Dividend Stocks
Dividends can produce as much as a third of your total return over long periods, and you can even retire on dividends.
There are 4 key stock dividend dates that are involved with dividend payments:
1- The Declaration Date is several weeks in advance of a dividend payment—it’s when company’s board of directors sets the amount and timing of the proposed payment.
2- The Payable Date is the date set by the board on which the dividend will actually be paid out to shareholders.
3- The Record Date is for shareholders who hold the stock before the payable date and receive the dividend payment. That date is set any number of weeks before the payable date.
4-The Ex-Dividend Date is two business days before the record date and it’s when the shares begin to trade without their dividend. If you buy stocks one day or more before their ex-dividend date, you will still get the dividend. That’s when a stock is said to trade cum-dividend. If you buy on the ex-dividend date or later, you won’t get the dividend. The ex-dividend date is in place to allow pending stock trades to settle.
We think very highly of stocks that have been paying dividends for five or more years, at TSI Network. Many of these stocks fit in well with our three-part Successful Investor philosophy:
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; and Utilities);
3- Downplay or avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight.
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Dividend Stocks Library Archive
The wildfires near Fort McMurray, Alberta, have forced Suncor and other oil sands producers to temporarily shut down their operations. The fires did not damage these facilities, which are surrounded by gravel fields and firebreaks. However, evacuation of the area does present staffing challenges. Suncor aims to restart production in the next few weeks. While the shutdown will weigh on the company’s earnings, it has also contributed to the recent rise in crude prices. That should help Suncor offset some of the lost revenue. Moreover, the company’s new projects and greater efficiency put it in a strong position to expand its long-term earnings and cash flow—even if oil prices remain at their current level....
EMERA INC. $47 (Toronto symbol EMA; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 148.2 million; Market cap: $6.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.emera .com) owns 100% of Nova Scotia Power, that province’s main electricity supplier. It also owns power utilities in the U.S. and the Caribbean. In September 2015, the company agreed to buy Teco Energy (New York symbol TE). This firm supplies electricity and natural gas to 1.05 million customers in Tampa Bay, Florida. A separate subsidiary distributes gas to 510,000 customers in New Mexico. Emera will pay $10.4 billion U.S., including Teco’s debt. It expects to complete the purchase in mid-2016....
IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $41 (Toronto symbol IMO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap: $34.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.imperialoil.ca) is Canada’s second-largest integrated oil producer after Suncor. The company’s Alberta oil sands operations, including its 25% stake in the Syncrude project, supply 90% of its crude. Imperial also has conventional oil and gas operations in Western Canada, and invests in offshore projects in Atlantic Canada. In addition, it owns three refineries and makes petrochemicals. In March 2016, Imperial agreed to sell its 497 company-owned Esso gas stations to independent operators for $2.8 billion....
PENGROWTH ENERGY CORP. $2.08 (Toronto symbol PGF; Aggressive Growth and Income Portfolios, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 547.4 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend suspended in January 2016; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; www.pengrowth.com) has more than tripled from its low of $0.66 in January 2016. That’s partly because prominent Toronto investor Seymour Schulich recently acquired 16.6% of the company’s shares. The purchase makes him Pengrowth’s largest shareholder. Meanwhile, the company continues to sell less-important properties to focus on its main Lindbergh oil sands project. That’s why its production in the first quarter of 2016 fell 10.5%, to 62,056 barrels a day (61% oil and liquids, 39% natural gas) from 67,934 barrels a year earlier. In addition, weaker oil and gas prices cut its cash flow per share by 4.8%, to $0.20 from $0.21. Pengrowth used the cash from its recent assets sales to pay down its long-term debt. It now stands at $1.7 billion (or 1.5 times its market cap). That’s down 9.3% since the end of 2015....
