Preferred split shares are not your run-of-the-mill preferred shares.  Split preferreds serve a specific need of some income investors. But you don’t get the extra income without shouldering some extra   Read More

Four Key food stocks that we regularly review include High Liner Foods, Loblaw Companies, Metro Inc. and Saputo Inc. The stocks are generally defensive in nature. That’s thanks to six   Read More

That sums up the advice of Investor’s Digest of Canada columnist T. Edward Gardiner. “If you’re holding utilities stocks, they’re probably as safe as anything else, and resource stocks may   Read More

Experience has taught us, and billionaire Warren Buffett, that acquisitions can end badly. But a company can improve its chance of success by making acquisitions within its industry.
Mr. Warren Buffett,   Read More

Mutual fund management expenses take a meaningful chunk of your funds’ asset values. And they do so year after year. But the real question should be whether what you get   Read More

Investor’s Digest of Canada contributors Doug Cooper and David Kideckel, Toronto-based Beacon Securities equity analysts, argue the United States is in the midst of a pot revolution. Americans are hankering   Read More

US fundamentals remain very strong, and even though this is one of the longest bull markets in history, the economic recovery is also one of the shallowest in history, suggesting   Read More

One way to maintain a balanced portfolio is to own a mix of stocks that both lead and lag the market. We have identified three blue chip stocks in the   Read More

Strip bonds are well suited for RRSPs, RRIFs, or TFSAs. They offer many advantages, such as certainty when planning for income. Remember, however, it’s best to hold strips inside a   Read More

Feuding aircraft manufacturing stocks Boeing and Bombardier could co-exist quite happily in your portfolio says New-York-based Credit Suisse analyst Rob Spingarn. Perhaps that prompted some thinking of the need for   Read More

You have gone through a major change—you’ve sold the business that took up a huge part of your life. Just as you made careful decisions while building, growing and then   Read More

The price-to-sales ratio may help you to spot potentially undervalued stocks and also excess risk in your portfolio. But remember that the p/s ratio is just one tool to spot   Read More

Dionne Warwick yearned for planes and boats and trains to bring her lover back home to her. The MoneyLetter, alas, has little interest in such romantic yearnings. Our yearnings would   Read More

Lester Asset Management CEO Stephen Takacsy argues that the risk-to-reward ratio is best among emerging stocks, a description that fits both of his ‘best buy’ picks, manufacturing stock Grande West   Read More

Every month the Money Reporter, the newsletter for investors whose interest is more interest, publishes its list of recommended bonds and preferred shares.
What to do about bonds now
On July 11,   Read More

We’ve always thought that discipline may help you choose the best investments and increase your returns. Here are six things to remember when you buy stocks.
We’ve often stressed the point   Read More

There are strange things done in the midnight sun / By the men who moil for gold; / The Arctic trails have their secret tales / That would make your   Read More

Behavioural finance analyst Ken Norquay encourages investors to create an action plan when the market is less emotional than it is now. Create a data-based program that tells you when   Read More

The strength of The Investment Reporter stock selection system lies in not attempting the near-impossible task of outsmarting all other investors consistently (which is what you have to do if   Read More

Not all money market instruments are substitutes for each other. Below we look at the various securities available for investing your cash in, and identify which ones we have preferences   Read More

Are you, or someone you know, looking for a new mortgage loan. Unless the thought of higher interest rates keeps you up at night, you’d be hard-pressed to find a   Read More

If China starts to sell a small portion of its holdings of US bonds and bills, US interest rates could go even higher. China has a very significant ‘ace in   Read More

We expect interest rates to keep climbing in 2018. Higher rates have hurt the prices of high-yield stocks. They often raise their dividends, however, while bonds never pay more. And   Read More

Many investors recognize the likelihood that developing countries will grow at a faster rate than will developed countries over coming years. That’s simply because they’re so under-developed now. But some   Read More

By now most of us have heard of virtual currencies. Now a group of software developers is creating an entire community in a virtual reality world where people are already   Read More

Family trusts are becoming increasingly common and are now the norm for many families—even those without yachts! Tax lawyer Samantha Prasad, a contributing editor to The TaxLetter, describes how a   Read More

Some investors think that small-capitalization stocks are the quickest route to riches. After all, big successful companies like Microsoft Corp. and Thomson Reuters started out as small-cap stocks.
Small-caps include all   Read More

