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ISHARES DEX SHORT TERM BOND INDEX FUND $29.29 (CWA Rating: Income) (Toronto symbol XSB; buy or sell through a broker) mirrors the performance of the DEX Short-Term Bond Index. This index consists of a wide range of investment-grade federal, provincial, municipal and corporate bonds with between one- and five-year terms to maturity. The fund holds 264 bonds with an average term to maturity of 2.85 years. The bonds in the index are 66.7% government and 33.3% corporate. The fund’s MER is 0.26%. iShares DEX Short Term Bond Index Fund yields 3.2%. However, this high yield is due to the fact that some of the fund’s bonds pay above-market interest rates. But as a result, they trade above their face value. When these bonds mature, holders will only get the bonds’ face value, which means the portfolio will incur predictable capital losses. These losses will offset some of the appeal of the above-market yields....

Investors often focus on when to sell aggressive stocks when prices go down. However, you also need to consider when to sell after strong moves up by hot small cap stocks. ...

BCE INC. $38.22 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 777.1 million; Market cap: $30.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.4%; www.bce.ca) is Canada’s largest provider of telephone, Internet and wireless services. It also sells wireless and satellite-TV services across Canada. In the three months ended June 30, 2011, BCE’s earnings per share rose 10.3%, to $0.86 from $0.78. Revenue rose 11.6%, to $5.0 billion from $4.4 billion a year earlier. Revenue fell 2.0% at the wireline division, which accounts for 53% of total revenue. This division, which includes BCE’s traditional land-line business, faces rising competition. As well, many customers are cancelling their land lines and switching to wireless devices. Revenue from wireless services (26% of total revenue) rose 6.1%. The company’s recent network upgrades continue to attract new subscribers and prompt existing customers to upgrade their mobile-phone plans. BCE is also benefiting from rising use of smartphones, which generate higher monthly fees....

Many investors are concerned about today’s market outlook. However, a strong point over the past few years has been the reliability of Canadian dividend stocks. A good example of this is BCE, a utility stock that has grown its dividend and continues to provide capital gains to patient investors. BCE Inc. (Toronto symbol BCE; www.bce.ca) earned $663 million in the three months ended June 30, 2011. That’s up 11.4% from $595 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 10.3%, to $0.86 from $0.78, on more shares outstanding. The latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.81 a share....

Newmont Mining Corp., New York symbol NEM, links future dividend hikes to the price of gold: it will raise the quarterly rate by $0.05 a share for each $100-per-ounce rise in its average selling price for gold in the preceding quarter. The company has now enhanced this policy. If gold prices exceed $1,700 an ounce, it will raise the quarterly dividend by an additional $0.025 a share, for a total increase of $0.075 a share. If gold prices rise above $2,000 an ounce, Newmont will raise the dividend by an additional $0.05 a share, for a total increase of $0.10 a share....

Medical Facilities Corp., symbol DR owns majority interests in four specialty surgical hospitals located in South Dakota & Oklahoma

Adobe Systems Ltd., symbol ADBE on Nasdaq, makes software that lets computer users create, edit and share documents in the popular PDF format. As well, graphic designers use Adobe’s software to create print publications and web pages. The company also makes Adobe Flash, which lets web site developers make web pages more interactive by adding animation and video. In its third quarter, which ended September 2, 2011, the tech stock’s earnings fell 15.2% to $195.1 million, or $0.39 a share. A year earlier, it earned $230.1 million, or $0.44 a share. Without one-time items, earnings per share would have risen 1.9%, to $0.55 from $0.54. That beat the consensus estimate of $0.54 a share. Revenue rose 2.3%, to $1.01 billion from $990.3 million. That missed the consensus revenue estimate of $1.03 billion....

An American Depositary Receipt, or ADR, is a certificate that represents a foreign stock that trades in the United States. Banks and brokerage firms in the U.S. issue or sponsor ADRs, and investors buy and sell them on U.S. stock markets, just like regular stocks. If you own an American Depositary Receipt, you have the right to obtain the foreign stock it represents. However, investors usually find it more convenient to continue holding ADRs as part of their strategy for portfolio diversification....

Loblaw Companies Ltd., Toronto symbol L, continues to expand its private-label business. That’s because the company earns higher profits selling private-label merchandise than national brands. In October 2011, Loblaw is launching a new line of gourmet foods under the President’s Choice Black Label brand. These foods include mustards, condiments, dressings and sauces, biscuits, crackers, nuts and desserts. Products like these should help Loblaw compete with high-end food retailers like U.S.-based Whole Foods, which is now expanding in Canada. ...

Stock option investing includes selling options; covered call writing is where you sell a call option against a stock you currently own.

General Mills, New York symbol GIS, is one of the world’s largest food makers. Its top brands include Big G (cereal), Green Giant (canned and frozen vegetables), Pillsbury (baking dough), Old El Paso (tacos) and Progresso (soups and salads). In its fiscal 2012 first quarter, which ended August 28, 2011, General Mills’ sales rose 8.9%, to $3.8 billion from $3.5 billion a year earlier. That’s mainly because the company raised its prices to offset rising fuel and ingredient costs. As well, General Mills recently bought 51% of the company that makes Yoplait yogurt. This purchase accounted for a third of General Mills’ sales growth in the latest quarter. However, earnings fell 14.1%, to $405.6 million, or $0.61 a share, from $472.1 million, or $0.70 a share, a year earlier. Besides higher ingredient costs, earnings were also held back by the cost of the Yoplait purchase and a 7% rise in advertising spending....

