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DUNDEE CORP. $5.10 (Toronto symbol DC.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 74.3 million; Market cap: $378.9 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; SI Rating: Average) is a holding company with subsidiaries in three main areas: wealth management, real estate and resources. Its main asset is its 49% stake (63% voting interest) in Dundee-Wealth Inc. (Toronto symbol DW). DundeeWealth provides investment management, securities brokerage, financial planning and investment advisory services. It also owns the Dynamic family of mutual funds. In all, Dundee-Wealth manages $56.2 billion worth of assets. In 2008, Dundee lost $196.3 million, or $2.62 a share. The loss was largely caused by writedowns of securities, including a $113.8-million charge related to its holdings of asset-backed commercial paper. In 2007, Dundee earned $277.6 million, or $3.49 a share. This figure included a $136.6-million gain on the sale of subsidiaries. Revenue fell 12.2%, to $1.2 billion from $1.4 billion. Dundee’s stock continues to be held back by fears of more writedowns of illiquid securities. As well, lower prices for oil, gold and other commodities have hurt the value of its resource-related investments. The recession could also hurt Dundee’s residential real-estate development business....

GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $16 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 943.9 million; Market cap: $15.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; SI Rating: Above Average) is Canada’s largest insurance company. Great-West administers $339 billion worth of assets. The company also offers wealth-management services. It operates in Canada (55% of its earnings), Europe (35%) and the U.S. (10%). Power Corp. (Toronto symbol POW) owns 72.7% of Great-West’s shares. In August 2007, Great-West paid $4.2 billion for U.S.-based mutual-fund manager Putnam Investments. Buying Putnam gave Great-West an opportunity to cross-promote its products to Putnam’s large base of individual and institutional clients. The stock market downturn has lowered the value of Putnam’s assets. This hurts Putnam’s earnings, since its fees rise and fall with the value of the securities in its funds. Moreover, the market’s volatility has caused many of Putnam’s clients to redeem their funds. Consequently, Putnam’s assets under management fell 27% in 2008, to $129 billion U.S. from $176.7 billion U.S. in 2007....

PENGROWTH ENERGY TRUST $7.13 (Toronto symbol PGF.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Units outstanding: 256.1 million; Market cap: $1.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; SI Rating: Average) is one of North America’s largest energy royalty trusts. It owns all or part of several oil and natural-gas properties in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Properties that Pengrowth operates account for 63% of its production. The remaining 37% comes from minority investments in other energy projects, including an 8.4% interest in the Sable Offshore Energy Project south of Nova Scotia. Natural gas provides 60% of Pengrowth’s production. Oil supplies the remaining 40%. Pengrowth prefers to focus on proven properties with sizeable reserves and predictable production rates. It has interests in six of western Canada’s top nine oil-producing areas....

IGM FINANCIAL INC. $33 (Toronto symbol IGM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 262.4 million; Market cap: $8.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.2; SI Rating: Above Average) is Canada’s largest mutual fund company. It manages $98.8 billion of assets. Power Corp. owns 56.4% of IGM. IGM has three divisions. Investors Group sells funds through its own network of advisors. Mackenzie Financial sells its funds through independent brokers. IGM also owns 74.5% of Investment Planning Counsel, whose 700 advisors provide wealth-management services to individuals. IGM has few operations outside of Canada. The sharp stock market drop in the latter half of 2008 hurt demand for IGM’s mutual funds. As a result, the company’s earnings dropped 11.3%, to $766.1 million from $863.8 million in 2007. Per-share earnings fell 10.5%, to $2.89 from $3.23, on fewer shares outstanding. IGM owns around 4% of Great-West Lifeco, and these figures exclude its share of Great-West’s writedown of its purchase of Putnam Investments. IGM’s 2008 revenue fell 6.6%, to $2.7 billion from $2.9 billion....

