investment

We believe most investors could benefit from holding some foreign investments in their portfolios for added diversification. Still, investing internationally remains riskier than investing in North America. With stocks markets around the globe, you may face language barriers, uncertain investor-protection laws, and in some cases a less pronounced commitment to openness, fairness and other qualities we tend to take for granted in established markets. One of the best ways to make it easier to profit on foreign markets is with American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). An American Depositary Receipt is an investment unit for foreign companies that trade on a U.S. stock market. These units can represent fractions of shares, whole shares, or multiple shares in the foreign company. ADRs can help you simplify your international investing by letting you buy foreign shares on U.S. exchanges without the complications of buying or selling on a foreign exchange, in a foreign currency....

BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS $55.54 New York symbol BR; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (201-714-3000; www.broadridge.com; Shares outstanding: 120.9 million; Market cap: $6.5 billion; Dividend yield: 2.0%) serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications, securities processing and transaction clearing. The company processes 90% of all proxy votes in the U.S. and Canada.

Without one-time items, Broadridge earned $58.8 million, or $0.47 a share, in its fiscal 2015 third quarter, which ended March 31, 2015. That’s up 6.7% from $55.1 million, or $0.44 a share, a year earlier. The company continues to add new clients and is doing a good job of holding on to existing ones.

Broadridge typically makes about half of its profits in its fiscal fourth quarter, which ends June 30. That’s the busiest period for processing proxies and annual reports for its clients.

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ISHARES CHINA LARGE-CAP ETF $51.98 (New York symbol FXI; buy or sell through brokers) is an exchange traded fund that aims to track the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) China 50 Index, which is made up of the 50 largest, most liquid Chinese stocks. All of the companies in the index trade on the Hong Kong exchange. Some also trade as American depositary receipts (ADRs) on New York. The fund’s top holdings are Tencent Holdings, 8.8%; China Mobile, 8.0%; China Construction Bank, 7.5%; Industrial & Commercial Bank, 6.8%; Bank of China, 5.9%; Ping An Insurance, 4.5%; China Life, 4.4%; CNOOC Ltd., 3.9%; PetroChina, 3.8%; China Petroleum and Chemical, 3.4%; and China Overseas Land & Investment, 2.5%. The fund’s holdings give it the following industry breakdown: Financials, 48.1%; Telecommunications, 11.7%; Oil and Gas, 11.6%; Technology, 11.1%; Industrials, 6.2%; Consumer Goods, 6.4%; and Utilities, 2.1%. Its expense ratio is 0.74%....

ISHARES CDN REIT SECTOR INDEX FUND $17.31 (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds the 15 Canadian real estate investment trusts in the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index. iShares CDN REIT’s expenses are 0.60% of its assets. The fund yields 4.7%. The ETF’s largest holding is RioCan REIT at 20.0%, followed by H&R REIT (13.5%), Canadian REIT (7.1%), Canadian Apartment REIT (7.0%), Allied Properties REIT (6.6%), Calloway REIT (6.6%), Dream Office REIT (6.4%), Cominar REIT (4.4%), Boardwalk REIT (5.0%), Chartwell REIT (4.5%), Artis REIT (4.3%), Granite REIT (4.3%), Crombie REIT (2.2%), Pure Industrial REIT (2.1%) and Northern Property REIT (1.7%)....

Pennsylvania-based Vanguard Group is one of the world’s largest investment management companies. In all, it administers almost $3 trillion U.S. in 170 mutual funds. Vanguard, which went into business in 1975, offers low-fee index mutual funds. Generally speaking, Canadians can’t buy units of mutual funds that are registered in the U.S. because they aren’t registered with provincial securities commissions. For that matter, some Canadian funds aren’t available in all provinces. Canadians can, however, buy Vanguard exchange traded funds (ETFs) that trade on stock exchanges. We don’t recommend all of Vanguard’s ETFs, but here are two we do see as low-fee buys....

The Bank of Canada cut its key interest rate to 0.75% from 1.0% in January 2015. The move came after the country’s inflation rate dropped to 1.5%—below the bank’s 2.0% target—reflecting falling oil prices and slowing growth. Inflation has since dropped even further, to 1.2%. Even so, the long-term outlook is for higher interest rates. That’s because heavy deficit spending and the expansion of the money supply in the past few years make higher inflation more likely. We continue to advise against investing in bonds right now. That’s because today’s low interest rates make bonds unattractive, and rising rates would push down their future value....

ENCANA $17.05 (Toronto symbol ECA; Shares outstanding: 741.2 million; Market cap: $14.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 2.1%; www.encana.com) has sold its natural gas pipelines and compression facilities in B.C.’s Montney region. The buyer is a partnership between Veresen (Toronto symbol VSN and a buy recommendation of Canadian Wealth Advisor) and investment firm KKR & Co. (New York symbol KKR). The company received $461 million (Canadian) for these assets. The cash, along with the $1.4 billion (Canadian) it recently raised by selling new shares, will let Encana pay down its long-term debt of $7.3 billion U.S., which is a high 63% of its market cap. Encana is still a buy....

H&R REIT $23.32 (Toronto symbol HR.UN; Units outstanding: 275.3 million; Market cap: $6.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 5.8%; www.hr-reit.com) owns stakes in 45 office buildings, 114 industrial properties and 340 shopping malls in Canada and the U.S. In December 2014, the REIT sold part ownership of 101 industrial properties in Canada and the U.S. for $731 million. In all, these buildings comprise 19.5 million square feet. The buyers include the Canadian Public Sector Pension Investment Board. H&R will keep a 50% interest in the Canadian properties and a 49.5% stake in the U.S. portfolio. It will also keep managing these assets and will receive fees for doing so. H&R will retain full ownership of 14 other industrial properties....

Today’s tip: “Early experiences may lead you to prefer either value investing—trying to buy stocks at bargain prices—or growth investing—looking for rising stocks with further growth ahead. Here’s why you should combine the two. ” If you meet a large number of investors over a large number of years, it may seem they come in two basic categories—one inclined toward value investing, the other more interested in growth. This may be due in part to their early life experiences. Value investing—trying to buy assets at bargain prices—has natural appeal for those who grew up in strained economic circumstances. Growth investing—trying to identify and buy rising stocks when they have further growth ahead—seems to appeal more to those who grew up in prosperous households....

When you complete your income tax return, take a moment to consider the charitable donations you made in 2014. How carefully did you choose the charities you supported? How much time did you spend to investigate how they’ll spend your money? Many people find it uncomfortable to inquire into the goodwill or efficiency of any charity. However, there are limited funds available in the world for charitable purposes. The cause or people you want to help are in no position to demand an accounting or take their business elsewhere. The more that goes to waste, the less is available for those you want to help. But the quality of charities varies as widely as the quality of stocks you can buy for your portfolio. Unfortunately, all too many charitable donors pick charities the way beginning investors pick stocks. They get seduced by an appealing concept. They make snap judgments in response to a photo or sound bite, or the recommendation of a friend or acquaintance. A little digging can go a long way toward making your donations work harder toward bringing about the goal that attracted you....