investment

RioCan shocked investors in late 2020 when it cut its distribution after promising to maintain the rate. COVID-19 lockdowns, particularly in Ontario, hurt the REIT’s cash flow and led to its decision to cut the payment.

While disappointing, the move was prudent as the new annual distribution rate of $0.96 a unit (which still gives you a solid 4.3% yield) is a much more sustainable payout.

Meantime, RioCan’s strategy to focus on six major cities—Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver—positions it for long-term growth as the pandemic eases and immigration levels rebound....

Learn how to evaluate a stock before buying so you make picks that you can feel confident in as part of a sound long-term portfolio. Here’s what you need to know

Choice Properties and RioCan continue to build new residential and industrial properties to cut their exposure to the retail industry. Their new properties—along with store reopenings as the pandemic eases—should help both REITs raise their distributions in the next few years.


CHOICE PROPERTIES REIT $14 is a top pick for 2021....

CANON INC. ADRs $23 (www.canon.com) is a hold. The company’s sales in the first quarter of 2021 rose 5.8%, to $7.59 billion from $7.18 billion a year earlier. That’s partly due to better sales of printers to consumers as employees work from home due to COVID-19....

MCCORMICK & CO. INC. $86 remains a hold. The company (New York symbol MKC; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 267.0 million; Market cap: $23.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.9; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mccormick.com) continues to benefit from strong consumer sales of its spices and seasonings as more people cook at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic....

Lately I’ve seen a number of favourable media comments about “the value trade”—brokerese for “now that techs are taking a breather, it’s time to sell some of your tech stocks and buy some value stocks.”

The term “value stocks” refers to stocks that have below-average P/E ratios and other statistical measures and indicators that appeal to investors who are in search of investment bargains....

Fair Isaac and Broadridge Financial are both positioned to keep doing well during the pandemic: since March of last year, Fair Isaac is up 185.3%; and Broadridge has jumped 96.8% to a new high. We think both have room to move even higher.


FAIR ISAAC CORP., $493.60 (New York symbol FICO; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (www.fairisaac.com; Shares outstanding: 29.2 million; Market cap: $14.4 billion; No dividends paid) is best known for its FICO Scores software....

We continue to see attractive investment opportunities for our subscribers in top drug stocks—and that includes AbbVie Inc. Meanwhile, the company is also a major player in medical aesthetics—a profitable niche between the beauty industry and plastic surgery.


ABBVIE INC., $115.53, (New York symbol ABBV; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average) (Shares o/s: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $204.6 billion; Yield: 4.5%) paid $64.1 billion in May 2020 for Allergan, a global leader in medical aesthetics, women’s health, and eye care....

Sustainable investing has expanded quickly over the past decade. Still, investors are rightly concerned about whether a focus on environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) aspects may detract from their overall portfolio performance.


What is sustainable investing?


Many socially conscious investors now complement their traditional fundamental company analyses with an additional review of a firm’s environmental, social, and governance practices....

Stock markets, especially in the developed world, continued their rise in May. Commodity-producing nations, including Canada, lead the way. Notably, ETFs holding gold and oil producers were some of the big winners for the month.


On the other hand, decliners in the month included a number of high-flying tech, Internet, and biotech ETFs....