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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After spinoff Kraft Foods counting on trimmer, stronger product line
KRAFT FOODS GROUP INC. (Nasdaq symbol KRFT; www.kraftfoodsgroup.com) makes a variety of grocery products, including Kraft macaroni and cheese, Oscar Mayer meats, Philadelphia cream cheese, Maxwell House coffee, Jell-O desserts and Miracle Whip salad dressing. In October 2012 Kraft broke itself up into two companies, spinning off Mondelez (Nasdaq symbol MDLZ), which makes cookies, biscuits, gum and beverages and does over 80% of its business outside North America....
CGI GROUP INC., $31.31, Toronto symbol GIB.A, jumped 15% this week after the company reported much better-than-expected quarterly results. CGI is Canada’s largest provider of computer outsourcing services. The company helps its clients automate certain routine functions, like accounting and buying supplies. That makes companies more efficient and lets them focus on their main businesses. In August 2012, CGI completed its $2.7-billion purchase of Logica plc, a U.K.-based firm that provides computer-outsourcing services in 36 countries....
DOMINO’S PIZZA INC., $55.98, symbol DPZ on New York, is the world’s largest chain of pizza stores that offer takeout and delivery. It operates10,040 outlets in the U.S. and over 70 other countries. Franchisees run most of these stores. Excluding one-time items, the company’s earnings per share rose 25.5% in the quarter ended March 24, 2013, to $0.59 from $0.47 a year earlier. Sales rose 8.6%, to $417.6 million from $384.6 million. Same-store sales rose 6.5% internationally and 6.2% in the U.S. Domino’s continues to boost its sales by aggressively promoting its new pizza recipes. It’s also profiting by moving into ordering online and through software applications, or apps, on smartphones. In addition, Domino’s still has lots of growth potential overseas....
Blocked from one big acquisition, UPS aims for another
Pat McKeough responds to many requests for advice on stock market investments 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. This week, we heard from an Inner Circle member who was interested in one of the best known courier companies, UPS. Pat looks at the company’s strategy of growth by acquisition which suffered a recent setback. And while UPS still does the greater part of its business in the U.S., he also looks at the effect of a slowdown in international markets on the company’s results....
Loblaw has risen almost 34% since the start of this year. That’s mainly because it’s unlocking hidden value with its plan to form a real estate investment trust (REIT) that will hold its highly valuable properties. The move will let it keep spending $1.0 billion a year on capital upgrades, including store renovations, new computer systems and improved supply networks....
Pennsylvania-based Vanguard Group is one of the world’s largest investment management companies. The group manages over $2 trillion U.S. in 170 mutual funds.

Vanguard, which went into business in 1975, offers low-fee index mutual funds. Generally speaking, Canadians can’t buy units of mutual funds that are registered in the U.S., because they aren’t registered with provincial securities commissions....
BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $57.83 (Toronto symbol BNS: Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $69.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.2%, www.scotiabank.com) has acquired 50% of AFP Horizonte, which manages pension funds in Peru, for $260 million....
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....
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....
BCE aims to win approval for Astral Media deal
BCE INC. (Toronto symbol BCE; www.bce.ca) is Canada’s largest provider of telephone, Internet and wireless services. It also sells satellite TV services across the country. The company continues to benefit from strong demand for wireless and high-speed Internet services. That’s a big reason why the stock is up 31% since 2008....