2015

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.7% and Toronto fell o.8%.

Preferred shares mostly rose, for example the Canadian Western Bank preferred share was up 3.8%.

Oil prices fell as oil inventories rose. Apparently, the North American oil producer...

The report for ReoCan REIT is updated and rated Buy at $24.24.

When I first added RioCan to the site on July 9, 2011 rated Weak Buy (essentially a Hold) it was trading at 1.53 times book value. Now it is trading at a much more attractive 0.98 time...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 2.3% while Toronto fell 0.5%.

Toronto's decline was caused in part by Valeant's decline of 11.1% which was due to news that its CEO is in hospital with pneumonia. Valeant is down 60% in U.S. dollars (which it reports i...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% while Toronto was closed in lieu of Boxing Day.

Our next update will likely be for RioCan Reit as well as the RioCan preferred share series A. The preferred shares are set to reset to a materially lower dividen...

Onex Corporation is updated and rated Speculative (lower) Buy at $85.68. This entity is not a normal operating corporation but is a combination of a conglomerate holding company that invests mostly in private companies (the value of which is difficul...

On Christmas Eve, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% while Toronto rose 0.2%.

Boston Pizza Royalties was up 2.4% to $17.70. Last week, co-founder Jim Treliving bought 5000 units at $16.97. Combined with other recent insider buying, it seems clear that mana...

The Wells Fargo preferred shares (series O) report is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $25.04. These shares had been added to the list in 2014 because I had bought some at what seemed to be a bargain price of under $20 in late 2013. At $25 they a...

Wells Fargo is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $54.82. Despite being the world's most valuable bank Wells Fargo's operations are mostly concerned with the traditional lending out of depositor money. It does not engage in the large-scale investment ...

Wednesday was a positive day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 1.2% and Toronto was up 1.5%.

Oil (West Texas) was up 4.8% to $37.89. This was apparently due to a surprise decease in oil inventories.

AutoCanada was up 4.7% although it had n...

The report for Berkshire Hathaway is updated and the company is rated (higher) Buy at $134.15....

The S&P 500 was up 0.9% on Tuesday and Toronto was up 0.4%.

The five-year government of Canada bond yield was down to 0.72% on Monday and edged up to 0.75% on Tuesday. This very low yield continues to keep rate reset preferred shares trading a...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.8% and Toronto was up 0.1%.

Canadian Western Bank was up 1.6% after announcing an acquisition of an commercial and equipment finance company that it believes will be quite accretive although not for several year...

On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 1.8% while Toronto was up 0.1%.

Bombardier was up 16% after announcing that it received the expected certification for the smaller version of its new C-Series plane and also announcing a significant rail car contrac...

FedEx is updated and rated Buy at $147.15. It's an excellent company the stock price has declined about 15% in 2015 despite higher earnings....

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 1.5% and Toronto was down 1.2%.

The Canadian dollar is down under 72 U.S. cents. This seems bizarrely low. It certainly seems to be driven by low oil prices. I don't know why low oil prices have quite so much ...

The Federal Reserve Bank in the U.S. finally raised its overnight inter-bank target rate by 25 basis points.

The S&P 500 rose 1.4% and Toronto rose 1.9% despite about a 4% drop in the oil price.

The Canadian dollar fell but only moderately....

Constellation Software is updated and rated Speculative (lower) Buy at CAN $581 and U.S. $423 (this was based on yesterday's closing price and it is at CAN $585.43 as I post this as stocks rose on the FED news).

Constellation is one of Canada's ve...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.1% and Toronto was up 1.7%.

Preferred shares were particularly strong.

Melcor bucked the trend and was down 4.8% to $12.36. And the trading volume was a bit higher today at 31,329 shares. It is now at just 4...

Monday was another non-boring day in the markets.

The S&P 500 was up 0.5% while Toronto was down 0.78%

Oil is at $36.26. The Canadian dollar is worth just under 73 U.S. cents.

Natural Gas is at a low last seen in 2002 at U.S. $1.89 in Ne...