“No nation was ever ruined by trade.” (Benjamin Franklin); “Trade wars are good and easy to win.” (Donald Trump); “Canadian steel is as big a threat to the national security   Read More

PI Financial portfolio manager Guy Lapierre picks three oil and gas stocks and a sugar producer as his ‘best buys’. [ed.–How did a sugar producer get in with his oil   Read More

BCE’s shares tend to act very much like a bond. As interest rates rise, the price of the shares tends to fall to compensate new investors with a higher yield.   Read More

In chemistry, ‘volatility’ refers to the ability of a substance to evaporate quickly—or, under the right conditions, to explode. In investments, it means much the same thing. Still, we don’t   Read More

“The key to investing is . . . determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage. The products or services that have   Read More

ValueTrend portfolio manager Keith Richards (valuetrend.ca) takes note of five of the larger conglomerate stocks in Canada. He offers a brief bio of their divisions, and (of course!) a technical   Read More

You may find margin useful when you want a short-term bridging loan. Other than that, however, we advise against using margin—especially given the market’s volatility.
Stock prices rose after the US   Read More

Bond funds seem like the answer to a number of investor needs. They provide income, apparent safety in your portfolio and even speculation on interest rates. But they fail to   Read More

Investor’s Digest of Canada columnist Mark Halpern, CEO of WEALTHinsurance.com®, answers the seven most-frequently asked questions about retirement problems. He offers cost-efficient and tax-efficient solutions that will safeguard your finances   Read More

‘Buy high, sell low, repeat until broke’ is an emotional investment strategy best left to lemmings. The MoneyLetter’s behavioural finance columnist Ken Norquay says feeling emotions is okay: reacting to   Read More

Interest rates are climbing in 2018. Higher rates have hurt the prices of high-yield stocks. They often raise their dividends, however, while bonds never pay more. And dividends are taxed   Read More

Here’s our most recent advice on allocating your assets for the markets we expect to transpire over the next several quarters. Some investors maintain a normal asset allocation during all   Read More

On a recent site visit to Ecuador, PI Financial analysts Chris Thompson and Gary Sidhu saw the importance of being a first mover in an emerging district ripe for discovery.   Read More

Accountant Mark Goodfield, aka The Blunt Bean Counter, warned The TaxLetter readers in April about new reporting rules regarding the sale of a principal residence. Simply put, if you sold   Read More

The big five banks reported their results for the second quarter of fiscal 2018. They remain buys for further long-term share price gains as well as attractive and growing dividends.   Read More

If gold reaches more than US$1,377.50 per ounce, seasonal analyst Don Vialoux says: “Every analyst on the street is going to be yelling: ‘We’re finally reaching the next secular cycle   Read More

Now that you actually can have breakfast at Tiffany, and that you’ll soon be able to walk into a store and buy marijuana, you might ask yourself what surprises the   Read More

Though balanced funds are extremely popular with Canadian investors, we see little appeal in these investment products. It’s better to create your own balanced fund by selecting stock funds and   Read More

Retirees are often advised to avoid risk by buying government bonds and holding them to maturity. But this exposes retirees to the risk of losing purchasing power due to inflation.   Read More

A global oil and gas stock that yields about six per cent and a financial services stock yielding about 10 per cent are Toronto-based portfolio manager Michael Sprung’s two favourite   Read More

Portfolio manager John Stephenson has concerns that peaking earnings, economic growth, rising inflation, a flattening yield curve, and a maturing business cycle are weighing on stocks. Despite investor angst, fundamentals   Read More

The Canadian stock market has trailed other markets and is down so far in 2018. Growing company profits have done little to revive stock prices. We’re not comfortable sounding like   Read More

Most fund-industry observers like to comment on the management style of various funds. And some believe stock markets go through cycles of rewarding different styles, such as growth or value   Read More

A junior marijuana start-up has just closed a deal to buy an enormous former food plant facility in Cobourg, Ontario, that spans 27 acres and once manufactured cereals, dog food,   Read More

Political and regulatory problems can create buying opportunities for the patient investor. Vancouver-based HollisWealth® portfolio manager Elvis Picardo calls on his experience in international capital markets to identify two stocks   Read More