high quality 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....

Here are three Fidelity funds that hold much of their portfolios in one specific sector. We generally advise against investing in funds that concentrate in one economic sector. For example, a fund concentrating in financial services is particularly vulnerable to any setbacks in that sector, or to interest-rate rises. However, all of these Fidelity funds stick with high-quality stocks. 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 any one sector. FIDELITY FOCUS CONSUMER INDUSTRIES FUND $17.03 (CWA Rating: Aggressive) (Fidelity Investments Canada, 483 Bay St., Suite 200, Toronto, Ont. M5G 2N7. 1-800-263-4077; Web site: www.fidelity.ca. Load fund — available from brokers) invests mainly in U.S. consumer goods and services companies. Consumer spending is a key part of the U.S. economy, accounting for approximately two-thirds of activity....

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....

My guess is that we are now closer to the end of a market downturn than the start of one. However, you need to distinguish between the two main kinds of market downturn. One is the stereotypical bear market — the kind of long-term decline that drags on for a year or more and is generally accompanied by a painful recession and a deep fall in stock prices. Our last bear market took place after the 1990s Internet boom went bust, from mid-2000 through the last quarter of 2002. In that period, the Toronto index fell from 11,300 to 5,800....

FIDELITY TRUE NORTH FUND $31.61 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (Fidelity Investments Canada, 483 Bay St., Suite 200, Toronto, Ont. M5G 2N7. 1-800-263-4077; Web site: www.fidelity.ca. Load fund — available from brokers) uses a “bottom-up” approach (using fundamentals such as earnings, cash flow and low debt) to identify undervalued companies. Fidelity True North Fund’s top holdings include high-quality stocks such as Manulife Financial, TD Bank, Suncor Energy, Rogers Communications, En- Cana Corporation, Bank of Montreal, Research in Motion, Canadian Natural Resources, Potash Corporation and Royal Bank. The fund now invests 8.6% of its assets outside of Canada. The fund’s breakdown by economic segment is: 28.8% in Financials, 25.5% in Energy, 13.7% in Materials, 8.8% in Information technologies, 7.4% in Telecommunication services, 5.1% in Industrials, 4.8% in Consumer discretionary and 1.2% in Consumer staples....

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....

Here are three Fidelity funds that hold much of their portfolios in one specific sector. We generally advise against investing in funds that concentrate in one economic sector. For example, a fund concentrating in financial services is particularly vulnerable to any setbacks in that sector, or to interest-rate rises. However, all of these Fidelity funds stick with high-quality stocks. 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 any one sector. FIDELITY FOCUS CONSUMER INDUSTRIES FUND $17.49 (CWA Rating: Aggressive) (Fidelity Investments Canada, 483 Bay St., Suite 200, Toronto, Ont. M5G 2N7. 1-800-263-4077; Web site: www.fidelity.ca. Load fund — available from brokers) invests mainly in U.S. consumer goods and services companies. Consumer spending is a key part of the U.S. economy, accounting for approximately two-thirds of activity....

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....

In our July 27 Hotline, I said the market downturn could go on till October. I felt it could ultimately knock another 5% to as much as 15% off the market indexes, from July 27 levels. However, I felt the index losses would be temporary and markets would go to new highs in 2008. I also felt speculative areas would suffer most of the lasting damage. Risk is always higher in speculative stocks, and prices of many speculatives have risen out of proportion to value. That’s still how I see things. The market has had some really jolting down days in the past month, but the overall situation is unchanged....

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 $32.70 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (TD Asset Management, P.O. Box 7500, Station A, Toronto, Ontario. M5W 1P9. 1-800-463-3863; 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, Alcan, Canadian Oil Sands Trust, CN Railway, Ivanhoe Mines, Goldcorp and EnCana....