canadian dividend

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA (Toronto symbol RY; www.rbc.com) is Canada’s largest bank, with $815.0 billion of assets. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently accused Royal of using a complex series of trades to cut its tax bill in Canada....

Companies take different paths to growth. Over the years, this Canadian company has steadily acquired a series of small firms with specialized expertise and integrated them into a large organization that can undertake a wide range of projects. And this year, it has joined the ranks of Canadian dividend stocks. STANTEC INC. (Toronto symbol STN; www.stantec.com) sells a range of consulting, project delivery, design/build and technology services. The company’s clients operate in a wide variety of markets, including industry, environment, transportation and construction. Stantec has over 11,000 employees at 170 locations throughout North America. It also has four international offices....

Investing is not an exact science. That’s why experience and judgment are just as essential as fundamental analysis in successful investing. That’s also why a balanced temperament is so important. It can keep you on a steady course and help you avoid losses....

GENNUM CORP. $5.95 (Toronto symbol GND; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 35.5 million; Market cap: $211.2 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.gennum.com) designs chips and other electronic equipment that lets television broadcasters store, edit and transfer video signals.

The company is now expanding into chips that speed up the flow of data in computer networks. In April 2011, it paid $35.9 million for U.K.-based Nanotech Semiconductor Ltd., which designs chips for communications networks (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars).

In its third quarter, which ended August 31, 2011, Gennum’s sales rose 6.6%, to $36.7 million from $34.4 million a year earlier. The gain mainly reflects the contribution from Nanotech.

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These tech stocks are well below their 2011 highs. However, all have strong balance sheets and rising research spending that will help them compete in their rapidly changing industries. Even so, they will likely remain highly volatile, so they should only account for a small portion of your portfolio. RESEARCH IN MOTION INC. $16 (Toronto symbol RIM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 524.2 million; Market cap: $8.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rim.com) has suffered several setbacks in the past few months, including a network outage in October 2011 that stopped or slowed the delivery of emails to its BlackBerry smartphone users. As well, sales of RIM’s PlayBook tablet computer have been slower than expected. That forced RIM to write down unsold inventory. Excluding unusual items, RIM’s earnings fell 26.8% in its fiscal 2012 third quarter, which ended November 26, 2011, to $667 million, or $1.27 a share. (All amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars.) A year earlier, it earned $911 million, or $1.74 a share. RIM spends 7% of its revenue on research....

The volatile markets of the past few years have offered up many tempting stocks at bargain prices. But it’s important to remember that not all bargain stocks are created equal. Investment success depends more on the quality of your investments than on the price you pay for them. That’s why you have to be very selective about which undervalued stocks you buy....

Many investors are concerned about today’s market outlook. However, a strong point over the past few years has been the reliability of Canadian dividend stocks. A good example of this is BCE, a utility stock that has grown its dividend and continues to provide capital gains to patient investors.

BCE faces challenges and opportunities

BCE Inc. (Toronto symbol BCE; www.bce.ca) earned $663 million in the three months ended June 30, 2011. That’s up 11.4% from $595 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 10.3%, to $0.86 from $0.78, on more shares outstanding. The latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.81 a share....

PowerShares Canadian Dividend Index ETF, $18.44, symbol PDC on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 250,000; Market cap: $4.6 million; www.investco.ca), aims to replicate the performance of the Indxis Select Canadian Dividend Index. PowerShares Canadian Dividend Index ETF was launched on June 16, 2011. The units began trading at $20. However, the fund duplicates the PowerShares Canadian Dividend Index mutual fund, which started up in November 2009. The fund holds 35 stocks, eight real estate investment trusts (REITs) and two income trusts. It has an expense ratio of 0.50%, and yields 3.6%. Its top 10 holdings are Royal Bank, 10.0%; TD Bank, 10.0%, Bank of Nova Scotia, 9.7%; Bank of Montreal, 7.4%; CIBC, 5.6%; TransCanada Corp., 5.4%; Thomson Reuters, 5.2%; Enbridge, 4.6%; Great-West Lifeco, 4.4%; and Power Financial, 3.9%....

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One of our favourite Canadian dividend stocks continues to boost its payout

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Claymore Investments, Inc., is the wholly owned Canadian subsidiary of Chicago-based Guggenheim Partners. The Canadian branch now offers 29 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that trade on the Toronto exchange. All of the funds aim to combine what Claymore sees as the advantages of passive investment in an index, along with active management to eliminate stocks from the index that it expects to perform poorly. The funds use a variety of mathematically formulated models, or quantitative investment methodologies. The managers see this as a systematic approach to equity selection, portfolio monitoring and portfolio management....