investment

A: When a company splits its shares, it is simply cutting itself up into a different number of pieces, without changing its fundamental value. It simply wants its stock to trade in a price-per-share range that seems reasonable to investors.

Mechanics of a split: If a stock’s price rises much beyond $50 a share in Canada (or $100 a share in the U.S.), some investors may shun it since it seems expensive....

A: Linde plc, $481.26, symbol LIN on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 477.5 million; Market cap: $229.5 billion; www.linde.com), is the largest industrial gas company in the world.

Linde was created by the merger of Praxair Inc....

DEFINITY FINANCIAL CORP., $54.14, symbol DFY on Toronto, is the name for the holding company of Economical Insurance, Family Insurance Solutions, Petline Insurance, and Sonnet Insurance. It is one of the country’s leading property and casualty insurance companies.

Definity was created as part of Economical Insurance’s demutualization plan to convert from a mutual insurance company owned by its policyholders to a company owned by shareholders.

On November 17, 2021, the holding company went public, selling shares of its stock at $22 each.

At the same time as its IPO, Definity closed private share placements with HOOPP (Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan) and Swiss Re Investments Holding Company....

TORONTO-DOMINION BANK, $78.48, Toronto symbol TD, remains a buy for patient, income-seeking investors.

The stock fell 9% this week after the bank agreed to pay a fine of $3.09 billion U.S. due to lapses in its anti-money laundering processes at its U.S....

The shares of IGM Financial are up over 20% since the start of 2024, as rising stock market values have lifted the fee income it earns on the assets under its management. The company’s outlook remains bright, as more baby boomers will turn to professional advisors as they retire....

You Can See Our Exchange-Traded Funds Portfolio For November 2024 Here.

ETFs in brief


Exchange-traded funds are set up to mirror the performance of a stock-market index or sub-index....

Prominent investor Warren Buffett once remarked that “Common yardsticks such as dividend yield, the ratio of price to earnings or to book value, and even growth rates have nothing to do with valuation except to the extent they provide clues to the amount and timing of cash flows into and from the business.”


Stock analysis that examines a company’s free cash flow can cut through the unpredictability of how the business chooses to report its earnings....

When we last wrote about South Korea—in late 2022—we pointed out that the country’s stocks had seen a two-year run-up in prices and then a sharp decline. That left many high-quality companies trading at attractive valuations. Since that time the South Korean market has gained 25%, but is still well off its peak....

Banks and insurance companies have performed strongly over the past year, easily beating the main market indices. However, banks, in particular, use a lot of debt to boost returns, and are prone to volatility when they encounter problems.


We’ve always said most investors should diversify within the finance sector by holding not just banks, but also insurers, fund managers and so on....

Companies that generate a lot of free cash flow (regular cash flow less capital expenditures) are generally in a strong financial position. For investors, free cash flow eliminates the distraction of non-cash deductions like goodwill, purchased R&D, depreciation and so on....