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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Every Thursday we bring you one of our best U.S. stock picks. You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You will read about stocks making moves you should know about, most often from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster.
CINTAS CORP. (Nasdaq symbol CTAS; www.cintas.com) provides a range of products and services to over one million businesses, mainly in North America.
The company gets 71% of its revenue by renting uniforms that it makes and cleans. This business also rents a variety of related products, such as mats, towels, mops and cleaning supplies. Cintas gets a further 10% of its revenue by selling uniforms.
In addition, the company sells first aid kits, fire extinguishers, sprinklers and emergency-exit lights (11%). It also shreds corporate documents (8%). In April 2014, it merged its shredding operations with Shred-it International. In exchange, Cintas received 42% of the combined company, which uses the Shred-it brand, plus $180 million in cash.
Cintas used the proceeds from the deal to pay a special dividend of $0.85 a share. It also increased its regular annual dividend by 10.4%, to $0.85 a share from $0.77. The new rate yields 1.1%. The company has now raised the payout annually for the past 31 years.
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CINTAS CORP. (Nasdaq symbol CTAS; www.cintas.com) provides a range of products and services to over one million businesses, mainly in North America.
The company gets 71% of its revenue by renting uniforms that it makes and cleans. This business also rents a variety of related products, such as mats, towels, mops and cleaning supplies. Cintas gets a further 10% of its revenue by selling uniforms.
In addition, the company sells first aid kits, fire extinguishers, sprinklers and emergency-exit lights (11%). It also shreds corporate documents (8%). In April 2014, it merged its shredding operations with Shred-it International. In exchange, Cintas received 42% of the combined company, which uses the Shred-it brand, plus $180 million in cash.
Cintas used the proceeds from the deal to pay a special dividend of $0.85 a share. It also increased its regular annual dividend by 10.4%, to $0.85 a share from $0.77. The new rate yields 1.1%. The company has now raised the payout annually for the past 31 years.
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BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SERVICES INC. $54 (New York symbol BR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 120.9 million; Market cap: $6.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.broadridge.com) serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications, securities processing and transaction clearing. It processes 90% of all proxy votes in the U.S. and Canada.
Without one-time items, Broadridge earned $39.9 million, or $0.32 a share, in its fiscal 2015 second quarter, which ended December 31, 2014. That’s up 27.9% from $31.2 million, or $0.25 a share, a year earlier. The company continues to add new clients and is doing a good job of holding on to existing ones. Revenue gained 10.4%, to $574.6 million from $520.6 million.
Broadridge typically makes half of its profits in its fourth quarter, which ends June 30. This is the busiest time for processing proxies and annual reports.
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Without one-time items, Broadridge earned $39.9 million, or $0.32 a share, in its fiscal 2015 second quarter, which ended December 31, 2014. That’s up 27.9% from $31.2 million, or $0.25 a share, a year earlier. The company continues to add new clients and is doing a good job of holding on to existing ones. Revenue gained 10.4%, to $574.6 million from $520.6 million.
Broadridge typically makes half of its profits in its fourth quarter, which ends June 30. This is the busiest time for processing proxies and annual reports.
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Nearly 50% of Canadians do not have a Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA). And many of those that do are not making regular contributions. This is a shame. It means that many are missing out on a savings plan that can contribute substantially to building wealth and accumulating a strong cash reserve that’s there when you need it.
Since their inception in 2009 tax free savings accounts have given Canadians an excellent opportunity to earn investment income, on interest, dividends and capital gains, tax free.
To ensure that you can take the greatest possible advantage of your TFSA, noted financial columnist Jonathan Chevreau and I have assembled a special report, Make the Most of Your Tax Free Savings Account.
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Since their inception in 2009 tax free savings accounts have given Canadians an excellent opportunity to earn investment income, on interest, dividends and capital gains, tax free.
To ensure that you can take the greatest possible advantage of your TFSA, noted financial columnist Jonathan Chevreau and I have assembled a special report, Make the Most of Your Tax Free Savings Account.
