top stocks

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) may have a place in your portfolio. That’s because, 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 get out of them. Instead, they give you a low-cost, flexible, convenient alternative to mutual funds. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You’ll have to pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell ETFs. However, ETFs’ low management fees still give them a cost advantage over most conventional mutual funds. As well, shares are only added or removed when the underlying index changes. As a result of this low turnover, you won’t incur the regular capital gains bills generated by the yearly distributions most conventional mutual funds pay out to unitholders....

This past autumn, a long-time reader and portfolio management client asked a question that other investors may wonder about in today’s turbulent markets. He wrote, “You constantly remind members to have a balanced portfolio and strategy for long-term success when investing. But when do you take profits? You have mentioned a couple of times to sell, such as when a stock makes up too much of your total portfolio, or if a company shows questionable management or business decisions. My main question is why don’t we sell when stocks move up and there are profits to be had?”...

We are pleased to learn that Warren Buffett has made a major investment in IBM. You may recall that IBM was our #1 Stock of the Year in Wall Street Stock Forecaster last year. Since then, the stock has risen by around 41%. I think IBM is going a lot higher in years to come, and it appears Warren feels the same way. As you know from reading our analyses, IBM has moved away from its earlier stress on manufacturing and toward a business model that combines equipment, software and service. This gives the company steadier revenues and safer growth, because its customers don’t like to change service providers when they update their equipment. In addition, IBM has a couple of key advantages in the fast-growing area of cloud computing (the general term for shifting software and data storage off of users’ machines and onto service providers’ machines, via the Internet). First, IBM has some of the best cloud-computing technology available; second, it has one of the most trusted business names on the planet. When you commit your data “to the cloud”, you won’t trust just anybody with it....

ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $16.56 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through a broker; ca.ishares.com) is a good, low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index, which consists of the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. Expenses are just 0.17% of assets. Most of the stocks in the index are high-quality companies. However, as it must ensure that all sectors are represented, it holds a few we wouldn’t include. The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 6.7%; TD Bank, 6.4%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.5%; Barrick Gold, 4.8%; Suncor Energy, 4.1%; Potash Corp., 3.9%; Goldcorp, 3.8%; Bank of Montreal, 3.7%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.2%; CN Railway, 3.2%; BCE Inc., 3.0%, TransCanada Corp., 2.9%, CIBC, 2.9%; Enbridge, 2.6%; Cenovus Energy, 2.3% and Manulife Financial, 2.1%....

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may have a place in your portfolio. That’s because, 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 get out of them. Instead, they give you a low-cost, flexible, convenient alternative to mutual funds. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You’ll have to pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell ETFs. However, ETFs’ low management fees still give them a cost advantage over most conventional mutual funds. As well, shares are only added or removed when the underlying index changes. As a result of this low turnover, you won’t incur the regular capital-gains bills generated by the yearly distributions most conventional mutual funds pay out to unitholders. Below, we update our advice on six ETFs — five buys and one we don’t recommend....

Many investors are pessimistic about today’s market outlook, due to economic concerns. They feel we are headed for a new dip in economic activity – the second part of the widely predicted “double dip” recession. I see a renewed economic slide as a possibility, as it always is. But I don’t expect to see it happen. My view is that the economy is stagnating because of uncertainty over the outlook for tax increases, regulatory changes and so on. Once that uncertainty clears up, I expect a new rise in the market. In the meantime, we may see a further drop in stock prices. If so, I think it will end by sometime this fall. I strongly doubt that it will turn into anything like the market plunge of 2008-2009. Of course, I could be wrong – this, too, is a constant possibility. However, rather than focus on vague worries about the economy, investors are far better off basing their investment decisions on facts....

ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $19.21 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through a broker; ca.ishares.com) is a good, low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index, which consists of the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. Expenses are just 0.17% of assets. Most of the stocks in the index are high-quality companies. However, as it must ensure that all sectors are represented, it holds a few we wouldn’t include, such as Yellow Media Inc. The index’s top holdings are: Royal Bank, 6.9%; TD Bank, 6.3%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.4%; Suncor Energy, 5.2%; Potash Corp., 4.1%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.9%; Barrick Gold, 3.9%; Goldcorp, 3.2%; CN Railway, 3.1%; Bank of Montreal, 3.1%; Manulife Financial, 2.6%; CIBC, 2.6%; BCE, 2.5%; TransCanada Corp., 2.5%; Cenovus Energy, 2.3%; and Teck Resources, 2.2%....

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may have a place in your portfolio. That’s because, 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 get out of them. Instead, they give you a low-cost, flexible, convenient alternative to mutual funds. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You’ll have to pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell ETFs. However, ETFs’ low management fees still give them a cost advantage over most conventional mutual funds. As well, shares are only added or removed when the underlying index changes. As a result of this low turnover, you won’t incur the regular capital-gains bills generated by the yearly distributions most conventional mutual funds pay out to unitholders....

Our TSI Network rating system is a key guide we use to find the top stocks to recommend in our newsletters and investment services, including Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on top-quality U. S. stocks.

Top stocks: Now is a great time to add high-quality U.S. companies to your portfolio

We continue to recommend that Canadian investors hold 25% to 30% of their portfolios in well-established U.S. companies. What’s more, today’s low U.S. dollar provides you with a rare opportunity to add the top stocks in the U.S. markets to your portfolio at bargain prices....

ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $20.44 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through a broker; ca.ishares.com) is a good, low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index, which consists of the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. Expenses are just 0.17% of assets. Most of the stocks in the index are high-quality companies. However, as it must ensure that all sectors are represented, it holds a few we wouldn’t include, such as Yellow Media Inc. The index’s top holdings are: Royal Bank, 6.7%; Suncor Energy, 5.9%; TD Bank, 5.8%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.3%; Canadian Natural Resources, 4.4%; Barrick Gold, 4.3%; Potash Corp., 4.2%; Goldcorp, 3.1%; Bank of Montreal, 2.9%; CN Railway, 2.7%; Manulife Financial, 2.7%; CIBC, 2.7%; Research in Motion, 2.5%; and Cenovus Energy, 2.3%....