Alimentation Couche-Tard has made some major acquisitions over the last decade or so, and has just completed another one. Growth by acquisition adds risk; however, the company has a long record of successfully integrating those businesses. Meanwhile, it’s well-positioned to keep prospering in both its core and new markets. Couche-Tard is a Power Buy.

We continue to see all of Canada’s top five banks—Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, TD Bank and Bank of Nova Scotia—as buys. We also think that every Canadian investor should own at least one of them, although holding two or even three is a good idea as well.

A solid choice for your new buying is CIBC. The stock has lagged its competitors in the past few years but has started to post impressive gains.

That’s partly because the bank has shifted focus to its main operations in Canada. The strategy includes improving customer service and expanding the number of products it sells per customer.

Exchange-traded funds are set up to mirror the performance of a stock-market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings of that index or sub-index and will allow the fund to “track” its performance.


The MER (Management Expense Ratio) is generally much lower on traditional ETFs than on conventional mutual funds. That’s because most traditional ETFs take a much simpler approach to investing. Instead of actively managing clients’ investments, ETF providers invest so as to mirror the holdings and performance of a particular stock-market index.

The shares of commodity producers have performed relatively well over time when compared to the market as a whole. Still, returns vary significantly from one commodity subgroup to another.


Commodities have many sub-categories, each with its own dynamic. However, the rise and fall of various commodity stocks follows a similar path in that any top-performing commodity is likely to become a bottom-performing commodity at some point in the future. It’s, therefore, advisable to diversify across a variety of commodity producers.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has moved beyond its early stages and has developed into useful applications for a range of industries. By mimicking human cognition—learning from data, spotting patterns, making decisions—AI systems can unlock new levels of efficiency, insight and creativity. Here are some examples: