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Here’s our WSSF Portfolio for Income-Seeking Investors for December 2025

This month, we are updating our WSSF Portfolio for Income-Seeking Investors.

This portfolio is a good starting point for investors who need income. It’s also a starting point for conservative investors, since regular dividends are an indicator of investment quality.

Check our Ratings

1 min read

Pat McKeough

Dividend Stocks

Updating your Income stocks: Alliant Energy, Ameren and Newell Brands

ALLIANT ENERGY CORP. $69 (www.alliantenergy.com) is a buy. The company sells power and natural gas to 1.425 million clients in Wisconsin and Iowa. Due to higher power rates and demand from industrial customers, Alliant’s revenue in the third quarter of 2025 rose 11.9%, to $1.21 billion from $1.08 billion a year earlier. However, earnings fell 2.6%, to $1.12 from $1.15, on higher maintenance and interest costs. The company expects its earnings will rebound in the next few years, thanks to new deals to supply power to datacentres. Alliant Energy is a buy.

1 min read

Pat McKeough

Growth Stocks

Use these updates to enhance your returns

ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND CO. $61 is a hold. The company (New York symbol ADM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 480.6 million; Market cap: $29.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.adm.com) processes corn, wheat, soybeans, flax seed and other crops into a variety of food ingredients.

In the quarter ended September 30, 2025, the company’s revenue rose 2.2%, to $20.37 billion from $19.94 billion a year earlier. That improvement is mainly due to higher selling prices for soybeans.

2 min read

Pat McKeough

Growth Stocks

Quaker prepares for next upswing

Quaker sells its lubricants to customers in cyclical businesses such as automakers and mining firms. That makes it vulnerable to swings in the overall economy, as well as the impact of tariffs on its customers. However, the company is taking advantage of the recent weakness to buy smaller firms that will set it up for higher profits as the economy rebounds.

QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP. $139 is a buy. The company (New York symbol KWR; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 17.3 million; Market cap: $2.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.quakerhoughton.com) started up in 1918 and currently operates 36 plants in 25 countries. Those facilities make lubricants and chemicals that keep mechanical parts from rusting. Quaker’s products help its clients cut their costs and improve efficiency.

2 min read

Pat McKeough

Value Stocks

Big writedown hurts Six Flags

SIX FLAGS ENTERTAINMENT CORP. $15 is a hold. The company (New York symbol SIX; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 101.5 million; Market cap: $1.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; No dividend paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.sixflags.com) took its current form on July 1, 2024, when Cedar Fair L.P. merged with rival amusement park operator Six Flags Entertainment (old New York symbol SIX) in an all-stock transaction. The combined firm operates 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks and 9 resort properties in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

1 min read

Pat McKeough

Value Stocks

Recall adds to Baxter’s risk

BAXTER INTERNATIONAL INC. $19 is a now a hold. The company (New York symbol BAX; Conservative Growth Portfolio; Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 511.6 million; Market cap: $9.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.baxter.com) makes specialized equipment for hospitals, including intensive-care-unit beds and electronic diagnostic systems.

1 min read

Pat McKeough

Growth Stocks

Only one of these GE spinoffs is a buy

The three-way breakup of the old General Electric Co. (now operating as GE Aerospace) continues to benefit investors as the three new firms can better focus on their core businesses. We like the remaining two companies formed by the split. Still, we prefer GE HealthCare for new buying.

GE HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGIES INC. $81 is a buy. The company (Nasdaq symbol GEHC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 457.9 million; Market cap: $37.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 0.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.gehealthcare.com) makes X-ray equipment, MRIs and ultrasound scanners. On January 3, 2023, parent company GE handed its investors one share of GEHC for every three shares they held.

2 min read

Pat McKeough

Growth Stocks

Fair Isaac changes a key policy

FAIR ISAAC CORP. $1,797 remains a buy for highly aggressive investors. The company (New York symbol FICO; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 23.7 million; Market cap: $42.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 22.3; Dividend suspended June 2017; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.fico.com) is best known for its FICO Scores software. It lets lenders make better decisions about customer creditworthiness.

