 94.7%.

In the three months ended June 30, 2012, million from $80.3 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit rose 12.1%, to $0.65 from $0.58.

Canadian REIT added $298.5 million of properties in the first half of this year, including two office buildings, a further investment in the Dartmouth Crossing (the largest unenclosed mall in Atlantic Canada) and the completion of several development projects. That total also included 50% of Calgary Place, a 575,000-square-foot office and retail complex it bought for $156.0 million in April 2012.

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ALLIED PROPERTIES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $31.60 (Toronto symbol AP.UN; Units outstanding: 60.0 million; Market cap: $1.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.2%; www.alliedpropertiesreit.com) owns 119 office buildings, mostly in major Canadian cities. These mainly Class I properties contain over 8.3 million square feet of leasable area.

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

In 2011, the trust bought 22 properties for $456 million. In the first half of 2012, it bought 14 buildings for $175.0 million. Allied has an occupancy rate of 92.3%.

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ISHARES AUSTRALIA INDEX FUND $24.58 (New York symbol EWA; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that holds the 71 largest Australian stocks. Its MER is 0.52%.

The fund’s top holdings include BHP Billiton, 12.1%; Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 10.1%; Westpac Banking Corp., 8.6%; Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, 7.5%; National Australia Bank, 6.5%; Woolworths, 4.0%; Wesfarmers, 3.8%; Rio Tinto, 2.7%; CSL Ltd., 2.6%; and Westfield Group, 2.5%.

Australia benefits from its stable banking and political systems. It is also rich in natural resources, and it’s close to key Asian markets with vast potential, including India and China.

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TRANSCANADA CORP. $44.97 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 704.9 million; Market cap: $31.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.9%; www.transcanada.com) has formed a new 50/50 joint venture with privately held Phoenix Energy Holdings Ltd.

The partners plan to build a 500-kilometre pipeline that would pump crude from Phoenix’s oil sands properties in northern Alberta to Edmonton. TransCanada will operate the new line.

TransCanada’s share of the project’s $3.0-billion cost is $1.5 billion. The partners aim to begin construction in 2014, and the line should start up in early 2017.

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LOBLAW COMPANIES $34.62 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 281.4 million; Market cap: $9.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 2.4%; www.loblaw.ca) is cutting 700 jobs, or about 1% of its overall workforce. Most of these positions are administrative and are not at its 1,000 supermarkets across Canada.

Severance payments and other costs will total $60 million. To put that in context, Loblaw earned $159 million, or $0.57 a share, in the three months ended June 16, 2012.

The company did not say how much these job cuts would save it. However, the resulting lower costs will help it compete with big U.S. retailers like Wal-Mart and Target, which are aggressively expanding in Canada.

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ISHARES MSCI BRAZIL INDEX FUND $53.35 (New York Exchange symbol EWZ; buy or sell through brokers) is an exchange traded fund that is designed to track the Brazilian stock market. The fund’s top holdings are Petrobras preferred shares (energy), 9.8%; Vale do Rio Doce (mining) preferred, 7.9%; Petrobras common, 7.3%; Cia Itau Unibanco Holding (banking), 7.1%; Banco Brandesco (banking) preferred, 6.4%; and Vale SA, 3.9%.

The fund’s concentration in certain stocks, such as Petrobras and Vale do Rio Doce, adds risk, as does its focus on the resource sector. However, both are high-quality stocks.

Brazil’s economy is forecast to grow at just 1.5% this year. Domestic consumption remains strong, but exports have slowed. Still, growth could rebound to as high as 4.0% next year.

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ISHARES MSCI CHILE INVESTABLE MARKET INDEX FUND $61.55 (New York Exchange symbol ECH; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that aims to track the MSCI Chile Investable Market Index, which consists of stocks that are mainly traded on the Santiago Stock Exchange.