CANADIAN TIRE CORP. $45 (Toronto symbol CTC.A; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 81.5 million; Market cap: $3.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; SI Rating: Above Average) operates 475 stores that sell automotive, household and sporting goods. It also operates 86 PartSource auto-parts stores, 372 Mark’s Work Wearhouse casual-clothing stores and 273 gas stations. Canadian Tire continues to replace its older stores with new ones that are more shopper-friendly. The new stores have wider aisles, brighter lighting and clearer signage. On average, its stores are a third larger than they were five years ago. These improvements contributed, at least in part, to a rise in Canadian Tire’s sales last year. Its sales rose 6%, to $9.1 billion from $8.6 billion the previous year. Same-store sales rose 0.3%. However, earnings fell 4.5%, to $572.5 million from $599.9 million. Per-share earnings fell 2.2%, to $4.85 from $4.96 on fewer shares outstanding. These figures exclude writedowns of hedging contracts and other items. The earnings drop was largely caused by higher administrative and advertising costs....

HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. $25 (Toronto symbol HCG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 34.4 million; Market cap: $860 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; SI Rating: Average) is the parent company of Home Trust Company, a federally regulated firm that specializes in residential first mortgages and credit cards for borrowers who don’t meet the criteria of traditional lenders. The credit crisis and Home Capital’s reliance on less-creditworthy customers caused the stock to drop from $41 last May to $14 in November. However, Home Capital is safer than it appears. Its stringent screening process eliminates most of the problem borrowers. Still, 0.86% of Home Capital’s loans were in default in 2008. This is up from 0.72% the previous year. Despite the volatile economy, Home Capital’s 2008 earnings rose 20.4%, to $108.7 million, or $3.13 a share. It earned $90.2 million, or $2.59 a share, in 2007. Revenue rose 23.3% in 2008, to $454.7 million from $368.9 million in 2007....

Investors are interested in wind power stocks, solar power stocks and other green stocks because they like the idea of making money and helping the environment. But they need a healthy sense of skepticism in order to succeed. Many stock promotions have an environmental angle. A number of penny stocks have dropped their old, unsuccessful business plans and become a solar power stock, a wind power stock or some other form of green stock. The stock-promotion business has always worked that way. Promoters take whatever fear or issue concerns people most and use it to generate interest in the stocks they are promoting. Investing in these stocks can pay off temporarily, depending on the promoter’s ability. But most eventually wind up worthless....

Here are two simple retirement investing strategies that can help you maximize your investments in RRSPs. Planning your retirement investing and picking stocks for your RRSPs can be difficult. It can be tempting to pick higher risk (and potentially higher return) stocks for your RRSPs. However, we believe these investments are generally unsuitable for this type of retirement investing, and that higher-risk stocks should be held outside of an RRSP. That’s because if higher-risk stocks lose money in your RRSPs, you have a triple loss:...

Short selling involves selling securities an investor doesn’t already own. A short sale is performed in the belief that the price of the security being sold will go down. The seller can then cover the sale by purchasing the security at a lower price, making a profit based on how far the price has fallen. Short sellers face specific regulations in the markets. Hedge funds buy good stocks and sell bad stocks “short” in hopes of making money regardless of the market’s direction. If the market goes up, the good stocks should rise more than the weak ones, so the gains on the good stocks should exceed losses on the short sales. If the market falls, the bad stocks should fall more than the good, so gains on the short sales should exceed losses. But profitable short selling requires superhuman timing, and the inevitable mistakes can be super expensive. In 1999 and 2000, a number of hedge funds collapsed because they shorted Internet stocks that went on to soar. The fund managers were “early rather than wrong,” as the saying goes, but they still lost huge sums. After all, short selling turns the traditional market odds upside down. When you buy, your profit potential is unlimited and the most you can lose is 100%. When you sell short, the most you can make is 100%, but your potential for loss is unlimited....

Growth stocks are companies that are expected to have earnings growth above the market average. Frequently, growth stocks pay little or no dividends, instead re-investing any extra money to promote further growth. These are not to be confused with momentum stocks. Momentum stocks are stocks that are moving higher in the market. While individual definitions may differ, the overall goal from momentum trading is to profit from shorter-term trades. Momentum investors are particularly keen on the so-called ‘positive earnings surprise’, when a company outdoes brokers’ earnings estimates. They view a ‘negative earnings surprise’ — lower-than-expected earnings — as a sell signal. They use a variety of computerized formulas to make buy and sell decisions, but all come down to “Buy on strength and sell on weakness.” So they tend to pile into the same stocks all at once, and the gains that follow are something of a self-fulfilling prophecy....

