investment

A little over three months ago, Pat McKeough responded to the many concerns expressed over a possible real estate crash, especially in Canada’s largest markets. The video drew one of our largest viewing audiences. Today there’s still a great deal of media attention focused on the possibility of a real estate crash. Those fears are undoubtedly heightened by ongoing headlines about the European debt crisis and a slowdown in the global economy. Volatility in the stock market adds a further note of pessimism for many Canadians. That makes it all the more important to keep things in perspective, which makes this an ideal time to replay Pat’s original video. In real estate investments especially, he reminds his viewers, there is a lot of territory between boom and bust. A rising real estate market will always cool down, but that doesn’t mean catastrophe is around the corner....

PROCTER & GAMBLE CO. $64 (New York symbol PG; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 2.7 billion; Market cap: $172.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 3.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pg.com) rose 5% after activist investment firm Pershing Square Capital Management announced that it now owns around 1% of Procter’s shares. Pershing Square has a long history of making undervalued companies more profitable. It often does this by encouraging management to sell real estate or underperforming divisions. Rising fuel and raw-material costs have hurt Procter’s profit margins. In response, the company recently announced a major restructuring plan, including cutting jobs and spending less on advertising. Pershing Square’s involvement should continue to spur the stock....

J.C. PENNEY CO. INC. $22 (www.jcpenney.com) is selling some of its less-important investments to free up cash as it shifts its 1,100 department stores to an everyday pricing strategy. The company recently raised $248 million by selling part of its investment in Simon Property Group Inc. (New York symbol SPG), which operates shopping malls in North America, Europe and Asia. The proceeds are equal to 5% of Penney’s $4.8-billion market cap. Buy. NORDSTROM INC. $52 (www.nordstrom.com) continues to see strong demand for its upscale clothing, accessories and footwear. In June 2012, the company’s overall sales rose 12.6%, to $1.0 billion from $927 million in June 2011. Same-store sales rose 8.1%. Buy. AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. $36 (www.agilent.com) is paying an undisclosed sum for the wireless-testing division of Spain’s AT4 Wireless. This purchase will enhance Agilent’s ability to test chips for new, advanced wireless standards like Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and Near Field Communications (NFC). Best Buy.

Dividends don’t always get the respect they deserve, especially from beginning investors. A dividend stock’s yearly 2% or 3% or 5% yield barely seems worth mentioning alongside yearly capital gains of 10%, 20% or 30% or more. Yet dividends are far more reliable than capital gains. A stock that pays a dividend of $1 this year will probably do the same next year. It may even rise to $1.05....

METRO INC. $53 (Toronto symbol MRU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 98.9 million; Market cap: $5.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.metro.ca) is Canada’s third-largest supermarket operator, after Loblaw and Sobeys. The company has about 600 supermarkets in Quebec and Ontario. It also operates 260 drugstores under the Brunet, The Pharmacy and Drug Basics banners.

Metro’s sales rose 7.4%, from $10.6 billion in 2007 to $11.4 billion in 2011 (fiscal years end September 30). Earnings fell 5.0%, from $295.6 million in 2007 to $280.8 million in 2008. Metro is an aggressive buyer of its own shares. Because of fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings fell 2.4%, from $2.54 to $2.48.

However, earnings turned around in 2009, rising 27.8%, to $359.0 million, or $3.23 share. That’s mainly because the company lowered its advertising costs by converting its various banners in Ontario to the Metro brand. Earnings continued to rise, and reached $400.6 million, or $3.87 a share, in 2011.

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There is a history of Canadian consumer stocks trying, and failing, to establish a presence in the United States. But there are several outstanding success stories, such as Alimentation Couche-Tard (Toronto symbol ATD.B) our #1 Stock for 2012, which has profited extensively from its convenience stores and gas bars in the U.S. A new partnership initiative in the U.S. by Reitmans is on a more modest scale than Couche-Tard’s operations, but the women’s wear retailer is looking for a welcome boost in sales. REITMANS (CANADA) LTD. (Toronto symbol RET.A; www.reitmans.com) owns 925 women’s clothing stores across Canada. The chain consists of 364 Reitmans, 154 Penningtons, 153 Smart Set, 114 Addition Elle, 74 Thyme Maternity and 66 RW & Co. stores....

Vale SA is one of the world’s largest iron ore producers. The company gets about 59% of its revenue from iron ore. The rest comes from base metals, coal and fertilizer.

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD., $75.49, Toronto symbol CP, has formed a partnership with Smart Sand Inc., a private company that sells sand to oil and gas producers. These clients pump this sand, along with water and other chemicals, into shale rock formations. This fractures the rock and releases the oil and gas. Under the deal, CP and Smart Sand will build a new facility in North Dakota that will load the sand onto CP’s trains. From there, CP will deliver the sand to Smart Sand’s customers in the Williston Basin, which covers parts of North and South Dakota, Montana and Saskatchewan. CP did not say how much this new facility would cost, but it should begin operating in early 2013....

When we go through the many comments we receive from TSI Network readers, the subject that seems to come up most often is dividend stocks. That’s not surprising, perhaps, since the first principle in our 3-part investment strategy is to mainly buy well-established, dividend-paying stocks. Another subject that draws many questions and strong opinions from our readers is retirement planning. And the idea of planning your retirement around dividends is one that appeals to many investors. When Pat replied to a specific question on this strategy two and a half months ago, it became the most watched of the weekly videos he has posted on the network over the past four months. It seems like a good time to have another look at this video, particularly because Pat’s answer holds a word of caution for investors: simply buying and holding dividend stocks may not be quite enough to accomplish your goals....

BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS $21.70 (New York symbol BR: TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (201-714-3000; www.broadridge.com; Shares outstanding: 124.9 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion; Dividend yield: 3.0%) serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications; securities processing; and transaction clearing. The company processes 90% of all proxy votes in the U.S. Broadridge’s earnings rose 11.0% in the three months ended March 31, 2012, to $36.2 million from $32.6 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 12.0%, to $0.28 from $0.25, on fewer shares outstanding. Sales rose 3.8%, to $547.0 million from $527.1 million. Contributions from recently purchased companies helped push up Broadridge’s latest results. As well, the company continues to do a good job of attracting new clients and holding on to existing ones....