Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Blogging in 2016

I will be changing my approach to blogging on stocks next year. I think my blog entries are too long and they take up too much of my time. For 2016, I will only have one blog entry on each stock. Of course, if I review a stock that I have never before reviewed, I will do a 2 pager on that stock.

I plan to blog about stocks on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week on my Investment Talk blog. I will write something in this blog called Investing, Economics Mostly on Tuesday and Thursday each week.

Instead of talking about a number of different things about a stock I will structure my blogs about stocks. I plan to start as usual in discussing dividends, their growth, their yield and if the company can afford to pay them. I will mention, if applicable, if shareholders should focus per share values or not because of increase or decrease in shares. I will look to see if the company has a strong or weak balance sheet. I will talk about anything that catches my eye when I update or review a spreadsheet. (At least this is the plan at present.)

I used to talk a lot about the current stock price and if it was good or not by doing at least 4 tests. I plan to cut back on this. I will talk about the current stock price using P/E Ratios and how they compare to historical P/E Ratios. Most analysts focus on stock price based on P/E Ratio, so I may also look at another method to determine if the stock price is reasonable or not.

I will continue to publish my list of stocks each month to check on the stock price relative to the historical dividend yield. I will only talk about dividend yield testing for a stock if for some reason this testing does not apply to a stock.

By this new schedule, I am hoping to save time for other things.

On my other blog I am today writing about Methanex Corp. (TSX-MX, NASDAQ-MEOH) ... learn more...

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, December 28, 2015

Dividend Paying Stocks

This is an interesting article I found at Advice for Investors. It says a study shows that from 1900 to 2005, dividends produced 90 per cent of the returns of investors worldwide. It says that this study suggests that investors should pay as much attention to cash dividends as they do to earnings.

This article goes on to talk about how companies may fudge their earnings in order to match analyst's estimates. But you cannot fudge paying dividends in cash.

On my other blog I am today writing Stantec Inc. (TSX-STN, NYSE-STN).. learn more...

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, December 23, 2015

Money Show 2015 - Derek Foster

Derek Foster was the last speaker I listen to at the Money Show for 2015. His talk was called "The Lazy Idiot Approach to Investing."

He read the Wealth Barber when he started to invest. He first got into Mutual Funds - Templeton Growth Fund. In that fund $10,000 would grow to 2M. However Warren Buffet in the same time period went from $10,000 to 5M. Why the difference? The answer to this is fees.

He put his life savings at 19 into this fund at $24 a Share, one year later it was $12 a share and then $6 and he bought more and lost. He sold off this investment. He read Peter Lynch who said that it was best to buy dividend stock achievers of Moody. He said you can plant a tree and when it grows you can chop it down for firewood or you can let it continue to grow and collect the fruit each year.

Most of Moody's dividend achievers grow their dividend each year. Colgate has given dividends for 117 years since 1989. For the last 54 years, it has increased their dividend each year. Invest in companies that are recession proof. Colgate and Crest (P&G) are the two biggest names in tooth paste and they have been so for a long time. This is a wonderful business.

How much do you need to stop working? The way you should think is in terms of income. What are your expenses? Your biggest expense is probably taxes. You can earn $50,000 in dividends and pay no tax. Also, if you do not work you do not pay CPP or IE.

Buy recession proof companies that are dominate in their field. There are 3 factors to look at: Rate of Return, How much you have to invest and time. If you are young you have time.

Grace Groner paid $180 for 3 shares of Abbott Laboratories in 1935. She never sold a share and reinvested all her dividends. She died in 2010 and left an estate of $7M. See her story is here. There is also an interesting take on this stock at Financial Uproar.

One thing to remember is that it is important to pay a good price for your stocks. If you want to pay $45 for a stock, sell an option to buy the stock for $45 and get a $1 premium. This is the only type of options he uses.