INDIA FUND $17.40 (New York symbol IFN; Shares outstanding: 38.6 million; Market cap: $672.3 million; CWA Rating: Aggressive) mainly invests in large-cap Indian stocks. Blackstone Group manages the fund. India’s economy has grown by more than 9% annually over the last few years. The global recession will hurt the country’s growth, but it could still expand by as much as 7% this year. The $671.1-million India Fund’s top holdings are: Reliance Industries (conglomerate), 12.3%; Infosys Technologies (software), 9.6%; Bharti AirTel (telecom), 7.4%; Hindustan Unilever (consumer products), 5.5%; ITC, Ltd. (various industries), 4.5%; Housing Development Finance, 4.0%; Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, 3.7%; Bharat Heavy Electricals (engineering and manufacturing), 3.6%; State Bank of India, 3.3%; HDFC Bank, 3.2%; and Power Finance Corp., 2%....

SINGAPORE FUND $7.10 (New York symbol SGF; Shares outstanding: 9.5 million; Market cap: $67.3 million; CWA Rating: Aggressive) is fully invested in Singapore-based stocks. The Development Bank of Singapore manages the fund. Singapore relies on exports for much of its growth. Major markets, like the U.S., China and Japan, are important to its economy. When these markets recover, Singapore’s prospects should improve. Singapore Fund’s top holdings are: Singapore Telecom, 14.7%; United Overseas Bank, 13.2%; Overseas-Chinese Banking, 8.9%; Singapore Airlines, 5.3%; Singapore Technologies Engineering (aircraft support services), 4.7%; Jardine Matheson (various industries), 4.7%; Keppel (various industries), 4.2%; Singapore Press Holdings (newspapers), 3.7%; Wilmar International (agribusiness), 3.5%; and SMRT (Singapore public transit), 3.3%....

NEW IRELAND FUND $4.26 (New York symbol IRL; Shares outstanding: 5.1 million; Market cap: $21.8 million; CWA Rating: Aggressive) invests in Irish companies. The Bank of Ireland manages the $50.9-million New Ireland Fund. The bank dates back to 1783. Lower housing prices and a struggling banking sector have hurt the Irish economy. However, the country is open to foreign investment, and has invested heavily in education and training. It is also part of the euro currency zone. These factors should benefit the Irish economy over the long term. The New Ireland Fund’s top holdings are: CRH plc (building materials), 25.0%; Ryanair Holdings (airline), 15.0%; DCC plc (business services), 7.3%; Kerry Group (food products), 5.0%; Elan Corp. (health-care services), 5.0%, Aryzta AG (agriculture and food), 4.3%; United Drug plc (health-care services), 3.3%; Allied Irish Banks, 3.2%; and FBD Holdings (financial services), 2.4%....

BCE INC. $26.01 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 791.6 million; Market cap: $20.6 billion; SI Rating: Above Average) has over 7.5 million telephone and Internet customers in Ontario and Quebec. It also has 6.5 million wireless subscribers across Canada. In the three months ended December 31, 2008, BCE’s revenue fell 0.7%, to $4.49 billion from $4.52 billion. However, earnings per share before one-time items rose 19.6%, to $0.55 from $0.46. BCE’s cellphone revenue rose 7.6% in 2008, and subscribers grew by 4.5%. Wireless accounts for 25% of BCE’s revenue and 43% of its profit. Since mid-2008, BCE has laid off over 7% of its staff. It has also cut spending on consulting, eliminated 7,000 corporate credit cards and lowered the number of ad agencies it uses to 11 from 47. These moves should lower the company’s annual expenses by $400 million. BCE earned $1.8 billion in 2008....

SWISS HELVETIA FUND $8.96 (New York symbol SWZ; Shares outstanding: 33.3 million; Market cap: $297.8 million; CWA Rating: Conservative) invests mainly in large-capitalization Swiss stocks. Hottinger Group, which dates back to 1786, manages the fund. The Swiss government has moved quickly to restore confidence in the country’s banking system. It’s also lowering interest rates to ease credit and devalue the Swiss franc. The Swiss economy is heavily reliant on exports. A rise in world trade would greatly benefit the country’s industries. The $469.1-million Swiss Helvetia Fund’s top holdings are: Nestle SA (food and beverages), 19.9%; Roche Holdings (pharmaceuticals), 12.9%; Novartis AG (health care and pharmaceuticals), 9.3%; Addex Pharmaceuticals, 3.8%; Alpiq Holding (electric power), 3.4%; Acino Holding (pharmaceuticals and chemicals), 3.4%; Basilea Pharmaceutica (biopharmaceuticals), 3.2%; Actelion Limited (pharmaceuticals), 1.9%; and Galencia AG (pharmaceuticals), 1.4%....

