How To Invest
In addition, Pat thinks then beginner investors should cultivate two important qualities: a healthy sense of skepticism and patience.
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Investors should approach all investments with a healthy sense of skepticism. This can help keep you out of fraudulent stocks that masquerade as high-quality stocks. It will also keep you out of legally operated, but poorly managed, companies that promise more than they can possibly deliver.
If you are a new investor, you should also realize that losing patience can cause you to sell your best choices right before a big rise. All too often, investors buy a promising stock just as it enters a period of price stagnation. Even the best-performing stocks run into these unpredictable phases from time to time. They move mainly sideways in a wide range for months or years before their next big rise begins. (Stock brokers often refer to these stocks as “dead money.”)
If you lack patience, you run a big risk of selling your best choices in the midst of one of these phases, prior to the next big move upward. If you lose patience and sell, you are particularly likely to do so in the low end of the trading range, when stock prices have weakened and confidence in the stock has waned.
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BROOKFIELD RENEWABLE ENERGY PARTNERS L.P. $34.33 (Toronto symbol BEP.UN; Units outstanding: 265.2 million; Market cap: $9.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 5.1%; www.brookfieldrenewable.com) owns 196 hydroelectric generating stations, 11 wind farms and two natural-gas-fired plants. In all, it has 6,700 megawatts of generating capacity. Roughly 31% of that capacity is in Canada, with another 52% in the U.S. and 17% in Brazil. In the quarter ended September 30, 2014, Brookfield’s cash flow per share fell 46.3%, to $0.22 from $0.41 a year earlier. That’s because below-normal rainfall slowed the company’s hydroelectric production. However, rainfall averages out over time: in the nine months ended September 30, cash flow per share fell just 4.1%, to $1.65 from $1.72....
BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $67.34 (Toronto symbol BNS; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $81.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.9%, www.scotiabank.com) may be planning to sell its 35 bank branches and related operations in Puerto Rico. That’s because the island’s sluggish economy and high unemployment continue to hurt loan demand. Selling this business could raise $600 million U.S., which is equal to 1.0% of Bank of Nova Scotia’s $81.7-billion (Canadian) market cap (or the value of all of its outstanding shares). The bank would probably invest the proceeds from the sale of the Puerto Rican assets in more promising areas of Latin America, such as Chile and Colombia....
In 2011, gold hit a high of $1,950 U.S. an ounce and silver hit a high of $48.48. But the price of gold has fallen since then and recently dropped below $1,200 for the first time since mid-2010. It now trades at $1,141. Silver has dropped, as well, and at $15.35 an ounce is also trading at lows not seen since mid-2010. Over the longer term, gold and silver could well regain their 2011 highs. This will simply reflect the vast expansion in the U.S. money supply that has taken place since the financial crisis struck in 2008....
GLOBAL X COPPER MINERS ETF $8.01 (New York symbol COPX; buy or sell through brokers; www.globalxfunds.com) tracks the Solactive Global Copper Miners Index, which includes 20 to 40 international companies that mine, refine or explore for copper. Germany-based Structured Solutions AG created this index. Canadian firms make up 39.4% of the ETF’s holdings. It also includes companies based in Australia (17.7%), Poland (4.9%), Peru (4.4%) and Mexico (4.6%). The fund’s MER is 0.65%. Its top holdings are KGHM Polska Miedz at 5.7%; Jiangxi Copper, 5.7%; Grupo Mexico, 5.5%; Panaust Ltd., 5.3%; Glencore International, 5.3%; Oz Minerals, 5.2%; Hudbay Minerals, 5.0%; Southern Copper, 5.0%; Sandfire Resources, 4.9% and Turquoise Hill, 4.8%....
Canada’s inflation rate is now at 2.0%, right at the Bank of Canada’s target. This should let the bank keep interest rates low, which holds down our dollar, making our exports cheaper in world markets. That’s good for Canada’s economic growth. Even so, the long-term outlook is for higher interest rates. That’s because heavy deficit spending and the expansion of the money supply in the past few years make higher inflation more likely. We continue to advise against investing in bonds right now. That’s because today’s low interest rates make bonds unattractive, and rising rates would push down their future value....
TRANSCANADA CORP. $56.86 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 708.0 million; Market cap: $39.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.4%; www.transcanada.com) recently completed the purchase of three more Ontario solar power plants from Canadian Solar Inc. (Nasdaq symbol CSIQ). TransCanada now owns seven of the nine solar farms it agreed to buy from Canadian Solar in 2011. It will probably take possession of the remaining two in 2015. In all, it will pay about $500 million. The company has 20-year deals to sell the power from these solar farms, which cuts this investment’s risk....
PENGROWTH ENERGY $4.36 (Toronto symbol PGF; Shares outstanding: 528.1 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 11.0%; www.pengrowth.com) produces oil and natural gas in Western Canada and off the Nova Scotia coast. Gas accounts for 46% of its production; the other 54% is oil. In the three months ended September 30, 2014, Pengrowth produced 72,472 barrels a day (including gas), down 13.0% from 83,275 barrels a year earlier. That’s mainly because it sold several less important oil and gas properties in Western Canada. Pengrowth is investing the proceeds from these sales in more promising projects, like its Lindbergh oil sands development in Alberta’s Cold Lake region. Lindbergh should start up in early 2015 and produce 12,500 barrels a day. Future phases will raise the project’s daily output to 50,000 barrels....
LOBLAW COMPANIES $58.33 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 413.5 million; Market cap: $24.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.7%; www.loblaw.ca) has sold 16 more properties to Choice Properties REIT (Toronto symbol CHP.UN). These assets consist of 15 retail stores and one warehouse with over 1.3 million total square feet. The sale price was $211.9 million. Loblaw transferred the bulk of its real estate holdings to Choice in September 2013. Choice now owns 472 properties, and Loblaw accounts for roughly 93% of its earnings. Choice Properties paid for about half of the latest purchase price in units. That increased Loblaw’s interest in the REIT to 83.0% from 82.2%....
ENCANA CORP. $21.00 (Toronto symbol ECA; Shares outstanding: 741.0 million; Market cap: $15.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.4%; www.encana.com) continues to sell less important natural gas properties as it shifts toward long-lasting projects that mainly produce oil and natural gas liquids, such as butane and propane. The company recently agreed to sell most of its natural gas properties in central Alberta’s Clearwater region for $605 million (Canadian). That’s equal to 83% of its second-quarter cash flow of $656 million U.S., or $0.89 U.S. a share. The company expects to complete the sale in the first quarter of 2015. The cash will help Encana pay for Texas-based oil producer Athlon Energy (New York symbol ATHL), which it recently agreed to buy for $7.1 billion U.S., including Athlon’s $1.15 billion U.S. of debt. Encana should complete this purchase by the end of 2014....
CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD. $232.18 (Toronto symbol CP; Shares outstanding: 170.6 million; Market cap: $39.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 0.6%; www.cpr.ca) earned a record $400 million in the three months ended September 30, 2014, up 20.8% from $331 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 22.9%, to $2.31 from $1.88, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue gained 8.9%, to a record $1.67 billion from $1.53 billion. CP saw strong revenue gains from shipping grain, crude oil, metals and consumer products. That offset declines in shipments of fertilizer, coal and automotive products....