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
SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $49 (Toronto symbol SNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 151 million; Market cap: $7.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; SI Rating: Average) hopes to win a $255 million U.S. contract to install gas turbines in three Iraqi electrical-power plants....
INDIGO BOOKS & MUSIC INC. $12 (Toronto symbol IDG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 24.5 million; Market cap: $294 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; SI Rating: Average) is Canada’s largest bookseller. Indigo operates 91 superstores under the Indigo, Chapters and World’s Biggest Bookstore brands. It also sells books online, and in smaller stores under the Coles, Indigo, Indigospirit, SmithBooks and The Book Company banners. In February, Indigo launched a new web site called shortcovers.com, which lets users download electronic books and magazines to their computers and mobile devices. Although e-books are still evolving, U.S.-based bookseller Amazon.com’s Kindle reader and devices from other companies, such as Sony, have spurred interest in them. As well, shortcovers will help Indigo compete if Amazon decides to bring the Kindle to Canada. Indigo’s losses in its first quarter, which ended June 27, 2009 rose to $0.09 a share from $0.05 a year earlier. That’s mainly because of the cost of launching shortcovers.com. As well, Indigo earns most of its money during the Christmas season, which falls in its third quarter. It typically earns little, or even posts losses, in the other quarters....
We rate BCE and Bell Aliant as “Above Average,” so they both have about the same risk level. Bell Aliant offers higher income, but BCE reinvests more of its cash flow. That reinvestment, plus its wider range of operations, gives the company better growth prospects. This makes BCE a better choice for new buying. BCE INC. $27 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 767.2 million; Market cap: $20.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; SI Rating: Above Average) has 7.2 million residential and business telephone customers in Ontario and Quebec. It also has 6.6 million wireless subscribers across Canada, and sells other services, including Internet access and satellite TV. BCE also owns 44% of Bell Aliant, which has 3.1 million telephone customers in Atlantic Canada and rural parts of Ontario and Quebec. Bell Aliant transferred most of its wireless business to BCE as part of the deal that created the trust in 2006....
BELL ALIANT REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS INCOME FUND $27 (Toronto symbol BA.UN; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Units outstanding: 127.2 million; Market cap: $3.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; SI Rating: Above Average) will cut 5% of its workforce as part of a plan to lower its costs by $60 million a year. The fund plans to invest these savings in improving the speed and availability of its Internet service. These upgrades should help it hang on to its current customers and fend off strong competition from cable companies. Meanwhile, Bell Aliant earned $93.5 million, or $0.58 a unit, in the three months ended June 30, 2009. That’s a 10.0% higher than the $85 million, or $0.53 a unit, it earned a year earlier. Revenue fell 2.9%, to $789.7 million from $813.1 million. The fund continues to pay a regular monthly distribution of $0.2417 a unit. That gives it an 10.7% annual yield. Bell Aliant is a buy.
CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD. $53 (Toronto symbol CP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 168.1 million; Market cap: $8.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; SI Rating: Above Average)...
LINAMAR CORP. $12 (Toronto symbol LNR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 64.7 million; Market cap: $776.4 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; SI Rating: Extra Risk) lost $48.4 million, or $0.75 a share, in the three months ended June 30, 2009. The loss included a $46.3-million writedown of machinery and equipment that Linamar used to make parts for General Motors and Chrysler. Accounting rules forced Linamar to write down the book value of these assets after GM and Chrysler declared bankruptcy in the second quarter. The company also paid $5.4-million in severance payments because weak car sales prompted it to cut its workforce by 12% earlier this year. Without these items, Linamar would have lost $10.1 million, or $0.16 a share. A year earlier, it earned $32.0 million, or $0.48 a share. Sales fell 39.6%, to $378 million from $625.4 million. Despite the loss, Linamar won $250 million in new contracts during the quarter. That’s because the recession has forced some of its smaller competitors to shut down entirely. The company also won a multi-year contract to supply driveline systems to an undisclosed European carmaker. This deal should add $200 million to Linamar’s annual revenue by 2014....
TECK RESOURCES LTD. $28 (Toronto symbol TCK.B; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 588.5 million; Market cap: $16.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; SI Rating: Extra Risk) now gets about half of its revenue from metallurgical coal, which is used for making steel. That’s because Teck bought Fording Canadian Coal Trust for $13.6 billion last October. Fording owns six open-pit coal mines in B.C. and Alberta. At current production rates, these mines have an average reserve life of 23 years. Teck also mines copper, zinc and gold.
Credit crisis came at a bad time
Teck used $9.8 billion U.S. in short-term loans to pay for Fording. It planned to convert these into more manageable long-term loans, but the credit crisis lowered demand for new corporate bonds. Then the recession drove down commodity prices. This hurt Teck’s ability to repay the new debt....
TRANSCANADA CORP. $32 has started building a gas-fired power plant near Phoenix, Arizona, that should start operating in May 2011. The $500-million U.S. cost is equal to 60% of the $319 million, or $0.51 a share, that TransCanada earned in the three months ended June 30, 2009. TransCanada has a 20-year deal to sell the plant’s power to an Arizona utility. This cuts the project’s risk. Best Buy. CANADIAN TIRE CORP. $58 is the subject of a “mini-tender” offer from a private investment firm that wants to buy 1.28% of the retailer’s class-A non-voting stock at $54.00 a share, or about 7% below the current price. Investors should ignore this offer. Canadian Tire is still a Best Buy. IGM FINANCIAL INC. $42 reported that as of August 31, 2009, its assets under management fell 3.0%, to $114.7 billion from $118.2 billion a year earlier. IGM’s fees rise and fall with the value of the mutual funds and other securities it manages, so the company’s revenue and earnings suffer when the value of these assets drops. However, IGM’s large sales force puts the company in a good position to grow as the economy and stock markets continue to rebound. Best Buy.
MDS INC., $8.37, Toronto symbol MDS, rose nearly 30% this week after it announced several moves aimed at unlocking its value. The company has three businesses: MDS Analytical Technologies sells mass spectrometers that detect and measure substances in blood and other patient samples; MDS Pharma Services conducts contract-drug research for pharmaceutical companies; and MDS Nordion supplies medical isotopes for cancer research. As a result of a strategic review, MDS plans to sell its pharma-services division, and this week it agreed to sell its analytical-technologies segment. These sales will allow MDS to focus solely on its isotope business....
CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE, $64.11, Toronto symbol CM, set aside roughly $3 billion in August 2005 to settle a class-action lawsuit related to its involvement with failed energy company Enron Corp. In its 2008 fourth quarter, which ended October 31, 2008, the bank recorded a $486-million tax benefit related to this settlement. The Canadian Revenue Agency is now challenging this deduction, and may take CIBC to court. If CIBC wins, it will recognize a further tax gain of $214 million. If it loses, it will have to pay $826 million. To put these figures in context, CIBC earned $434 million, of $1.02 a share, in the three months ended July 31, 2009. That’s a big improvement over the $71 million, or $0.11 a share, it earned a year earlier. However, if you exclude several unusual items, such as writedowns of securities, earnings per share fell 21.9%, to $1.29 from $1.65. On that basis, analysts were expecting $1.41 a share....