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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Canada’s big five banks will likely report record earnings in 2014, as low interest rates keep fueling loan demand. The improving economy also means the banks are dealing with fewer bad loans, giving them more room for dividend hikes. Every Canadian investor should own at least two of our banks. For new buying, TD and Bank of Nova Scotia remain our top picks. TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $57 (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $102.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.td.comtarget="_blank”) is Canada’s largest bank, with $921.8 billion of assets....
LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $60 (Toronto symbol L; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 412.4 million; Market cap: $24.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.loblaw.ca) has sold 15 stores and one warehouse to Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (Toronto symbol CHP.UN). Loblaw received $211.9 million, which is equal to 57% of the $371.0 million, or $0.90 a share, that it earned in the three months ended October 4, 2014. That total included $112.2 million of Choice Properties’ units. As a result, Loblaw now owns 83.0% of this REIT. Loblaw is a buy....
RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $27 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Units outstanding: 308.9 million; Market cap: $8.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.8; Dividend yield: 5.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.riocan.com) continues to open new malls and, with partners, mixed-use properties with office and residential space. The trust is also selling less profitable properties. In the third quarter of 2014, RioCan’s net leasable area shrank by 2.5%, to 71.6 million square feet from 73.5 million a year earlier. But thanks to strong demand from retailers, it’s renewing leases at higher rental rates. That’s why its cash flow rose 7.4% in the latest quarter, to $131 million from $122 million. Cash flow per unit gained 5.0%, to $0.42 from $0.40, on more units outstanding. The units trade at a reasonable 15.9 times RioCan’s expected 2014 cash flow of $1.70 a unit. The $1.41 distribution yields 5.2%....
Every Thursday we bring you 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.
This company provides vital services in the investment industry. It’s a market leader with a well-established brand, which makes it hard for competitors to lure away its customers.
BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SERVICES INC. (New York symbol BR; www.broadridge.com)serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications, securities processing and transaction clearing. The company processes 85% of all proxy votes in the U.S.
Without one-time items, Broadridge earned $0.30 a share in its fiscal 2015 first quarter, which ended September 30, 2014. That’s down 23.1% from $0.39 a year earlier. The decline came from higher compensation, plus expanded sales and marketing costs, related to new business.
Overall revenue gained 1.9%, to $555.8 million from $545.2 million. Revenue from contracts that pay recurring fees rose 4% and accounted for two-thirds of the total. The remaining third comes from one-time events, such as notifications of special shareholder meetings and distributing information when mutual funds change managers.
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This company provides vital services in the investment industry. It’s a market leader with a well-established brand, which makes it hard for competitors to lure away its customers.
BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SERVICES INC. (New York symbol BR; www.broadridge.com)serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications, securities processing and transaction clearing. The company processes 85% of all proxy votes in the U.S.
Without one-time items, Broadridge earned $0.30 a share in its fiscal 2015 first quarter, which ended September 30, 2014. That’s down 23.1% from $0.39 a year earlier. The decline came from higher compensation, plus expanded sales and marketing costs, related to new business.
Overall revenue gained 1.9%, to $555.8 million from $545.2 million. Revenue from contracts that pay recurring fees rose 4% and accounted for two-thirds of the total. The remaining third comes from one-time events, such as notifications of special shareholder meetings and distributing information when mutual funds change managers.
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Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a beginning or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific investment tips and stock market advice. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investment advice, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “While stock options frequently make a lot of money for brokers, but most investors are more likely to lose with options. Here are seven ways they can cost you money.”...
Your surest route to investment success is to follow our three-pronged Successful Investor approach:
Of course, I still form opinions on which way the market and individual stocks are likely to move in coming months and years. Some of these opinions fall in the category of predictions—others are more like guesses.
From time to time I share these opinions with investors. Sometimes they turn out surprisingly accurate—other times, not so much. This has become a popular part of our service, so we highlight it under the heading “Guesses, Opinions & Predictions”.
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- Invest mainly in well-established, high-quality companies;
- Spread your money out across most if not all of the five main economic sectors;
- Downplay or avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight.
Of course, I still form opinions on which way the market and individual stocks are likely to move in coming months and years. Some of these opinions fall in the category of predictions—others are more like guesses.
From time to time I share these opinions with investors. Sometimes they turn out surprisingly accurate—other times, not so much. This has become a popular part of our service, so we highlight it under the heading “Guesses, Opinions & Predictions”.
...
WINDSTREAM HOLDINGS INC. $10 (Nasdaq symbol WIN; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 602.8 million; Market cap: $6.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 10.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.windstream.com) gets 73% of its revenue by selling high-speed Internet and other communication services to 357,700 businesses.
The other 27% comes from selling phone, Internet and video services to 3.2 million residential customers, mainly in the rural U.S.
In July 2014, the company announced that it would transfer its fibre optic and copper networks, some land and buildings to a new real estate investment trust (REIT). Windstream will then lease these assets from the REIT for at least the next 15 years at $650.0 million annually.
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The other 27% comes from selling phone, Internet and video services to 3.2 million residential customers, mainly in the rural U.S.
In July 2014, the company announced that it would transfer its fibre optic and copper networks, some land and buildings to a new real estate investment trust (REIT). Windstream will then lease these assets from the REIT for at least the next 15 years at $650.0 million annually.
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Every Monday we feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With every stock we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in the stock at this time. Westshore Terminals Investment Corp. (symbol WTE on Toronto; www.westshore.com) owns a coal storage and loading terminal at Roberts Bank, B.C., about 30 kilometres south of Vancouver. The terminal started up in 1970....
RUSSEL METALS INC., $31.50, symbol RUS on Toronto, reported strong quarterly results this week. In the three months ended September 30, 2014, Russel’s revenue rose 30.4%, to $1.04 billion from $796.8 million a year earlier. The company’s metal-services business raised its prices in response to higher demand, increasing its revenue by 14% in the latest quarter. The energy products division, which supplies pipes for oil and gas exploration and development, saw its revenue jump 41%....
TRANSCANADA CORP., $56.05, Toronto symbol TRP, rose this week in response to the U.S. mid-term elections, which gave the Republican Party control of the Senate. That makes it more likely that the U.S. government will approve the company’s Keystone XL pipeline, which would pump crude from Alberta’s oil sands to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Due to various delays, the company now expects Keystone XL to cost $8.0 billion U.S., up 48.1% from its 2008 estimate of $5.4 billion U.S. To date, it has spent $2.4 billion U.S. on this project. TransCanada also plans to spend $2.7 billion to expand its Nova pipeline network in Western Canada to handle rising shale gas production in Alberta and B.C. In addition, it will invest $475 million to upgrade its Ontario gas pipelines. The company expects to complete these projects in 2016 and 2017....