Teck Resources continues to recover since dropping to $8.15 at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. Those share price gains reflect re-opening of the global economy, which has spurred both demand and prices for the company’s main commodities. While COVID-19 continues to increase Teck’s costs, particularly at its big new copper project in Chile, the company’s long-term outlook is bright.


TECK RESOURCES LTD....

STANTEC INC. $70 is a buy. The engineering firm (Toronto symbol STN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 111.1 million; Market cap: $7.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 1.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.stantec.com) is now buying Cox|McLain Environmental Consulting, Inc....

CANADIAN TIRE CORP. (class A) is a buy. Shares of the retailer (Toronto symbols CTC $322 and CTC.A $186; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 60.8 million; Market cap: $11.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.canadiantire.ca) are down 13% from their recent peak of $214 in May 2021....

In addition to Cenovus (see page 21), we also like the outlook for these three leading oil producers. All of them are using their improving cash flows to pay down debt, which helps protect them if crude prices weaken. As well, each is raising its dividend and buying back shares.


SUNCOR ENERGY INC....

THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $133 is still a buy. The company (Toronto symbol TRI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 486.2 million; Market cap: $64.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 8.2; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.thomsonreuters.com) reports that its revenue in the fourth quarter of 2021 rose 5.8%, to $1.71 billion from $1.62 billion a year earlier (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S....

Despite volatile crude prices, we continue to advise all investors to maintain some exposure to the oil and gas industry. That advice reflects oil’s huge importance to global economic growth even as governments impose new regulations to cut carbon emissions.


We also recommend investors stick with well-established producers like Cenovus....

The profitability of banks is determined by a variety of factors including their business mix, lending profit-margins, loan and deposit growth, bad debts, and cost management. The top-performing banks consistently find the right balance between these factors, leading to strong results and stock market performance.


Lending margins drive profits


A key driver of bank profits is their net interest margins—that’s the difference between the interest rate that a bank charges on loans it issues and the interest rate that it pays to depositors and other providers of funds to the bank.


In a rising interest rates environment, banks normally manage to increase their net interest margins—as long as the increase in the cost of funding lags the higher pricing of their loans to customers.


Banks that derive a large portion of their revenues from their lending activities benefit relatively more from improving their lending margins....

The performance of energy services companies is highly dependent on the willingness of their oil and gas production customers to spend money on exploration and new infrastructure. Note, energy producers spend more readily when they generate strong profits and cash flow.


Meantime, the higher oil and gas prices that prevailed for most of 2021 are now creating a return to pre-COVID-19 capital spending by many producers.


Energy producers are inclined to expand their operations and upgrade their facilities when they become more profitable....

This month we highlight an ETF that provides short exposure to the highly popular “disruptive growth” ARK Innovation ETF. We also look at a fund that aims to use a quantitative model to pick the top dividend-paying stocks.


TUTTLE CAPITAL SHORT INNOVATION ETF $43.66 (Nasdaq symbol SARK) provides an inverse (short) exposure to the stocks held by the popular ARK Innovation ETF (New York symbol ARKK).


This fund uses derivatives to let investors profit from a decline in the potentially overvalued and unprofitable “transformational” companies held by the ARK Innovation ETF in the electric vehicle, genomics, next-gen Internet and fintech segments.


This ETF effectively holds short positions in companies such as Tesla, Roku, Teladoc, Zoom, Coinbase and Spotify.


The fund launched on November 9, 2021; it charges a management fee of 0.75%....

Fortune magazine annually lists the top 500 global companies, based on various measures.

In 2021, seven Indian companies made the list, of which six are also held in the iShares India Index ETF. Top conglomerate Reliance Industries as well as several major Indian banks, were included on the list.
But India is also home to a number of highly ranked global information technology services companies—Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies, and Tata Consultancy—to name but a few of the largest firms included in the ETF portfolio.


These companies have been highly successful in reaching a global market.


Infosys, for example, now derives 60% of its revenue from North America, and Tata Consultancy, 50%.


The offshore outsourcing model (whereby well-qualified, but less expensive Indian workers deliver services to higher-priced developed markets) provides an attractive business model....