What is Pat’s commentary for the week of June 24, 2014

There’s a revolution brewing in Canada’s brokerage industry.

Canada’s provincial securities commissions are looking at three longstanding practices that help the brokerage industry and securities salespeople, but represent a steady drain on the finances of many investors.

Trailer fees and other “embedded” fees. Mutual fund buyers now… Read More

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $55 – Toronto symbol BNS

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $55 (Toronto symbol BNS; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $60.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.scotiabank.com) is Canada’s third-largest bank, with assets of $637.1 billion.

During the financial crisis, the… Read More

Global focus sets Scotia apart

Low interest rates continue to fuel loan demand at Canada’s big five banks. However, rising competition for new borrowers has forced all five to launch aggressive new promotions—including special mortgage rates as low as 2.99%—that are weighing on their profits.

Even so, we continue to see… Read More

Two aggressive Finance-sector buys…

We advise most investors to confine their Finance-sector investments to Canada’s five big banks and other recommendations in our Conservative Growth Portfolio. However, if you can accept more risk, we also like Home Capital and Dundee.

HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. $48 (Toronto symbol HCG; Aggressive Growth… Read More