A stock he recommends is Visa (NYSE: V). Visa does not give you a card, your bank does. The bank pays Visa to issue the card. Visa gets a small cut on each transaction. The Bank charges interest and if you default, the bank is on the hook.

Derek Foster has written several books. He writes his books based on what questions people email him.

On my other blog I am today writing about Colliers International Group Inc. (TSX-CIG, NASDAQ-CIGI)... learn more...

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, December 21, 2015

Money Show 2015 - John Stephenson

John Stephenson was the next speaker I listen to at the Money Show for 2015. His talk was called "It's Been Interesting."

Today's markets are hard because they keep changing. There was an 18% move in oil at the end of August. There are large moves over short periods. There is an uncertain outlook globally. It is going to be challenging for Canadians. Global Growth is going to be low.

People are very uncertain about China. China says they are growing at 7%. Some people think the figure is much lower. Some people think that the growth in China is negative. He believes that a negative growth is going too low.

Canadians should be investing in the US market as it is a better market currently for Canadians. The markets globally have sold off over growth concerns.

The next thing is the Federal Reserve Interest Rate going up. Russia's market is a dead cat bounce. Japan is printing money. Europe is an interesting place to invest.

The problem with the world is people. There was strong growth in labor in the 1980's and 1990's with women going into the workforce. Japan would be better off if it allows women into the workforce. There are declining women in their workforce. The male participation rate is declining. The problem is that if you pay people to doing nothing, they will do so.

The working age population is declining. We are getting older and productivity is down. He does not see tech helping with productivity in the future. We are going to have slower growth in the future.

Below replacement level fertility rates is the norm globally. The fertility rate is 1.7 in the G7 and 1.9 in developing countries.

Canada is second to Australia in immigration. Immigrants are top engineers and scientist. They speak English because lots of countries have education in English. Google and Facebook are opening offices in Canada because they cannot get the people they need into the US.

The millennials were born from 1980 to 2000 and are 15 to 30. They are the bright spot, but these people feel entitled. They are the second largest cohort in the US at 80M. Millennials are now the biggest generation in the Canadian workforce. They are the Seinfeld Nation and are having a big impact on the US economy. They have no mortgage, no car, no spouse and no children. They spend more money in restaurants than in grocery stores.

The Chinese GDP is skewered towards investments. 20% of the investment is in roads and bridges. 47% is in infrastructure. But they have ghost cities and bridges to nowhere and all this is being financed by debt.

The commodity forecast is that it is not much of a super cycle. US rigs are in decline and also crude is in decline. Tech has allowed the US to pull oil out of the ground that they have known about for a long time. The US is still a huge consumer of oil at 22% of world's oil production, so they will still import oil.

Saudi Arabia was built on oil. The falling price of oil slams on the breaks for US shale production. The world is slowly coming into some balance in oil. Also, Iran's oil is coming online. For energy stocks, the worst is probably over. Oil reserves are declining worldwide, so we still need Canadian oil sands.

Score Cards: The best opportunities will have slow growth. Consumer discretionary will have good growth going forward. Electricity utilities are now ok but not so in the future. Old and new tech is fine, like IBM Facebook and Netflix. The millennials are on the phone all the time. Health care is an area of interest. US banks are cheap and Canadian banks are attractive. China is slowing, but the question is how much. Material stocks should be avoided, but oil is ok.

We have a very slow recovery. We are not likely to have a recession or a bear market anytime soon. Markets are not cheap, but they are not outrageously expensive either. Real estate is expensive.

Consumer discretionary will be the first place to get hit. Enbridge with a 4% yield is risky. Bonds are 2% without risk. These are government bonds with no risk. Normally government bonds have 6% rates. If bond interest goes up, people will prefer bonds of no risk and Enbridge's stock price will fall.

Canada is a follower. The US will raise rates and we will follow. The US can go alone and raise rates. They will not raise them to normal levels anytime soon. It may take decades to get back to normal interest rates.