The fund’s top holdings are LATAM Airlines SA, 9.4%; Empresas Copec SA (conglomerate), 8.3%; Quimica y Minera de Chile (mining), 6.6%; Empresa Nacional de Electricidad (electricity), 6.4%; Cencosud SA (retailer), 6.2%; Banco Santander Chile (banking), 5.7%; Enersis AS (electricity), 5.4%; S.A.C.I. Falabella (retail), 5.2%; and Empresas CMPC (pulp and paper), 4.7%.

The fund’s industry breakdown is as follows: Utilities, 23.2%; Industrials, 20.6%; Financials, 17.2%; Materials, 15.5%; Consumer Staples, 11.2%; Consumer Discretionary, 6.3%; Telecommunications, 3.7%; and Information Technology, 1.7%.

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ISHARES MSCI GERMANY FUND $22.94 (New York Exchange symbol EWG; buy or sell through brokers) tracks the stocks in the MSCI Germany Index.

This index aims to replicate 85% of the total market capitalization of the German stock market. The remaining 15% is unavailable for investment, partly due to limitations on foreign ownership.

The ETF’s top holdings are Siemens (engineering conglomerate), 9.2%; BASF (chemicals), 8.5%; Bayer (diversified chemicals), 8.0%; SAP (software), 7.4%; Allianz (insurance), 6.2%; E.ON (energy), 4.6%; Deutsche Bank, 4.5%; Deutsche Telekom, 3.6%; and Linde AG (industrial gases), 3.5%.

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ISHARES MSCI SOUTH KOREA INDEX FUND $57.58 (New York Exchange symbol EWY; buy or sell through brokers), is an exchange traded fund that aims to track the MSCI Korea Index.

The ETF’s top holdings are Samsung Electronics, 21.9%; Hyundai Motor Co., 6.0%; Posco (steel), 3.8%; Hyundai Mobis (auto parts), 3.3%; Kia Motors, 2.9%; Shinhan Financial, 2.6%; SK Hynix Semiconductor, 2.4%; LG Chemical, 2.3%; KB Financial, 2.3%; and NHN (Internet content), 1.8%.

The fund’s industry breakdown is as follows: Information Technology, 32.4%; Consumer Discretionary, 17.8%; Financials, 13.4%; Industrials, 13.2%; Materials, 10.9%; Consumer Staples, 5.9%; Energy, 3.1%; Utilities, 1.6%; Telecommunication Services, 0.9%; and Health Care, 0.8%.

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ISHARES MSCI EMERGING MARKETS INDEX FUND $41.15 (New York symbol EEM; buy or sell through brokers), is an exchange traded fund that aims to track the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Its geographic breakdown includes China, 17.6%; South Korea, 14.9%; Brazil, 12.7%; Taiwan, 10.5%; South Africa, 7.7%; India, 6.8%; Russia, 6.0%; Mexico, 5.2%; Malaysia, 3.8%; and Indonesia, 2.8%.

The fund’s top holdings are Samsung Electronics (South Korea), 3.7%; China Mobile, 1.9%; Taiwan Semiconductor (computer chips), 1.9%; China Construction Bank, 1.5%; America Movil (Brazil: wireless), 1.5%; Gazprom (Russia: gas utility), 1.4%; Petrobras (Brazil: energy), 1.3%; and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, 1.2%.

The fund’s industry breakdown is as follows: Financials, 25.0%; Information Technology, 13.4%; Energy, 13.1%; Materials, 11.6%; Consumer Staples, 8.9%; Consumer Discretionary, 8.1%; Telecommunication Services, 8.1%; and Industrials, 6.7%.

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Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions about specific stocks and other investment topics from the members of his Inner Circle. 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 the Inner Circle. Recently, we received a question from an Inner Circle member about one of the world’s most visible technology stocks, Internet giant Yahoo. Pat discusses the state of the company following its recent hiring of a new CEO away from its most powerful rival, Google. Pat also took the opportunity to compare the prospects of both of these Internet giants....

PENN WEST PETROLEUM $12.97 (Toronto symbol PWT; Shares outstanding: 472.9 million; Market cap: $6.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 8.3%) has agreed to sell $1.3 billion worth of non-core properties. In all, these produce about 12,000 barrels per day.

