Search

ISHARES MCSI CANADA INDEX FUND $15.98 (American Exchange symbol EWC; buy or sell through brokers) is like a market-cap based index fund, but it tinkers with the index fund formula to try and improve performance by using its proprietary Morgan Stanley Capital International Canada Index. The U.S.-based fund also has to work around foreign ownership restrictions. iShares MCSI Canada Index Fund is managed by Barclays Global Investors and has an MER of 0.54%. We think that if you want to own a Canadian index fund, you should buy the iShares CDN LargeCap 60. You’ll pay about a third of the management fees. We don’t recommend iShares MCSI Canada Index Fund.

NASDAQ-100 TRUST SHARES $28.62 (Nasdaq Exchange symbol QQQQ; buy or sell through brokers) or ‘Qubes’, hold the stocks that represent the Nasdaq 100 Index. This index is made up of the 100 largest and most heavily traded stocks on the Nasdaq exchange. The index reflects firms across major industry groups including computer hardware and software, telecommunications, retail/wholesale trade and biotechnology. It does not contain financial companies. Expenses are about 0.20% of assets. The top 10 highest-weighted stocks are Apple, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Google, Cisco, Intel, Research in Motion, Gilead Sciences, Oracle and Amgen. Nasdaq-100 Trust Shares are a buy for aggressive investors only.

DIAMONDS TRUST SHARES $86.04 (American Exchange symbol DIA; buy or sell through brokers) hold the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Currently, the fund’s top 10 holdings are IBM, Exxon Mobil, Chevron Corp., 3M, Procter & Gamble, McDonald’s Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Wal-Mart Stores, United Technologies and Coca- Cola. Expenses are about 0.18% of assets. Diamonds Trust Shares are a buy.

S&P DEPOSITORY RECEIPTS $87.32 (American Exchange symbol SPY; buy or sell through brokers) are commonly called ‘Spiders’. The fund holds the stocks in the S&P 500 Index. This index is comprised of 500 major U.S. stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation. The 10 highest weighted stocks on the index are Exxon Mobil, Procter & Gamble, General Electric, AT&T, Johnson & Johnson, Chevron Corp., Microsoft, Wal-Mart Stores, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Pfizer. Expenses for the fund are just 0.10% of assets. If you want exposure to the S&P 500 Index, S&P Depository Receipts are a buy.

ISHARES CDN LARGECAP 60 INDEX FUND $12.71 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through a broker) (units split 4-for-1 in August, 2008) is a good low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units hold a basket of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index. The index is made up of the 60 largest and most heavily traded stocks on the TSX. Expenses on the units are just 0.17% of assets. Most of the 60 stocks in the index are good quality companies. However, to meet the requirement that all sectors are represented, the index holds a few firms we wouldn’t include, such as Biovail Corp. The index’s top holdings are: Royal Bank, 7.5%; EnCana Corporation, 5.8%; TD Bank, 4.8%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 4.7%; Manulife Financial, 4.6%; Barrick Gold, 4.3%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.6%; Research in Motion, 3.5%; Suncor Energy, 3.5%; Goldcorp, 3.3%; Potash Corporation, 3.2%; Canadian National Railway, 2.8%; BCE Inc., 2.6%; Rogers Communications, 2.5%; and Bank of Montreal, 2.5%....

JAPAN SMALLER CAP FUND $6.41 (New York symbol JOF; CWA Rating: Aggressive) invests mainly in less-widely-followed Japanese over-the-counter stocks. The fund’s top holdings are Jupiter Telecom, Rohto Pharmaceutical Co., Moshi Moshi Hotline, Inc., Seven Bank, Ltd., Kuraray Co., Ltd. and Air Water Inc. Japan Smaller Cap Fund sells for a 12% discount to the current value of its assets. Japan Smaller Cap is a buy.

CIBC U.S. SMALL COMPANIES FUND $8.88 (CWA Rating: Aggressive) (CIBC Securities, 5140 Yonge Street, Suite 900, Toronto, Ontario M2N 6X7. 1-800-631-7008; Website: www.cibc.com. No load — deal directly with the company.) invests in small-cap U.S. companies that it sees as undervalued, and having above-average growth potential. The $109.4 million fund’s top holdings now include Children’s Place Retail (clothing stores), Amedisys (home health care nursing), Buckle Inc. (clothing stores), Syniverse Holdings (wireless telecom technology), Triumph Group (aircraft components), Interactive Brokers Group (electronic brokers), Collective Brands (operates Payless Shoe- Source), HealthSpring (healthcare benefits & services) and Deckers Outdoor (footwear). CIBC U.S. Small Companies Fund lost 16.8% in Canadian dollars over the last year, compared to a loss of 15.7% for the benchmark Russell 2000 index in Canadian funds. The fund’s MER is 2.60%....

SCOTIA U.S GROWTH FUND $6.49 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (Scotia Securities, 40 King Street West, 6th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 1H1. 1-800-268-9269; Website: www.scotiabank.com. No load — deal directly with the company.) looks at a company’s fundamentals such as earnings, dividend yield, book value, cash flow and low debt, as well as its management, to find undervalued stocks. The $36.0 million Scotia U.S. Growth Fund’s top holdings include Wells Fargo (diversified financial services), Oracle Corporation (software), Snap-on Inc. (professional tools), JP Morgan Chase (financial services), ExxonMobil Corporation, Microsoft, Lockheed Martin (space & aeronautics), PepsiCo, Conoco- Phillips and Eli Lilly & Co. (pharmaceuticals). The fund’s one-year loss in Canadian dollars is 21.3%, compared to a loss of 18.2% for the S&P 500 in Canadian funds over the same period. The fund’s MER is 2.56%....

RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $12.83 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Shares outstanding: 220.4 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; SI Rating: Average) is Canada’s largest REIT. RioCan has ownership interests in 238 retail properties across Canada, including 14 under development. These contain over 58 million square feet of leasable area. Occupancy stands at 97.0%. RioCan is Canada’s largest owner of neighbourhood shopping centres. These are enclosed malls in smaller urban centres. But where it’s showing the strongest growth is as the largest owner of ‘New Format’ malls. These are in the suburbs of larger cities, and are made up of ‘Big Box’ stores with lots of parking and room for new building. RioCan’s revenue in the three months ended September 30, 2008 was $185.5 million, up 7.6% from $172.5 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit rose 2.8%, to $0.37 from $0.36. RioCan recently increased its monthly distribution by 2.2%, to $0.115 a unit from $0.1125. The new annual rate of $1.38 yields 10.8%....

SYMANTEC CORP. $12 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 836.0 million; Market cap: $10.0 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) makes software that helps protect computers from viruses and electronic attacks. Its best-known product is the top-selling Norton Anti-Virus program. Symantec continues to make acquisitions that strengthen its current products. For example, it recently purchased UK-based MessageLabs, which offers online software that helps users protect their email and instant messaging services from spam and junk emails. To put the $695 million purchase price in context, Symantec earned $311.2 million in its second fiscal quarter ended October 3, 2008, up 18.5% from $262.6 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings grew 27.6%, to $0.37 from $0.29, on fewer shares outstanding. These figures exclude unusual items. Sales grew 7.0%, to $1.5 billion from $1.4 billion....

AUTODESK INC. $17 (Nasdaq symbol ADSK; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 226.2 million; Market cap: $3.8 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) makes Auto- CAD, the world’s leading computer aided design program. AutoCAD helps engineers and architects design machinery and buildings. The company also makes software that filmmakers use to create special effects. Autodesk’s shares have dropped 50% in the past two months. That’s partly because slowing construction activity could hurt demand for its 3D building design software. The company is now cutting costs, which should help it remain profitable if sales weaken. In its third fiscal quarter ended October 31, 2008, Autodesk’s earnings before unusual items rose 11.0%, to $130.0 million from $117.7 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 14.3%, to $0.56 from $0.49, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue grew 12.8%, to $607.1 million from $538.4 million....

ADOBE SYSTEMS INC. $23 (Nasdaq symbol ADBE; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 531.0 million; Market cap: $12.2 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) makes software that lets computer users easily create, edit and share electronic documents in the popular PDF format. It also makes software that graphic designers use to create print publications and web pages. Excluding one-time items, Adobe’s earnings per share in its third fiscal quarter ended August 29, 2008 rose 11.1%, to $0.50 from $0.45 a year earlier. Revenues grew 4.2%, to $887.3 million from $851.7 million. The company spent $170.1 million (19.2% of revenue) on research in the latest quarter, up 4.2% from $163.2 million (19.2% of revenue) in the year earlier quarter. In October, 2008, Adobe launched its new Creative Suite 4 software program. This new version makes it easier for users to design web sites that include features such as animation and live video. Due to the growth of the Internet over the past few years, Creative Suite now accounts for over 55% of Adobe’s total revenues....

VERIGY LTD. $9.00 (Nasdaq symbol VRGY; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 57.8 million; Market cap: $520.2 million; WSSF Rating: Extra risk) designs and makes test systems used in the production of computer chips, flash memory and high-speed memory. The company aims to improve its prospects with new technology that combines several functions onto a single chip. That lets manufacturers use fewer chips, which cuts their costs. However, these new products currently account for just a small portion of Verigy sales. Due to slowing demand for computers, Verigy’s earnings before onetime items in the fiscal year ended October 31, 2008 fell 32.7%, to $72 million from $107 million a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 33.5%, to $1.19 from $1.79. Sales declined 9.2%, to $691 million from $761 million....

AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. $19 (New York symbol A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 350.0 million; Market cap: $6.7 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) makes testing systems that help manufacturers improve the quality of electronic products such as cellphones. In the past few years, Agilent has expanded its Bio-Analytical Measurement division, which supplies measurement equipment to medical research labs and drug developers. This business now accounts for 40% of Agilent’s total sales. It’s also much less cyclical than the electronics division, which helps cut Agilent’s risk. In the fiscal year ended October 31, 2008, Agilent’s earnings rose 15.5%, to $729 million from $631 million in the prior year. Earnings per share grew 26.5%, to $1.96 from $1.55, on fewer shares outstanding. These figures exclude restructuring and other unusual items. Revenue rose 6.5%, to $5.8 billion from $5.4 billion....

MOLSON COORS CANADA INC. (Toronto symbols TPX.A $50 and TPX.B $50; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 183.6 million; Market cap: $9.2 billion; SI Rating: Average) recently merged its brewing operations in the United States into a new joint venture with the parent company of Miller Brewing. Molson Coors has a 50% voting stake in this new company, called MillerCoors, although just a 42% economic interest. MillerCoors aims to cut its annual costs by $500 million (all amounts except share prices and market cap in U.S. dollars). Molson Coors is also making good progress with its own plan to cut annual expenses by $250 million. Thanks partly to these savings, Molson Coors earned $175.8 million in the third quarter of 2008, up 1.5% from $173.2 million a year earlier. Earnings per share were unchanged at $0.95. These figures exclude unusual items....

ANDREW PELLER LTD. $7.50 (Toronto symbol ADW.A; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector: Shares outstanding: 14.9 million; Market cap: $111.8 million; SI Rating: Above average) continues to benefit from strong demand for premium wines, as well as from new products and acquisitions. In its second fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2008, sales rose 13.3%, to $69.4 million from $61.2 million a year earlier. Earnings fell 7.8%, to $2.4 million or $0.17 a share from $2.7 million or $0.18 a share. However, the latest earnings included roughly $1.2 million in unusual pre-tax losses on interest rate and foreign exchange hedging contracts. The company will likely earn $0.85 a share in fiscal 2009, and the stock trades at 8.8 times that estimate. The $0.33 dividend yields 4.4%....

RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $15 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Units outstanding: 221.0 million; Market cap: $3.3 billion; SI Rating: Average) is Canada’s largest real estate investment trust. It owns 238 retail properties, including 14 under development, comprising an aggregate of over 58 million square feet. Ottawa has exempted real estate trusts from its new taxation rules, as long they meet certain technical requirements. RioCan plans to ensure that it continues to qualify as a REIT. RioCan’s focus on suburban retail malls could hurt its earnings if consumer confidence continues to weaken. However, RioCan gets 83.6% of its revenue from national and anchor tenants such as Wal-Mart and Loblaw. Dominant retailers like these have the financial strength to weather the current downturn. As well, no individual tenant accounts for more than 6% of RioCan’s revenue....

PENGROWTH ENERGY TRUST $11 (Toronto symbol PGF.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Units outstanding: 254.9 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; SI Rating: Average) produces oil and natural gas from, mainly from properties in Alberta and British Columbia. It also owns 8.4% of the Sable Offshore Energy project, which extracts natural gas from several offshore fields south of Nova Scotia. Natural gas accounts for 60% of its production, while oil supplies the remaining 40%. Pengrowth is down lately, along with most other oil and gas producers, due to falling energy prices. However, Pengrowth’s cash flow seems sufficient to let it keep paying monthly distributions of $0.225 a unit. That gives it a high current yield of 24.5%. Pengrowth paid out 62% of its cash flow as distributions in the latest quarter, down from 79% a year earlier. In the three months ended September 30, 2008, Pengrowth’s earnings soared to $1.69 a unit (total $422.4 million) from $0.66 a unit ($161.5 million) a year earlier. Most of the increase came from unrealized gains on oil and natural gas hedging contracts. Cash flow per unit rose 23.6%, to a record $1.10 from $0.89. Revenue grew 23.3%, to $518.7 million from $420.7 million. A 27% rise in realized energy prices more than offset a 5% drop in average daily production....

PRECISION DRILLING TRUST $11 (Toronto symbol PD.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Units outstanding: 125.8 million; Market cap: $1.4 billion; SI Rating: Extra risk) is Canada’s largest provider of contract drilling and related services to the oil and natural gas exploration industry. Precision currently operates 249 drilling rigs, mainly in Canada. However, many of its Canadian customers suspend exploration during the winter. Precision now aims to expand its operations in the United States with its upcoming purchase of Grey Wolf Inc., which operates 122 drilling rigs in the U.S. Gulf Coast and Midwest regions. The purchase will make Precision one of the largest providers of drilling services in North America....

