These two Canadian insurers remain great picks for income-seeking investors, particularly as their wealth management businesses benefit as more baby boomers retire over the next few years. Their growing operations in Asia are also a long-term plus.

ENBRIDGE INC. $67 is a buy. The pipeline giant (Toronto symbol ENB; Income-Growth Payer Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 2.2 billion; Market cap: $147.4 billion; Dividend yield: 5.6%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.enbridge.com) last raised your quarterly dividend with the March 2025 payment by 3.0%; the new annual rate of $3.77 yields a high 5.6%.

Enbridge now plans to expand the capacity of its Mainline pipeline, which pumps crude oil from Alberta to refineries in the U.S. Midwest, by 5%. It will also lift capacity for its U.S.-based Flanagan South Pipeline.

The outlook for these high-yielding utility stocks continues to improve, as lower interest rates increase their appeal relative to bonds. Rising power demand from AI datacentres also enhances their long-term prospects.

RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $19 is a top pick for 2025. The REIT (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Cyclical-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Manufacturing sector; Units o/s: 295.0 million; Market cap: $5.6 billion; Dist. yield: 6.1%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Average; www.riocan.com) increased your monthly distribution by 4.3% with the March 2025 payment. The new annual rate of $1.158 yields a solid 6.1%.


The shopping mall owner continues to do a good job of getting its existing tenants to renew their leases. In the third quarter of 2025, the retention rate was 92.7%, up from 92.0% a year earlier.

These office REITs remain under pressure despite many businesses—namely, their tenants—ending pandemic-era remote work policies. Lower-than-expected occupancy rates could force them to cut their distributions. Even if they do, investors would still enjoy above average yields.

PACER U.S. CASH COWS 100 ETF $59.43 (CBOE symbol COWZ; Units outstanding: 306.2 million; Market cap: $18.2 billion; Yield: 1.6%; www.paceretfs.com) aims to select and hold the top 100 companies of the Russell 1000 index as determined by their free cash flow yields.


Pacer defines free cash flow as the cash remaining after a company has paid expenses, interest, taxes, and long-term investments. This fund started up on December 16, 2016. It has an MER of 0.49% and yields 1.6%.



The ETF’s holdings include HCA Healthcare, Applied Materials, McKesson Corp., Gilead Sciences, Merck & Co., Ford Motor, Cisco Systems, Amgen Inc., Warner Bros. Discovery and Newmont. The weight of any one stock in the portfolio is capped at 2%.

We’ve long recommended electrical power utility Fortis as a buy for steady growth and reliable income. That’s because rate-regulated operations provide it with sufficient cash flow for reinvestment in new projects as well as dividends for its shareholders. In fact, the company has now raised that dividend for 52 straight years.


Fortis also recently sold some of its smaller holdings in the Caribbean, which will let it focus on more-promising projects in North America.

You can’t fake a record of dividends. That’s why we place a high value on a sustained history of dividend payments. When you’re looking for income-producing stocks, a high dividend yield should also be one of your most important investment considerations. But that shouldn’t come at the expense of sustainability.


Our exclusive TSI Dividend Sustainability Rating System uses eight factors to determine a company’s ability to maintain its current dividend, and increase the payment over time.

A: Occasionally, investors ask why we go into such detail about the finances and fundamentals of the stocks we recommend. Why not just buy the stocks that are going up, then place stop-loss orders so we sell them when they quit rising?


This is a partial description of the momentum approach to stock market investing. Essentially, under that strategy, you buy stocks that are rising and reporting rising earnings, or earnings gains that beat expectations. You then sell when the stocks quit rising or when earnings growth stalls.



This approach would work great if nobody else ever thought of it.

Rising revenue and earnings lifted hospital-equipment supplier Steris to an all-time high on November 12, 2025. The stock has retreated a bit from that $268.30-a-share milestone, but we expect it to regain that high and exceed it.


Going forward, the company is in a great position to profit from favourable long-term demographic trends such as an aging population. The sale of its Dental unit last year has also sharpened Steris’s focus on more lucrative markets.



I asked our Successful Investor research department to draw up this Inner Circle Spotlight report on the stock. It explains why we see the stock as a solid addition to any investor’s portfolio. We hope you enjoy and profit from this Spotlight on Steris.