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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BELLATRIX EXPLORATION LTD., $8.53, symbol BXE on Toronto, produces natural gas (65% of output) and oil (35%) in Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan. Bellatrix jumped 14% this week after U.S. activist investor Orange Capital LLC revealed that it has been investing in the company since July 2. It now holds about 10.2 million shares Bellatrix shares, or a 5.3% interest. Orange Capital wants the company to discuss changing the size and composition of its 10-person board of directors. It also wants Bellatrix to hire a financial advisor to explore strategic alternatives, including selling its midstream assets (natural gas processing plants and pipeline gathering systems) or an outright sale of the entire company....
Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for advice on specific stocks, as well as questions on investment strategy and the economy. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week we offer you a report on one of the stocks profiled in these Q&A sessions. Beginning this week, we give you Pat’s buy-hold-sell recommendation as well as his analysis of the stock. This is part of our new approach offering you regular and specific buy, hold and sell advice in our daily posts. Every week you’ll get “A Stock to Sell” on Monday, “Best Canadian Stocks” on Tuesday, and “Our Top U.S. Stocks” on Thursday. This week we had a question from an Inner Circle member about one of the lesser-known tech stocks that makes it money by supplying an essential component to the giants of the industry. InvenSense makes chips that track motion, and its clients include such well-known names as Amazon. Samsung and Google. Now it appears that Apple will become a key customer. Pat examines the details of the projected deal with Apple and its impact on the company’s prospects. Q: Hi Pat: I was wondering, what are your thoughts on InvenSense? Thanks....
Every Thursday we bring you “Best U.S. Stocks.” 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, from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster. MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS INC. (New York symbol MSI; www.motorolasolutions.com) took its current form on January 4, 2011, when the old Motorola Inc. spun off its struggling cellphone business, Motorola Mobility, as a separate firm. The remaining operations became Motorola Solutions after the breakup. The company makes specialized communications equipment, such as radios for police and fire vehicles. Government clients account for about 70% of its revenue....
Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific investment advice on a wide range of topics, including strategies for international stock markets. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investing strategy, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “Foreign investments can give your portfolio greater strength and diversity and we recommend three ways you can do this with less risk.” We believe most investors could benefit from holding some foreign investments in their portfolios for added diversification. And growing markets like China and India have positive long-term outlooks. Their populations are generally younger than those in North America, and rising incomes are helping more of them advance into the middle class....
Long-time readers may recall that in the mid-1990s, I started writing about three special factors that I felt were likely to make stock prices go higher, and continue rising longer, than most investors expected. These special factors or “economic energizers” were:
- Economic liberalization and the spread of free enterprise around the world, following the end of the Cold War and the break-up of the Soviet Union.
- The maturing of the baby boomers, who were entering the economic prime of their lives.
- The productivity gains available from modern computer and communications technology.
Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor. HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. (Toronto symbol HCG; www.homecapital.com) gets 90% of its revenue by offering mortgages to borrowers who don’t meet the stricter standards of larger, traditional lenders, like banks. Clients include self-employed people and recent immigrants with limited credit histories. The remaining 10% of its revenue mainly comes from credit cards and other loans to consumers and businesses....
Every Monday we now 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. DUNDEE CORP. (Toronto symbol DC.A; www.dundeecorp.com) owns businesses in the wealth management, real estate, natural resource and agriculture industries. The company lost $92.6 million, or $1.88 a share, in 2013. That’s a big drop from the $25.2 million, or $0.29 a share, it earned in 2012. Revenue fell 6.3%, to $200.7 million from $214.2 million....
Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for advice on specific stocks, as well as questions on investment strategy and the economy. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week we offer you a report on one of the stocks profiled in these Q&A sessions. Beginning this week, we give you Pat’s buy-hold-sell recommendation as well as his analysis of the stock. This is part of our new approach offering you regular and specific buy, hold and sell advice in our daily posts. Every week you’ll get “A Stock to Sell” on Monday, “Best Canadian Stocks” on Tuesday, and “Our Top U.S. Stocks” on Thursday. This week an Inner Circle member asked us about an acquisition by the largest of Canada’s copper stocks. First Quantum Minerals became the leading Canadian copper producer with its 2013 acquisition of Inmet Mining. Now it is making a major acquisition in Argentina. Pat assesses the company’s projected production from the Taca Taca deposit, as well as the considerable political risk of doing business in financially troubled Argentina. Q: Hi Pat: I’d like to know what you think of First Quantum Minerals. They are in the process of acquiring Lumina Copper, which I own. As always, thank you for your valuable input....
Great-West Lifeco and IGM are both in a strong position to profit as baby boomers sign up for retirement planning services and buy supplemental accident and disability insurance. Both companies also trade at low multiples to their earnings and will probably raise their dividends in 2015. They’re also a great way to diversify your Finance sector holdings beyond Canada’s big five banks. If you can accept the added risk, we also like Home Capital (see page 83). GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $32 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 998.9 million; Market cap: $32.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend Yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s secondlargest insurance company after Manulife Financial (Toronto symbol MFC). It also offers mutual funds, retirement planning and wealth management. Power Financial (Toronto symbol PWF) owns 67.0% of Great-West....
APACHE CORP. $102 (New York symbol APA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 382.5 million; Market cap: $39.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.7; Dividend yield: 1.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.apachecorp.com) plans to sell its 13% stake in Chevron’s Wheatstone LNG project in Australia, as well as its 50% interest in a proposed LNG export terminal in Kitimat, B.C.; Chevron owns the remaining 50%.
These moves are partly due to pressure from activist investment firm Jana Partners, which owns about 1.0% of the company. Jana feels selling these assets would give Apache $3 billion to $4 billion that it can use to buy back shares. It could also use the cash to expand its U.S. oil and gas operations.
The company has already sold $10 billion of less important assets in the past 18 months as part of its plan to focus on its less risky North American onshore operations.
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These moves are partly due to pressure from activist investment firm Jana Partners, which owns about 1.0% of the company. Jana feels selling these assets would give Apache $3 billion to $4 billion that it can use to buy back shares. It could also use the cash to expand its U.S. oil and gas operations.
The company has already sold $10 billion of less important assets in the past 18 months as part of its plan to focus on its less risky North American onshore operations.
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