investment

OceanaGold Corp., $2.40, symbol OGC on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 262.7 million; Market cap: $630.5 million; www.oceanagold.com), has projects on New Zealand’s South Island and in the Philippines. The company owns the Macraes goldfield in the South Island’s Otago region. This project, which is New Zealand’s largest gold mining operation, consists of two mines: Macraes (open pit) and Frasers (underground). The company also operates the Reefton open pit mine, on the west coast of the South Island. OceanaGold’s New Zealand mines produce 230,000 to 250,000 ounces of gold per year. In the three months ended December 31, 2011, the company’s revenue rose 3%, to $106.6 million from $103.5 million a year earlier. (All figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars.) Earnings rose 31.4%, to $14.3 million from $10.9 million. Earnings per share rose 25%, to $0.05 from $0.04, on more shares outstanding....

This week, an Inner Circle member wanted Pat’s opinion on the one of the world’s largest drug stocks. The leading maker of generic drugs,

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD., $75.67, Toronto symbol CP, is starting to benefit from its recent efficiency improvements. As well, more of its trains are running on time, thanks to the warmer-than-usual winter. In the three months ended March 31, 2012, CP’s average train speed rose 27% from a year earlier. It also had 28% more railcars in service, and terminal dwell (the time to load and unload railcars) fell 27%. As a result, CP now believes that it earned $0.80 to $0.83 a share in the quarter. That’s a lot better than the consensus estimate of $0.65 a share....

This is the latest in a series of video interviews in which Pat McKeough will give his advice on a variety of topics. Some will deal with his overall investment philosophy, others on specific investment strategies and still others will be comments on events that are affecting the markets and the economy. Today, he deals with a question we hear quite often from our readers: How can I tell if my stock broker is really on my side? Pat begins by suggesting a version of the old encyclopedia buyer’s trick. Below is the transcription of Pat’s comments. ...

Low interest rates continue to fuel loan demand at Canada’s big five banks. However, rising competition for new borrowers has forced all five to launch aggressive new promotions—including special mortgage rates as low as 2.99%—that are weighing on their profits. Even so, we continue to see all five banks as buys. In fact, every Canadian investor should own two or three of them. For new buying, Bank of Nova Scotia remains our favourite. It’s the most international of Canada’s banks, and it’s in a particularly strong position to profit from rising prosperity in Asia and Latin America. That cuts its reliance on slower growing regions like North America and Europe....

Companies that supply equipment and services to oil and gas explorers give investors another way to profit from rising oil prices. To cut your risk, stick with proven market leaders like Precision Drilling and ShawCor. PRECISION DRILLING CORP. $8.91 (Toronto symbol PD; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resource sector; Shares outstanding: 276.1 million; Market cap: $2.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; No dividends paid since February 2009; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.precisiondrilling.com) provides contract drilling services to land-based oil and gas producers, mainly in North America. It had 337 rigs in service at the end of 2011....

While interest rates remain near historic lows, borrowing money to invest continues to look like an attractive investment strategy.

We believe that this strategy works best if you borrow to buy well-established, dividend-paying stocks....

Last week in this space, I said that if you want to add value to your investing, one of the least productive things to do is to try to “time” the market. By that, I meant attempting to sell good stocks at what looks to you like a price peak, in hopes of buying them back at lower prices. Investors do sometimes sell an IBM or a BCE or a CP or an Apple at a peak in the market, then buy it back 20% cheaper. But a neat outcome like that is extremely rare. It’s more common for something to go wrong with a market-timing plan. The stock may keep rising and not drop at all—or it may only begin dropping after you’ve bought it back at a higher price. Or, it may drop just 5% or 10%, then quickly turn around and rise 50% or 100%. It may never get back into your buyback range, in other words. Or, the replacement stock you buy may drop even more than the one you sold....

Chinese stocks are up over 30% since September 2011. That’s largely because investors believe that a global recovery will raise China’s exports and improve its domestic economy. As well, the country’s inflation rate is easing. That gives it more options to boost growth, including cutting interest rates. Here are two Chinese exchange traded funds (ETFs) that we cover in Canadian Wealth Advisor newsletter. One holds publicly traded Chinese stocks available to foreign investors, and the other holds small cap Chinese stocks....

Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on specific stocks and other investment topics 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. Last week, an Inner Circle member had a particularly intriguing question about commodity stocks. Specifically, he wanted Pat’s opinion on a company that is using a revolutionary technology in an area in which traditional methods don’t work....