The Liberals are better for the stock market as is the Democrats. He is bullish on US and Mexico. He thinks European stocks are good, both industrial and financial.

On my other blog I am today writing about The Keg Royalties Income Fund (TSX-KEG.UN, OTC-KRIUF) ... learn more...

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, December 16, 2015

Update Notes 2

When I review stock price and dividends each month, I also take the opportunity to look at a bit closer at some of the stocks I cover. These some of the stocks I looked at more closely.

Le Chateau Inc. (TSX-CTU.A, OTC- LCUAF)

This stock continues to decline. The most recent news I can find is from Stock House and its article is dated September 2015 and it talks about the second quarterly results with sales declining by some 7.3%.

Smart REIT (TSX-SRU.UN, OTC-CWYUF)

Last month, for whatever reason, I found that so many sites have not updated to the new name. This did not occur this month, so I guess everyone is one board with the name change now.

The company announced the change on July 6, 2015 and said they expected the change to be effective July 8, 2015. For their website, you get the same one whether you go to callowayreit.com or smartreit.ca. However, the usual way websites work is that if there is a name change, the address on the browser changes to the correct one when you enter an address. In this case the web address says either as callowayreit.com or smartreit.ca.

Teck Resources Ltd (TSX-TCK, NYSE-TCK)

In a news release dated November 17, 2015 Teck Resources announced that they will decrease their dividends. In response to persistent low commodity prices, Teck is implementing additional measures to reduce costs and conserve capital and reducing the dividend is one of the things the company is doing.

Wajax Corp. (TSX-WJX, OTC-WJXFF)

This company is down almost 50% in 2015. This article by Casey McCarthy in Financial Magazine only talks about the decline in the company using technical analysts. However, the company has problems in decreasing Revenue, Earnings, Dividends and Cash Flow for 2015.

This November article in Dakota Financial News talks about Director Robert P. Dexter purchasing 10,000 shares at an average cost of C$17.54 per share and for a total transaction of C$175,400.00. So this is a positive for the company.

Wajax Corp. (TSX-WJX, OTC-WJXFF)

This company is down almost 60% in 2015. Shares plunged a month ago because the company missed Q3 revenue estimate and cut the dividend. In this article by Eric Jhonsa in Seeking Alpha Jhonsa talks about the company making a licensing deal with Industrial equipment maker Crane.

On my other blog I am today writing about First Capital Realty (TSX-FCR, OTC-FCRGF) ... learn more...

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, December 14, 2015

Update Notes

When I review stock price and dividends each month, I also take the opportunity to look at a bit closer at some of the stocks I cover. These some of the stocks I looked at more closely. Also note my spreadsheet shows dividends that have declared. Most of the dividend increases are for 2016.

Automodular Corp. (TSX-AM.H, OTC-AMZKF)

The stock price has gone down a bit. They had their third quarterly results published. This showed no revenue and a $0.02 loss. It seems like they have not yet found something to do.

Bombardier Inc. (TSX-BBD.B, OTC-BDRBF)

Andrew Walker of Motley Fool says that 2016 could be a turnaround year if this company hits some key targets. (Do not forget if you do not get the full article when you click on the link above, if you then use your browser's arrows to go out and back into Motley Fool site, you will get the full article.)

Husky Energy Inc. (TSX-HSE, OTC-HUSKF)

Both the TD Bank and G&M say that the dividend has decreased from $1.20 to $1.18. I cannot find any evidence of that. However, the company announced that future dividends will be paid in shares and not cash. I got cash for my October 2015 dividend. The announcement from Husky said that its dividend would be maintained.

There is an article at Seeking Alpha about this.

Russel Metals Inc. (TSX-RUS, OTC- RUSMF)

This company is down substantially this year at almost 37%. I went looking for information on this stock. There is an article on Moody's which talks about downgrading their Senior Notes to negative from stable to reflect the recent substantial deterioration in its operating results and credit metrics and the expectation they will remain weak over the next 12 to 18 months.

