investment

“Calling the market” is a seductive but potentially destructive activity for those who make a living by advising people about where and how to invest their money. A few good calls on where the stock market is going can establish an advisor’s reputation for a decade or longer—if those calls happen to catch the attention of investors. But the funny thing is that among people who make a habit of calling the market, everybody has had at least a few good calls. The ones you never hear of just didn’t have the good fortune to get noticed by investors while making a good call....

Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific advice on Canadian stocks and other investments 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 one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. While we reserve our buy-hold-sell advice for Inner Circle members, these excerpts provide a great deal of information and analysis on stocks we’ve covered for members of Pat’s Inner Circle....

These three firms provide vital information to lenders and other financial companies. They are also leaders in their niche markets. That cuts their risk and makes it hard for new competitors to challenge them.

DUN & BRADSTREET CORP. $100 (New York symbol DNB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 38.8 million; Market cap: $3.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.6; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.dnb.com) is the world’s largest provider of credit reports on individual companies....

High unemployment and rising gasoline prices have hurt U.S. consumer spending and prompted shoppers to shift to discount and warehouse chains. That’s putting pressure on department stores.

However, we feel that well-established department store operators like these three will overcome the downturn....

RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $24 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Units outstanding: 302.6 million; Market cap: $7.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.5; Dividend yield: 5.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.riocan.com) owns 348 retail properties in Canada, including 15 under development. It also owns 50 malls in the U.S.

The trust continues to expand through acquisitions. In the second quarter of 2013, RioCan acquired seven properties for $460 million. As part of its plan to focus on larger cities, RioCan also sold four properties in smaller markets for $364 million. As a result, big cities now account for 72.1% of its rental revenue, up from 67.5% at the end of 2012.

These new properties are also diversifying RioCan’s portfolio beyond its suburban big-box-style malls. For example, its recent purchases include two enclosed malls in Ontario. The trust is also redeveloping certain properties in Toronto as mixed-use office, retail and residential complexes.
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CANADIAN TIRE CORP. $91 (Toronto symbol CTC.A; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 80.5 million; Market cap: $7.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.canadiantire.ca) operates 490 Canadian Tire stores, which specialize in automotive, household and sporting goods. The company owns these outlets, but franchisees operate most of them. Canadian Tire also operates 300 gas stations and 87 PartSource auto parts stores.

In the 1990s, big U.S. retailers like Wal-Mart and Home Depot expanded to Canada. In response, Canadian Tire upgraded its stores with better signage, wider aisles and brighter lighting. These improvements also made it easier for managers to move faster-selling seasonal merchandise to high-traffic areas of the store.

The company is also trying out new formats. For example, it recently opened a smaller store in Toronto. This outlet, called Canadian Tire Express, is one-third the size of a regular Canadian Tire store and mainly features items like light bulbs and plumbing parts instead of tires and lawnmowers.
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WELLS FARGO & CO. (New York symbol WFC; www.wellsfargo.com) set aside $652 million to cover bad loans in the three months ended June 30, 2013, down 63.8% from $1.8 billion a year earlier....

ISHARES CDN REIT SECTOR INDEX FUND $15.05 (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds the 15 Canadian real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index. The weight of each REIT is limited to 25% of the ETF’s value.

iShares CDN REIT’s expenses are 0.60% of its assets. The fund yields 5.2%.

The ETF’s largest holding is RioCan REIT at 19.4%, followed by H&R REIT (14.5%), Dundee REIT (8.3%), Canadian REIT (7.4%), Calloway REIT (6.7%), Cominar REIT (6.1%), Boardwalk REIT (5.9%), Canadian Apartment REIT (5.7%), Allied Properties REIT (5.5%), Artis REIT (4.8%), Chartwell REIT (4.4%), Granite REIT (4.3%), Dundee International REIT (2.3%), Northern Property REIT (2.3%) and Crombie REIT (1.9%).
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HECLA MINING COMPANY (New York symbol HL; www.hecla-mining.com) explores for, mines and processes silver and gold in the U.S. and Mexico. Most of its silver output comes from its Greens Creek mine in Alaska and its Lucky Friday mine in Idaho. In the three months ended June 30, 2013, Hecla’s revenue rose 27.3%, to $85.3 million from $67.0 million a year earlier. The company lost $0.03 a share, compared to a profit of $0.01. The loss mostly came from lower silver prices and costs related to its recent acquisition of Aurizon Mines....

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. (Toronto symbol SNC; www.snclavalin.com) is a leading Canadian engineering and construction company. It specializes in large-scale public works projects, such as roads, bridges, transit systems and water-treatment plants. SNC-Lavalin replaced most of its senior management following the discovery of $56 million U.S. in unusual payments it made in 2011 to help win Libyan construction contracts. SNC has also strengthened its oversight and compliance procedures in response to allegations that it used bribes to win certain contracts in Quebec....