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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How To Invest Library Archives
LOBLAW COS. $46.81 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 282.3 million; Market cap: $13.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 2.0%; www.loblaw.ca) continues to expand its Joe Fresh business, which makes casual clothing, shoes and accessories.
Loblaw mainly sells these goods in over 300 of its supermarkets and through 22 stand-alone stores in the U.S....
Loblaw mainly sells these goods in over 300 of its supermarkets and through 22 stand-alone stores in the U.S....
CRESCENT POINT ENERGY CORP. $40.44 (Toronto symbol CPG; Shares outstanding: 395.7 million; Market cap: $16.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 6.8%; www.crescentpointenergy.com) produces oil and natural gas in Western Canada. Its output is weighted 91% toward oil and 9% to gas.
The company continues to focus on its Bakken light oil development in southeastern Saskatchewan.
In the three months ended December 31, 2013, Crescent Point’s cash flow rose 23.9%, to $533.3 million from $430.4 million a year earlier.
The company increased its production by 18.2%, to 127,641 barrels of oil equivalent (including gas) from 108,007....
The company continues to focus on its Bakken light oil development in southeastern Saskatchewan.
In the three months ended December 31, 2013, Crescent Point’s cash flow rose 23.9%, to $533.3 million from $430.4 million a year earlier.
The company increased its production by 18.2%, to 127,641 barrels of oil equivalent (including gas) from 108,007....
IMPERIAL OIL $51.60 (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap: $44.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Div. yield: 1.0%; www.imperialoil.ca) is selling some of its conventional oil and natural gas properties in Alberta and B.C. to Whitecap Resources....
TELUS $39.14 (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 623.4 million; Market cap: $24.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.7%; www.telus.com) has paid an undisclosed sum for Groupe Enode Inc., a privately held Quebec firm whose software protects databases from online intruders.
Enode’s expertise should help Telus attract more government and corporate clients and make its cloud computing services more secure....
Enode’s expertise should help Telus attract more government and corporate clients and make its cloud computing services more secure....
Tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs) let you earn investment income—including interest, dividends and capital gains—tax-free.
But they are also an ideal way to cut taxes through income-splitting with a spouse. Income splitting lets you shift income from one spouse in a high tax bracket to another in a lower bracket.
If you have already maximized your TFSA (up to a $31,000 limit this year), you can give your spouse money that they can then contribute to their TFSA.
This way, any income earned in their TFSA is not attributed back to you....
But they are also an ideal way to cut taxes through income-splitting with a spouse. Income splitting lets you shift income from one spouse in a high tax bracket to another in a lower bracket.
If you have already maximized your TFSA (up to a $31,000 limit this year), you can give your spouse money that they can then contribute to their TFSA.
This way, any income earned in their TFSA is not attributed back to you....
If you feel an urge to take advantage of the recent gains and sell your U.S. stocks, my advice is to lie down until that urge goes away. The U.S. dollar has gained around 15% from its mid-2011 low near $0.95 Canadian. This gain comes on top of a far superior performance by U.S. stocks in the past three years, compared to Canadian stocks. The Canadian market is just getting back to its peak of three years ago. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 U.S. index has gained nearly 50%. This difference in performance partly reflects two different political and economic environments. Three years ago, President Obama was forging ahead with a lot of policies that rattled investors and business. This depressed U.S. stock prices. In contrast, Prime Minister Harper seemed economically astute and downright business-friendly. In addition, the Resources sector was on a business upswing three years ago. That’s a much bigger economic plus for Canada than for the U.S. So the Canadian stock market was buoyant....
AeroVironment Inc., $40.25, symbol AVAV on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 22.7 million; Market cap: $916.3 million; www.avinc.com), makes unmanned surveillance aircraft and sells fast-charge systems for industrial vehicle batteries. Its main clients include agencies of the U.S. Department of Defense. The company is working with the Pentagon to develop a “hummingbird drone” that looks like an actual hummingbird and can hover and monitor potential threats. The device could eventually be used for domestic surveillance. AeroVironment’s current drone, known as the Qube, also provides video surveillance and helps authorities document crime scenes and events. It weighs about five pounds and costs $50,000....
Nevsun Resources, $3.72, symbol NSU on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 199.3 million; Market cap: $745.6 million; www.nevsun.com), owns 60% of the Bisha copper/zinc/gold mine in Eritrea. This stake is the company’s main asset. Bisha started up in February 2011. Nevsun used the gold it extracted from the deposit’s top layer to finance construction of the project’s second phase: copper mining below that level. The mine produced 112,000 ounces of gold in 2013, although the gold deposit ran out early in the year. Nevsun transitioned to copper mining in late 2013, with full production starting up in December. Bisha will produce 180 million to 200 million pounds of copper in 2014....
Mountain Province Diamonds, $5.22, symbol MPV on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 100.5 million; Market cap: $526.6 million; www.mountainprovince.com), holds 49% of the Gahcho Kue joint venture in Canada’s Northwest Territories. De Beers Canada owns the other 51%. Gahcho Kue consists of a cluster of four kimberlites, three of which have a combined probable mineral reserve of 31.3 million tonnes grading 1.57 carats per tonne, for a total diamond content of 49 million carats. Kimberlite is solidified magma that flows to the surface from deep within the earth’s mantle. Millions of years ago, the molten magma’s flow acted like an elevator, lifting diamonds from deep below the surface....
Automatic Data Processing, $77.16, symbol ADP on New York (Shares outstanding: 481.8 million; Market cap: $37.2 billion; www.adp.com), is one of the world’s largest providers of business outsourcing services. ADP has about 620,000 customers in over 125 countries. It gets 68% of its revenue from its Employer Services unit, which manages payroll and taxes; the Professional Employer Organization unit (17% of revenue) provides human resources services to smaller firms; and the Services unit (15%) handles accounting, inventory management and leasing for car and truck dealerships. It also orders replacement parts. The company continues to report improving results....