There is also a recent article posted by Seth Barnet on WKRB about Director John Russell Tulloch buying 2,000 shares of the company's stock at $18.89 per share.

TransAlta Corp (TSX-TA, NYSE-TAC)

I have had this company since 1987. I have been worried about it for a while. I was recently at the Money Show in Toronto and one speaker said that TransAlta has been destroying shareholder value for the last 15 years. This is a bit harsh. But they did reduce their dividend by some 38% in 2015 as they are having problems.

There is an article by Nelson Smith of Motley Fool where he talks about three reasons why he bought this company recently.

Ensign Energy Services (TSX-ESI, OTC- ESVIF)

This stock is down by around 33% this year. There is an November 2015 article in Dakota Financial News of Director Thomas Joseph Connors acquiring 37,300 shares of the stock at an average cost of C$7.16 per share and with a total value of C$267,068.00.

There is a recent article by Geoffrey Morgan in the Financial Post talking about how the oil patch is learning to live within its means. This article includes some discussion on this company.

On my other blog I am today writing about DHX Media Ltd. (TSX-DHX.B, OTC- DHXMF) ... learn more...

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, December 9, 2015

Something to Buy December 2015

There is always something to buy in the stock market. On Monday, 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.

The advantages to using dividend yield to judge how cheap or expensive a stock is, is that you are not using estimates or old data (like last reported quarter's data). You are using today's stock price and today's dividend yield.

For other testing, like using P/E Ratios and Price/Graham Price Ratios, you use EPS estimates or from the last reported financial quarter. When using P/S Ratios, P/CF Ratios or P/BV Ratios you are using data from the last reported financial quarter.

However, no system is perfect. But if you are interested in buy a stock a list of stocks cheap or reasonable using dividend yield data might be a good place to start.

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 here to see what stocks are showing whether a stock is relatively cheap based on historical high dividend yields (P/Hi), historical average dividend yields (P/Ave), historical median dividend yields (P/Med) or on 5 year median dividend yields (P/5Yr). As in other spreadsheets, you can highlight a line or a number of lines for better viewing.

In the following notes I am only going to list stocks showing as cheap using the historical high dividend yields (P/Hi) and historical median dividend yields (P/Med).

I follow 19 stocks in the consumer discretionary category. Of these stocks, only Dorel Industries (TSX-DII.B) is showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield. Seven (or 37%) are showing cheap by historical median dividend yield. They are the one stock previously named and Canadian Tire Corporation (TSX-CTC.A); High Liner Foods (TSX-HLF); Leon's Furniture (TSX-LNF); Magna International Inc. (TSX-MG), Reitmans (Canada) Ltd. (TSX-RET.A) and Thomson Reuters Corp (TSX-TRI). Last month 9 companies were showing as cheap by historical median dividend yield.

I follow 10 Consumer Staples stocks. None are showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield. Two stocks (or 20%) are showing cheap by historical median dividend yield. These are Jean Coutu Group Inc. (TSX-PJC.A) and Loblaw Companies (TSX-L). This is the same as for last month.

I only follow two Health Care stocks and both are US stocks. They are both cheap by the historical median dividend yield. The stocks are Johnson and Johnson (NYSE-JNJ) and Medtronic Inc. (NYSE-MDT). This is the same as for last month.

I follow 12 Real Estate stocks. Melcor Developments Inc. (TSX-MRD) is showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield. Four stocks (or 33%) are showing cheap historical median dividend yield. They are Artis REIT (TSX-AX.UN); FirstService Corp (TSX-FSV), Granite Real Estate (TSX-GRT.UN) and Melcor Developments Inc. (TSX-MRD).

I follow 6 Bank stocks. None are showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield. Four stocks (or .67%) are showing cheap by the historical median dividend yield. These stocks are Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX-BNS); National Bank of Canada (TSX-NA); Royal Bank (TSX-RY) and Toronto Dominion Bank (TSX-TD). Barclays PLC (NYSE-BCS) is no longer cheap by the historical median dividend yield.