BELL ALIANT REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS INCOME FUND $25 (Toronto symbol BA.UN; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Units outstanding: 127.0 million; Market cap: $3.2 billion; SI Rating: Above average) is the main provider of telephone service in Atlantic Canada and rural areas of Ontario and Quebec. Bell Aliant transferred its wireless operations to BCE Inc. as part of the deal that created the trust in July, 2006. BCE owns about 45% of Bell Aliant. Under a new deal, Bell Aliant will now help BCE upgrade its wireless networks in Atlantic Canada and rural areas of Ontario and Quebec. These upgrades will improve the speed and reliability of connections between BCE’s wireless networks and Bell Aliant’s traditional phone systems. That should help Bell Aliant profit from rising use of mobile devices to receive email and connect to the Internet....

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $38 (Toronto symbol BNS; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 990.0 million; Market cap: $37.6 billion; SI Rating: Above average) is Canada’s third-largest bank after Royal Bank and Toronto-Dominion Bank, with total assets of $462.4 billion. It provides a wide variety of financial services through 2,560 branches and offices in Canada and over 50 other countries. The bank gets about a third of its revenue and earnings from its international operations. Unlike other Canadian banks, it has largely avoided expanding in the United States. That has helped it escape the big writedowns related to U.S. subprime mortgages. Instead, Bank of Nova Scotia prefers to focus on international regions such as Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia, where it can quickly expand its market share. Thanks to the spread of free trade and rising global prosperity, Bank of Nova Scotia’s revenue rose from $10.0 billion in 2003 (fiscal years end October 31) to $12.5 billion in 2007. Earnings grew from $2.34 a share (total $2.4 billion) in 2003 to $4.01 a share ($4.0 billion) in 2007....

These are difficult times for income-seeking investors. Bonds yield around half of what they did 10 years ago. Yet more and more investors have reached an age when they pay close attention to investment income, to pay for retirement or because they see income as a sign of investment quality. This has renewed investor interest in income trusts. Despite Ottawa’s plans to start taxing trust distributions in 2011, they should continue to pay above-average yields for years to come. Unfortunately, however, high current yields on the majority of trusts obscure their drawbacks. Income seekers may assume that yearly distributions on income trusts are likely to hold steady like interest on a bond, or rise like dividends on a stock. But in the long term, all too many trust distributions are more apt to dwindle or halt abruptly. That’s because many trusts own so-called ‘cash cow’ businesses. These are businesses that can be milked for their cash flow for years to come, but that are likely to stagnate or stumble as the economy changes and competition grows....

We think investors will profit most — and with the least risk — by buying shares of well-established, dividend-paying companies with sound business prospects. These are companies that have strong positions in a healthy industry. They also have strong management that will make the right moves to remain competitive in a changing marketplace. A well-established company with a long-term record of dividends provides a measure of safety for investors. Dividends, after all, are much more stable than earnings projections. More important, dividends are impossible to fake — either the company has the cash to pay dividends, or it doesn’t. That’s not to say that there won’t be surprises that affect every company in a particular industry. But well-established, dividend-paying stocks have the asset size and the financial clout — including solid balance sheets and strong cash flow — to weather market downturns or changing industry conditions....

You hear a lot of comparisons these days between the current market downturn and the 1929 stock market crash. That’s mainly due to a lack of comparables. The 2007-2008 (assuming it ends this fall) market downturn is the worst since World War Two. However, nothing since then comes close to the 1929 stock market crash that lasted into the 1930s. When investors ask, “How bad can it get?”, we need to qualify our answer. If governments around the world were doing nothing to counter the crisis – or, worse, doing all the wrong things as governments did in the 1930s in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash – then the crisis could get a lot worse. However, our view is that they are taking the kind of steps that will contain the crisis and eventually restore liquidity in the banking system. That didn’t happen after the 1929 stock market crash....

Many aggressive investors find the lure of stock option investing hard to resist. However, despite their appeal, the vast majority of investors lose money with options. An option is a contract between a buyer and a seller, based on an underlying security, usually a stock. The buyer pays the seller a fee, or premium, for certain rights to the stock. In exchange for the premium, the seller assumes certain obligations. Options trade through stock exchanges, with prices quoted each day in the financial section of newspapers. Each options contract is for 100 shares of stock. So one contract quoted at $5 will cost you $500 (before commissions). Each contract has a limited life span, or time to expiry — usually less than nine months. The expiry date is the date on which the contract expires. The strike, or exercise price, is the price at which the rights granted to the buyer can be exercised. There are two types of options:...