On Friday, the S&P 500 declined a hefty 1.9% and Toronto was down 1.7%.

Overall, 2015 has not been a good year for stock investors, especially for investors in Canadian stocks. The Toronto index is down 12.6%. The average Buy (or higher) rated...

On Thursday the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.6%

Dollarama was down 5.3% to $77.37. That is down from a high of almost $94. I read that latest quarterly press release and the company continues to grow very strongly. But it was a ver...

Wednesday's action had the S&P 500 down 0.8% while Toronto was up 0.1%.

Dollarama fell 7.3%. I will update that report soon and definitely before the end of this year.

Costco was down 5.4%. I would want a bigger retreat than that before I w...

Toll Brothers is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $33.84. Sales for a homebuilder are hard to predict. However, in this case the revenue is relatively predictable because it is driven by signed home sale contracts about one year earlier. Based on th...

Here is the latest on Canadian Crude Oil production from Stats Canada figures released this Wednesday morning, December 9th.

Canada produced 17.2 million cubic metres of crude oil and equivalent products in September, down 3.5% compared with the s...

Tuesday was another down day for the markets. The S&P 500 fell 0.7% and Toronto fell 0.9%.

Among the more notable decliners were certainly some that I have rated as Strong Buys or Buys and which I have a heavy allocation to in my own portfolio...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.7% and Toronto was down 2.4%.

A decline in the price of oil in the oder of 6% to $37.65 was the main driver for the decline.

OPEC met on Friday. My understanding is that most OPEC members wanted Saudi Arabi...

Canadian Western Bank is updated and rated Strong Buy at $23.66. This bank's earnings remain strong despite lower oil prices. Q4 profit did decline about 8% versus the previous year. But the bank is not expecting any unmanageable level of loan losses...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up a hefty 2.0% and Toronto was up 0.3%.

Notable gainers included Berkshire Hathaway, up 2.9%; Bank of America up 2.9%; Visa, up 2.7%; Toll Brothers up 2.3% and Valeant up 2.3%. Also, the Canadian Western Bank rate r...

Thursday was another negative day in the markets with the S&P 500 down 1.4% and Toronto down 1.0%.

The biggest loser on our list was the Bombardier preferred shares down 5.5%.

Among the rare gainers on our list were three retail stocks, Can...

Visa Inc. is updated and rated Weak Buy at $79.04 (it closed today at $78.29 but my analysis was done earlier at $79.04). Visa is clearly an excellent company and is exceptionally profitable. And it sits at the center of the conversion of monetary tr...

Wednesday was a down day for the markets with the S&P 500 down 1.1% and Toronto down 1.3%.

Almost all the stocks on our list were down.

Meanwhile Royal Bank became the first Canadian company to report an annual profit over $10 billion. I th...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 1.1% and Toronto rose 1.2%.

Notable gainers included Valeant Pharmaceuticals up 9.6%; Stantec, up 2.0%; Couche-Tard up 2.7%, Toll Brothers up 2.4%; Bank of America  up 2.2%,  Constellation Software up 2.2%; Liquor ...

The report on Amazon.com Inc. is updated and rated Sell at $680. I had added this company to the site only five months ago and rated it a Sell. It's up an amazing 55% since then. I added it to the site because I was curious how its financials looked....

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% while Toronto rose 0.8%.

Agrium was up 2.8% and Melcor was up 4.7%.

FedEx was down 3.4% but that comes after two months in which it gained about 14%.

Walmart was down 1.8%

The Canadian Western Bank rat...

Bank of America is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $17.48. This bank has finally put (hopefully) virtually all of the large financial crisis related litigation settlements behind it. If earnings in these next two quarters can match the performance ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% while Toronto fell 0.4%.

I am now planning to make use of my margin account to buy some additional Boston Pizza shares. The distributions will easily pay the monthly interest on the margin borrowing leaving abo...

Agrium Inc. is updated and rated Speculative Buy at U.S. $97 or Canadian $128.

