investment

Chartwell Retirement Residences, $10.73, symbol CSH.UN (Units outstanding: 172.5 million; Market cap: $1.9 billion; www.chartwell.com), is the new name for Chartwell Seniors Housing Real Estate Investment Trust. The REIT owns and manages seniors’ housing communities in Canada and the U.S. Housing options range from independent, supported living to assisted living and long-term care. On March 31, 2013, Chartwell had 157 retirement homes and 28 long-term care facilities in Canada, as well as 46 retirement homes in the U.S. In the first quarter of 2013, the trust’s revenue rose 7.9%, to $209.0 million from $193.7 million a year earlier. Cash flow increased 24.3%, to $27.6 million from $22.2 million. Cash flow per unit rose just 6.7%, to $0.16 from $0.15, on more units outstanding....

The new U.S. health care law (“Obamacare”) will force Baxter International to pay a 2.3% tax on certain medical devices it sells in the country. However, the law will also expand health insurance to more Americans, which should spur demand for the company’s products. It is also increasing its overseas sales. The U.S. accounts for just 40% of Baxter’s sales....

Most gold stocks have moved down lately, along with gold prices. (Gold is down from almost $1,800 U.S. an ounce in September 2012 to $1,384 today.)...

YUM BRANDS INC., $67.75, New York symbol YUM, has opened a new KFC fried chicken restaurant in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia. This is the first fast-food restaurant in Mongolia. The local franchisee that owns and operates this outlet plans to open 15 more over the next five years. This business’s outlook is bright. Mongolia’s economy is growing strongly, and chicken is becoming more popular. Yum and its partner will also develop new dishes that cater to local tastes....

CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE, $78.35, Toronto symbol CM, reported better-than-expected earnings this week. It also raised its dividend. In its fiscal 2013 second quarter, which ended April 30, 2013, CIBC earned $876 million, up 4.3% from $840 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 6.0%, to $2.12 from $2.00, on fewer shares outstanding. These figures exclude several unusual items, mainly losses on securities the bank holds. On that basis, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $2.08 a share. Revenue rose 1.8%, to $3.14 billion from $3.08 billion. Stronger earnings from CIBC’s retail banking and wealth management divisions offset lower results from its securities-trading business. As well, more of the bank’s credit card customers are paying their accounts on time, so it cut its loan-loss provisions by 14.0%, to $265 million from $308 million a year earlier. CIBC also lowered its provisions due to fewer loan losses at its Caribbean banking and U.S. real estate lending operations....

Pat McKeough responds to many requests for advice on specific stocks and other questions on investment and the economy from the members of his Inner Circle. 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....

IBM (New York symbol IBM; www.ibm.com) started up in 1911, which makes it the world’s oldest computer company. Today, it operates in over 170 countries....

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 stock investment advice. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investing strategy, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away....

RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $28.93 (Toronto symbol REI.UN) has teamed up with ALLIED PROPERTIES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $30.71 (Toronto symbol AP.UN) and privately held Diamond Corp. to buy the Globe & Mail lands in downtown Toronto. Currently the home of The Globe & Mail newspaper, the 252,617-square-foot property is on 6.47 acres of land forming part of the large city block bounded by Spadina Avenue and Front, Draper and Wellington Streets.

The partners plan to redevelop the property into a retail-office complex. RioCan and Allied will each own 40%, while Diamond will hold 20%. RioCan and Allied will each pay $14.9 million for their stakes.

RioCan is a buy....

ENBRIDGE INC. $47.11 (Toronto symbol ENB; Shares outstanding: 806.5 million; Market cap: $38.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above A v e r a g e ; D i v i d e n d y i e l d : 2 . 7 % ; www.enbridge.com) has formed a 50/50 partnership with France’s EDF Energies Nouvelles to buy the Blackspring Ridge wind farm in Alberta for $600 million.

This facility will produce 300 megawatts of power when it’s finished in mid-2014; Enbridge now generates 1,169 megawatts of wind power.

Blackspring Ridge has long-term, fixed-price deals in place for its power. That cuts the risk of this investment. Expanding its renewable energy holdings also helps Enbridge improve its relationships with regulators and environmentalists.
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