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.
[text_ad]
Read More
Close
Dividend Stocks Library Archive
BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $46 (Toronto symbol BNS; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $46.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 4.3%; SI Rating: Above Average) is paying an undisclosed sum for 10% of Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank). The deal should close in the third quarter of 2010. VietinBank is one of several state-owned banks in Vietnam. Bank of Nova Scotia’s expertise with similar-sized banks in China and Thailand will help VietinBank modernize and expand its operations. As well, this investment will help Bank of Nova Scotia establish a presence in Vietnam as the country liberalizes its economy. Bank of Nova Scotia is a buy.
RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $18 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Units outstanding: 242.3 million; Market cap: $4.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.5; Dividend yield: 7.7%; SI Rating: Average) has mainly focused on outdoor shopping malls in Canada since it became a real estate investment trust in 1993. RioCan recently announced its first investment in the U.S. The trust will form a joint venture with Cedar Shopping Centers, Inc. (New York symbol CDR). RioCan will pay Cedar $181 million U.S. for 80% of this venture, which will hold seven of Cedar’s malls in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. RioCan will also hold a 15% interest in Cedar. The deal will close in March 2010. This is a big investment for RioCan in relation to its 2009 earnings. To put the purchase price in perspective, the trust earned $113.9 million, or $0.49 a unit, in 2009. Still, this purchase only represents 4% of its market cap....
Maple Leaf Foods has recovered nicely since it fell to $6.54 in October 2008 following a listeriosis outbreak and a massive recall of meat products. Since the recall, the company has been settling lawsuits and investing in new food-safety equipment and procedures. These costs have weighed on its recent earnings. However, Maple Leaf’s long-term outlook is improving, thanks to its focus on more profitable products. It will also gain from subsidiary Canada Bread’s recent cost cuts. We still prefer Maple Leaf to Canada Bread for new buying. MAPLE LEAF FOODS INC. $11 (Toronto symbol MFI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 131.0 million; Market cap: $1.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; Dividend yield: 1.5%; SI Rating: Average) is Canada’s largest food-processing company. Its products include fresh and prepared meats and poultry, mainly under the Maple Leaf and Schneider brands. Maple Leaf also owns 89.8% of Canada Bread....
CANADA BREAD CO. LTD. $52 (Toronto symbol CBY; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 25.4 million; Market cap: $1.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 0.5%; SI Rating: Above Average) is Canada’s second-largest maker of baked goods after Weston Bakery. The company also makes specialty pastas and sauces. Its main brands include Dempster, Tenderflake and Olivieri. Like Maple Leaf, Canada Bread is developing new products that should help fuel its earnings. These include new versions of its main products that use whole grains and natural ingredients to promote better digestion. The company has also introduced low-sodium, high-fibre products that help lower cholesterol. Canada Bread is closing its three outdated bakeries in Toronto, including one housed in a building that’s over 100 years old. The company will shift their production into a new plant that it plans to build in southwestern Ontario. This new facility will be the biggest bakery in Canada. The company will choose a location for the new plant in the next month or two. Construction should begin later this year, with production starting in late 2011....
CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO. $54 (Toronto symbol CNR; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 471.0 million; Market cap: $25.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.3; Dividend yield: 2.0%; SI Rating: Above Average) is spending $100 million to build a new rail hub in Calgary. To put this figure in context, CN earned $1.5 billion, or $3.24 a share, in 2009. When this facility opens in 2013, it will make CN more efficient by speeding up the flow of trains in western Canada. CN Rail is a buy....
BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $5.40 and BBD.B $5.42; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market share: $9.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 1.9%; SI Rating: Extra Risk) delivered 302 aircraft in its latest fiscal year, which ended January 31, 2010. That’s down 13.5% from 349 in the prior year. Business-jet deliveries fell 25.1%, while commercial-aircraft deliveries rose 10.0%. The company estimates that both business and commercial aircraft deliveries will fall in fiscal 2011. However, demand should pick up in 2012. Meanwhile, Bombardier’s railcar division continues to win new orders as governments stimulate their economies with new investments in public-transit systems. Bombardier is a buy. The “B” shares are the better choice.
INDIGO BOOKS & MUSIC INC. $16 (Toronto symbol IDG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 24.5 million; Market cap: $392.0 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; Dividend yield; 2.5%; SI Rating: Average) is Canada’s largest bookseller. The company operates 96 superstores under the Indigo and Chapters banners. It also has 151 mall-based stores under the Coles, Indigo, Indigospirit, SmithBooks and The Book Company banners. Indigo continues to expand its Internet businesses. The company already sells books, music and movies through its web site, and it is becoming a leader in the fast-growing field of electronic books. It recently merged its shortcovers.com web site with a new downloading service called Kobo (an anagram of “book”). Indigo’s $5-million contribution gave it a 57.7% stake in Kobo.
Kobo has strong long-term potential
...
ATCO LTD. $45 has increased its quarterly dividend by 6.0%, to $0.265 a share from $0.25. The new annual rate of $1.06 yields 2.4%. Buy. CANADIAN UTILITIES LTD. $42 is 52% owned by ATCO, and is ATCO’s main subsidiary. Like its parent, Canadian Utilities is raising its dividend. The new quarterly payment is $0.3775 a share. That’s up 7.1% from $0.3525. The new annual rate of $1.51 yields 3.6%. Buy. MOLSON COORS CANADA INC. $42 earned $3.81 a share in 2009, up 40.6% from $2.71 in 2008 (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). Savings from the July 2008 merger of its U.S. brewing operations with those of SABMiller were the main reason for the gain. Revenue fell 36.5%, to $3.0 billion from $4.8 billion. That’s because accounting rules force Molson Coors to recognize only its proportionate share of the U.S. joint venture. Best Buy.
BCE INC., $28.60, Toronto symbol BCE, is starting to see the benefits of its restructuring plan, which began in July 2008. The plan included cutting jobs, relocating employees and selling extra real estate. The restructuring should save the company $400 million a year by the end of this year. In 2009, BCE’s earnings rose 6.5%, to $1.9 billion from $1.8 billion in the prior year. Per-share earnings rose 11.1%, to $2.50 from $2.25, on fewer shares outstanding. These figures exclude restructuring costs and other unusual items. The latest earnings beat the $2.49 a share that analysts were expecting. Revenue rose 0.4%, to $17.74 billion from $17.66 billion. BCE continues to lose residential phone customers to cable and wireless providers. The company now has 6.9 million local telephone subscribers, down 6.1% from the previous year. However, some of these customers are switching to the company’s own wireless service. BCE had 6.8 million wireless subscribers at the end of 2009. That’s a gain of 5.2% over the previous year....
CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO., $53.52, Toronto symbol CNR, earned $1.5 billion in 2009. That’s down 13.8% from $1.8 billion in the prior year. Earnings per share fell 12.7%, to $3.24 from $3.71, on fewer shares outstanding. These figures exclude unusual items, including income-tax refunds and gains on sales of two small railway lines. Despite the drop, the latest earnings beat the $3.22 a share that analysts were expecting. Revenue fell 13.2%, to $7.4 billion from $8.5 billion. The recession hurt revenue at all of CN’s freight groups: The automotive group’s revenue fell 24%, followed by metals and minerals (down 23%), forest products (down 20%), consumer and industrial goods (down 15%), petroleum and chemicals (down 6%), coal (down 3%), and grain and fertilizers (down 3%)....