investment

A distribution yielding a high 7.9% appears sustainable for Artis REIT. The company’s concentration of properties in Western Canada does add risk. But its decision to cut back on acquisitions and upgrade its properties is a plus.

BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS $115.09 New York symbol BR; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (201-714-3000; www.broadridge.com; Shares outstanding: 116.7 million; Market cap: $13.6 billion; Dividend yield: 1.3%) serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications, securities processing and transaction clearing.


Broadridge is trading near new all-time highs this week after reporting stronger earnings in the latest quarter.


For the three months ended March 31, 2018, revenue rose 6.2%, to $1.07 billion from $1.01 billion a year earlier.


Excluding one-time items, the company earned $121.4 million, or $1.00 a share....

Mining stocks are investments in companies that produce or explore for minerals. Some of these minerals include uranium, coal, molybdenum (which is used in steelmaking), copper, silver and gold. They are affected by fluctuating commodity prices in addition to their own business and operating risks.

Mining stocks can be strong performers when commodity prices move up....

Your investing education really begins after you start to recognize just how much you don’t know. When you reach that point, you’ll start to look at a much wider range of data and stock market indicators.

Investing in bonds: Bonds are unlikely to perform as well in the next few years as they have at points in the past. That’s mainly because interest rates will likely hold steady or rise further. (Bond prices and interest rates are inversely linked. When interest rates go up, bond prices go down, and vice versa.) That means bonds would only earn interest income; instead of capital gains, they could produce capital losses.

When I talk to serious, successful investors, few ask, “Do you think the central banks will raise rates two or three times by a quarter-point before the end of the year?” or “Do you think inflation will hit 3% in the next year?” They are more likely to ask things like, “What are the chances that interest rates and/or inflation will get back up to the peaks of the 1970s/1980s?”

That is a much more important question. A quarter-point change in interest rates or inflation is a fluctuation....

There are a variety of ways to invest in gold, including gold bullion. However, we think the best way to invest in gold is through mining stocks—especially if their mines offer rising production and cash flow

One of the leading luxury brands in the world, Tiffany & Co. continues to grow internationally. It has an escalating presence in the rich Asian market. And its new CEO is focused on attracting younger consumers with new designs and online shopping. The company also benefits from high and rising profit margins as well as a sound balance sheet.

GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $34 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; shares outstanding: 988.6 million; Market cap: $33.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 4.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest insurance company, after Manulife Financial....

ETFs come in all shapes and sizes and numerous factors can influence their investment risk. One measure—standard deviation—aims to capture the volatility of an ETF’s price fluctuations. That metric is used to indirectly identify the volatility of the stocks that the fund holds.


Standard deviation for the price movements of an ETF can be measured over various time periods—daily, weekly or longer intervals....