energy stocks

BMO Dividend and RBC Canadian Dividend hold mostly high-quality stocks. Even high-quality stocks sometimes run into trouble and go through lengthy struggles, just like lesser investments. Eventually, though, most solve their problems and go on to thrive anew. Both funds hold a high proportion of their assets in financial services stocks. However, if you must focus on something, finance is a relatively stable sector, at least in Canada. If you do invest in these funds, be sure to adjust the rest of your portfolio so these funds won’t overly concentrate your holdings in the financial sector....

RBC CANADIAN DIVIDEND FUND $44.84 (RBC Funds, P.O. Box 7500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario. M5W 1P9. 1-800-463-3863; Web site: www.royalbank.com. No load — deal directly with the bank) has 38.1% of its portfolio in Financial services stocks. It has a further 14.4% in Energy stocks and 8.5% in Consumer discretionary. The $9.6 billion RBC Canadian Dividend Fund’s top stock holdings are Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Manulife Financial, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, TransCanada Corporation, Bank of Montreal, BCE Inc. and Power Corporation. Over the last five years, RBC Canadian Dividend Fund has posted a 14.9% annual rate of return. That’s less than the S&P/TSX’s gain of 18.3% over the same period....

BMO Dividend and RBC Canadian Dividend hold mostly high-quality stocks. These stocks sometimes run into trouble and go through lengthy struggles, just like lesser investments. Eventually, though, most solve their problems and go on to thrive anew. Both funds hold a high proportion of their assets in financial services stocks. However, if you must focus on something, finance is a relatively stable sector. If you do invest in these funds, be sure to adjust the rest of your portfolio so these funds won’t overly concentrate your holdings in the financial sector....

RBC CANADIAN DIVIDEND FUND $44.84 (RBC Mutual Funds, P.O. Box 7500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario. M5W 1P9. 1-800-463-3863; Web site: www.royalbank.com. No load — deal directly with the bank) has 38.1% of its portfolio in financial-services stocks. It has a further 14.4% in energy stocks and 8.5% in consumer discretionary. The $9.6-billion RBC Canadian Dividend Fund’s top stock holdings are Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Manulife Financial, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, TransCanada Corporation, Bank of Montreal, BCE Inc. and Power Corporation. Over the last five years, RBC Canadian Dividend Fund has posted a 14.9% annual rate of return. That’s less than the S&P/TSX’s gain of 18.3% over the same period....

Here are five large funds run by each of Canada’s big-five banks. Each holds the kind of conservative, well-balanced portfolios of high quality stocks we recommend. All five have a high weighting in Financial services and Energy stocks. However, they stick with high-quality issues with sound fundamentals, so these concentrations don’t add a lot of risk. Each has its quirks, but overall they are well positioned for low-risk returns. TD CANADIAN EQUITY FUND $32.56 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (TD Asset Management, P.O. Box 7500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario. M5W 1P9. 1-800-386-3757; Web site: www.tdcanadatrust.ca. No load — deal directly with the bank) uses a “bottom-up” approach (using fundamentals such as earnings, cash flow and low debt) to identify undervalued companies with strong growth potential. TD Canadian Equity Fund’s 10 largest holdings are Royal Bank, Suncor Energy, TD Bank, Rogers Communications, Canadian Natural Resources, Canadian Oil Sands Trust, Research in Motion, Schlumberger, Manulife Financial and Freeport McMoran....

RBC CANADIAN DIVIDEND FUND $49.82 (RBC Funds, P.O. Box 7500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario. M5W 1P9. 1-800-463-3863; Web site: www.royalbank.com. No load — deal directly with the bank) has 43.8% of its portfolio in Financial services stocks. It has a further 16.9% in Energy stocks and 8.1% in Materials. The $8.9 billion RBC Canadian Dividend Fund’s top stock holdings are Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Manulife Financial, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, TransCanada Corporation, Bank of Montreal, BCE Inc. and Suncor Energy. Over the last five years, RBC Canadian Dividend Fund has posted a 15.8% annual rate of return. That’s less than the S&P/TSX’s gain of 18.4% over the same period....

BMO Dividend and RBC Canadian Dividend hold mostly high-quality stocks. These stocks sometimes run into trouble and go through lengthy struggles, just like lesser investments. Eventually, though, most solve their problems and go on to thrive anew. Both funds hold a high proportion of their assets in financial services stocks. However, if you must focus on something, finance is a relatively stable sector. If you do invest in these funds, be sure to adjust the rest of your portfolio so these funds won’t overly concentrate your holdings in the financial sector....

It pays to include some oil and natural gas stocks in your portfolio, as an inflation hedge and for exposure to the Resources sector. Even so, we still advise against over-indulging in oil and gas stocks. Global demand for oil and gas will continue to rise. But no one can consistently predict oil and gas price prices. Both will continue to go through wild swings in price. So you’ll profit most with highquality stocks that will prosper even during the inevitable price setbacks. These three energy stocks are down from their peaks over the last couple of months, but are still up from the start of this year. Although all are attractive in relation to earnings and cash flow, only two are buys right now....

CIBC CANADIAN EQUITY FUND $27.77 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (CIBC Securities, 5140 Yonge Street, Suite 900, Toronto, Ontario M2N 6X7. 1-800-631-7008; Website: www.cibc.com. No load — deal directly with the company.) uses a “bottom-up” approach (using fundamentals such as earnings, cash flow and low debt) to identify companies that trade at reasonable valuations and yet have growth potential. The $662.8 million fund’s top holdings are Petro- Canada, EnCana, Manulife Financial, Teck Cominco, Bank of Nova Scotia, TD Bank, Canadian National Railway, Brookfield Asset Management, BCE Inc. and Alcan. CIBC Canadian Equity holds 38% of its portfolio in Financial services stocks and 25% in Energy stocks....

RBC CANADIAN EQUITY FUND $29.54 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (RBC Funds, P.O. Box 7500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario. M5W 1P9. 1-800-463-3863; Web site: www.royalbank.com. No load — deal directly with the bank) invests mostly in larger-capitalization stocks, but also looks for opportunities in small and mid-cap stocks. The fund’s 10 largest holdings are TD Bank, Manulife Financial, Bank of Nova Scotia, Royal Bank, EnCana, Canadian Natural Resources, Suncor Energy, Alcan, CIBC and Bank of Montreal. The $5 billion fund holds 32% of its holdings in Financial stocks. It also holds 25% in Energy stocks. Over the last ten years, RBC Canadian Equity posted a 10.4% annual rate of return. That’s about equal to the S&P/TSX’s gain of 10.1%. The fund made 22.7% over the last year, equal to the gain of 22.7% for the S&P/TSX. The fund’s MER is 1.99%....