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
Newspaper publishers have lost ad revenue to Internet-focused companies like Google and Craigslist. This new competition has also pushed down ad rates. But Torstar continues to adapt to these new trends by quickly building its Internet presence and revenues. It’s already the leader in the publishing field, and it’s now arranging its business to profit from synergies among paper publishing, the Internet, radio and TV. Torstar now aims as well to integrate content and ads in a way that makes them both more valuable. For instance, if it publishes a story about a particular neighborhood in its print edition, it can sell links within the Internet version of that story, to take readers directly to ads for homes in that neighbourhood. That’s apt to deliver better returns to advertisers. Torstar already has limited risk and lots of growth potential with its newspaper and other media interests. Its expanding Internet presence just adds to its prospects....
FORTIS INC. $27 earned $41.5 million in the second quarter of 2007, up 9.5% from $37.9 million a year earlier. However, per-share earnings fell 16.2%, to $0.31 from $0.37. That’s because Fortis issued $1.15 billion worth of new shares to help pay for its May, 2007 purchase of B.C. gas distributor Terasen. Revenue jumped to $565.9 million from $345.9 million, partly due to the new operations. Regulated operations now account for 92% of Fortis’s assets, which cuts its risk. Buy. TECK COMINCO LTD. $43 (Toronto symbol TCK.B) has moved down in the past month as the slowdown in U.S. housing markets has cut demand for zinc, which helps prevent steel construction materials from rusting. Zinc accounts for about a third of Teck’s revenue, but its recent purchase of copper producer Aur Resources helps cut its risk. Buy. THE THOMSON CORP. $43 (Toronto symbol TOC) has added to its Thomson Tax & Accounting division with the purchase of the property tax business of major accounting firm Deloitte Touche for an undisclosed amount. This business’ 420 professionals provide property tax compliance, consulting and appeal services, as well complex property valuations. Buy.
IGM FINANCIAL INC. $51 (Toronto symbol IGM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 264.5 million; Market cap: $13.5 billion; SI Rating: Above average) is Canada’s largest mutual fund company, with assets under management of $123.8 billion. Power Financial Corp. owns 56% of IGM’s stock. IGM sells its funds through two main divisions. Investors Group sells its funds through its own network of 4,100 advisors. Investors Group also provides other financial services such as banking, insurance and brokerage. The other major division is Mackenzie Financial, which sells its products through independent brokers. IGM’s revenue fell from $1.9 billion in 2002 to $1.87 billion in 2003, but rose steadily to $2.6 billion in 2006. Earnings rose from $1.85 a share (total $491.1 million) in 2002 to $2.90 a share ($776.7 million) in 2006, or 11.9% compounded annually. If you exclude unusual items, IGM would have earned $2.85 a share in 2006....
BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $52 (Toronto symbol BNS; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 988.0 million; Market cap: $51.4 billion; SI Rating: Above average) has the biggest international exposure of Canada’s five big banks. It now gets 30% of its profits from operations outside of Canada, primarily in Latin America and Asia. The bank tends to use acquisitions to expand its overseas operations, which is less risky than starting up new businesses from scratch. For example, it has agreed to buy 79% of Banco del Desarrollo, Chile’s seventh-largest bank. It plans to launch a takeover offer for the remaining 21% of the shares, which will bring the total purchase price to about $1.0 billion U.S. That’s roughly equal to the $1.03 billion (Canadian) or $1.02 a share it earned in the three months ended July 31, 2007. Bank of Nova Scotia has operated in Chile since 1990, which helps cut the risk of this purchase. The new assets should add $0.05 a share to annual earnings in the first year, rising to $0.10 a share by the third year....
CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE $96 (Toronto symbol CM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 334.6 million; Market cap: $32.1 billion; SI Rating: Above average) earned $2.42 a share in its third fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2007, up 25.4% from $1.93 a year earlier. These figures exclude unusual items, including a $0.56 a share writedown of mortgage-backed securities in the most recent quarter. Revenue grew 7.1%, to $3.0 billion from $2.8 billion, thanks to strong growth at its retail banking and investment operations. The bank has raised its quarterly dividend 13.0%, from $0.77 a share to $0.87. The new annual rate of $3.48 yields 3.6%. CIBC is a buy....