This stock is up 2.5% this year in New York, but 16.6% in Toronto.

Although headquartered in Calgary, I consider this to be more of a U.S. dollar investment than a C...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was closed and Toronto rose 0.2%.

One thing that investors can give thanks for is that while stock prices can rise or fall on any given day the majority of companies on the stock exchange make an additional profit each...

Element Financial is updated and rated Speculative Buy at $17.50. This company has grown by acquisition at a huge pace. Barring higher loan losses or other problems it should report significantly higher earnings in the next year based on its current ...

The S&P 500 and Toronto were both essentially unchanged on Wednesday.

U.S. markets are closed on Thursday.

Bombardier had a 12% rebound. The Bombardier pref share that we follow rose 3%. I suspect these shares will rise somewhat as it becom...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.2%.

Oil bounced back to $42.85.

Bombardier wasted some money to host an investor day in New York City (the stock does not even trade in New York) and their attempts to reassure invest...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.4%.

As expected TransAlta got a bounce due to the Alberta climate change report and rose 9.4%. I don't have TransAlta on the list but have mentioned it a few times lately.

I also m...

Alberta has released a climate change report. It includes higher carbon taxes and a phase out of coal fired generation by 2030. And there will be a cap on oil sands emissions.

Clearly, we have arrived at the point where there will be financial inc...

Friday's markets saw the S&P 500 rise 0.4% while Toronto fell 0.3%.

West Texas Intermediate oil is down to $39.39 which is negative for the Toronto stock index.

Liquor Stores N.A. rose 3.4% which probably indicates that some analyst or othe...

Walmart is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $60.07. Walmart is currently experiencing declining earnings per share due to the high U.S. dollar and particularly due to the substantial wage increases that it announced early in 2015. The company project...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.5%.

The Canadian Western Bank preferred share bounced up 3.2% on a small trading volume. Melcor was up 2.2% but that was also on light volume.  Boston Pizza Royalties was up 1.5%.

...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.6% and Toronto was up 0.9%.

Stocks that rose included CN Rail, up 2.2%; Berkshire Hathaway, up 2.3%, Bank of America, up 2.4% and Visa Inc. up 2.0%.

The Canadian Western Bank preferred share was down 3.8% ...

North America stock markets ended Tuesday with the S&P 500 down 0.1% and Toronto down 0.3%.

Stocks that rose included Walmart, up 3.5%. Canadian Western Bank was up 1.7% and its rate reset preferred share was up 2.1%.

Valeant fell another 4...

The report for AutoCanada is updated and rated Speculative Buy at $28.64. This company was added to the site on July 14 rated Buy at $40.36. It had at that time fallen by 55% from highs around $90 in May of 2014. Since being added to the site the sto...

Markets were surprisingly strong on Monday with the S&P 500 up 1.5% and Toronto up 1.8%.

Among the bigger gains were Couche-Tard, up 4.6%, Canadian Tire; up 3.8%; Toll Brothers, up 3.2%; Boston Pizza Royalty units up 2.2%; Stantec up 2.1%.

...

On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 1.1% and Toronto fell 0.4%.

Bombardier was down another 7.3% as its conditional sale of C-Series planes to Porter Airlines will not be happening since the Federal liberal Transport Minister indicated the runways the...

The report for Liquor Stores N.A. is updated and rated Sell at $8.55. The dividend appears to be running at double the earnings level which seems highly unsustainable. In addition, I have lost faith in management.

The report for their convertible ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 1.4% and Toronto was down 1.6%.

Valeant was down 6.2%. Based on my view of adjusted earnings as of Q2 (which was a lower number than the company provided as I did not agree with all of their add backs) Valeant is ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.5%.

Canadian Tire was up 4.2% ahead of its earnings report tomorrow (Thursday) morning.

Melcor was up 3.3% after posting reasonably good earnings. It remains very thinly traded ...

