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CANADIAN REIT $28.80 (Toronto symbol REF.UN; Units outstanding: 66.5 million; Market cap: $1.9 billion; SI Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.9%) owns over 158 properties. Its holdings include retail, industrial and office buildings located across Canada, and in the Chicago area. Canadian REIT’s occupancy rate is 95.6%. In the three months ended March 31, 2010, Canadian REIT’s revenue was $85.2 million. That’s up 1.5% from $83.9 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit rose 1.8%, to $0.56 from $0.55. The trust raised its monthly distribution by 2.2%, to $0.1175 from $0.1150, with the June payment. This is the ninth consecutive year that the REIT has raised its distribution. The units now yield 4.9%....

RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $19.32 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Units outstanding: 242.9 million; Market cap: $4.7 billion; SI Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 7.1%) is Canada’s largest REIT. RioCan has interests in 265 shopping malls across Canada, including 12 under development. In all, these properties contain over 60 million square feet of leasable area. The trust has a 97.0% occupancy rate. In the three months ended March 31, 2010, RioCan’s revenue was $214.6 million. That’s up 12.3% from $191.1 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit rose 12.5%, to $0.36 from $0.32. The trust paid higher interest costs during the quarter, but contributions from newly acquired shopping centres and gains on property sales helped offset these expenses. The trust’s units yield 7.1%. In 2009, RioCan formed a joint venture withCedar Shopping Centers, Inc. (New York symbol CDR). Cedar owns shopping centres in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S. RioCan owns 80% of this joint venture. As part of the original deal, it received common shares and warrants in Cedar. RioCan recently exercised these warrants. That gave it a 14% stake in Cedar....

Wind power stocks continue to attract a lot of investor attention. That’s because these companies build or operate wind turbines, which offer a source of clean, endlessly renewable energy that could replace fossil fuels like oil, coal and natural gas. However, like many other alternative-energy firms, wind power stocks face significant costs and risks. For example, varying wind speeds cause a wind turbine’s electricity output to fluctuate. In many areas, the wind is stronger in the daytime, when demand is lower, and dies down in the evening, when consumers use more appliances. As well, electrical power can’t be stored efficiently, so to make economic sense it must be used when it is produced. As a result, utilities must maintain back-up power capacity that is equal to their reliance on wind power....

On July 7, 2010, Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank) priced its first public share issue. The bank, which operates nearly 24,000 branches, will sell 25 billion shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for HK$3.20 ($0.41 U.S.), and 22 billion shares on the Shanghai exchange for 2.68 yuan ($0.40 U.S.). Strong investor interest in China, whose economy grew 11.9% in the first quarter of 2010 compared to a year earlier, should help AgBank’s initial public offering (IPO) raise $22.1 billion U.S. That would make it the largest IPO in world stock market history, topping Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, which raised $21.6 billion U.S. in 2006. AgBank is the latest in a series of big world stock market IPOs from Asian and emerging markets this year. The world’s 10 biggest IPOs in 2010 include firms from China, Russia, Poland and India. The U.S. is noticeably absent from the list, and only one western European firm (from Spain) was included....

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 the fundamentals of successful investing. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away.

Today’s tip: “Stock portfolio turnover costs money, so buy investments that you might want to hold on to indefinitely.”

Investors often wonder how often they should sell investments they own and buy new ones....

Dividend reinvestment plans, or DRIPs, let shareholders reinvest dividends to buy additional shares (or fractions of shares) of the company. DRIPs bypass brokers, so shareholders save on commissions. DRIPs also eliminate the nuisance of depositing or reinvesting small cash dividend cheques. As well, many DRIPs allow optional commission-free share purchases on a monthly or quarterly basis. (Dividend reinvestment plans are just one of the many investment topics we cover in our free report, Canadian Stock Market Basics: How to Trade Stocks and Make Good Investments in Canada. Click here to download your copy right away.)...

One key aspect of a marketer’s job is to describe the features of whatever he or she is selling as a benefit to the potential buyer. Understanding this process can help you get past the marketing and get better value when you make consumer purchases. It can be an even bigger help in keeping you out of bad financial investments. Recently a member of Pat McKeough’s Inner Circle asked about a little-known income investment he had heard about that yields 9%. That’s a super yield at a time of low interest rates like today. But a high yield is always a sign that you need to look for hidden risks in financial investments. We looked and there they were, dressed up as investor benefits. ...

Canadian Pacific Railway (symbol CP on Toronto) has long been a cornerstone of the Canadian economy. CP was incorporated on February 16, 1881. The company began cross-Canada train service after the rail link to the Pacific coast was famously completed with the driving of the “last spike” at Craigellachie, British Columbia, on November 7, 1885. Prime Minister John A. MacDonald’s government built the rail line to satisfy a condition of British Columbia’s entry into Confederation in 1871....