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Extendicare Inc., $6.75, symbol EXE on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 88.2 million; Market cap: $598.0 million; www.extendicare.com), is one of North America’s largest retirement- and nursing-home operators. Its 259 long- and short-term senior-care facilities can house 28,401 residents. The stock fell sharply in November 2014, from over $8, when Extendicare announced an agreement to sell most of its U.S. business for $870 million U.S. in a deal with two investment firms, Formation Capital and an affiliate of Safanad Inc. These operations generated $868.9 million U.S. of revenue in the first nine months of 2014—more than half of Extendicare’s $1.6-billion U.S. total in that period....
Keppel Corp., $8.60 SGD (1 Singapore dollar = $0.93 Canadian), symbol BN4 on the Singapore Exchange (Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $16.3 billion; www.kepcorp.com), is the world’s largest builder of offshore oil rigs. It also has interests in power generation and real estate. You can buy shares of Singapore-listed stocks from major brokers such as TD Waterhouse. Keppel Land (formerly Straits Steamship Land) is a real estate subsidiary of Keppel Corp....
Every Monday we feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With every stock or investment we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in it at this time.
Metalore Resources (symbol MET on Toronto; www.metaloreresources.com) produces natural gas in Southwestern Ontario. It owns or controls approximately 40,000 of petroleum, natural gas and mineral leases in Norfolk County.
Right now, the company is producing gas from 85 wells. It also distributes gas to 85 businesses and consumers along its gathering pipelines through an agreement with Union Gas Ltd.
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Metalore Resources (symbol MET on Toronto; www.metaloreresources.com) produces natural gas in Southwestern Ontario. It owns or controls approximately 40,000 of petroleum, natural gas and mineral leases in Norfolk County.
Right now, the company is producing gas from 85 wells. It also distributes gas to 85 businesses and consumers along its gathering pipelines through an agreement with Union Gas Ltd.
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SYMANTEC CORP., $24.77, Nasdaq symbol SYMC, reported better-than-expected earnings this week. The company sells computer-security technology, including antivirus and email-filtering software, to businesses and consumers. In its fiscal 2015 third quarter, which ended January 2, 2015, Symantec earned $367 million, unchanged from a year earlier. However, per-share earnings rose 1.9%, to $0.53 from $0.52, on fewer shares outstanding. That beat the consensus forecast of $0.48....
WESTJET AIRLINES LTD., $31.15, symbol WJA on Toronto, reports that its earnings jumped 33.8% in the three months ended December 31, 2014, to a fourth-quarter record of $90.7 million from $67.8 million a year earlier. Earnings per share gained 34.6%, to $0.70 from $0.52, on fewer shares outstanding. That was well ahead of the consensus estimate of $0.28. This was WestJet’s 39th consecutive quarter of profitability. Revenue rose 7.3%, to $994.4 million from $926.4 million....
CAE INC., $15.58, Toronto symbol CAE, earned $52.1 million, or $0.20 a share, in its fiscal 2015 third quarter, which ended December 31, 2014. That beat the consensus forecast of $0.19. The latest earnings are also up 14.5% from $45.5 million, or $0.17 a share, a year earlier. Overall revenue rose 11.0%, to $559.1 million from $503.9 million, also beating the consensus forecast of $554.4 million. Revenue from sales of flight simulators and pilot-training services to commercial airlines (57% of the total) rose 14.2%. That’s mainly due to higher simulator sales and the positive impact of the lower Canadian dollar (overseas customers supply 90% of CAE’s revenue)....
ALLIED PROPERTIES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $39.54 (Toronto symbol AP.UN; Units outstanding: 74.7 million; Market cap: $3.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 3.7%; www.alliedreit.com) owns 138 office buildings, mostly in major Canadian cities. These mainly Class I properties contain over 9.9 million square feet of leasable area. Class I refers to 19th- and early-20th-century light industrial buildings that have been converted to retail space. They usually feature exposed beams, interior brick and hardwood floors. Allied bought $400 million of properties in 2012 and $182.4 million in 2013. In the first three quarters of 2014, it added seven more for $210.0 million....