acquisition

High-profile U.S. hedge funds continue to bet against Canada’s big banks. They feel rising interest rates and slowing real estate markets will lead to big writedowns.


However, the big banks, including CIBC, have plenty of capital to weather downturns in the Canadian economy....

CALIAN GROUP LTD. $35 (Toronto symbol CGY; High-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding; 7.9 million; Market cap: $276.5 million; Dividend yield: 3.2%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.calian.com) has two main operations: Business and Technology Services (70% of revenue) provides clients with engineers, health-care workers and other skilled professionals on a contract basis; and Systems Engineering (30%) sells hardware and software for testing, operating and managing satellite and other communication systems.


Calian pays a quarterly dividend of $0.28 for a 3.2% yield....

CISCO SYSTEMS INC. $57 (Nasdaq symbol CSCO; High-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 4.4 billion; Market cap: $250.8 billion; Dividend yield: 2.5%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.cisco.com) makes hardware and software that links and manages computer networks.


With the April 2019, Cisco raised its quarterly dividend by 6.1%, to $0.35 a share from $0.33....

CANADIAN TIRE CORP. $150 (Toronto symbol CTC.A; Conservative Growth Payer Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 62.9 million; Market cap: $9.4 billion; Dividend yield: 2.8%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.canadiantire.ca) owns 503 Canadian Tire stores....

UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP. $140 (New York symbol UTX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 862.3 million; Market cap: $120.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.utc.com) completed its acquisition of Rockwell Collins on November 26, 2018, for $30.6 billion in cash and stock (including that firm’s debt)....

DIAGEO PLC ADR $164 (New York symbol DEO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; ADRs outstanding: 629.0 million; Market cap: $103.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.3; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.diageo.com) is a leading maker of premium alcoholic beverages....

IBM has a long history of responding to rapid changes in computer technology. As demand for its consulting services and mainframe computers slows, it’s now investing heavily in cloud computing (where customers access software on the web), analytics and artificial intelligence.


We feel the company’s upcoming acquisition of open-source software maker Red Hat will accelerate its transformation, and increase IBM’s earnings for many years to come.


INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP....

A: NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT, $11.40, symbol NWH.UN on Toronto (Units outstanding: 117.2 million; Market cap: $1.3 billion; www.nwhreit.com), owns and operates a portfolio of medical office buildings (54%) as well as hospital and healthcare facilities (46%).

NorthWest is Canada’s largest non-government owner and operator of medical office buildings and has been steadily increasing its international exposure....

Our Spinoffs, Takeovers and Special Situations newsletter focuses on the three types of investment opportunities in its name. Huntsman and Danaher were two of our earliest recommendations in the Spinoffs area. Each had just completed a spinoff of a smaller business.

In July 2016, Danaher handed out 100% the shares in its Fortive subsidiary to its own shareholders, as a special dividend....

Studies show that both a spinoff and its parent company perform better than comparable firms for several years following their split. That’s especially so with industry leaders like these two.


WYNDHAM DESTINATIONS $43.13 (New York symbol WYND; TSI Rating: Extra Risk) (973-753-6000; www.wyndhamdestinations.com; Shares outstanding: 94.5 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; Dividend yield: 4.2%) is the former Wyndham Worldwide (WYN)....