NOVA CHEMICALS CORP. $37 (Toronto symbol NCX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 82.7 million; Market cap: $3.1 billion; SI Rating: Extra risk) is studying a plan to extract ethane from excess natural gas at Alberta’s oil sands projects. Nova’s close proximity to gas suppliers in Alberta gives it an advantage over other plastics producers. This new project could further lower its input costs. The stock got as high as $44 in July, partly due to takeover rumours. However, it operates in an economically sensitive industry. For example, the stock fell recently to $34 on fears that the problems in U.S. housing markets would hurt spending and economic growth. The stock now trades at 13.3 times the $2.67 U.S. a share Nova should earn in 2007, and at just 7.9 times its forecast cash flow of $4.52 U.S. a share. The $0.40 (Canadian) dividend yields 1.1%....
Air travel has rebounded strongly since 9/11. But high oil prices could hurt the ability of airlines to invest in new planes and simulators. Although riskier, we feel Bombardier’s wider sources of income gives it greater earnings potential right now than CAE. BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $6.29 and BBD.B $6.26; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $10.6 billion; SI Rating: Extra risk) is the world’s third-largest maker of commercial aircraft, after Boeing and Airbus. It specializes in small business jets, and regional jets that carry around 100 passengers. The company also makes passenger railcars. In its second fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2007, Bombardier earned $0.05 a share, up 66.7% from $0.03 a year earlier (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. funds). The most recent quarterly figure excludes a one-time writedown of its investment in a group that’s refurbishing the London, UK subway system. Strong demand for business jets and railcars, particularly in China and Russia, expanded sales by 14.3%, to $4.0 billion from $3.5 billion....
LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $45 (Toronto symbol L; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 274.2 million; Market cap: $12.3 billion; SI Rating: Above average) is Canada’s largest food retailer, with over 1,500 stores. Major banners include Loblaw, Fortinos, No Frills, Provigo, and Zehrs Markets. It also supplies independent supermarkets. George Weston Ltd. owns 63% of its common shares. The company is currently in the middle of a multi-year restructuring. This plan aims to cut the amount of non-food merchandise Loblaw carries, and fix distribution problems that have led to shortages at some stores. Loblaw has already recorded $292 million in restructuring costs, and it estimates the plan will cost a further $54 million. But it should cut Loblaw’s annual operating costs by $100 million. In the second quarter ended June 16, 2007, earnings fell 39.4%, to $0.43 a share (total $119 million) from $0.71 a share ($194 million) a year earlier. If you exclude restructuring costs, per-share earnings fell 14.3%, to $0.60 from $0.70. Sales rose 3.0%, to $6.9 billion from $6.7 billion, while same-store sales grew 2.7%....
TRANSCANADA CORP. $36 (Toronto symbol TRP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 536.3 million; Market cap: $19.3 billion; SI Rating: Above average) will take part in the expanded refurbishment of unit four of the ‘A’ section of Ontario’s Bruce nuclear power station. The $1 billion addition will bring the cost of the restart of the four units at the plant to a total of $5.25 billion, with TransCanada’s share now set at $2.625 billion. TransCanada holds a 48.7% stake in the partnership that is half way through the restart of the ‘A’ section of Bruce. The additional investment by TransCanada, Cameco and the other partners will extend the expected life of unit four from 2017 to 2036. The other three units are already scheduled to last until 2036. Bruce A now operates at 50% capacity, but should reach full capacity by 2010 when the restart of units one and two is complete....
MDS INC. $22 (Toronto symbol MDS; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 122.5 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion; SI Rating: Average) has completed reviews of about 85% of the tests performed at its Montreal drug-testing lab, as requested by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. European regulators may also ask for more data, but the FDA audits should satisfy most of their concerns. These audits cost MDS $0.02 a share in its third fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2007 (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). It also absorbed $0.05 a share in restructuring costs related to a recent acquisition. If you exclude all unusual charges, earnings jumped to $0.14 a share from $0.01 a year earlier. Revenue grew 24.4%, to $321 million from $258 million. If you exclude the acquisition, revenue rose 3%....