Today’s market volatility makes some investors wonder how much cash they should hold. I can think of three reasons why you might want to sell some stocks and hold cash now or at any time.

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CanAlaska Uranium Ltd., symbol CVV on Toronto, has agreed to sell up to 3,150,000 units for $0.69 each. Each unit consists of one common share and one half of a warrant. One whole warrant will let the holder buy an additional common share for $0.83. CanAlaska will receive roughly $2.2 million from the unit sale. That’s equal to 22% of this uranium stock’s $10.1 million market cap. It will use the cash to further explore and develop its 21 uranium projects in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin region, sometimes referred to as the “Saudi Arabia of uranium.” ...

Every industry and group has its own special jargon. This specialized language always has the same purpose. It simplifies communications within the industry, and helps make insiders feel they are part of a tightly knit community. It also helps the group pursue its goals. It does that by shaping concepts so that they facilitate lines of thought and discussions that match the industry’s view of the world. This natural human tendency has probably been going on ever since language began....

Gennum Corp., Toronto symbol GND, designs chips and other electronic equipment that lets television broadcasters store, edit and transfer video signals without losing picture quality. It also designs chips that make computer networks faster. In its third quarter, which ended August 31, 2011, Gennum’s sales rose 6.6%, to $36.7 million from $34.4 million a year earlier (all amounts in U.S. dollars). The gain mainly reflects the contribution from U.K.-based Nanotech Semiconductor Ltd., which Gennum recently bought. Nanotech designs chips for fibre-optic communications networks. ...

Members of our Inner Circle service often ask about technology stocks. Recently, I replied to this question concerning a Canadian stock that processes materials that have been in the news frequently these past few years, rare earth elements. Q: Hi Pat: Could you give me your opinion on the following stock: Neo Material Technologies? I appreciate the advice! Thanks....

General Electric Co., New York symbol GE, plans to buy back all of the preferred shares it sold to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (New York symbol BRK.B), the holding company controlled by billionaire investor Warren Buffett. GE sold these shares to Berkshire during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. The cash from the sale helped stabilize GE’s finance division. The company will pay $3.3 billion to buy back these shares. That’s nearly equal to the $3.5 billion, or $0.33 a share, that GE earned in the three months ended June 30, 2011. However, this purchase will save the company $300 million a year in dividend payments....

As investors near retirement, many advisors tend to recommend that they move an ever larger part of their investments from stocks to bonds and other fixed-return investments. Bonds can provide steady income and a guarantee to repay the principal at maturity. However, they could cost you returns in the long run....

RuggedCom Inc., symbol RCM on Toronto, makes computer-networking equipment that is used in harsh environments. The company recently announced that it has teamed up with ABB Ltd. (symbol ABB on New York) to win a new contract from the Eastern Nebraska Public Power District Consortium. We cover ABB in our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Under the deal, the partners will supply communications equipment for the consortium’s smart grid project. This technology will let the consortium better monitor customer outages, and cut the time required to restore services over a 1,000-square-mile area. ...

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network....

Nordion Inc., Toronto symbol NDN, sells isotopes for cancer detection and research. It also makes products that sterilize food and surgical tools. In its fiscal 2011 third quarter, ended July 31, 2011, Nordion’s revenue rose 39.5%, to $66.8 million from $47.9 million a year earlier (all amounts in U.S. dollars). Isotope sales jumped 79.9%, mainly because the Chalk River nuclear reactor near Ottawa restarted in August 2010 after a 15-month shutdown; this reactor supplies most of Nordion’s isotopes. The company’s sterilization equipment continues to sell well. Nordion is also seeing strong demand for TheraSphere, a process it developed that treats liver cancer using millions of small glass beads that contain radioactive materials. Regulators in Canada, Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia have already approved TheraSphere. This treatment will soon begin Phase III clinical trials in the U.S....

Over the past decade, political upheaval around the world has caused many to worry about secure sources of energy supply. Some North American energy stocks have simply decided that overseas risk is not worth the trouble and expense. Devon Energy Corp., (New York symbol DVN; www.devonenergy.com) is one of them....

McGraw-Hill Companies Inc., New York symbol MHP, rose 17% the week of September 12 after it announced that it will split into two separate, publicly traded companies. One of these new firms, McGraw-Hill Markets, will sell a variety of financial-information products. This business will include Standard & Poor’s, which provides credit ratings on bonds, and McGraw-Hill’s J.D. Power market-research firm. McGraw-Hill Markets will have annual revenue of $4 billion. International sales will account for 40% of that total. The other company, McGraw-Hill Education, will publish textbooks for schools and colleges. This business will have $2.4 billion of annual revenue....

P/e ratios (the ratio of a stock’s price to its per-share earnings) are published regularly in newspapers and on the Internet. These financial ratios are widely followed, and are an important part of many investors’ decision making. Typically, you calculate p/e’s using a stock’s current price and its earnings for the previous 12 months. The general rule is that the lower a stock’s p/e, the better. And a p/e of less than, say, 10, represents excellent value. A low p/e implies more profit for every dollar you invest....

Canadian Stock WestJet Airlines Ltd., symbol WJA on Toronto, reported that its load factor rose to 83.3% in August 2011 from 82.2% in August 2010.