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).
Read More
Close
Enbridge continues to invest heavily in its pipelines and other businesses. Since 2008, it has started up over $12 billion worth of new growth projects. That’s equal to 39% of its market cap. The company now wants to take advantage of rising oil sands production by building the Northern Gateway pipeline, which would pump crude oil from Edmonton to a proposed storage terminal in Kitimat, B.C. From there, the oil would be shipped by tanker to refineries in Asia. At $5.5 billion, Northern Gateway is the single biggest pipeline project in Enbridge’s 63-year history. If regulators approve, the line could start up in 2017....
BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS $24.14 New York symbol BR: TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (201-714-3000; www.broadridge.com; Shares outstanding: 124.1 million; Market cap: $3.0 billion; Dividend yield: 2.7%) serves the investment industry in three main areas: investor communications; securities processing; and transaction clearing. Broadridge’s systems help its customers cut costs.
Broadridge’s earnings jumped 45.3% in the three months ended December 31, 2011, to $15.4 million from $10.6 million a year earlier. Before one-time items, earnings per share rose 50.0%, to $0.12 from $0.08, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue rose 8.5%, to $479.8 million from $442.3 million.
...
Broadridge’s earnings jumped 45.3% in the three months ended December 31, 2011, to $15.4 million from $10.6 million a year earlier. Before one-time items, earnings per share rose 50.0%, to $0.12 from $0.08, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue rose 8.5%, to $479.8 million from $442.3 million.
Timely acquisitions starting to pay off
FAIRFAX FINANCIAL HOLDINGS $417.01 (Toronto symbol FFH: TSINetwork Rating: Average) (416-367-2612; www.fairfax.ca; Shares outstanding: 19.9 million; Market cap: $8.3 billion; Dividend yield: 2.4%) now owns 5.12% of Research in Motion, symbol RIM on Toronto. RIM is a recommendation of our Successful Investor newsletter.
RIM has appointed Thorsten Heins as its new chief executive officer and a director of the company. Previously, he was RIM’s chief operating officer. The company’s founders and former co-CEOs, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, will remain directors.
As well, the company has appointed Prem Watsa as a director. Mr. Watsa is the chairman and founder of Fairfax Financial Holdings.
...
RIM has appointed Thorsten Heins as its new chief executive officer and a director of the company. Previously, he was RIM’s chief operating officer. The company’s founders and former co-CEOs, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, will remain directors.
As well, the company has appointed Prem Watsa as a director. Mr. Watsa is the chairman and founder of Fairfax Financial Holdings.
...
Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific advice on successful investing. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Tip of the week: “Short sellers can make money in a hurry, but there are more losers than winners.”...
You may find that exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have a place in your portfolio. Unlike many other financial innovations, they don’t load you up with heavy management fees or tie you down with high redemption charges if you decide to withdraw. Instead, they give you a low-cost, flexible, convenient alternative to mutual funds. They have another advantage. Since shares are only added or removed when the underlying index changes, there’s a low turnover. That means you aren’t faced with the capital gains bills generated by the yearly distributions most mutual funds pay out to their unitholders....
Question: I would like your opinion on Africa Oil and Cabo Drilling. As always, your pearls of wisdom are very insightful and greatly appreciated.
All of our real estate investment trust (REIT) recommendations have moved up in the past year, but we still think they offer attractive long-term returns at relatively low risk. RioCan is particularly appealing because of its high-quality properties, reliable tenants and high occupancy rates. RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $25.79 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Units outstanding: 267.0 million; Market cap: $6.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.4%; www.riocan.com) is Canada’s largest REIT. It has interests in 331 shopping malls in Canada, including 10 under development. These properties contain over 91 million square feet of leasable area. RioCan also owns stakes in 38 malls in the U.S. through joint ventures. In addition, it owns 14% of Cedar Shopping Centers, a U.S. REIT whose malls are mainly in the northeastern U.S....
RioCan REIT is our #1 safety-conscious pick for 2012. The trust would be a sound addition to the Manufacturing segment of almost any investor’s portfolio. But if you want to hold a range of REITs, you can do so through the iShares CDN REIT Sector Index Fund, an ETF lets you hold 13 in all. And you’ll still have lots of exposure to RioCan, because it’s the ETF’s largest holding. Here’s a closer look: ISHARES CDN REIT SECTOR INDEX FUND $15.72 (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds the 13 Canadian real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index. The weight of any one REIT is limited to 25% of the ETF’s value....
Ottawa’s tax on income trust distributions took effect over a year ago, on January 1, 2011. Most trusts have already converted to corporations in response. Real estate investment trusts (REITs) are exempt, however, so they will remain as trusts. All but one of our trust recommendations have converted. We still like the long-term outlook for all these picks, and we see them as buys. All of our REIT recommendations remain buys, as well....