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 fundamental stock market investing tips. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a specific tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “The value of a company as an investment depends on its business, not on the stock price or number of shares outstanding.” When a company splits its shares, it is simply cutting itself up into a different number of pieces, without changing its fundamental value. It simply wants its stock to trade in a price-per-share range that seems reasonable to investors....

It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year since we launched TSI Network. When we flicked the switch in June 2009, after months of hard work, the web site already contained a wealth of investment information and stock advice — over 2,000 individual articles, in fact. TSI Network is built on the strengths of our four newsletters: Canadian Wealth Advisor, Stock Pickers Digest, The Successful Investor and Wall Street Stock Forecaster. The site has come a long way in its first year. Its online investment library now contains more than 5,000 articles on stock advice and investment strategy. Plus, we’ve further expanded the information and stock advice you get on the site by adding new free reports and features, such as our “Investor Toolkit” series of Daily Updates. Every Wednesday, these articles give you a fundamental piece of stock advice and show you how you can put it into practice right away....

Oil prices fell from their July 2008 peak of $148 U.S. a barrel to just under $40 U.S. in February 2009. Prices have roughly doubled since then, but are unlikely to get back to their 2008 highs any time soon. We think oil prices could rise further if the global economy continues to recover, as we expect. Even so, we continue to advise against overindulging in natural gas and oil stocks. That’s because the Resource sector (including oil and natural gas) is highly volatile, and no one can accurately predict future commodity prices. ...

When you join Pat McKeough’s Inner Circle, you get to address investment questions directly to me and my research associates; AND you get to see all other members’ questions, and our answers (of course, we eliminate any personal information). Plus, you get all 4 of my investment advisories, including Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that covers the U.S. markets. (See below for more on one of the global stock market investments we cover in Wall Street Stock Forecaster. The stock has risen over 57% in the past year — and we think it could go even higher.) So you can get a sense of how the service works, I’d like to share a recent question from an investor who is interested in global stock market investing through American Depositary Receipts (ADRs)....

KRAFT FOODS INC. $30 (New York symbol KFT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $51.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 3.9%; WSSF Rating: Above Average) is the world’s second-largest food company, after Swiss-based Nestle. Kraft has 11 brands that each generate over $1 billion in yearly sales. Aside from Kraft (cheeses, pasta and salad dressings), these brands include Philadelphia (cream cheese), Maxwell House (coffee), Nabisco (biscuits), Oreo (cookies), Trident (gum) and Oscar Meyer (meats). Wal-Mart, the company’s biggest customer, accounted for 16% of its 2009 sales. In February 2010, Kraft bought 71.7% of U.K.-based Cadbury plc, and acquired the remainder in April 2010. Cadbury is a leading maker of confectioneries, including chocolate, candy and gum....

APACHE CORP. $92 (New York symbol APA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 337.3 million; Market cap: $31.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.3: Dividend yield: 0.7%; WSSF Rating: Average) produces oil and natural gas from properties in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, Egypt and Argentina. It gets roughly 50% of its production from oil, and 50% from natural gas. The company recently paid $2.7 billion in cash and stock for Mariner Energy Inc., which produces oil and natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico and at onshore properties in Texas and New Mexico. Apache also bought Devon Energy Corp.’s (New York symbol DVN) oil and gas reserves on the Gulf of Mexico Shelf for $1.05 billion. The Gulf of Mexico now accounts for 26% of Apache’s production. Offshore drilling is riskier than onshore operations, but Apache has a long history of success in this region. As well, most of Apache’s projects are in shallow water, which is less risky than deepwater projects like the BP well....

ENCANA CORP. $33 (New York symbol ECA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 741.7 million; Market cap: $24.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 2.4%; WSSF Rating: Average) is a leading North American natural-gas producer. The company focuses on unconventional reserves, such as shale gas deposits. (Shale gas is natural gas that is trapped in rock formations. To extract it, companies must pump water and chemicals into the rock. This fractures the rock and releases the natural gas.) The company took its present form on December 1, 2009. That’s when the old EnCana Corp. split itself into two separate companies: the new Encana and Cenovus Energy. If you assume the split occurred at the start of 2009, Encana’s earnings per share fell 22.2% in the three months ended March 31, 2010, to $0.56 from $0.72 a year earlier. These figures exclude several unusual items, such as gains on hedging contracts that Encana uses to lock in its selling price for natural gas. Cash flow per share fell 15.1%, to $1.57 from $1.85. Revenue fell 3.7%, to $3.5 billion from $3.7 billion....

