Key updates on your safety-conscious stocks: Newmont Corp., Cenovus Energy and Loblaws Cos.

Article Excerpt

NEWMONT CORP., $58.91, remains a buy. The company (New York symbol NEM; Shares outstanding: 803.4 million; Market cap: $47.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 2.7%; www.newmont.com) now plans to repurchase up to $1.0 billion of its common shares over the next 18 months. That’s equal to 2% of its $49.7 billion market cap. This latest plan is in addition to the $1.0 billion it spent on buybacks in 2020. Savings from the Goldcorp merger and other cost-cutting plans are also freeing up cash for dividends. With the December 2020 payment, Newmont raised your quarterly dividend by a whopping 60.0%, to $0.40 a share from $0.25. The new annual rate of $1.60 yields a solid 2.7%. Under its new dividend policy, the company will pay out 40% to 60% of the extra free cash flow (cash flow less maintenance capital expenditures) it earns when gold prices exceed $1,200 an ounce (at that price, it aims to pay a base annual rate of $1.00 a share)…