acquisition

MCDONALD’S CORP., $285.52, New York symbol MCD, is your #1 Conservative Buy for 2023.

The company is the world’s largest fast-food chain with over 40,000 restaurants in 119 countries. It serves a wide variety of food but is best known for its hamburgers and french fries.

McDonald’s shares have gained over 50% in the past five years....

TELUS INTERNATIONAL (CDA) INC. $10 remains a buy for aggressive investors. The operator of call centres (Toronto symbol TIXT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio; Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 274.0 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; No dividend paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.telusinternational.com) paid $1.17 billion in January 2023 for 86% of WillowTree (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S....

BANK OF MONTREAL $117 is a buy. The bank (Toronto symbol BMO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 720.9 million; Market cap: $84.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 5.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bmo.com) completed its $13.8 billion U.S....

Enbridge, like all high-yielding utility stocks, has struggled in the past year as rising interest rates increase the appeal of competing bonds. Higher interest rates also make it more expensive for the company to make acquisitions and fund new growth projects.


However, Enbridge’s rate-regulated operations give it plenty of steady cash flow to service its debt....

THINKIFIC LABS INC., $3.55, symbol THNC on Toronto, provides a software platform to help entrepreneurs and businesses create and sell online courses and other learning products. That includes tools to design and build websites that showcase and sell their courses.

Thinkific also has an app store for course creators....

A: Bentley Systems Inc., $51.58, symbol BSY on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 284.4 million; Market cap: $15.3 billion; www.bentley.com), is a software developer for the construction industry....

A: Casella Waste Systems Inc., $79.68, symbol CWST on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 57.0 million; Market cap: $4.6 billion; www.casella.com), is a Vermont-based waste management company that services nine U.S....

FRESHPET INC., $69.30, symbol FRPT on Nasdaq, makes fresh, natural food for dogs and cats. The company’s foods are blends of fresh meats, vegetables and fruits farmed locally and made at its Freshpet Kitchens. Freshpet uses natural ingredients, cooking them in small batches at lower temperatures to preserve their natural goodness.

The company sells its products to grocery stores, mass merchants, warehouse stores, specialty pet and natural food stores in the U.S., Canada, and Europe....

AMERIGO RESOURCES LTD., $1.31, is a buy for aggressive investors. The company, symbol ARG on Toronto, processes copper and molybdenum from the waste rock of the El Teniente mine in Chile. That site is the world’s largest copper operation. Amerigo also has other deals to process material at the nearby Colihues and Cauquenes tailings ponds.

It currently gets 94% of its revenue from processing copper....

LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD., $121.67, Toronto symbol L, is a buy.

The company operates 1,104 supermarkets under several banners, including Loblaws, Zehrs, Provigo, Real Canadian Superstore and No Frills.

In March 2014, it purchased the Shoppers Drug Mart chain for $12.3 billion in cash and shares....