How To Invest
In addition, Pat thinks then beginner investors should cultivate two important qualities: a healthy sense of skepticism and patience.
[text_ad]
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.
[text_ad]
Read More
Close
How To Invest Library Archives
When I sat down to write about the 2014 U.S. mid-term Congressional Election results, I was struck by how little things had changed since the 2010 mid-term. Here’s what I wrote four years ago for our Inner Circle Q&A about the 2010 U.S. mid-term: “November 9, 2010 Dear Inner Circle member,...
Parkland Fuel Corp., $22.18, symbol PKI on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 75.0 million; Market cap: $1.7 billion, www.parkland.ca), operates gas stations, convenience stores and a fuel distribution business, mostly in Western Canada and Ontario. It was called Parkland Income Fund before it converted to a dividend-paying corporation on December 31, 2010. The company owns 144 rural gas stations and convenience stores. Brands include Fas Gas Plus, Race Trac Gas and Short Stop. Many of Parkland’s stations sell propane in addition to gasoline and diesel fuel. The company also operates Esso stations in Western Canada and Ontario under a licensing deal with Imperial Oil (symbol IMO on Toronto). It recently signed an agreement to use the Chevron brand in B.C. Parkland continues to sell its company-owned stations to franchisees. This lets it collect rent and commissions on fuel sales without having to staff and operate the stations....
A: CanElson Drilling, $5.61, symbol CDI on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 92.7 million; Market cap: $483.8 million; www.canelsondrilling.com), mainly operates drilling rigs in Western Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. The company operates these rigs under contract to oil and gas exploration and development firms. It currently has 46 rigs in operation: 28 in Canada, 12 in Texas’s Permian Basin and six in the Williston Basin (including the North Dakota Bakken area and part of Montana). CanElson also operates four rigs in Mexico through its 50%-owned joint venture, Diavaz CanElson de Mexico S.A. de C.V. In the three months ended June 30, 2014, CanElson’s revenue jumped 65.1%, to $61.9 million from $37.5 million a year earlier. Cash flow per share gained 80.0%, to $0.18 from $0.10....
Westshore Terminals Investment Corp., $34.34, symbol WTE on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 74.3 million; Market cap: $2.6 billion; www.westshore.com), owns a coal storage and loading terminal at Roberts Bank, B.C., about 30 kilometres south of Vancouver. The terminal started up in 1970. Teck Resources accounts for 56% of the terminal’s volume, and other Canadian coal producers supply 12%. The remaining 32% comes from U.S. customers. Producers ship their coal to the terminal by rail. Westshore then loads it onto ships that deliver it to customers in over 20 countries. The company does not purchase the coal. Instead, it receives a handling fee for loading it....
Whole Foods Market Inc., $39.99, symbol WFM on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 361.2 million; Market cap: $14.4 billion; www.wholefoodsmarket.com), is the largest retailer of natural and organic foods in the U.S. The company was founded in Austin, Texas, in 1980, when three local businessmen decided the natural food industry was ready for a supermarket format. Whole Foods sells a selection of perishable foods, mainly natural or organic products, as well as mainstream national brands. Its food comes from all over the world, but it focuses on selling goods from local farmers. The company operates 399 stores: 381 in the U.S., nine in Canada and nine in the U.K. The U.S. supplies 97% of its sales. In the short term, Whole Foods plans to increase its overall store square footage by 10% a year. Ultimately, it aims to expand to over 1,200 locations in the U.S....
Cineplex Inc., $42.76, symbol CGX on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 63.0 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion, www.cineplex.com), is the dominant movie theatre operator in Canada and the fourth largest in North America. The company owns or has interests in 161 theatres containing 1,639 screens. Its brands include Cineplex Odeon, Galaxy, Scotiabank Theatres and SilverCity. Cineplex takes in about 80% of Canada’s total box office revenue. Cineplex continues to invest in new growth projects, including adding more VIP theatres with amenities like alcoholic beverages and reserved seating. It’s also increasing its revenue with exclusive attractions like Bollywood films from India and live performances from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City....
This week, we have a special report for you—see below—about a number of Canadian stocks that offer a particularly attractive combination of three investment positives: low per-share price-to-earnings ratios, steady or rising dividends, and promising growth prospects. Pat +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++...
We still think investors will profit most—and with the least risk—by buying shares of well-established, dividend-paying stocks with strong business prospects.
These are companies that have strong positions in healthy industries. They also have strong management that will make the right moves to remain competitive in a changing marketplace.
Stocks like these give investors an additional measure of safety in today’s volatile markets. And the best ones offer an attractive combination of moderate p/e’s (the ratio of a stock’s price to its per-share earnings), steady or rising dividend yields (annual dividend divided by the share price) and promising growth prospects.
Here are 20 stocks we think meet those criteria:
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
...
These are companies that have strong positions in healthy industries. They also have strong management that will make the right moves to remain competitive in a changing marketplace.
Stocks like these give investors an additional measure of safety in today’s volatile markets. And the best ones offer an attractive combination of moderate p/e’s (the ratio of a stock’s price to its per-share earnings), steady or rising dividend yields (annual dividend divided by the share price) and promising growth prospects.
Here are 20 stocks we think meet those criteria:
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
...
Here’s the text of the quarterly letter I recently sent to our Portfolio Management clients:
“One of the most dependable rules of North American investing, and one I’ve often written about, is the “four-year rule”. It says that U.S. Presidents tend to get a lot friendlier toward business and investors in the second half of each four-year U.S. Presidential term. Stocks usually (but not always) rise in response.
The switch to investor-friendliness often occurs within a few weeks of the mid-term Congressional election. The next one of these takes place on Tuesday, November 4 this year. That’s when the current president will generally start to focus on the next Presidential election, which comes two years later.
...
“One of the most dependable rules of North American investing, and one I’ve often written about, is the “four-year rule”. It says that U.S. Presidents tend to get a lot friendlier toward business and investors in the second half of each four-year U.S. Presidential term. Stocks usually (but not always) rise in response.
The switch to investor-friendliness often occurs within a few weeks of the mid-term Congressional election. The next one of these takes place on Tuesday, November 4 this year. That’s when the current president will generally start to focus on the next Presidential election, which comes two years later.
...
Industrial Alliance Insurance & Financial Services, $42.51, symbol IAG on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 100.1 million; Market cap: $4.3 billion; www.inalco.com), offers a range of financial products, including life and health insurance, savings and retirement plans, RRSPs, mutual and segregated funds, mortgage loans and auto and home insurance. In the quarter ended June 30, 2014, Industrial’s earnings jumped 52.7%, to $1.13 a share from $0.74. That was due to rising stock markets, a benefit from its hedging program, tax gains and lower life insurance payouts, offset by a loss in group insurance benefits. The company’s outlook remains positive. It is also raising prices in its group insurance area, although most of the benefit won’t come until renewals take place next year....