oil and gas

Alimentation Couche-Tard has rewarded our subscribers with big gains over the years. We first recommended it in our December 2008 issue at $15.50 a share. Since then, the stock has split 3-for-1 and then 2-for-1. That takes our cost down to $2.58 a share—and gives you a tremendous 1,447.7% gain!

Meanwhile, the company’s outlook remains positive, and we think the shares can go a lot higher....

We continue to recommend that most Canadian investors hold at least two or three of Canada’s Big Five banks (TD Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, CIBC, Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank). That’s mainly because of their importance to the Canadian economy, plus their long history of dividend increases.

I asked our Successful Investor research department to draw up this Inner Circle Spotlight report on TD Bank....

SAPUTO INC. $36 is still a hold. The company (Toronto symbol SAP; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 408.7 million; Market cap: $14.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.saputo.com) is Canada’s largest producer of dairy products, including milk, butter and cheese....

Canada’s Big Five banks are setting aside fewer funds for future bad loans. That reflects government COVID-19 support programs to the those directly hurt by lockdowns.


In response to the pandemic, banking regulators forced banks to suspend share buybacks and freeze their dividends....

Here’s an excerpt from a recent issue of Advice for Inner Circle Pro Members:


“Early in my investment career, I developed a keen interest in what we called “investor rules of thumb.” Here are some random examples:


“Stocks trading at a P/E ratio of 10 times per-share earnings or less are good buys.”


“As January goes, so goes the year.” In other words, if the stock market goes up in January, it will probably have a gain for the year, as a whole.


“When a stock rises and its volume of trading expands as well, it’s likely to keep rising.”


The downfall of all market indicators is that they entice you into basing a decision on a narrow range of information....

The global economic slowdown resulting from the coronavirus has hit some industries especially hard. That includes airlines, hotels, casinos and restaurants—and oil and gas. But unlike many of those companies, the best energy stocks for investors continue to report positive cash flow....

B&G FOODS INC. $29 is a hold. The company (New York symbol BGS; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 64.3 million; Market cap: $1.9 billion; Dividend yield: 6.5%; Takeover Target Rating: Highest; www.bgfoods.com) makes prepackaged food and household products in the U.S....

Governments plan to stimulate economic growth when the COVID-19 pandemic eases with big investments in public infrastructure such as roads, bridges and power grids. That should lead to new contracts for these leading engineering firms, but we prefer Stantec for your new buying.


STANTEC INC....

CHEVRON CORP. $90 remains a buy. The leading integrated oil and gas producer (New York symbol CVX; Cyclical-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $171.0 billion; Dividend yield: 5.2%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.chevron.com) last raised its quarterly dividend for investors with the March 2020 payment by 8.4%, to $1.29 a share from $1.19....

While some businesses—and especially “work-from-home” stocks like Zoom—have thrived during the pandemic, others continue to suffer. This includes airlines, hotels, movie theatres, automakers, oil and gas producers and many brick-and-mortar retailers.


Here’s a look at several ETFs that generally hold stocks that have underperformed in the past year, mostly due to COVID-19....