Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Dividend Stocks and Safety

There are people who believe that when companies pay dividends it is a good indication that the company is making money. This is probably true, but it is not absolute. Generally when companies pay dividends, especially an increasing dividend it is a good indication of the company's profitability.

However, I have seen companies do such things as borrow money to keep up dividends. This is very unhealthy for the long term viability of a company. That is why I check dividends against the EPS and Cash Flow per Share (CFPS) values. Of course, some companies have fiddled with their books. That is why you diversify your portfolio.

On my other blog I am today writing about Evertz Technologies (TSX-ET, OTC-EVTZF) ... continue...

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.

Monday, August 25, 2014

Stocks, Mutual Funds and ETFs

Yes there are lots of stock on the stock exchanged and yes, it can take some time to investigate a stock to see if it the sort of stock you want to buy. However, there are more Mutual Funds and ETFs out there than stocks. If you care at all how you invest your money, it also takes time to investigate a Mutual Fund or ETF.

Frankly, I do not see that spending time investigating Mutual Funds or ETFs is less time consuming or less complicated than investigating a stock. In fact investigating a Mutual Fund or ETF might just be more complex. Not only must you look at the sort of thing the MF or ETF has invested in, you also have to know what fees you are being charged and how the MF or ETF works.

I have investigated some Mutual Funds and some ETFs and there are some truly weird and wonderful and complex set ups for some MFs or ETFs.

On my other blog I am today writing about Superior Plus Corp. (TSX-SPB, OTC-SUUIF) ... continue...

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Possible Stocks for Investing

I noticed this article in the G&M recently. In this article Peter Ashton was looking for outstanding Canadian dividend-paying stocks with the financial capacity to continue their dividend payouts in the future.

Stocks covered were:

Stock Symbol
Agrium Inc. AGU-T
Genworth MI Canada Inc MIC-T
Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. PRE-T
Potash Corp. of Sask POT-T
Rogers Commun. Inc RCI.B-T
Capital Power Corp. CPX-T
Domtar Corp. UFS-T
Corus Entertainment Inc. CJR.B-T
Dorel Industries Inc. DII.B-T
Mullen Group Ltd. MTL-T
Evertz Tech. Ltd ET-T
Black Diamond Group Ltd. BDI-T

This would be the sort of article I would use to possibly find new dividend growth stocks to investigate for possible investment purposes.

On my other blog I am today writing about ONEX Corp. (TSX-OCX, OTC- ONEXF) ... continue...

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Big Risk and Returns

This is one of the weekly talks from TD Bank. It is only around 8 minutes. It is called "Why Big Risk does not give Big Returns". The whole point is that taking a big risk over the longer term does not get you big returns over the longer term. The big returns only happen over the shorter term.

Why when I invest in volatile stocks, I do so over a certain period of time. I may be invested over a few months or a few years, but in any event, I never stay in this type of stocks for the long term. I think that volatile stocks are the ones you can make capital gains from. I feel that if you are going for capital gains, this is by definition a short term investment.

On my other blog I am today writing about Loblaw Companies Ltd. (TSX-L, OTC- LBLCF) ... continue...

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Detroit Pension Problems

One thing that the problems with Detroit's pensioners point out that workers would be better off with a defined contribution plans if the money is registered in their name rather than defined benefit plans. I know that in theory that the defined benefit plan should pay more and also be less of a problem for the future pensioners, but if in the future the pensioners find out that their pension plans are not properly funded, they can end up big losers.

If I was starting out working I would go for the defined contribution plan every time. I rather have my pension money in my hot little hands and go to some trouble in looking after investing the money than end up with no or little in pension money when I need it.

The other thing is that if you switch jobs in your working career, a defined benefit plan pays you very little when you are young. When funding a defined benefit plan, employers put a lot more into pension plans for older workers than younger workers. So if you are young and switch jobs you get little. I rather have a defined contribution plan and each worker gets the same amount of money each year.

On my other blog I am today writing about Jean Coutu Group Inc. (TSX-PJC.A, OTC-JCOUF) ... continue...

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.

Monday, August 11, 2014

Canadian Equities, Long Term

Over the past 112 years, from 1900 to 2011, Canadian Equities have had a real return of 5.7% per year. The real return on Canadian Bonds was 2.2%. This is the real return which excludes inflation. In any event, this return is similar to the US. See page 40 of Credit Suisse Global Investment Returns Yearbook 2012.

The nominal rate of return for Canada was 8.9% per year for equities and 5.3% per year for bonds. The nominal rate of return is before inflation is factored in.

The real winner over that 112 period was Australia which had a real return of 7.2% per year in equities. Australian bonds had a real return of just 1.6% per year. Their nominal rate of return was 11.3% for Equities and 5.5% for bonds. For this information, see page 38 of the above report.

There is also an article about the study three British economists did when they examined the historical returns of stocks and bonds in 19 countries from 1900 through 2012. The economists were Elroy Dimson, Paul Marsh and Mike Staunton. The article is at the Investment Reporter

On my other blog I am today writing about Savaria Corporation (TSX-SIS, OTC- SISXF) ... continue...

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Something to Buy August 2014

There is always something to buy in the stock market. On Tuesday, I put out a list of the stocks that I covered and showed what stock might be a good deal based on dividend yield. Now I am trying to categorize what sorts of stocks may be a good deal based on dividend yield.

Categorizing stocks is not as simple as it might seem. Every site you go to has categorized stocks a bit differently. I try to keep this as simple as possible. See my spreadsheet at here. As in other spreadsheets, you can highlight a line or a number of lines for better viewing.