1 min read

Pat McKeough

Value Stocks

Their prospects remain strong after 10 years

In July 2015, eBay spun off its PayPal business as a separate firm—investors received one PayPal share for each eBay share they held. Since then, eBay has jumped over 210%, while PayPal has gained 70%. We still like the outlook for both.

EBAY INC. $82 is a buy. The company (Nasdaq symbol EBAY; Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 452.0 million; Market cap: $37.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.7; Dividend yield: 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ebay.com) operates e-commerce websites, in over 190 countries.

2 min read

Pat McKeough

Growth Stocks

IFF cut its debt by a third

INTERNATIONAL FLAVORS & FRAGRANCES INC. $70 remains a buy. The maker of compounds that improve the taste of food and the smell of consumer products (New York symbol IFF; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 256.1 million; Market cap: $17.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 2.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.iff.com) continues to sell its less-important assets under a plan to streamline its operations.

1 min read

Pat McKeough

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Investors Association of Canada
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Cannabis

Spinoffs

One of the ways a company can try to unlock its own hidden value is by creating a separate company out of a corporate subsidiary. The parent company can either sell stock in the new company to the public, or spin it off—hand the stock out to its own investors.

Dividend Stocks

Dividend stocks make cash payouts that serve as a way for companies to share the wealth they’ve accumulated. These payouts are drawn from earnings and cash flow and paid to the shareholders of the company. Typically, these dividends are paid quarterly, although they may be paid annually or even monthly as well.

ETFs

What are ETFs?

ETF is an acronym for exchange traded fund. These exchange traded funds are used to track indexes as closely as possible, since investors cannot actually buy an index outright.

Value Stocks

What are value stocks?

One of the sweetest and most profitable pleasures of successful investing is to buy high-quality “value stocks” (or stocks that are reasonably priced, if not cheap, in relation to its sales, earnings or assets), then hold on to them as mainstream investors recognize the value and push up the share price.

Blue Chip Stocks

Blue chip stocks are big, well-established, dividend-paying corporations with strong business prospects. These are companies that also have sound management that should be able to make the right moves to keep competing successfully in a changing marketplace.

Penny Stocks

A penny stock in general trades for under five dollars a share, and as the name implies, sometimes for pennies. Most of the time they’re young companies, or start-ups in speculative markets like mining or technology.

Growth Stocks

Growth stocks are companies that are likely to have sales and earnings growth well above market average. Frequently they pay few, if any, dividends. Instead they typically reinvest any extra cash flow to promote further growth. Chosen wisely—according to Pat McKeough’s advice—high-quality growth-oriented stocks can be worthwhile additions to most well-diversified portfolios.

Wealth Management

Wealth management is the practice of putting your savings to work so that it continues to grow over your lifetime and will also benefit your heirs. Wealth management encompasses many different areas of investing like long term investment planning and retirement planning.

Mining Stocks

Mining stocks are investments in companies that produce or explore for minerals. Some of these minerals include uranium, coal, molybdenum (which is used in steelmaking), copper, silver and gold. They are affected by fluctuating commodity prices in addition to their own business and operating risks.

How To Invest

Pat McKeough has been making investing for beginners simple—and profitable—by helping investors make big gains for more than 25 years. His advice to beginning investors is the same as it is for all investors: buy high-quality, mostly dividend paying stocks (or ETFs that hold these stocks) and evenly spread your investments over the five main economic sectors (Resources, Manufacturing, Finance, Utilities and Consumer). Pat also believes investors should avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight and focus on those with hidden or little-noticed assets.

Energy Stocks

What are energy stocks?

Businesses that work in the extraction, refining and delivery of energy sources such as natural gas, oil, uranium and coal, are considered energy stocks.