high quality stocks

Aston Hill VIP Income Fund, $8.70, symbol VIP.UN on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 36.0 million; Market cap: $313.2 million; www.astonhill.ca), is a closed-end fund that holds a portfolio of mostly Canadian stocks, as well as bonds and some U.S. stocks. The fund used to be called the Brompton VIP Income Fund. The Aston Hill VIP Income Fund first sold units to the public at $10 and began trading on Toronto in February 2002. Manulife Asset Management, a division of Manulife Financial, is the fund’s investment manager. The fund’s management fees are 0.85% per year. The units yields 9.7%....

Mart Resources, $1.35, symbol MMT on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 355.9 million; Market cap: $480.5 million; www.martresources.com), is focused on developing, producing and drilling for oil at its properties in Africa. The company is currently producing oil at its 50%-held Umusadege field in Nigeria. Mart’s shares moved up over the last year on rising production and cash flow. Most recently, the shares jumped when the company paid a special dividend of $0.10 a share on August 8, 2012. It also announced that it will begin paying quarterly dividends of $0.05 a share starting this month. Mart’s exposure to Nigeria entails considerable political risk. The stock is still a buy, but only for highly aggressive investors....

Our view is that virtually all Canadian investors could add some foreign exchange traded funds (ETFs), such as those we recommend in Canadian Wealth Advisor, in reasonable quantities: perhaps 10% of your holdings if you are a conservative investor (including 5% or so in higher-risk funds, such as emerging market ETFs). That includes the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 ETF, $34.46, symbol FXI on New York (Shares outstanding: 135.6 million; Market cap: $4.7 billion), and the Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF, $41.35, symbol VWO on New York (Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $53.8 billion). Canadian Wealth Advisor views both of these funds as buys. The Vanguard MSCI EAFE ETF, $33.00, symbol VEA on New York (Shares outstanding: 266.0 million; Market cap: $8.8 billion), invests in the developed markets of the 16 European (64% of assets) and five Pacific Rim countries (36%) included in the MSCI EAFE Index....

We think conservative investors could hold up to, say, 10% of their portfolios in foreign stocks. One way to do that is to buy carefully chosen exchange traded funds (ETFs) that have an overseas focus. The best ETFs offer very low management fees and well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of highquality stocks. Here are six foreign ETFs we like: ...

From time to time, I read articles saying that growing numbers of financial advisors and stockbrokers are abandoning the traditional buy-and-hold strategy. For instance, one article stated that some brokers were taking new approaches more in tune with the new “macro-economic climate.” That sounds suspiciously like just another way of trying to guess what will happen next....

When it comes to adding value to your investing efforts, one of the least productive things you can do is to try to “time” the market. By that, I mean attempting to sell good stocks at what looks to you like a price peak, in hopes of buying them back at lower prices. One of the hardest things about successful investing is that it’s easy to form a strong opinion on the market’s next price trend, and then find the market does something totally different from what you expected. That’s why you want to confine your buying mostly, if not entirely, to high-quality stocks. They tend to hold on to their value over long periods. Sometimes your strong opinions will turn out right. Other times, you’ll sell at what looks like a high price, only to find that some new information comes along that spurs the stock to much higher prices. Sometimes, you’ll sell a stock that looks “high,” then use the money to buy something else that looks cheap. But your cheap stocks get even cheaper while the rest of the market continues to rise....

ISHARES MSCI BRAZIL INDEX FUND $69.18 (New York Exchange symbol EWZ; buy or sell through brokers), is an exchange traded fund that is designed to track the Brazilian stock market.

The fund’s top holdings are Petrobras preferred shares (energy), 10.2%; Cia Vale do Rio Doce (mining) preferred, 8.7%; Itau Unibanco Multiplo SA (banking), 8.1%; Petrobras common, 7.7%; and Banco Brandesco (banking) preferred, 5.7%.

The fund’s concentration in certain stocks, such as Petrobras and Cia Vale do Rio Doce, adds risk, as does its focus on the resource sector. However, both are high-quality stocks. Brazil’s economy is forecast to grow at a rate of 4.5% in 2012.

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Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offer very low management fees. As well, the best ETFs offer well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of high-quality stocks. We think conservative investors could hold up to, say, 10% of their portfolios in foreign stocks. You need to be highly selective with your ETF selections, but they’re a great way to hold those stocks. Here are six foreign ETFs we like:...

Here’s the text of the quarterly letter I sent to our Portfolio Management clients in mid-November: “Our investment approach relies on three key rules: 1. Invest mainly in well-established companies. These companies have an above-average chance of surviving an economic or market downturn, and thriving again when conditions improve....

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offer very low management fees. As well, the best ETFs offer well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of high-quality stocks. However, the quality of ETFs varies widely. All too many exist to tap into popular, but risky, themes and fads. So you need to be highly selective with your ETF holdings. Here are six foreign ETFs we like:...