diversification

We haven’t found any solar power stocks we want to recommend as buys. However, here’s a look at a leading solar power ETF: Guggenheim Solar ETF, $41.33, symbol TAN on New York (Units outstanding: 11.1 million; Market cap: $458.8 million; www.guggenheiminvestments.com), aims to match the performance of the Melvin and Company (MAC) Global Solar Energy Index, which comprises shares of 30 companies listed on global developed-market exchanges. The ETFs top holdings are SunEdison Inc., SolarCity Corp., First Solar, GCL-Poly Energy Holdings, Hanenergy Solar Group, SunPower Corp., GT Advanced Technologies, Canadian Solar, Meyer Burger Technology AG, Trina Solar and Shunfeng Photovoltaic....

CANADIAN REIT $44.97 (Toronto symbol REF.UN; Units outstanding: 69.2 million; Market cap: $3.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 3.9%; www.creit.ca) owns 197 properties, including retail, industrial and office buildings, across Canada and in Chicago. These holdings contain almost 24.0 million square feet of leasable area. The trust’s occupancy rate is 95.1%.

In the three months ended March 31, 2014, Canadian REIT’s revenue rose 6.9%, to $102.8 million from $96.1 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit gained 8.2%, to $0.66 from $0.61.

Canadian REIT added $191.1 million worth of new buildings in 2013. That followed property purchases totalling $401.9 million in 2012, including a 50% stake in Calgary Place, a 575,000-square-foot office and retail complex, for $156.0 million. So far this year, it has not made any acquisitions.

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Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific stock market advice that will help you develop a successful approach to investing. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “If you rely on one or two simple rules to cut your risk when you pick stocks, you may simply cut your profits.” Investors are always looking for simple ways to avoid risk in their investments. They want a rule that is easy to follow, foolproof, and compact enough to fit on a T-shirt....

Here’s the text of the quarterly letter I recently sent to our Portfolio Management clients: “We’ve been managing investment portfolios for 15 years, and doing a good job of it, judging by our investment performance, the clients we have attracted, and the funds they have entrusted to our care. Many of our clients credit our performance to our stock-picking ability. Stock-picking enters into it, of course. But I’d say our results also owe a great deal to our use of what I call the “Successful Investor method”. I call it that because it’s based on what I’ve learned over the years from people who have actually succeeded as investors. (For the same reason, I chose “Successful Investor” as the name for our organization and our flagship newsletter.)...

ALLIED PROPERTIES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $34.31 (Toronto symbol AP.UN; Units outstanding: 69.5 million; Market cap: $2.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.1%; www.alliedpropertiesreit.com) owns 138 office buildings, mostly in major Canadian cities. These mainly Class I properties contain over 9.9 million square feet of leasable area. Class I refers to 19th- and early-20th-century light industrial buildings that have been converted to retail space. They usually feature exposed beams, interior brick and hardwood floors. The trust bought $400 million worth of properties in 2012 and $182.4 million more in 2013. So far in 2014, it has added five more for $101.7 million....

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a beginning or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you advice on specific investment topics. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investing strategy, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “Selling half of hot stocks that surge helps you guard your profits. But apply this rule only to more aggressive stocks, and not to the well-established stocks that may surprise you by going a lot higher in the long run.” As you probably know, our Successful Investor business model has two parts. We publish investment advice through The Successful Investor Inc., and we manage investor portfolios through Successful Investor Wealth Management Inc. (These two companies are affiliated by common ownership; I own both but set them up as separate companies for regulatory purposes.)...

Dear Inner Circle member, A friend, Mr. S., has a large profit on his home, and he wonders if he should sell. A lot of Toronto homeowners are asking themselves that question, but my friend’s case is different. He bought his house 15 years ago for $325,000. Similar houses six blocks away are now worth perhaps $750,000, but his is worth nearly twice as much. The value of his home went up faster than average because his area has been re-zoned for high-rise condo construction. Re-zoning can have a huge impact on real estate prices. The land under the house now provides a site for one house. But if a developer assembles a parcel of 10 adjacent houses, he might be able to win approval to build 50 or 100 or more condo apartments on the site, depending on the condo plan and the number of stories the authorities allow....

On occasion, we come across an investment that provides a clear example of one or more investment principles. Global X Social Media ETF, which we analyze in this week’s first question, touches on several. ETFs. Exchange traded funds are a relatively recent and benign investment innovation. Unlike many investment innovations, ETFs can cut investor risk and cost. They are a little like conventional open-ended mutual funds, but fees and trading costs are much lower, since they only aim to duplicate the performance of a market index. However, not every index is a good model for investing. You might say that ETFs make it easier and cheaper to pursue a variety of investment ideas, regardless of whether the ideas are good or bad. Theme investing. This particular ETF gives you an easy and low-cost way of investing in stocks associated with the “Social media” investing theme. These stocks are now in the broker/media limelight (see next investment principle). That’s not a particularly good time to buy. By the time the media has identified an investment theme like social media, and the investment industry has begun offering ETFs and other short cuts to investing in it, the best opportunities may have already come and gone....

ISHARES MSCI EMERGING MARKETS INDEX FUND $41.33 (New York symbol EEM; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.

Its geographic breakdown includes China, 17.6%; South Korea, 16.0%; Taiwan, 11.9%; Brazil, 11.3%; South Africa, 7.8%; India, 6.7%; Russia, 4.7%; Mexico, 4.7%; Malaysia, 3.9%; and Indonesia, 2.7%.

The fund’s top holdings are Samsung Electronics (South Korea), 3.9%; Taiwan Semiconductor (computer chips), 2.5%; Tencent Holdings (China: Internet), 1.8%; China Mobile, 1.4%; China Construction Bank, 1.3%; Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, 1.2%; Itau Unibanco Holding (Brazil: banking), 1.1%; and Gazprom (Russia: gas utility), 1.1%.

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Too much investor attention tends to be focused on economic forecasts. The fact is, forecasts provide little, if any, advantage when it comes to helpful stock market advice. Most experienced, successful investors feel skeptical, if not downright cynical, about economic forecasts, for three reasons....