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This month we highlight an ETF that targets “technology innovators” at a challenging time. We also look at a Canadian-listed ETF that invests in the U.S. corporate preferred securities market.


TD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY INNOVATORS INDEX ETF $6.77 (Toronto symbol TECI) aims to invest in “technology innovators” that it sees as having high growth rates and are more profitable than their peers....
Vale SA and Petrobras are the two largest holdings in the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF, with a combined weight of over 30%. These companies are also among the largest companies in Brazil and rank among the top 150 on the Forbes Global 2000 list.


Vale is the world’s largest producer of iron ore and a key supplier to the global steel industry.


Iron ore makes up about 85% of the company’s earnings; and a base-metals division that produces nickel and copper contributes another 15%....
Brazil is one of the top 10 global economies, and is richly endowed with a range of basic commodities. Still, the country currently faces significant challenges.


Elevated inflation—amid supply disruptions—has driven up prices for food and other goods....
Many technology stocks has seen strong growth over the past couple of years as the pandemic unfolded. The reasons included: the rapid expansion of productivity and cybersecurity technology as COVID-19 forced many people to work from home, and the shift to online shopping....
ISHARES CANADIAN FINANCIAL MONTHLY ETF $8.06 (Toronto symbol FIE) invests in the common shares, preferred shares, corporate bonds and income trusts of firms in the Canadian finance sector.


The fund has an MER of 0.82%, which is high by ETF standards....
As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in early 2020, U.S. homebuilding stocks took a big drop, along with the overall market. However, they quickly rebounded, and most homebuilding stocks went on to hit new all-time highs in December 2021.


Since then, they have fallen around 20% from those highs....
TC ENERGY CORP. $71 (www.tcenergy.com) is a buy. The company is raising your quarterly dividend by 3.4% with the April 2022 payment. The new annual rate of $3.60 a share yields a high 5.1%. The company also continues to work on $23.6 billion of new pipelines and other projects....
Thanks to more people eating at home due to COVID-19, Loblaw’s shares recently hit a new all-time high of $113. Even though the economy is re-opening, we expect the company will continue to benefit from its shift to a pure-play retailer and from strong consumer demand for pandemic-era services such as home delivery.


LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD....
THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $134 is still a buy. The company (Toronto symbol TRI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 486.2 million; Market cap: $65.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 7.9; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.thomsonreuters.com) sells specialized information and software to the legal, tax and accounting fields.


In January 2021, Thomson and Blackstone Group merged their Refinitiv financial information business with LSE—the London Stock Exchange Group plc (Over-the-counter Pink Sheets symbol LDNXF).


As of February 7, 2022, Thomson’s stake in LSE was worth $7.0 billion U.S....
ANDREW PELLER LTD. (A shares) is still a buy. The company (Toronto symbols ADW.A $7.33 and ADW.B $9.64; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares o/s: 43.1 million; Market cap: $315.9 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 3.4%; www.andrewpeller.com) is Canada’s second-largest wine producer after Arterra Wines.


In its fiscal 2022 third quarter, ended December 31, 2021, sales fell 6.8%, to $103.5 million from $111.1 million a year earlier....