ENBRIDGE INC. $51 (Toronto symbol ENB; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 928.9 million; Market cap: $47.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 4.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www. enbridge.com) has asked regulators to extend its permit to build the Northern Gateway pipeline by three years. This $7.9 billion project would pump crude oil from Alberta to the B.C. coast. However, the permit will expire if Enbridge does not begin construction by the end of 2016. The extra time would also help the company address significant political opposition to the project. For example, it will now give Aboriginal groups a 33% stake in the project, up from 10% under the original proposal. Even so, Ottawa’s plan to ban tanker traffic on B.C.’s northern coast hurts the project’s viability. Enbridge is still a hold.
MAPLE LEAF FOODS INC. $30 (Toronto symbol MFI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 134.6 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 1.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mapleleaffoods.com) is Canada’s largest food processor. It mainly sells its products, including fresh and prepared meats and poultry, under the Maple Leaf and Schneider brands. The company recently completed a multi-year restructuring plan that involved closing older meat processing plants and shifting their operations to newer, more efficient ones. Thanks to the success of this plan, Maple Leaf earned $42.3 million, or $0.31 a share, in the three months ended March 31, 2016. The results are a big improvement over the $2.9 million, or $0.02, it lost a year earlier. If you factor out unusual items, earnings per share jumped to $0.28 from $0.05....
THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $53 (Toronto symbol TRI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 752.4 million; Market cap: $39.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.4; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.thomsonreuters.com) mainly sells information products to financial clients, such as banks and brokerages. In 2015, this business supplied 52% of Thomson’s revenue. The company also sells specialized information to professionals in the legal (27%); tax and accounting (11%); and intellectual property and science (8%) fields. Its Reuters news division supplies the remaining 2%. Thomson now plans to sell its intellectual property business. It will probably use the expected proceeds of $3 billion to buy back its own shares (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). The sale should close later this year....
TORSTAR CORP. $1.83 (Toronto symbol TS.B; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 80.6 million; Market cap: $147.5 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.2; Dividend yield: 14.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.torstar.com) recently paid $178 million for 56% of Vertical- Scope, a private firm that operates over 600 online forums and a variety of websites. The company has also launched a digital version of The Toronto Star, its flagship newspaper, for tablet computers. It will take a year or so for these new operations to begin contributing to Torstar’s sales. But they should help reduce its reliance on slower advertising revenue at its newspapers. Meantime, in the first quarter of 2016, Torstar’s losses worsened to $53.5 million, or $0.66 a share, from $459,000, or $0.01, a year earlier. Excluding unusual items, it lost $0.40 a share in the quarter, compared to a profit of $0.02. Revenue fell 9.1%, to $174.8 million from $192.3 million. Job cuts and other restructuring actions should save the company $20.7 million for all of 2016. It remains debt free, and holds cash of $32.5 million, or $0.40 a share. The $0.26-a-share dividend yields a high 14.2%. The company may reduce that payout, but is unlikely to completely eliminate it....
TRANSCANADA CORP. $52 (Toronto symbol TRP; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 702.4 million; Market cap: $36.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.2; Dividend yield: 4.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.transcanada.com) has received the final permits necessary for its $4.8 billion Coastal GasLink pipeline. It would pump natural gas from northeastern B.C. to a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Kitimat, B.C. From there, tankers would ship the LNG to Asia. The companies behind the LNG plant will make a final decision by the end of 2016. If they proceed, TransCanada will begin building the pipeline and related facilities in early 2017. TransCanada is a buy....
RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $53 (Toronto symbol QSR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 429.3 million; Market cap: $22.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.1; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.rbi.com) operates 4,438 Tim Hortons coffee and donut locations and 15,008 Burger King outlets in 100 countries. If you exclude restructuring costs and other unusual items, Restaurant Brands earned $142.1 million in the three months ended March 31, 2016 (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). That’s up 92.3% from $73.9 million a year earlier. Due to more shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 87.5%, to $0.30 from $0.16. The higher profits came mainly from lower costs and the introduction of more high-profit menu items. Sales fell 1.6%, to $918.5 million from $933.3 million. However, if you exclude the negative impact of the U.S. dollar on Restaurant Brands’ overseas operations, sales in the quarter gained 6.0%....