CENOVUS ENERGY INC. $28 (New York symbol CVE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 751.7 million; Market cap: $21.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 2.7%; WSSF Rating: Extra Risk) operates three oil-sands properties in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan. It ships the tar-like oil (called bitumen) from these projects to refineries in Illinois and Texas. ConocoPhillips (New York symbol COP) owns 50% of these refineries, as well as 50% of the company’s two main oil-sands projects. Cenovus also owns conventional oil and gas properties. Cenovus believes its oil and natural-gas reserves will last 14.7 years. These large reserves mean that the company does not need to spend heavily on exploration. That cuts its risk. In the three months ended March 31, 2010, Cenovus earned $353 million, or $0.47 a share (all amounts except share price and market cap in Canadian dollars). That’s down 14.7% from $414 million, or $0.55 a share, a year earlier. Cash flow per share fell 3.0%, to $0.96 from $0.99. Lower natural gas prices and a drop in earnings at its refining operations were the main reasons for the declines....

CHEVRON CORP. $72 (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 2.0 billion; Market cap: $144.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 4.0%; WSSF Rating: Above Average) is the second-largest integrated oil company in the U.S., after ExxonMobil. Chevron gets 95% of its earnings by producing oil and natural-gas. The remaining 5% comes from its refineries, petrochemical operations and gas stations. In response to the BP oil spill, the Obama administration has banned some drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. This forced Chevron to temporarily shut down an operational well and an exploratory well. However, these shutdowns will probably have little impact on Chevron. That’s because these wells represent a small fraction of its operations in the gulf. As well, the gulf accounts for just 9% of its overall production....

We’ve long recommended these 4 stock market research tips in our newsletters and investment services. They can help you cut risk — and increase profits — in your stock portfolio. (Our special report, “Canadian Stock Market Basics: How to Trade Stocks and Make Good Investments in Canada,” is full of safe investing strategies that you can easily put into practice right away. Click here to download your copy today.) 1. Look beyond financial indicators: When they first set out to formulate an investment strategy, many investors decide to focus their stock market research on a handful of measures. For instance, they may want to see a p/e ratio (the ratio of a stock’s price to its per-share earnings) below 15.0, say, along with an earnings growth rate of 20% or more a year, and perhaps a 2% dividend yield....

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 stock trading tips on the fundamentals of successful investing. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “By the time you hear bad news, its immediate impact may be over.” If you hear bad news about a stock in which you invest, it’s easy to react impulsively and sell. But all investments come under a bad news cloud from time to time. If you always sell on bad news, you’ll pay lots of brokerage commissions, but you’ll never make money for yourself....

Gold now trades at $1,240.70 U.S. an ounce. That’s up 32.7% from $935 a year ago, but down from its all-time high of $1,256.50 U.S., where it closed on June 18, 2010. Investor fears about European sovereign debt — Greek and Spanish debt in particular — have been a major factor in gold’s recent rise. These fears are prompting more investors to buy gold and gold investments, because they believe gold will provide them with additional security. (In a just-published issue of Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for aggressive investing, we update our buy/sell/hold advice on a gold mining stock that has risen over 132% for us in the past year. That’s more than four times the rise in the price of gold. Read on to learn more.)...

In the first quarter of 2010, India’s economy grew by 8.6% compared to the same period last year. That’s the world’s second-fastest growth rate. Only China, with an 11.9% expansion, saw stronger growth. India’s gain was largely the result of a 16.3% increase in manufacturing, as the country continued its faster-than-expected recovery from the global economic slowdown. India’s strong economic performance is expected to continue: the World Bank recently projected that the country’s economy could grow at an annual rate of 8% to 9% over the next two years....

One of our Successful Investor Wealth Management clients recently turned 70, and he wonders what effect this should have on his portfolio management. He now has 85% of his portfolio in stocks, 15% in short-term T-bills and zero in long-term bonds and other long-term fixed-return investments.

This Successful Investor Wealth Management client has a pension that provides most of the cash flow he needs....

The Canada Revenue Agency recently advised more than 70,000 Canadians that they must pay penalties for over-contributing to their tax free savings accounts in 2009. You can make tax-free withdrawals from your TFSA at any time. You can put the money back in, as well, but the main limitation here is that you have to wait until the next calendar year to do so. That’s where many of these 70,000 investors ran afoul of the TFSA rules. ...

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 the fundamentals of successful investing. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can use it to increase your chances of making winning stock picks. Today’s tip: “Corporate earnings statements can help you find winning stock picks if you read between the lines.” 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....

It pays to be skeptical of growth stocks that rely too heavily on acquisitions. That’s because the buyer of something rarely knows as much about it as the seller. So it follows that if a company makes enough acquisitions, it might eventually buy something that has hidden problems. At some point, those problems will come out into the open and hurt the buyer’s earnings. ...