investment

SHOPIFY INC., $61.99, remains a buy. The company (symbol SHOP on Toronto) offers merchants of all sizes Internet-based software to design, set up and manage e-commerce stores across multiple sales channels. It also handles digital payments and shipping.

The stock moved up this week after major U.S....

GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC., $37.28, Toronto symbol GWO, remains a hold.

The company is Canada’s second-largest life insurer, after Manulife Financial. Power Corp. (Toronto symbol POW) owns 68.2% of the firm.

With the March 2023 payment, Great-West raised your quarterly dividend by 6.1%....

You Can See Our Exchange-Traded Funds Portfolio For May 2023 here.

ETFs in brief


Exchange-traded funds are set up to mirror the performance of a stock-market index or sub-index....

The best ETFs offer low fees and diverse exposure to several companies operating in an economy or a specific industry or region. They don’t, however, eliminate market volatility, although their diversity usually cuts your risk of permanent loss. ETFs can also cut down research time required to analyze individual stocks when building a portfolio.


Meanwhile, here’s a 12-point checklist to help you find the gems among the rising number of ETFs out there for investors:


1) A stable and reputable parent company


Although ETFs are well regulated in both Canada and the U.S., investors still need to check which entities are responsible for the promotion and management of the ETF and its assets....

This month we feature an ETF that aims to deliver high income by using leverage and derivative instruments. The second comes from iShares and invests globally in companies that it sees as being at the forefront of electric and autonomous vehicle development.


MULVIHILL U.S....

After years of poorly managed government finances, instability in the banking system, punitive European Union bailout packages, and tough austerity measures, the Greek economy finally started to recover in 2018. But that progress was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by devastating wildfires, decades-high inflation, and rising interest rates.


The economy is now finally back to its pre-pandemic levels, although growth forecasts are scaled back amid higher interest rates and slowing consumer demand....

A key component of our TSI investment philosophy is to diversify investment portfolio holdings across most if not all of the five main economic sectors. That way, investors can avoid overloading their portfolios with stocks that are about to slump simply because of industry conditions or changes in investor fashion—while at the same time maintaining exposure to stocks or sectors ready to start a period of outperformance.


Recent events provide a good example of how this diversification can favour investors....

One of the key attractions of exchange-traded funds is the lower fees compared to mutual funds. In addition, as more competitors entered the market, fees on many ETFs continue to drop.


One of the older U.S.-based funds with a large asset base and higher fees is the iSHARES MSCI CANADA ETF $35.03 (New York symbol EWC)....

Great-West Lifeco has completed several acquisitions in the past two years as part of a plan to diversify beyond insurance. The plan should spur its long-term growth, but constantly integrating new businesses adds risk.


GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC....

TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $81 is a buy. The lender (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $145.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield: 4.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.td.com) merged its 43%-owned U.S....