investment

ACI WORLDWIDE INC. $40 is a buy. The company (Nasdaq symbol ACIW; Manufacturing & Industry Sector; Shares outstanding: 116.8 million; Market cap: $4.7 billion; No dividend paid; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.aciworldwide.com) is the leading software provider for processing transactions by credit cards, debit cards, automated teller machines, point-of-sale terminals and interbank systems....

It generally pays to keep an eye on activist investors. Like us, they seek out companies that can boost share prices by selling or spinning off assets. Investment firm Starboard Value is now pressuring these three firms (including ACI, see box), but we see only two of them as buys.


ELANCO ANIMAL HEALTH INC....

A: PagerDuty Inc., $39.27, symbol PD on New York (Shares outstanding: 79.5 million; Market cap: $3.6 billion; www.pagerduty.com), operates a platform that collects real-time data from software systems and devices and then notifies its IT customers of incidents that might adversely affect their operations.

As it receives data, the company uses analytics and artificial intelligence to “learn on the go,” so the same adverse events don’t hit clients again....

When we last wrote about this topic in mid-2018, the conclusion was that the share of renewable energy was growing rapidly. That reflects government-driven efforts, especially in Europe, the U.S. and Canada, to expand renewable capacity.


Demand is also strong from power-using corporations, looking to increase their green footprints—in part to please shareholders....

Investors who owned marijuana or energy stocks in the first quarter of 2021 saw considerable gains for these investments. Other big winners in the first quarter were U.S. homebuilders, value stocks, financials, agricultural equities, and mid- and small-cap stocks.


Stocks had another good quarter....

Taking the time to pick the right investments for children and grandchildren is a worthwhile endeavour. Here’s a look at two aspects of an investment program for children.


First are the administrative aspects of setting up the investment program. If the child is under the age of 18, she or he cannot yet invest as an adult; however, there are savings and investment options available.


Second is the time horizon for investing for children....

This month we look at a new ETF from BMO that aims to capture “megatrends.” We also analyze an ETF that aims to pick winning stocks based on the social media attention these stocks receive.


The BMO MSCI INNOVATION INDEX ETF $29.36 (Toronto symbol ZINN), covers four different trends, namely genomics, fintech, next generation Internet, and industrial innovation....

The COVID-19 pandemic has delivered many unexpected outcomes. One such surprise was the large number of new retail, or individual, investors.


In the first quarter of 2020, discount online brokerages in Canada added 500,000 new accounts, growing at three times their normal pace....

RioCan cut its distributions as retail lockdowns in the key Ontario market hurt rental revenue. However, the REIT’s new developments will cut its exposure to retailers, which should push your units higher in the next few years.


RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $20 remains a buy. This REIT (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Units outstanding: 317.7 million; Market cap: $6.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.5; Distribution yield: 4.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.riocan.com) owns all or part of 223 shopping centres and other properties across Canada, with 38.3 million square feet of gross leasable space....

The Dogs of the Dow strategy focuses on dividends, which we think is a good idea. But beyond that, high dividend yields can be a warning sign, not a harbinger of rising stock prices