Melcor is updated and rated a Strong Buy at $15.25. It has a long history of earning good returns on equity and it is on sale for close to half price due to fears related to lower oil prices and the Alberta economy. In addition it is thinly traded an...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.5%.

Canadian Tire was down another 2.1% to $108.93. It's probably a Buy at that price but it would probably be best to wait for it to report earnings on Thursday morning. The earnings ma...

The Q3 report for BP Royalties is out and same store sales were stronger than I would have expected given the thinking that Alberta would be a drag. Franchise sales upon which the royalty is collected were up 2.6% on a same store basis. Distributable...

Monday saw a negative start to the level of stock prices in north America, on average. The S&P 500 was down 1.0% and Toronto was down 0.5%.

Liquor Stores N.A. was down 11% to $9.65. We had rated this a strong Sell on March 13 at $15.26. We had...

On Friday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were both about unchanged at the end of the day.

Stocks that were on the rise included most rate reset pref shares, including the Canadian Western Bank rate reset pref shares up 4.5% to $21.30.

Bank of Ame...

Thursday's action saw the S&P 500 down 0.1% and Toronto down 0.8%.

Valeant was down about 15% after big investor Bill Ackman sent a letter expressing frustration to the company. Last week he tried to explain why the company was still solid in ...

Wednesday's markets closed with the S&P 500 and Toronto each down%.

And oil gave back much yesterday's gains but remains above $46.

Couche-Tard was up another 2.7%.

Bombardier was up 6.5% after one of its C-Series customers, the Latvian ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.6%.

Oil (West Texas Intermediate) was up 3.7% and is just under U.S. $48.

Alimentation Couche-Tard partially recovered some recent losses and was up 3.8% today.

Visa was up 3.6% as t...

Monday was a strong day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 1.2% and Toronto up 0.7%.

The Canadian Western Bank preferred shares that I updated yesterday were up 2.6%. I notice the volume is very light in these shares. It was up about 2.6% earl...

The report for the Canadian Western Bank rate reset preferred shares is updated. These preferred shares now yield 5.7%. The reset date is not until April 2019. At that point if the five year Canada bond rate remains at about 0.86% then the distributi...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 1.9%.

Valeant's decision to "sever ties" with Philidor (a company that it had an option to buy and which it consolidated and which therefore in a sense was part of Valeant) would seem t...

The Bombardier pref share on our list is updated and rated Highly Speculative Buy at $10.75.

This has been a terrible investment due to Bombardier's troubles. It's yielding 14.5% which is indicative of very high risk.

However, if you think it i...

Bombardier is updated and rated highly speculative (lower) Buy at $1.42.

Clearly, this has not been a good investment for many years.

I added it back to this site on September 23, 2012 rated Speculative Buy at $3.71. It's down 62% since then. I...

The S&P 500 was about even and Toronto was down 0.5%.

Constellation Software was up 4.8% after releasing a strong earnings report. Like I mentioned yesterday, some companies just seem to always be on their game.

Bombardier made the news wit...

Wednesday was a strong day in the markets with the S&P 500 and Toronto each up 1.2%.

The FED once again did not raise rates but appeared to hint that it probably would in December. Maybe. The market ultimately decided that this was good news a...

I have updated the American Express report for Q3 earnings. It's rated (lower) Buy at $75.25. It's had some "headwinds" lately due to loss of the Costco affiliated card in Canada and the pending less of same in The U.S. in march and also due to the h...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.7%.

TransForce was down 7.0% for probably no good reason. I initiated a small position in this stock today (I bought when it was down more like 4%) and have an order in that will fil...

Monday saw the S&P 500 down 0.2% while Toronto was down 1.2%.

AutoCanda was down 4.9% and Melcor was down 3.7%.

TransForce was up 3.8%.

Valeant was down 4.8% as it failed to convince investors that all is well. With its debt and all its ...

Friday was another positive day in the markets. The S&P 500 was up 1.1% and has clawed its way back to a small positive gain for the year to date. Toronto was up 0.5% but remains down 4.6% year to date.