To put that figure in perspective, it’s 7.4% of the 163,181 barrels a day that Penn West produced in the quarter ended June 30, 2012.

The company now aims to sharply reduce its long-term debt of $3.4 billion, which is a somewhat high 55.7% of its market cap. That will lower its interest costs and let it invest more money in its highest-potential oil and gas properties.

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CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY $91.88 (Toronto symbol CP; Shares outstanding: 171.7 million; Market cap: $15.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.5%; www.cpr.ca), transports freight between Montreal and Vancouver and connects with hubs in the U.S. midwest and northeast.

In the quarter ended September 30, 2012, CP’s revenue rose 8.2%, to $1.45 billion from $1.34 billion a year earlier. Earnings rose 19.8%, to $224 million, or $1.30 a share, from $187 million, or $1.10.

CP’s operating ratio improved to 74.1% from 75.8%, a year ago. (Operating ratio is calculated by dividing regular operating costs by revenue. The lower the ratio, the better.) The improvement came from higher shipments, lower fuel prices and better operating performance.

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ISHARES MSCI JAPAN INDEX FUND $9.06 (American Exchange symbol EWJ; buy or sell through brokers; us.ishares.com) is an exchange traded fund that tries to match the return of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Japan index.

The ETF’s top holdings include Toyota, 5.2%; Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, 2.8%; Honda Motor, 2.5%; Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, 2.0%; Takeda Pharmaceutical, 1.8%; Canon, 1.8%; Mizuho Financial Group, 1.8%; Fanuc Corp., 1.5%; Softbank Corp., 1.4%; and Japan Tobacco Inc., 1.3%.

The fund’s industry breakdown is as follows: Industrials, 20.6%; Consumer Discretionary, 19.1%; Financials, 18.5%; Information Technology, 11.1%; Consumer Staples, 7.2%; Health Care, 7.2%; Materials, 6.3%; Telecommunication Services, 4.5%; Utilities, 2.7%; and Energy, 1.6%.

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IBM $194.53 (New York symbol IBM; Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $214.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.8%) is down from $210 a share in mid-October after it reported revenue of $24.7 billion in the quarter ended September 30, 2012. That’s down 5.4% from $26.2 billion a year earlier and short of the consensus estimate of $25.4 billion.

The slow global economy is hurting demand for IBM’s mainframe computers, services and software. That’s why its revenue fell.

However, the company’s ongoing cost cuts and productivity improvements pushed up its earnings before one-time items by 10.4%, to $3.62 a share from $3.28. That beat the consensus estimate of $3.61.

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ENERPLUS CORP. $16.05 (Toronto symbol ERF; Shares outstanding: 197.6 million; Market cap: $3.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 6.7%) produces an average of 82,108 barrels of oil equivalent per day (weighted 51% to natural gas and 49% to oil). Its properties are mainly in Alberta, Saskatchewan, B.C., North Dakota and Montana, as well as the Marcellus Shale, which passes through Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia.

In the three months ended June 30, 2012, Enerplus’s cash flow per share was unchanged at $0.74 from a year earlier.

In June 2012, the company cut its monthly dividend by 50%. It now yields 6.7%.

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ENCANA CORP. $21 (Toronto symbol ECA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 736.3 million; Market cap: $15.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.encana.com) owns the Deep Panuke offshore natural gas field south of Nova Scotia.

The project’s cost has risen to $960 million from an earlier estimate of $750 million because Encana had problems building the drilling platform (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). To put that in context, the company’s cash flow was $794 million, or $1.08 a share, in the quarter ended June 30, 2012.

Even with these delays, Encana still aims to begin producing gas at Deep Panuke by the end of 2012. At full capacity, this new project will increase the company’s daily gas production by 9%.

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Many investors start their search for winning stocks by looking at a company’s income statement and balance sheet. But it helps to remember that earnings are adjusted and that some items in a corporate report are more useful to investors than others. A company’s earnings are different from an employee’s salary. Earnings are indefinite and subject to revision, even years later. Companies have to estimate many costs, and make yearly write-offs against earnings, according to arbitrary rules....