investment

Insider buying can be a sign of investing value, but a lack of insider integrity can be a sign to sell as soon as possible

RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST, $14.06, is a buy. The REIT (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Units o/s: 317.7 million; Market cap: $4.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Divd. yield: 10.2%; www.riocan.com) offers you a stake in 221 shopping centres and other properties across Canada....

ISHARES S&P/TSX REIT INDEX ETF, $14.53, is a hold. The ETF (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) lets you tap all 21 Canadian real estate investment trusts in the S&P/TSX REIT Index. Investors pay a MER of 0.61%, and the REIT fund gives you a high 6.3% yield.


The ETF’s top holdings are Canadian Apartment REIT (15.4%), RioCan REIT (8.8%), Granite REIT (8.7%), Allied REIT (8.6%), Choice Props....

TC Energy—formerly TransCanada—is a top stock for income-seeking investors mainly because its regulated pipelines and power plants generate plenty of steady cash flow for its highly sustainable dividends. In fact, the company has raised the dividend payment each year for the past two decades....

These two firms, which are controlled by Power Corp. (see box), have a long history of paying investors steady dividends. However, we feel IGM is in a better position to prosper as low interest rates help spur demand for its mutual funds. On the other hand, low rates hurt the returns Great-West gets on its investment portfolio....

Despite the impact of COVID-19, we still like the outlook for these two REITs. Their high-quality properties should continue to attract tenants without having to offer them deep rent discounts. That should let them maintain their current distributions for investors.


DREAM OFFICE REIT $18 is a buy. The REIT (Toronto symbol D.UN; Cyclical-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio; Manufacturing sector; Units outstanding: 55.2 million; Market cap: $993.6 million; Dividend yield: 5.6%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Average; www.dream.ca) launched a three-year strategic initiative in 2016....

ALPHABET INC. remains your #1 Aggressive buy for 2020. The holding company (Nasdaq symbols GOOG $1,415 [class C: non-voting] and GOOGL $1,409 [class A: one vote per share]; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 687.3 million; Market cap: $972.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.8; No dividend paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.abc.xyz) owns Google’s Internet search business as well as smaller businesses focused on home thermostats, self-driving cars and other technologies.


Alphabet invested in American Well Corp....

CHEVRON CORP. $72 remains a buy. The company (New York symbol CVX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares o/s: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $136.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 7.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.chevron.com) is the second-largest integrated oil producer in the U.S....

Blue chip dividends are a key part of successful investing

Tech stocks have been market leaders in the past six months, especially those with above-average per-share price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios. That includes tech picks in our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter like Microsoft (up 53%), Alphabet (up 42%), Apple (up 107%) and Nvidia (up 196%).

Intel Corp., another of our tech recommendations, hit a high near $70 in January of this year....