investment

ALLIED PROPERTIES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $46 (Toronto symbol AP.UN; Cyclical-Growth Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Units outstanding: 103.9 million; Market cap: $4.8 billion; Dividend yield: 3.5%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.alliedreit.com) owns 147 office buildings, mainly in major Canadian cities....

We’ve selected CIBC, Cisco Systems and Choice Properties REIT as our top dividend picks for 2019. All three stocks offer high yields, and will likely increase their dividends this year. What’s more, each trades at an attractive multiple to its projected earnings or cash flow.


CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE $110 (Toronto symbol CM; Income-Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 442.9 million; Market cap: $48.7 billion; Dividend yield: 4.9%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.cibc.com) is the smallest of Canada’s big five banks, with assets of $597.1 billion.


It last raised its quarterly dividend with the October 2018 payment....

How do stock market prices change? The two most common reasons are surprisingly random

“Averaging down” and “averaging in” sound similar, and their meaning is similar as well. Both are investment tactics that let you rely, in part or whole, on price changes rather than facts to make investment decisions. A wide gap separates the two, however, and mixing them up can cost you money....

STUART OLSON INC. $5.75 (Toronto symbol SOX; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (780-454-3667; www.stuartolson.com; Shares outstanding: 27.8 million; Market cap: $152.8 million; Dividend yield: 8.4%) is now in the sights of activist investors Crescendo Partners L.P....

We have lots of attractive long-term buys among the stocks we cover, and overall we’re positive about the long-term outlook for stocks, in general. We feel just as strongly about the need to diversify.


That’s why we’ve chosen three top picks for 2019 from our Stock Pickers Digest recommendations....

One of the reasons we like spinoffs so much is that academic studies often show that both the parent and the new company created by the spinoff generally do better than comparable firms for at least several years after the split takes place.


For example, a recent study by Mohnish Pabrai (the managing partner of the Pabrai Investment Funds—a family of hedge funds) examined the performance of a portfolio of five spinoff stocks against the S&P 500 Index.


Each spinoff company in the portfolio must be between one and seven years old, and meet other criteria....

If you are wondering how to invest in dividend-paying stocks for maximum gains, then you need to follow our Successful Investor approach and our tips for selecting the best of these investments

A: The Harvest Brand Leaders Plus Income ETF, $8.62, symbol HBF on Toronto (Units outstanding: 12.3 million; Market cap: $106.0 million; www.harvestportfolios.com), invests in an equally weighted portfolio of 20 stocks—drawn from something it calls the “Brand Leaders Investable Universe.” These stocks have a minimum market capitalization of $10 billion U.S....

The best Canadian dividend stocks to buy and hold will share a number of characteristics. Here’s what they are: