Toronto-Dominion Bank

SCOTIA CANADIAN GROWTH FUND $67.62 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (Scotia Securities, 40 King Street West, 6th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 1H1. 1-800-268-9 269; Website: www.scotiabank.com. No load — deal directly with the company.) uses fundamental analysis to identify what the managers see as investments that have the potential for above-average growth. The $579.2 million Scotia Canadian Growth Fund’s largest stock holdings include Manulife, Royal Bank, TD Bank, Research in Motion, Potash Corp., Suncor Energy, Bank of Nova Scotia and EnCana Corp. Scotia Canadian Growth currently holds 33.8% of its portfolio in the Resources sector. Its next-largest holding is Financial services at 28.9%....

UNITED CORPORATIONS $62 (Toronto symbol: UNC) (165 University Ave., 10th Floor, Toronto, ON M5H 3B8. 416-947-2583. Buy or sell through a broker) invests in a wide variety of average-quality to above-average quality Canadian and foreign stocks. At last report, 35.3% of the fund’s $1.0 billion portfolio was invested in Canadian equities, 23.7% in the U.S., 20.2% in Europe, 6.3% in the UK, 12.5% in Asia and 1.0% in Mexico and Latin America. The fund’s largest holdings included Bank of Nova Scotia, Royal Bank of Canada, Manulife, Talisman Energy, Algoma Central Corporation, Nexen, TransCanada Corporation, Pfizer Inc., TD Bank and Chevron....

METRO INC. $25.25, Toronto symbol MRU.A, earned $58.1 million in its second quarter ended March 15, 2008, down 6.0% from $61.8 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings fell 3.8%, to $0.51 from $0.53, on fewer shares outstanding. If you exclude restructuring costs in the year-earlier quarter, earnings per share fell 8.9%. Sales in the quarter crept up to $2.37 billion from $2.36 billion, while same-store sales rose 0.3%. Strong price competition continues to hurt profits at Metro’s Ontario stores. However, the company is beginning to realize the benefits of a new computerized information system. A new distribution warehouse will also improve efficiency at its Quebec stores. Metro is a buy for aggressive investors....

HARBOUR FUND $21.66 (CWA Rating: Conservative)(C.I. Mutual Funds, 151 Yonge St., 7th Floor, Toronto, ON M5C 2W7. 1-800-268-9374; Web site: www.cifunds.com. Load fund — available from brokers) invests in only 25 to 40 high-quality mostly Canadian stocks, and it may hold stocks for four or five years to realize their value. The $5.2 billion Harbour Fund’s top holdings include Royal Bank, CN Railway, Goldcorp Inc., Suncor Energy, Bank of Nova Scotia, General Electric, EnCana Corp., Petro-Canada, Rio Tinto, TD Bank and BHP Billiton. The Harbour Fund gained 5.5% over the last year. Its MER is 2.33%....

IVY CANADIAN FUND $26.71 (CWA Rating: Conservative) invests in high-quality, large capitalization stocks. The $3.0 billion fund’s top holdings include Shoppers Drug Mart, TD Bank, Manulife Financial, Canadian National Railway, Becton Dickinson & Co., Enbridge, McDonald’s Corp., Thomson Corporation, Diageo plc and Walgreen Co. Ivy Canadian’s breakdown by industry is: Consumer staples, 29.3%; Financials, 17.5%; Consumer discretionary, 15.2%; Industrials, 11.7%; Health care, 6.6%; Energy, 5.6%; Information technology, 4.0%; and Utilities, 4.0%....

