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
A: Armstrong World Industries Inc., $123.76, symbol AWI on New York (Shares outstanding: 43.7 million; Market cap: $5.4 billion; www.armstrongworldindustries.com), is a leader in designing and manufacturing innovative commercial and residential ceiling, wall and suspension systems....
A: Calibre Mining Corp., $2.22, symbol CXB on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 789.2 million; Market cap: $1.8 billion; www.calibremining.com), is a mid-tier gold producer.

In January 2024, Calibre acquired Marathon Gold for about $345 million (Cdn.)....
A: Crombie Real Estate Investment Trust, $14.90, symbol CRR.UN on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 181.1 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion; www.crombie.ca), owns, operates, and develops real estate assets.

The real estate investment trust, or REIT, has 304 properties made up of about 19.3 million square feet....
A: The Invesco S&P SmallCap Health Care ETF, $45.92, symbol PSCH on Nasdaq (Units outstanding: 4.4 million; Market cap: $200.2 million; www.invesco.com), invests in smaller U.S....
ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) started out as one of the most benign investment innovations that ever hit the market. Soon after, the investment industry began adding new wrinkles. Today, we have one key rule you need to follow if you want to keep them benign:

That rule is, “Stick with the simple ones.”

Generally speaking, that means stay out of index funds and ETFs that come with easy-to-understand added features that supposedly improve your results by limiting your losses and/or expanding your profits.

The trouble is that you can’t have it both ways....
EXTENDICARE INC., $8.66, is a buy. The company (symbol EXE on Toronto), owns and operates long-term care homes. Investors also tap the company’s ParaMed Home Health Care branches. ParaMed provides nursing care and other forms of assistance to clients who remain in their own homes.

The company’s revenue rose 13.3% in the quarter ended June 30, 2024, to $348.5 million from $307.5 million a year earlier....
CROCS INC., $146.17, symbol CROX on Nasdaq, makes casual footwear for men, women, and children. It is best known for its molded “Crocs” shoes featuring Croslite, a non-toxic foam material that aims to give its footwear a soft, comfortable feel.

In February 2022, the company completed the $2.5 billion acquisition of Hey Dude, a privately owned casual footwear brand based in Italy....
NVIDIA CORP., $119.37, Nasdaq symbol NVDA, remains a buy, but only for highly aggressive investors.

The company is a leading designer of 3D-capable video chips; they make video games run more smoothly and appear more lifelike. Nvidia has also adapted its chips for other applications, including artificial intelligence (AI), datacentres and self-driving cars.

Nvidia’s latest quarterly results topped expectations....
TORONTO-DOMINION BANK, $80.75, Toronto symbol TD, is still a buy.

With the January 2024 payment, TD raised your quarterly dividend by 6.3%. Investors now receive $1.02 a share instead of $0.96. The new annual rate of $4.08 yields a solid 5.1%.

In its fiscal 2024 third quarter, ended July 31, 2024, TD set aside $3.57 billion (or $2.6 billion U.S.) for fines it expects to pay due to lapses in its anti-money laundering processes at its U.S....
ROYAL BANK OF CANADA, $162.98, Toronto symbol RY, is a buy.

On March 28, 2024, Royal completed its purchase of the Canadian operations of U.K.-based HSBC Holdings plc (New York symbol HSBC) for $15.5 billion.

HSBC operates 130 branches that mainly cater to businesses in industries that trade and bank internationally....