asset management

TRISURA GROUP LTD., $40.49, symbol TSU on Toronto, took its current form on June 22, 2017, when Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (now Brookfield Corp.) spun off its specialty insurance business as Trisura. Investors received one Trisura share for every 170 Brookfield shares they held.

Trisura provides specialty insurance and services not available through traditional insurers....

POWER CORP. OF CANADA $39 is a buy. The conglomerate (Toronto symbol POW; Conservative-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 649.2 million; Market cap: $25.3 billion; Dividend yield: 5.8%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.powercorporation.com) holds controlling stakes in Canadian financial services firms Great-West Lifeco (insurance) and IGM Financial (mutual funds)....

These two subsidiaries of Power Corp. are re-focusing on their main businesses. That should appeal to investors, who tend to prefer pure-play companies. Even so, we feel IGM is the better buy right now.


GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $39 is a hold. The company (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth Payer Portfolio, Finance sector; shares outstanding: 932.4 million; Market cap: $36.4 billion; Dividend yield: 5.7%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest life insurer after Manulife Financial....

BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS, $199.24, is a buy. The company (New York symbol BR; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (www.broadridge.com; Shares o/s: 118.2 million; Market cap: $23.6 billion; Yield: 1.6%) has announced the acquisition of AdvisorTarget, a provider of data products to asset management and wealth Management firms....

Crop and food prices will continue to fluctuate from year to year, but it’s a good bet that global food production and consumption will continue to increase. We think the best way to profit is through shares of well-established companies with a range of operations to help offset swings in commodity prices....

PAGERDUTY INC., $19.71, is a buy. The company (symbol PD on New York) operates a platform that collect real-time data from software systems and devices and then notifies its IT customers of any incident that could harm their operations.

PagerDuty’s platform sits on top of a company’s technology systems, taking in data....

BROOKFIELD RENEWABLE PARTNERS L.P., $38.25, is a buy. The partnership (Toronto symbol BEP.UN; Units outstanding: 646.0 million; Market cap: $25.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.8%; www.bep.brookfield.com) has now agreed to provide Microsoft Corp....

We’ve said for a long time that growth by acquisition is inherently riskier than internal growth, since it carries an above-average chance of unpleasant surprises. Under the rules of financial physics, a buyer of something rarely knows as much about it as the seller.

Of course, some companies do a better job than others of choosing acquisition targets....

Parent company Power Corp. is now simplifying the operations of its two main subsidiaries—Great-West Lifeco and IGM Financial. The plan will benefit investors in both firms, but we still prefer IGM for your new buying.


GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $41 is a hold. The insurer (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; shares outstanding: 930.6 million; Market cap: $38.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 5.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest life insurer, after Manulife Financial....

Broadridge is far from a household name, except in households with members who work in the investment business. Regardless, since its spinoff from Automatic Data Processing (symbol ADP on Nasdaq) in 2007, Broadridge has become a key provider of services to financial, brokerage and wealth management firms.

We added the stock as a buy in our February 2008 issue of Wall Street Stock Forecaster at $22 a share....