Melcor was up a hefty 9.0% but we should...

TransForce is the largest trucking company in Canada and gets about one third of its revenues from the U.S. It has a very successful track record of both growth by acquisition and of generating strong earnings and cashflow from its operations. It app...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 1.7% and Toronto was up 1.3%. These are hefty gains.

Individual winning stocks today included CN Rail up 2.5%, Canadian Western Bank up 2.0%, Berkshire Hathaway up 3.1%, Constellation Software up 3.4%, and AutoCan...

America Express was down about 6% to about $72 after posting Q3 earnings that were down 11% per share. Analysts had apparently expected a smaller decline.

I am not exactly shocked by the 11% decline given that one third of its revenues come from o...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down a full percentage point.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which was added to this site rated Sell on July 30 at $331 is down to $154.  I had concerns about both the valuation and the trustwo...

The S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.6%.

Stantec was up 2.8%. AutoCanada was up 4.6% after announcing it will acquire two Nissan dealerships in Ontario.

Melcor fell 3.4% to $14.34. I had placed an order a couple of weeks ago to ad...

A big win for Justin Trudeau. The fact that it is a majority government should be a positive for markets.

Who would have thought Margaret Trudeau could get another PM in her family?

Businesses are not about to stop making money, that's for sure...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.1%.

The Canadian market will have the results of tomorrow's election to ponder and should react somewhat to that on Tuesday.

The U.S. Q3 earnings reports will be pouring in these next ...

The S&P 500 was up a hefty 1.5% and Toronto was down 0.3%...

Bank of America which is still trying to recover from the financial crisis was up 3.5%.

Amazon (which I thought looked over-priced in July at $438)  was up 3.2% to $562.

AutoCa...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% while Toronto rose 0.2%

Walmart announced that its earnings per share would fall 6 to 12% in the fiscal year that begins in February due to previously announced wage increases. On that news the stock fell 10...

Walmart is down almost 10% after forecasting an earnings decline for its fiscal year that begins in February. The company indicates that sales would continue to increase and that earnings per share would grow 5 to 10% in fiscal 2019 which ends in Feb...

The S&P 500 was down 0.7% and Toronto was down by 0.9%.

Canadian Western Bank was down 4.9%, CN rail was down 3.0%, AutoCanada was down 4.5% and Melcor was down 2.9%.

The Q3 earnings season is underway and Wells Fargo will report tomorrow.
...

American Express is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $76.78. It is facing a loss of its Costco card business in the United States in 2016 and has already lost the Canadian Costco card. Also the higher U.S. dollar is a negative. Nevertheless it has th...

This Initial Public Offering of shares in the Ontario electricity transmission and distribution is open as I post this. I have not done any analysis but regulated utilities tend to provide  returns over the years that are at least acceptable. I put i...

The S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Toronto was closed for the holiday.

Oil was down 4.4% to $47.44.

The Baker Hughes report of active drilling rigs shows that the number of active drilling rigs in North America is down 59% compared to the year ago f...

The report for Costco is updated. This is a wonderful business but the price (currently $154) usually seems to high. I was able to grab some at $125 on August 24 when the market had a very bad day. I may sell that and take my quick gain and then hope...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Toronto fell 0.1%.

Costco added to the gains of the previous day and rose 1.5% to $153.97.

There were a few things in the news that struck me as surprising:

Alberta added 12,000 jobs in September acc...

The S&P 500 was up 0.9% and Toronto was up 0.8%.

Stantec was up 3.8%, Costco was up 2.5%, Canadian Western Bank was up 2.3% to $26.50 and CN Rail was up 2.1%.

Melcor fell 4.5% to $15.42.

Oil is trading at $49.54.

Costco released same-...

Fortis Inc. has been added to our list of stocks and is rated Buy at $39.14. This is "pure play" regulated utility which results in earnings that are relatively low risk. It should report strong earnings growth in the next few quarters due to increas...

S&P 500 up 0.8% and Toronto up 1.6%.

