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 $158.63 (New York symbol IBM; Shares outstanding: 943.2 million; Market cap: $150.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.8%; www.ibm. com) is one of the world’s largest computer companies, with operations in over 175 countries.


In the quarter ended March 31, 2017, IBM’s earnings, excluding one-time items, fell 0.7%, to $2.26 billion from $2.27 billion a year earlier....
LOBLAW COMPANIES $76.86 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 400.8 million; Market cap: $30.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.4%; www. loblaw.ca) operates over 1,090 supermarkets and 1,325 Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacies across Canada.


The company will now sell its 213 gas stations to Brookfield Business Partners LP (Toronto symbol BBU.UN)....
Consumers continue to shift to healthier foods, and these four leading food makers are quickly adapting.


Each company now makes more products with low sugar and salt, and all four have cut their costs.


Those moves, along with their well-known brands, should spur long-term growth for each food maker, particularly in developing countries....
STATE STREET CORP. $84 (New York symbol STT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; s/o: 385.7 million; Market cap: $32.4 billion; p/s ratio: 3.1; Divd. yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.statestreet.com) sells accounting and administrative services to operators of mutual funds and pension plans....
PFIZER INC. $34 (New York symbol PFE; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 6.0 billion; Market cap: $204.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.8; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pfizer.com) is one of the world’s leading prescription drugmakers....
TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $66 (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $125.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.8; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.td.com) is Canada’s second-largest bank with assets of $1.2 trillion.


The bank has agreed to repurchase up to 14.5 million of its shares from private sellers at a discount to the market price.


The move is part of its plan to buy back up to 15.0 million of its common shares, or roughly 1% of the total outstanding, by March 20, 2018....
EMERA INC. $47 (Toronto symbol EMA; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 211.1 million; Market cap: $9.9 billion; Priceto-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 4.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.emera.com) owns 100% of Nova Scotia Power, that province’s main electricity supplier....
A key element of our investment advice is to spread your money across most if not all the five economic sectors: Finance; Utilities; Consumer Goods & Services; Resources & Commodities; and Manufacturing & Industry. That way, you avoid overloading yourself with stocks that are about to slump simply because of industry conditions or changes in investor fashion.


Generally speaking, stocks in the Resources & Commodities sector and the Manufacturing & Industry sector expose you to above-average volatility....
CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE $115 (Toronto symbol CM; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 399.7 million; Market cap: $46.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.1; Dividend yield: 4.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www....
Dear safe-money investor:


Toronto-Dominion Bank has successfully expanded its U.S. operations over the last few years. It now has more branches south of the border (1,278) than in Canada (1,156). President Donald Trump wants to relax restrictions imposed on U.S....