RBC CANADIAN EQUITY FUND $18.03 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (RBC Funds, P.O. Box 7500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario. M5W 1P9. 1-800-463-3863; Web site: www.royalbank.com. No load — deal directly with the bank) mainly invests in larger-capitalization stocks, but may also buy small- and mid-cap stocks. The $3.1-billion fund’s largest holdings are Royal Bank, Manulife, EnCana, TD Bank, Potash Corp., Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Natural Resources, Suncor Energy, Research in Motion and BCE. The fund is heavily weighted (47.2%) toward the resource sector; 27% of its investments are in finance. Over the last 10 years, RBC Canadian Equity posted a 4.9% annual rate of return. That’s just over the S&P/TSX’s 4.6% gain. The fund lost 38.3% over the last year, compared to a loss of 38.2% for the S&P/TSX. The fund’s MER is 1.96%....

BMO EQUITY FUND $20.70 (BMO Mutual Funds, 77 King Street West, Suite 4200, Royal Trust Tower, Toronto, Ontario, M5K 1J5, 1-800-665-7700; Web site: www.bmo.com. No load — deal directly with the bank) (CWA Rating: Conservative) mostly invests in blue chip Canadian companies. The fund’s managers aim to identify stocks based on their analysis of the outlook for the industry the firms operate in, as well as their earnings records, management strength and growth potential. The $1.4-billion BMO Equity Fund’s 10 largest holdings are Bank of Nova Scotia, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canadian Natural Resources, Suncor Energy, EnCana Corporation, Barrick Gold, Manulife Financial, CIBC and Goldcorp. The fund currently holds 35.9% of its portfolio in the resource sector. Its next-largest segment is financial services, at 21.6%....

CIBC CANADIAN EQUITY FUND $16.61 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (CIBC Securities, 5140 Yonge Street, Suite 900, Toronto, Ontario M2N 6X7. 1-800-631-7008; Web site: www.cibc.com. No load — deal directly with the bank) looks at fundamentals like earnings, cash flow and debt level to identify companies that it sees as having above-average growth potential. The $317.2-million fund’s top holdings are: TransCanada Corp., EnCana, Research in Motion, Bank of Nova Scotia, CN Railway, Potash Corp., BCE Inc., Canadian Natural Resources and Royal Bank of Canada. CIBC Canadian Equity holds 39.4% of its portfolio in resource stocks and 27.1% in finance stocks....

SCOTIA CANADIAN GROWTH FUND $41.09 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (Scotia Securities, 40 King Street West, 6th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 1H1. 1-800-268-9269; Web site: www.scotiabank.com. No load — deal directly with the bank) attempts to use an investment’s fundamentals to determine whether it has the potential for above-average growth. The $315.8-million Scotia Canadian Growth Fund’s largest stock holdings include EnCana Corp., Royal Bank, TD Bank, BCE Inc., Potash Corp., Canadian Natural Resources, Suncor Energy, Bank of Nova Scotia and Barrick Gold. Scotia Canadian Growth holds 43.3% of its portfolio in the resource sector. Its next-largest segment is financial services, at 24.9%....

There are, in some cases, ways of structuring your business affairs using offshore investing companies or trusts that can cut or defer your taxes. You may also be able to protect your assets from legal judgments rendered in Canada if you move them to accounts in certain foreign jurisdictions. Earnings in an “offshore account” are generally lightly taxed, or not taxed at all, by the country where the bank or brokerage account is located. This includes jurisdictions like Switzerland or the Cayman Islands. However, Canadian residents are obliged to report any income they earn through foreign investing on their Canadian tax returns. (You can only claim tax-exempt “non-resident” status without giving up your citizenship by staying outside of Canada for more than half of a tax year.)...

