Chevron Corp.

New York symbol CVX, is the second-largest integrated oil company in the United States after ExxonMobil. Production accounts for about 80% of its earnings. The remaining 20% comes from refineries and retail gas stations.

A: We still feel that investors will profit the most with a well-balanced portfolio of high-quality individual stocks, but ETFs can also play a role in a portfolio. Here’s a look at the ETFs you’ve asked about:

Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF, $83.70, symbol XLE on New York (Units outstanding: 424.4 million; Market cap: $35.5 billion; www.ssga.com), provides exposure to companies in the oil, gas and consumable fuel, energy equipment and services industries.

The fund’s MER is just 0.10%....
ROYAL BANK OF CANADA, $132.20, Toronto symbol RY, is still a buy.

With the February 2024 payment, Royal will increase your quarterly dividend by 2.2%. Investors will then receive $1.38 a share instead of $1.35. The new annual rate of $5.52 yields 4.2%.

The bank has received final regulatory approval to buy the Canadian operations of U.K.-based HSBC Holdings plc (New York symbol HSBC).

HSBC operates 130 branches that mainly cater to businesses in industries that trade and bank internationally....
CHEVRON CORP., $150.40, New York symbol CVX, remains s a buy for the Resources portion of your portfolio.

Through your shares, you tap the operations of the second-largest integrated oil producer in the U.S. by revenue. That’s after ExxonMobil (New York symbol XOM).

Due to regulatory changes in California, the company plans to scale back its spending on some of its oil-producing properties in the state....

CHEVRON CORP. $150 (www.chevron.com) is a buy. The company recently agreed to buy rival oil producer Hess Corp. (New York symbol HES) in an all-stock merger. The deal is worth about $60 billion, including Hess’s debt, which is equal to 21% of Chevron’s market cap (the total value of all outstanding shares) of $283.6 billion....
Activist investor Elliott Investment Management is now targeting two firms it feels could boost shareholder value with asset sales or spinoffs. We agree with its proposals, and see both stocks as attractive buys.


CROWN CASTLE INTERNATIONAL CORP....
SYMBOTIC INC., $50.33, symbol SYM on Nasdaq, manufactures AI-powered autonomous robots, which major companies use in their warehouse fulfillment and distribution processes to save time and money. Customers using the Symbotic platform include Walmart, Target, and C&S Grocery Wholesalers.

Symbotic went public in June 2022 through a merger with SVF Investment Corp....
Here’s a look at three popular ETFs in three different areas—medical-device makers, natural resource producers and S&P 500 companies (but with a twist). We like the first two, but we think the third is likely to underperform its “plain vanilla” counterpart.


Meanwhile, the Supplement on page 10 provides more information on the three investment areas.


ISHARES US MEDICAL DEVICES ETF $50.47 (New York symbol IHI; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $5.0 billion) invests in U.S....
Corteva shares offer investors exposure to an agricultural leader in key growth areas. At the same time, a prominent activist investor for the company is spurring Corteva to make improvements.

Note that the stock, itself, is a spinoff. As you’ve heard us say before, spinoffs are about as close as you can get to a sure thing in investing....
CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO., $151.77, Toronto symbol CNR, remains a buy.

CN’s 32,200-kilometre network stretches across the country. It also travels down through the U.S. Midwest, connecting Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

With the March 2023 payment, CN raised your quarterly dividend by 7.8%....
ALPHABET INC., Nasdaq symbols GOOG $123.40 [class C: non-voting] and GOOGL $122.17 [class A: one vote per share], is your #1 Aggressive buy for 2023.

The company is the parent of Google, the world’s leading Internet search engine—it handles over 80% of global search requests....