investment
An investment is an asset or property acquired to generate income or gain appreciation. Appreciation is the increase in the value of an asset over time. It requires the outlay of a resource today, like time, effort, and money, for a greater payoff in the future or for generating a profit.
An investment involves using capital in the present to increase an asset’s value over time.
Investments may include bonds, stocks, real estate, or alternative investments.
Investments can be diversified to reduce risk, though this may reduce the amount of earning potential.
In business contexts, investments are financial; however, consider how some people spend time to make higher incomes in the future (i.e. invest in a college education).
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INTEL CORP., $31.84, Nasdaq symbol INTC, has agreed to acquire Altera Corp. (Nasdaq symbol ALTR). Altera specializes in chips called field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) that users can program to perform specific tasks. This helps make server computers faster. The company focuses on chip design; it outsources manufacturing to other firms, including Intel....
SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC., $46.40, Toronto symbol SNC, gained 3% this week on speculation that larger engineering firms in Spain and Australia are interested in buying the company. The stock fell to $36.24 in March 2015 after the RCMP laid charges against SNC and two of its subsidiaries for using bribes to win construction contracts in Libya between 2001 and 2011. These are the same allegations that prompted the company to replace its senior executives in 2012 and bring in a new program to enforce ethical practices. SNC plans to fight these charges....
We think conservative investors could hold up to 10% of their portfolios in foreign stocks. One way to do that is to buy carefully chosen exchange traded funds (ETFs) that have an overseas focus. The best ETFs offer very low management fees and well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of highquality stocks. Here’s a look at six international ETFs:...
Starbucks is opening 1,650 new shops in 2015 and has strong growth overseas—our take on whether that makes it a good stock investment
It’s healthy to be skeptical about certain investments, like stock options, that often turn out to benefit brokers more than investors.
One of the cardinal rules of successful investing is to invest mainly in simple, plain-vanilla investments. This rule limits your choices to two main categories: stocks and bonds. By confining yourself to these two investment categories, you still have all the investment choice you need. You also avoid the hidden risks and conflicts of interest that you’ll find in more complex products. The funny thing is that the promoters of complex investments describe the features of these investments as if they were benefits, disregarding the associated negatives. This marketing approach attracts investors who want to make a quick decision. These investors tend to accept the sales pitch at face value. Target-date funds provide an example. These mutual funds take advantage of the widely held view that bonds are inherently safer than stocks, so you should gradually shift your investments out of stocks and into bonds as you near retirement. Target date funds do this for you automatically....
BMO Low Volatility U.S. Equity ETF, $25.34, symbol ZLU on Toronto (Units outstanding: 11.5 million; Market cap: $291.4 million; www.etfs.bmo.com), aims to invest in a portfolio of low-beta U.S. stocks. The fund has a 0.30% MER and yields 2.0%. The ETF selects the 100 lowest-beta stocks from a universe of the largest, most liquid U.S. securities. The underlying portfolio is rebalanced in June and December. In this respect, it differs widely from conventional ETFs which are designed to minimize trading and trading expense. BMO Low Volatility U.S. Equity ETF’s top holdings are Newmont Mining, McDonald’s, Autozone, Verizon Communications, Quest Diagnostics, Dollar General, Family Dollar, AT&T, Laboratory Corporation of America and AmerisourceBergen Corp....
PowerShares International Dividend Achievers Portfolio ETF, $17.94, symbol PID on Nasdaq (Units outstanding: 85.4 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion; www.invescopowershares.com), aims to mirror the performance of the Nasdaq International Dividend Achievers Index. Its MER is 0.54%, and it yields 1.9%. The Nasdaq International Dividend Achievers Index only includes non-U.S. stocks (although it does contain foreign ADRs trading on U.S. exchanges) that have raised their dividends for five straight years. That means the index excludes a number of sound companies that pay dividends but haven’t increased them annually. The ETF also takes on a lot of risk with its holdings: Eight of its top 10 holdings are oil or energy-related stocks, including its second-largest investment, KazMunaiGas Exploration, Kazakhstan’s state-controlled energy giant. Others include Russian energy companies Rosneft and Lukoil....
While the Keystone XL pipeline earns headlines, TransCanada’s investors continue to earn steady dividend income as new projects unfold.
NORDSTROM INC., $72.64, New York symbol JWN, has formed an alliance with Toronto-Dominion Bank (Toronto symbol TD), a recommendation of The Successful Investor, our newsletter that focuses on conservative Canadian stocks. Under the deal, TD will purchase Nordstrom’s credit card loans, which total $2.2 billion. To put that in perspective, Nordstrom’s market cap (or the value of all of its outstanding shares) is $14.0 billion. Nordstrom will still get part of the revenue from these credit cards and will keep managing their related loyalty plans. The companies expect to complete the deal in the second half of 2015. Separately, TD has agreed to become the exclusive issuer of Nordstrom-branded Visa and private-label credit cards....