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
CGI GROUP INC., $19.17, Toronto symbol GIB.A, is Canada’s largest provider of computer-outsourcing services. The company’s services help its customers automate certain routine functions, such as accounting and buying supplies. That makes its clients more efficient, and lets them focus on their main businesses. In its fiscal 2011 first quarter, which ended December 31, 2010, CGI earned $126.6 million. That’s up 13.8% from $111.2 million a year earlier. The company paid $81.0 million to buy back shares during the quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 21.6%, to $0.45 from $0.37. That easily beat the consensus earnings estimate of $0.34 a share. As a result, the stock gained 5% this week. Revenue rose 22.7%, to $1.1 billion from $913.0 million a year earlier. If you exclude the negative impact of exchange rates, revenue would have risen 25.9%. Canadian revenue rose 0.5%, but U.S. revenue jumped 77.1%, because the company won a number of new federal government contracts. The U.S. gain also reflects the contribution of Stanley Inc., which CGI bought last year. Stanley provides computer-outsourcing services to military and civilian agencies of the U.S. government....
PLEASE NOTE: Next week, Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on the U.S. stock markets, will reveal its #1 pick for 2011. If you’re not already a Wall Street Stock Forecaster subscriber, click here to learn how you can get one month — including the Wall Street Stock Forecaster Stock of the Year —FREE. ENCANA CORP., $32.00, Toronto symbol ECA, is selling its natural-gas processing plant in Colorado, as well as five pipelines that pump gas into this plant. Encana will receive $303 million when the sale closes by March 31, 2011 (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). To put this figure in context, the company earned $98 million, or $0.13 a share, in the three months ended September 30, 2010. The company did not say what it plans to do with the cash....
CGI GROUP INC. $18.09, Toronto symbol GIB.A, is our Stock of the Year for 2011. Next week, Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for aggressive investors, will reveal its #1 pick for 2011. If you’re not already a Stock Pickers Digest subscriber, click here to learn how you can get one month—including the Stock Pickers Digest Stock of the Year—FREE. CGI is Canada’s largest provider of computer-outsourcing services. The company’s services help its customers automate certain routine functions, such as accounting and buying supplies. That lets CGI’s clients focus on their main businesses, and improve their efficiency. CGI is more speculative than most of our other recommendations. It does not pay a dividend, and its major shareholders control the company through multiple-voting shares. Its aggressive growth-by-acquisition strategy also adds risk....
CGI Group is more speculative than most of our other recommendations. It does not pay a dividend, and its major shareholders control the company through multiple-voting shares. Its aggressive growth-by-acquisition strategy also adds risk. It’s true that each of these factors is something of a negative, but each is minor compared to CGI’s strong growth prospects. That’s why we picked CGI as our Stock of the Year in January 2010. The stock has gained 20.0% since then. We still feel CGI has years of growth ahead, particularly because its services help cash-strapped governments and businesses cut costs. It also trades at a low multiple to earnings. That’s why we are once again picking CGI as our Stock of the Year for 2011....
Every day from Monday to Friday, we post free investment reports on TSINetwork.ca, our company website. We also email the reports to all our paying subscribers who have given us an email address, and to anyone else who requests them. As a subscriber to The Successful Investor, you’re in a particularly good position to profit from this free service. It’s a great supplement to your monthly Successful Investor newsletter, at no added cost. The Successful Investor focuses on low-risk Canadian stocks with strong profit and growth potential....
Canada’s big five banks have posted strong results since the 2007-2009 financial crisis. All five should have no trouble complying with new international regulations aimed at avoiding another crisis. As well, their strength is helping them buy other financial companies in the U.S. and other countries, often at bargain prices. ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $53 (Toronto symbol RY; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $74.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rbc.com) is Canada’s largest bank, with total assets of $726.2 billion. In its 2010 fiscal year, which ended October 31, 2010, Royal earned $5.2 billion, or $3.46 a share. That’s up 35.4% from $3.9 billion, or $2.57 a share, in fiscal 2009....
CAE INC. $12 (Toronto symbol CAE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 256.2 million; Market cap: $3.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cae.com) is paying an undisclosed sum for the training operations of privately held CHC Helicopter. These assets include four flight simulators in Canada, Norway and the U.K. CAE will also train CHC’s pilots and maintenance engineers under a long-term contract. The deal will help CAE take advantage of rising demand for helicopter pilots, particularly as oil companies build more offshore drilling platforms. CAE is a buy.
ARBOR MEMORIAL SERVICES INC. $25 (Toronto symbol ABO.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 10.6 million; Market cap: $265.0 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.arbormemorial.com) earned $2.17 a share in the fiscal year ended October 31, 2010. That’s up 16.7% from $1.86 in 2009. Revenue rose 15.2%, to $281.8 million from $244.7 million. Arbor’s clients rushed to buy burial spaces and other funeral services before the new harmonized sales tax took effect in Ontario and B.C. on July 1, 2010. That was the main reason for the higher revenue and earnings. Arbor Memorial Services is a hold.
SHAWCOR LTD. $35 (Toronto symbol SCL.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 70.6 million; Market cap: $2.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 0.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.shawcor.com) has won a contract from Chevron Corp. (New York symbol CVX) to coat pipelines that will pump oil from Chevron’s Jack/St. Malo offshore oilfield in the Gulf of Mexico. ShawCor will start work on this contract later this year, and complete the job in mid-2012. The deal is worth $40 million U.S. That’s just 4% of ShawCor’s annual revenue of over $1 billion (Canadian). However, it will probably lead to more pipeline-coating contracts from Chevron. ShawCor is a buy.
TRANSALTA CORP. $22 (Toronto symbol TA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 220.3 million; Market cap: $4.8 billion; Price-to-sales: ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 5.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.transalta.com) operates over 85 unregulated power plants in Canada, the U.S. and Australia. Ottawa recently announced plans to phase out coal-fired power plants by around 2025. That would hurt TransAlta, which uses coal to generate 55% of its power. Under the proposals, TransAlta would have to close its coal-fired plants when they reach 45 years of age or when their power-purchase contracts with provincial electricity regulators expire, whichever is later....