I follow 12 Financial Service stocks. One is showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield and that is Home Capital Group. Eight (or 67%) stocks are showing cheap by the historical median dividend yield. These stocks are AGF Management Ltd (TSX-AGF.B); CI Financial (TSX-CIX); DirectCash Payments Inc. (TSX-DCI); Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc. (TSX-GS); Home Capital Group (TSX-HCG); IGM Financial (TSX-IGM); Power Corp (TSX-POW) and TMX Group Ltd. (TSX-X). There is no change from last month.

I follow 5 Insurance stocks. None are showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield. Four stocks (or 80%) are showing cheap by historical median dividend yield. These stocks are Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSX-GWO); Manulife Financial Corp (TSX-MFC); Power Financial Corp (TSX-PWF) and Sun Life Financial (TSX-SLF). There is no change from last month.

I follow 34 Industrial stocks. Two are now showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield (or 6%). These stocks are Finning International Inc. (TSX-FTT) and Hammond Power Solutions Inc. (TSX-HPS.A). Pason Systems Inc. (TSX-PSI) is no longer showing cheap.

Twelve Industrial stocks (or 35%) are showing cheap by historical median dividend yield. These stocks are Ag Growth International (TSX-AFN); Canadian National Railway (TSX-CNR); Finning International Inc. (TSX-FTT); Hammond Power Solutions Inc. (TSX-HPS.A); HNZ Group Inc. (TSX-HNZ.A); Mullen Group (TSX-MTL); Pason Systems Inc. (TSX-PSI); Pulse Seismic Inc. (TSX-PSD). Russel Metals (TSX-RUS); SNC-Lavalin (TSX-SNC); Toromont Industries Ltd. (TSX-TIH) and Transcontinental Inc. (TSX-TCL.A). Pulse Seismic Inc. is new to this list.

I follow 8 Tech stocks. One is showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield and it is Calian Technologies Ltd. (TSX-CTY). Three stocks (or 38%) are showing cheap by historical median dividend yield. They are Absolute Software Corporation (TSX-ABT); Calian Technologies Ltd (TSX-CTY) and Evertz Technologies (TSX-ET). This has not changed from last month.

I follow 10 Energy stocks. Four Stocks or (40%) are showing as cheap by the historical high dividend yield. They are Canadian Natural Resources (TSX-CNQ); Ensign Energy Services (TSX-ESI); Husky Energy (TSX-HSE) and Suncor Energy (TSX-SU). There are six stocks (or 60%) showing cheap by historical median dividend yield. They are the four above and Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX-CVE) and Encana Corp (TSX-ECA). This has not changed from last month.

I follow 2 Material stocks. None are showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield. It is also the only one that is cheap by historical median dividend yield and that is Teck Resources Ltd. (TSX-TCK.B). The change is that Teck is no longer cheap by historically high dividend yields.

I follow 8 of the infrastructure type utility companies. None are showing as cheap by historical high dividend yield. Four stocks (or 50%) are showing cheap by historical median dividend yield. They are AltaGas Ltd (TSX-ALA); TransCanada Corp (TSX-TRP) TransCanada Corp (TSX-TRP) and Veresen Inc. (TSX-VSN). TransCanada Corp is new to this list this month.

I follow 12 of the power type utility companies. One is showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield and that is TransAlta Corp. Three stock (or 25%) are showing cheap by historical median dividend yield. These stocks are the one above plus ATCO Ltd (TSX-ACO.X) and Fortis Inc. (TSX-FTS). This has not changed since last month.

I follow 5 of the Telecom Service type utility companies. No stock is showing cheap by the historical high dividend yield. Three stocks (or 60%) are showing cheap by historical median dividend yield. These stocks are BCE (TSX-BCE); Shaw Communications Inc. (TSX-SJR.B); and WiLan Inc. (TSX-WIN).

