Blue Chip Stocks

The root of the term “blue chip” stems from the game of poker, as the blue chips represent the highest value. Investing in blue chip stocks can give you an additional measure of safety in today’s turbulent markets.

Pat McKeough believes investors will profit most, and with the least amount of risk, by putting the bulk of your stock portfolio in shares of blue chip companies—those that are well-established, with strong balance sheets and steady earnings and cash flow. These are companies that have bright prospects in healthy and growing industries.

The best blue chips offer both capital gains growth potential and regular dividend income. The dividend yield is certainly one of the most concrete indicators of a sound investment. It is the percentage you get when you divide the current yearly dividend payment by the share or unit price of the investment. It’s an indicator we pay especially close attention to when we select stocks to recommend in our investment newsletters.

We feel most investors should hold the largest part of their investment portfolios in securities from blue chip companies. All these stocks should offer good “value”—that is, they should trade at reasonable multiples of earnings, cash flow, book value and so on. Ideally, they should also have above average-growth prospects in expanding markets.

Meanwhile, when investing in any type of stock, at TSI Network we recommend using our three-part Successful Investor strategy:

1-Invest mainly in well-established companies;

2-Spread your money out across most if not all of the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry; Resources & Commodities; Consumer; Finance; Utilities);

3-Downplay or avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight.

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Blue Chip Stocks
IBM $124.84 (New York symbol IBM; Shares outstanding: 912.8 million; Market cap: $111.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.1%; www.ibm.com) has now agreed to acquire Red Hat Inc. (New York symbol RHT) for $34 billion....
CP reported record revenue in the latest quarter, with increases across all of its businesses. Despite rising fuel prices, profits also hit a new high, with overall costs dropping to record lows. That performance bodes well for the company as demand for rail shipments moves up in the expanding economy....
MCDONALD’S CORP. $177 (New York symbol MCD; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector, Shares outstanding: 775.8 million; Market cap: $137.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 6.4; Dividend yield: 2.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.mcdonalds.com) operates over 37,500 fast-food restaurants in 120 countries.


In the quarter ended September 30, 2018, the company’s revenue fell 6.7%, to $5.37 billion from $5.75 billion a year earlier....

Procter & Gamble recently completed a major transformation that saw it shed about two-thirds of its brands. That has let it focus on a much smaller portfolio of products, most of which are market leaders.


The company also continues to enjoy the benefits of its multi-year cost-cutting plan....
BCE INC. $51 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 898.0 million; Market cap: $45.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 5.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bce.ca) stands to gain from the new trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada (called USMCA).


The new agreement overturns broadcast regulations that let cable and satellite providers show the annual NFL Super Bowl football championship game with U.S....
BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $74 (Toronto symbol BNS; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $88.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.6; Dividend yield: 4.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.scotiabank.com) continues to expand its wealth management operations, which supply 12% of its total earnings.


The bank recently completed its acquisition of MD Financial Management, which sells wealth management services to Canadian medical doctors and their families....
Royal Bank’s shares have gained 35% since the bank’s 2015 acquisition of California-based City National Bank. Thanks to that purchase, Royal is now the 7th-largest full-service wealth management firm in the U.S.


City National also gives the bank a strong platform to further expand its U.S....
LOBLAW COMPANIES $64.70 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 374.8 million; Market cap: $24.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.8%; www.loblaw.ca) operates 1,083 supermarkets across Canada. It also owns the Shoppers Drug Mart chain of 1,335 drugstores.


Health Canada has now awarded Shoppers Drug Mart a licence to produce medical cannabis....
IBM $153.22 (New York symbol IBM; Shares outstanding: 912.8 million; Market cap: $139.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.1%; www.ibm.com) is one of the world’s largest computer companies, with operations in over 175 countries


Due to slowing demand for its traditional mainframe computers and related services, IBM is aggressively shifting into faster-growing fields....
MANULIFE FINANCIAL CORP. $23.19 (Toronto symbol MFC; Shares o/s: 2.0 billion; Market cap: $46.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.8%; www.manulife.ca) is Canada’s largest life insurer.


The company also sells other forms of insurance, including health, dental and travel plans; in addition, it offers mutual funds and investment management services....