Of the consumer discretionary stocks, Canadian Tire is looking cheap. A number of Consumer Staple stocks seem to be still cheap. Examples would be Dorel Industries (TSX-DII.B A) and Metro Inc. (TSX-MRU).

On the Real Estate stock Granite Real Estate (TSX-GRT.UN) still looks cheap. However, the MPL Communications via their Report of Daily Buy and Sell Advisor recently said that H&R (TSX-HR.UN) is a buy.

A couple of the banks still seem to be cheap. These would be National Bank (TSX-NA), and TD Bank (TSX-TD). There are some in finance that deserve to be cheap, like AGF Management (TSX-AGF). For CI Financial (TSX-CIX) my list shows that on a historical average basis it is cheap. The stock of IGM Financial (TSX-IGM) and Power Corp (TSX-POW) are still showing as cheap.

There are a few cheap Industrial stocks like Finning International Inc. (TSX-TFF), PFB Corp. (TSX-PFB) and SNC-Lavalin (TSX-SNC).

There are not many companies cheap in the Tech sector except for small companies like Calian Technologies Ltd (TSX-CTY) and Evertz Technologies (TSX-ET).

A number of energy stocks also seem cheap. Examples are Canadian Natural Resources (TSX-CNQ); Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX-CVE) and Suncor Energy (TSX-SU).

The infrastructure type utility companies are not cheap. What utility companies that are cheap, seem to be cheap for a good reason. Examples are Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp (TSX-AQN) and Just Energy Group Inc. (TSX-JE). I have also noticed that MPL Communications via their Daily Buy and Sell Advisor has just recommended selling TransAlta (TSX TA) because it earnings and dividends are in decline.

Of the Telecom Stocks BCE (TSX-BCE) and Shaw Communications Inc. (TSX-SJR.B) seem on the cheap side. I think that Manitoba Telecom (TSX-MBT) is cheap for a good reason. Note that MPL Communications via their Daily Buy and Sell Advisor has just put out a Buy recommendation for Shaw Communications.

On my other blog I am today writing about DirectCash Payments Inc. (TSX-DCI, OTC-DCTFF)...continue...

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Dividend Stocks August 2014

The theory is that you should use the dividend yield to see if a dividend stock is selling at a stock price that is relatively cheap. A stock price is considered cheap if it is selling at a dividend yield higher than the historical high yield or higher than the historical average yield. See my spreadsheet at dividend growth stocks that I just updated for August 2014.

On this list,
  • I have 7 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical high dividend yield,
  • I have 40 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical average dividend yield and
  • 42 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the 5 year average dividend yield.
When I did my list last month,
  • I had 6 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical high dividend yield,
  • I had 36 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical average dividend yield and
  • 42 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the 5 year average dividend yield.
When I did my list in January 2014,
  • I had 9 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical high dividend yield,
  • I had 45 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical average dividend yield and
  • 39 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the 5 year average dividend yield.
Of the stock that I follow 9 have raised their dividends since last month. Dividends raises are denoted in green. They are
  • Progressive Waste Solutions (TSX-BIN)
  • TECSYS Inc (TSX-TCS)
  • Alimentation Couche-Tard (TSX-ATD.B)
  • CCL Industries (TSX-CCL.B)
  • Home Capital Group (TSX-HCG)
  • Methanex Corp. (TSX-MX)
  • Suncor Energy (TSX-SU) and
  • Wi-Lan (TSX-WIN)
Note that I originally had Power Financial Corp as a stock that has raised its dividend in the last month. This is wrong. This company has not raised their dividend. Sorry for this error.

I am showing whether a stock is relatively cheap based on historical high dividend yields (P/Hi), historical average dividend yields (P/Ave) or on 5 year median dividend yields (P/5Yr). See these fields on the right side of the file. You can highlight a particular stock using your cursor to highlight the appropriate line.

There are always some stocks to buy because they are priced reasonably. There are always stocks to currently avoid because they are overpriced. Looking at dividend growth stocks that are selling at stock prices that give them a dividend yield above the historical average dividend yield are probably the best bet.

The stocks that are selling at prices that give them a dividend yield above the historical high yield could be good stocks to buy. However, these stocks may be selling so cheap because of current troubles, especially financial troubles and should be treated with caution. Do not forget that I have all the stocks I follow on this spreadsheet and some are much better investments than others.

However, you should always investigate a stock before you buy. Sometimes different stocks in certain sectors are just out of favour or the stock market is just in one of its declines. However, a stock may be relatively cheap because it has problems. That is why you should always investigate a stock before buying.

Looking at stock this way is equivalent to a stock filter. A main problem I know of is for the old income trusts. These companies have generally lowered their dividend yields forever and they will probably never get back to the old dividend yield highs they made as an income trust company. For these stocks, you might be better comparing the current dividend yield to the 5 year median dividend yield.

Also, on some stocks I have a lot more information years in my spreadsheets than for other stocks. So, finding a stock on the list as "cheap" is only the first step in finding a stock to buy. This is the same with any other sort of stock filters that you can use.

The last thing to remember is that I have entering figures into a spreadsheet. I could put them in incorrectly, I can transpose figures and I can misread figures. This is another great reason why you should check a stock out before investing. As this is just a filter, it works better on some stocks than on others.

See my entry on my methodology in establishing the historical dividend yield highs and lows for the stocks that I cover. I have an entry on my introduction to Dividend Growth Stocks . You might want to look at my original entry on Dividend Growth Stocks. I have also written about why I like Dividend Growth companies .

On my other blog I am today writing about BlackBerry Ltd. (TSX-BB, NASDAQ-BBRY) ...continue...

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.