On my other blog I am today writing about WiLan Inc. (TSX-WIN, OTC-WILN) ... learn more...

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, December 7, 2015

Dividend Stocks December 2015

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 or historical median yield. See my spreadsheet at dividend growth stocks that I just updated for December 2015.

On this list,
  • I have 11 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical high dividend yield,
  • I have 49 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical average dividend yield
  • I have 65 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical median dividend yield and
  • 64 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the 5 year average dividend yield.
When I did my list last month,
  • I have 12 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical high dividend yield,
  • I have 47 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical average dividend yield
  • I have 64 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical median dividend yield and
  • 61 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.
If you had one share of each stock, total dividends last month would be $143.73. This month dividends would be $144.54. Of the stock that I follow 13 stocks has raised their dividends since last month. Dividends raises are denoted in green. Those stocks are

Alimentation Couche-Tard (TSX-ATD.B, OTC- ANCUF)
Bank of Montreal (TSX-BMO, NYSE-BMO)
Canadian Tire Corporation(TSX-CTC.A, OTC- CDNAF)
Enbridge Inc. (TSX-ENB, NYSE-ENB)
Equitable Group Inc. (TSX-EQB, OTC- EQGPF)

Goodfellow Inc. (TSX-GDL, OTC- GFELF)
Inter Pipeline Ltd. (TSX IPL, OTC- IPPLF)
Keg Royalties Income Fund (TSX-KEG.UN, OTC- KRIUF)
Molson Coors Canada (TSX-TPX.B, NYSE-TAP)
National Bank of Canada (TSX-NA, OTC- NTIOF)

Sun Life Financial (TSX-SLF, NYSE-SLF)
Telus (TSX-T, NYSE-TU)
Valener Inc. (TSX-VNR, OTC- VNRCF)

Of the stock that I follow 2 stocks have decreased their dividends. Those stocks are Teck Resources Ltd (TSX-TCK.B, NYSE-TCK) and WiLan Inc. (TSX-WIN, NASDAQ-WILN). Also Husky Energy Inc. (TSX-HSE, OTC-HUSKF) had said they will only pay dividends in shares now.

I am showing whether a stock is relatively cheap based on historical high dividend yields (P/Hi), historical average dividend yields (P/Ave), historical median dividend yields (P/Med) 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 median 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.

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. 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 Finning International Inc. (TSX-FTT, OTC-FINGF) ... learn more...

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, December 2, 2015

Money Show 2015 - Albrecht Weller

I next attended a mini session by Albrecht Weller of Schwaben Capital Group. This talk was called "How to beat the TSX and S&P 500 by more than 5%".

How to make money in the market is to make fewer mistakes than the next guy. You need to make fewer mistakes than the market. Stock picking is a loser's game. What you need is risk control. You need to use common sense. The downside of buying stocks is that has a 50% drop is that you will need a 100% gain to get back to where you were. Does this make sense?

Try to avoid the mistakes of others. Investment gain is 90% perspiration, 8% luck and 2% genius. Good business means common sense. If you do not understand the business, do not invest.

What is want is investment growth. For this you need Revenue growth and EPS growth. But do not let revenue or earnings growth fool you. For example, if the number of shares is growing, you may get high Revenue growth, but not Revenue per Share growth.

Look for companies with growing dividends. You want companies that pay you to hold their stocks. Growth gives you a hedge against higher interest rates. (When the US raises interest rates, we have to do in Canada or the CDN$ will decline.

Mr. Market can misprice a stock. You could have rising revenues and earnings, but a declining stock price. The reasons could be a decline in the company or a mispricing by Mr. Market. You do not want to take active bets, but you want to take passive bets.

On my other blog I am today writing about Innergex Renewable Energy (TSX-INE, OTC-INGXF) ... learn more...

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.