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
SUNCOR ENERGY INC., $35.86, Toronto symbol SU, has completed its all-stock takeover of Canadian Oil Sands (Toronto symbol COS). Under the deal, Canadian Oil Sands investors received 0.28 of a Suncor share for each share they held. As a result, the Toronto Stock Exchange delisted Canadian Oil Sands’ shares on March 23, 2016. Based on Suncor’s share price just before the deal closed, it paid $4.8 billion for Canadian Oil Sands. If you include Canadian Oil Sands’ debt of $2.4 billion, the total price was $7.2 billion. To put that in context, Suncor’s market cap (the value of all outstanding shares) is $55.6 billion....
TRANSCANADA CORP., $49.08, Toronto symbol TRP, has agreed to buy Texas-based Columbia Pipeline Group (New York symbol GPCX) for $13 billion U.S. That figure includes $2.8 billion U.S. of Columbia’s debt. This is a big purchase for TransCanada, which has a market cap of $35.4 billion (Canadian). Columbia operates natural gas pipelines in the U.S. Northeast, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Gulf Coast regions, as well as underground gas storage terminals. It’s now working on $5.6 billion U.S. worth of new pipelines. Columbia has already secured contracts from gas shippers, which cuts the risk of these projects....
IMPERIAL OIL LTD., $44.40, Toronto symbol IMO, is selling its 497 company-owned Esso gas stations to independent operators for $2.8 billion. Following the sale, franchisees will operate all of its 1,700 Esso stations across Canada. The buyers include Alimentation Couche-Tard (Toronto symbol ATD.B). It is purchasing 279 stations in Ontario and Quebec. (Alimentation Couche-Tard is a recommendation of Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that focuses on aggressive investments.) In addition, 7-Eleven Canada is getting 148 stations in Alberta and British Columbia. Parkland Fuel (Toronto symbol PKI), will buy 17 stations in Saskatchewan and Manitoba....
Teck’s shares have rebounded strongly since falling to $3.65 in January 2016. That’s mainly because the company is doing a good job holding down its costs while it waits for metallurgical coal, copper and zinc prices to recover. The direction of commodity prices depends on many things, particularly economic growth rates around the world. Still, we feel Teck’s lower costs and high-quality reserves put it in a strong position to rapidly expand its profits as prices stabilize. TECK RESOURCES LTD. $10 (Toronto symbol TCK.B; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 576.3 million; Market cap: $5.8 billion; Price-to sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 1.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.teck.com) is a leading producer of metallurgical coal, a key ingredient in steel making. Its six coal mines (five in B.C. and one in Alberta) account for 11% of global demand....
IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $44 (Toronto symbol IMO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap: $37.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.imperialoil.ca) is selling its 497 company-owned Esso gas stations to independent operators for $2.8 billion. Following the sale, franchisees will operate all of its 1,700 Esso stations across Canada. The buyers include Alimentation Couche-Tard (Toronto symbol ATD.B). It is purchasing 279 stations in Ontario and Quebec. (Alimentation Couche- Tard is a recommendation of Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that focuses on aggressive investments.) In addition, 7-Eleven Canada is getting 148 stations in Alberta and British Columbia. Parkland Fuel (Toronto symbol PKI), will buy 17 stations in Saskatchewan and Manitoba....
We continue to recommend that Canada’s big five banks make up the bulk of the Finance portion of your portfolio. Investors should also diversify their Finance holdings with high-quality non-bank stocks, such as the three we analyze below. GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $35 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 993.4 million; Market cap: $34.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend Yield: 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest insurance company, after Manulife Financial (Toronto symbol MFC). It also offers mutual funds, retirement planning and wealth management. Power Financial (Toronto symbol PWF) owns 71.4% of Great-West....
TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $55 (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $104.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.3; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.td.com) earned $2.4 billion, or $1.18 a share, in its fiscal 2016 first quarter, which ended January 31, 2016. That’s up 5.8% from $2.1 billion, or $1.12, a year earlier. Earnings for its Canadian banks (62% of the total) rose 4.4%, thanks to strong loan demand and gains from the wealthmanagement and insurance businesses. Earnings from U.S. banking (31%) jumped 20.2%. That’s largely because the low Canadian dollar enhanced its profits. However, earnings from wholesale banking (7%) fell 16.1%. Lower stock trading volumes offset higher advisory fees on mergers and acquisitions. Revenue rose 13.1%, to $8.6 billion from $7.6 billion. However, TD set aside $642 million to cover potential future loan losses, up 77.3% from $362 million. That’s mainly because it recently acquired the U.S. credit card portfolio of department store Nordstrom’s (New York symbol JWN). As well, low oil prices could hurt the ability of energy producers to repay their loans. These borrowers represent less than 1% of TD’s overall loan portfolio....
EMERA INC. $47 (Toronto symbol EMA; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 145.3 million; Market cap: $6.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.emera.com) has reached a deal to increase its ownership of Emera (Caribbean) Inc. From 95.6% to 100.0%. This publicly traded subsidiary holds Emera’s interests in power utilities in Barbados, Dominica and St. Lucia. Emera will cut administrative costs by taking full control. The company will pay roughly $16.5 million in cash and Emera stock for the additional stake. To put that in context, Emera earned $330.0 million, or $2.26 a share, in 2015....
FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. $19 (Toronto symbol FTT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 168.0 million; Market cap: $3.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.finning.com) sells and services Caterpillar-brand heavy equipment in Canada, South America and the U.K. Its main customers are in the oil, mining, forest-products and construction industries. The company continues to cut costs as low commodity prices hurt equipment demand. Finning recently announced plans to eliminate about 500 jobs by mid-2016. That’s in addition to the 1,900 workers, or 13% of its global workforce, laid off last year. Because of the moves, Finning has already reduced its annual expenses by $150 million, and expects higher savings this year....
These two leading food makers continue to benefit from the recent drop in the Canadian dollar, which enhances the value of their overseas sales. However, both trade at high multiples to their projected earnings. That could hurt their share prices if the dollar rebounds. SAPUTO INC. $40 (Toronto symbol SAP; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 392.9 million; Market cap: $15.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.saputo.com) is Canada’s largest producer of dairy products, including milk, butter and cheese. It also operates dairies in the U.S., Australia and Argentina. The company’s sales rose 2.8% in its fiscal 2016 third quarter, which ended December 31, 2015, to $2.9 billion from $2.8 billion a year earlier. It gets 65% of its sales from outside Canada, and the lower Canadian dollar added $261 million to the latest quarter’s sales. Lower selling prices for cheese and butter cut sales by $191 million....