great-west lifeco

GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $82 is up over 60% in the past year, thanks to strong demand for its workplace pension programs, especially in the U.S. Rising stock market values are also lifting earnings at its wealth management businesses.

In the three months ended March 31, 2026, Great-West’s revenue fell 25.6%, to $ 8.18 billion from $10.99 billion a year earlier. That’s mainly because the current quarter included a loss on its investment portfolio of $2.07 billion compared to a gain of $1.26 billion a year ago.

CANADIAN PACIFIC KANSAS CITY, $123.84, is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol CP; Shares outstanding: 887.7 million; Market cap: $109.9 billion; Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 0.8%) continues to replace its older diesel-powered locomotives with new fuel-efficient Tier 4 models. In 2025, it spend $400 million for 100 of these new locomotives. That has helped it cope with the sharp jump in fuel prices due to the Iran war.

The company is also exploring other ways to cut its fuel costs. Those include retrofitting diesel locomotives with hydrogen fuel cells and batteries. It has now placed seven of these locomotives into service.

TELUS CORP. $18 (www.telus.com) is a buy. The telecom provider has formed an alliance with Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc., which is developing quantum computing hardware that uses electrons, rather than transistors, to carry out a vast number of calculations simultaneously. That makes them much faster than regular computers. The technology should spur demand for Telus’s datacentre services. Telus is a buy.

BCE INC. $33 (www.bce.ca) is a buy. The telecom’s Ziply Fiber business recently completed a new high-speed subterranean link to the U.S. Midwest region. That will help it profit from growing demand for faster and more reliable data transfer services from operators of AI datacentres and financial institutions.

GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $71 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth Payer Portfolio, Finance sector; shares outstanding: 906.3 million; Market cap: $64.3 billion; Dividend yield: 3.8%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest life insurer.

Great West raised your quarterly dividend by 9.8% with the March 2026 payment, to $0.67 a share from $0.61. The new annual rate of $2.68 yields a high 3.8%.

Both of these companies are members of the Power Corp. family and have streamlined their businesses in the past few years. Those efforts have helped drive profits and dividends. Each is a solid addition to the Finance portion of your portfolio.


GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $63 is a buy. The insurance company (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; shares outstanding: 906.3 million; Market cap: $57.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 4.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest life insurer, after Manulife Financial. It also offers pension and wealth management services. Power Corp. (Toronto symbol POW) owns 68.8% of the firm.

TELUS, $18.97, is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 1.6 billion; Market cap: $29.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 8.8%; www.telus.com) has 14.43 million wireless subscribers across Canada. It also sells landline phone, Internet, TV, and security services in B.C., Alberta, and eastern Quebec. Telus’s revenue in the quarter ended December 31, 2025, fell 2.2%, to $5.26 billion from $5.38 billion a year earlier. The decline reflects the competitive environment. If you exclude unusual items, earnings fell 18.2%, to $311 million from $380 million. Due to more shares outstanding, per-share earnings declined 20.0%, to $0.20 from $0.25. The lower earnings reflect higher costs.

Dividends can contribute up to a third of your long-term investment returns. Here are 5 Canadian dividend stocks we recommend holding.

Many investors overlook mid-cap stocks, thinking that a combination of large- and small-cap stocks will provide their portfolios with all the diversification they really need. However, as a group, U.S. mid-cap stocks have often performed better than large caps and are generally less risky than small caps....

The blue chips represent the highest value. The best blue chip companies offer both capital gains growth potential and regular dividend income.

GREAT-WEST LIFECO $28.10 (Toronto symbol GWO; shares o/s: 988.4 million; Market cap: $27.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.5%; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest insurance company, after Manulife Financial....