Commodity prices are down lately along with fears of lower demand due to a slowing global economy. That makes them a tempting investment for some investors bracing for a rebound. We like the long-term prospects for commodity investments, including metals and minerals, fertilizers and agricultural products. However, most if not all non-professionals who get involved in commodities trading wind up losing money. There are various structured products sold by brokers that give you exposure to commodity investments, while limiting risk. Most participants will ultimately lose money in these investments as well, or make a poor return in relation to their risk....

If you are interested in gold investing, we recommend staying away from buying gold bullion, coins (unless you collect them as a hobby) or certificates representing an interest in bullion. Unlike stocks, commodity investments like gold bullion do not generate income. Instead, they come with a continuing cash drain, for management, insurance and so on. However, if you do want to hold bullion as part of your gold investing, then SPDR Gold Shares are a relatively low-cost and liquid way to do it. SPDR Gold Trust, symbol GLD on New York, is an investment trust that aims to reflect the performance of the price of gold bullion, less the trust’s expenses. SPDR’s sole assets are gold bullion, and, from time to time, cash. Expenses for SPDR Gold Shares are 0.4% of assets per year....

YUM! BRANDS INC. $28 (New York symbol YUM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 459.9 million; Market cap: $12.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; WSSF Rating: Above Average) is the world’s largest fast-food operator, with over 36,000 outlets in more than 110 countries. (McDonald’s Corp. has fewer restaurants than Yum, but higher annual sales.) Its major chains include KFC (fried chicken), Pizza Hut, Taco Bell (Mexican food), Long John Silver’s (seafood) and A&W (root beer and hamburgers). Yum continues to aggressively expand in China, particularly its KFC fried-chicken restaurants. Yum’s China division, which includes Taiwan and Thailand, accounts for 30% of its sales and earnings. Yum’s U.S. operations provide 45% of its sales and 40% of its profit. Its international division (excluding China) supplies 25% of its revenue, and 30% of earnings. Thanks mainly to strong growth at the China division, Yum’s revenue rose 25.2%, from $9 billion in 2004 to $11.3 billion in 2008. Earnings rose 30.2%, from $721 million in 2004 to $939 million in 2008. Yum has bought back over $5.6 billion worth of its shares since 2004. As a result, per-share earnings rose 61.9%, from $1.18 in 2004 to $1.91 in 2008. Cash flow per share rose 61.4%, from $2.02 in 2004 to $3.26 in 2008....

AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. $16 (New York symbol A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 345.3 million; Market cap: $5.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.2; WSSF Rating: Average) makes testing systems that help electronics manufacturers improve the quality of their products. Agilent also makes measurement equipment for medical research labs and drug companies. Demand for Agilent’s medical-related products remains steady, but the recession has hurt sales of cellphones and other electronic devices. As a result, manufacturers are spending less on the company’s testing equipment. In response, Agilent plans to drop some of its businesses and shrink its workforce by 3%. The company expects to pay $100 million in severance and other expenses. But these moves should lower Agilent’s costs by $150 million a year, and let it keep spending 14% of its sales on research. To put these amounts in context, Agilent’s earnings in its first fiscal quarter, which ended January 31, 2009, dropped 47.1%, to $72 million, or $0.20 a share. It earned $136 million, or $0.36 a share a year earlier (these figures exclude restructuring and other charges). Sales fell 16.3%, to $1.2 billion from $1.4 billion....

VERIGY LTD. $7.61 (Nasdaq symbol VRGY; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 58.2 million; Market cap: $442.9 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; WSSF Rating: Extra Risk) designs and makes test systems that are used in computer-chip production. Because of slowing computer sales brought on by the recession, Verigy lost $41 million, or $0.70 a share, in its first fiscal quarter, which ended January 31, 2009. It earned $33 million, or $0.53 a share, a year earlier. These figures exclude unusual charges, including severance costs related to an 18% cut in Verigy’s workforce. The plan should reduce Verigy’s costs by around $100 million a year, and help it break even on $110 million in quarterly revenue. Sales during the quarter fell 66%, to $68 million from $200 million. Verigy holds cash of $300 million, or $5.16 a share, and has no debt. Verigy’s research costs were unchanged at $25 million, but were a high 36.8% of sales. This was mainly because of a sharp drop in new orders. The company’s restructuring should help it maintain its high research spending. This will let it develop new products that will fuel future sales....