IVY GROWTH AND INCOME FUND $21.37 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (Mackenzie Financial Corp., 150 Bloor St. West, Toronto, Ont. M5S 3B5. 1-800-387-0780; Web site: www.mackenziefinancial.com. Load fund — available from brokers) is a balanced fund, holding a mixture of stocks, bonds and cash. The fund has returned 5.6% annually for the 10 years. It lost 6.6% over the last year. The fund’s MER is 2.10%. The fund’s top stock holdings are Shoppers Drug Mart, PepsiCo, Manulife Financial, Enbridge, Thomson Corp., McDonald’s Corp., Becton Dickinson (U.S. medical technology), Sun Life Financial, TD Bank, Walgreen Co. (U.S. pharmacies) and Diageo plc (UK alcoholic beverages). This $2.5 billion fund holds 24% of its assets in bonds. Interest rates on bonds are now under 5% annually in Canada. That’s the total return that a bond can provide, from today until it matures. However, bonds leave investors at the mercy of inflation, which shrinks the purchasing power of all fixed-return investments. In fact, an upsurge in inflation could wipe out all returns on bonds, and some of their principal besides....

At one time, mutual funds within a particular ‘fund family’ often shared some key investment characteristic, such as a conservative or aggressive investment approach, or a stress on value as opposed to growth. However, due to corporate mergers and takeovers in the mutual-funds industry, and more aggressive marketing, a fund’s membership in a fund family now has little bearing on its investment approach or appeal as an investment. Below, for instance, we analyse five funds from the Ivy Group. (Note that Ivy is now part of Mackenzie Financial, which in turn is part of IGM Financial. The contact information listed for Ivy Growth and Income also applies to the other four.)...

NOVA CHEMICALS CORP. $24.66, Toronto symbol NCX, is down from its peak of $43.70 in July 2007, mostly due to fears of a slowing economy in the United States. Sales in the U.S. accounted for 43% of Nova’s 2007 sales. Manufacturers use the company’s products to make a wide variety of plastic products including auto parts, construction materials and packaging. Nova also needs large amounts of crude oil and natural gas to make its products, which increases its exposure to rising energy costs. However, Nova’s proximity to Alberta’s large natural gas reserves helps keep its input costs down. The recent merger of its money-losing foam cup business into a 50:50 joint venture also cuts its costs. Nova’s highly cyclical operations make it riskier than most of our recommendations. However, it’s cheap at just 7.3 times its likely 2008 earnings of $3.30 U.S. a share....

ISHARES DIVIDEND INDEX FUND $20.28 (Toronto symbol XDV; buy or sell through a broker) began trading in December, 2005. The fund currently holds the 30 highest yielding Canadian stocks. These stocks are included in the index based on their dividend growth, yield and average payout ratio. The weight of any one stock in the fund is limited to 10% of the fund’s assets. Its MER is 0.50%. iShares Dividend Index Fund now yields 3.2%. The fund’s top holdings are: CIBC at 7.6%; Manitoba Telecom at 5.7%; Bank of Montreal, 5.7%; National Bank, 5.2%; TD Bank, 5.0%; Royal Bank, 4.5%; Russel Metals, 4.4%; Telus Corp., 4.1%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 3.9%; IGM Financial, 3.7%; Rothmans, 3.5%; TransCanada Corporation, 3.3%; BCE Inc., 3.3%; Laurentian Bank, 3.2%; and Enbridge, 3.1%....

UNIVERSAL CANADIAN GROWTH FUND $20.93 (CWA Rating: Conservative) (Mackenzie Financial Corp., 150 Bloor St. West, Toronto, Ont. M5S 3B5. Web site: www.mackenziefinancial.com. 1-800-387-0780; Load fund — available from brokers) holds companies with strong management and sound business prospects. The fund holds fewer than 40 stocks at all times. Top holdings include TD Bank, Kinross Gold, Edwards Lifesciences, John Wiley & Sons, Shoppers Drug Mart, Corus Entertainment, EnCana Corporation, Martinrea International and Nova Chemicals Corp. The fund’s breakdown by economic sector is as follows: 15.9% in Consumer discretionary, 13.5% in Energy, 10.9% in Materials, 10.5% in Financials, 7.2% in Health Care, 7.1% in Industrials, 6.0% in Information technology, 4.5% in Telecommunications Services and 4.0% in Consumer staples....