Stocks of note: Melcor up 6.2% (but on thin volume as usual), AutoCanada up 2.8%, Toll Brothers up 2.8%, Boston Pizza up 2.6%, Canadian National Railway up 2.5%. Bombardier down 13%.

Car Prices and curre...

S&P 500 down 0.4%, Toronto up 0.7%

Oil rose several percentage points and is trading at $49.07.

Among the gainers: Canadian Western Bank up 3.0%, and AutoCanada up 2.8%.

Bombardier surged very near the end of the trading day to close up ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 1.8% and Toronto was up 1.6%.

Notable gainers included TransAlta up 5.7%, Canadian Western Bank up 6.2%, America Express up 3.9% and AutoCanada up 6.2%.

Valeant pharmaceutical was down 11.1%. Valeant is being a...

I am currently working to add Fortis Inc. to our list. It's a "pure-play" regulated electric and gas utility which owns a number of utilities in Canada and the U.S. (and a small amount further south). It looks like the rating will end up being Buy of...

On each daily post I mention the percentage gain or loss in the S&P 500 and the Toronto stock index for the day. Everyone tends to focus on the closing numbers. But sometimes the closing number has little to do with how the markets traded for mos...

Today, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% (although it was down for most of the day) and Toronto fell 0.5%.

TransAlta managed to gain 2.6% after agreeing to pay a penalty to one of its regulators. I have not added TransAlta to the list but I have mentioned...

S&P 500 up 1.9% and Toronto up 2.1%...

Notable gainers included Valiant up 12.3% (in a partial rebound from recent large losses). Dollarama, up 2.3%, Liquor Stores N.A. up 3.6%. Couche-Tard up 2.2%, AutoCanada up 4.0%.

I had noticed today t...

S&P 500 up 0.1% and Toronto up 0.2%.

Bombardier was up 7.0% on comments from the Quebec government that Bombardier's contribution to the economy is highly valued by the government and the company would be supported (though there were no specif...

Stock market indexes declined on Monday. The S&P 500 was down 2.6% and Toronto was down 2.8%.

This year to date, the S&P 500 index is down 8.6% and Toronto is down 11.1%. That is certainly a poor year, but really, it's not disastrous. If a...

Friday saw the S&P 500 about flat while Toronto was up 0.3%.

Individual stock movements which seem worthy of note include Canadian Western Bank up 3.4% and Bank of America up 2.2%.

I noticed that Melco issued a press release about a change ...

S&P 500 down 0.3% and Toronto down 0.3% (after bigger losses earlier in the day)

Bombardier was down again, this time down 8.2%.

I grabbed a bit of Toll Brothers shares at something under $36. This buys back some Toll that I had sold a coup...

The S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto down 0.8%.

And oil fell about 3.8% to $44.61.

Canadian Western Bank was down 3.0% presumably due to fears related to oil prices.

Bombardier was down 8.6% possibly because it is so hard to know what t...

Dollarama is updated and remains rated Weak Buy.

I have said repeatedly that Dollarama is one of Canada's very best managed companies.

It's profitability is so high that any economist would tell you the profits should not be sustainable. Someho...

Stock prices mostly traded lower today. The S&P 500 was down 1.2% and Toronto was down 2.1%.

Valiant Pharmaceuticals (which I last rated Sell at $331) was down 5.4% to $287 in Toronto.

Stocks that rose included Stantec up 1.7%, and Boston P...

S&P 500 up 0.5% and Toronto up 1.0%.

Gainers included CNR up 2.7%, Canadian Western Bank up 1.5%, Canadian Tire up 1.8% and Element Financial up 2.9%.

Boston Pizza Royalties was down slightly and I believe it represents excellent value at i...

In Friday's episode of follow the bouncing market the S&P 500 was down 1.6% and Toronto was down 1.0%. And most of our stock picks were down as well.

As this week gets ready to start, the futures are calling for a negative start to trading on ...

On Thursday, the big news (or at least confirmation of what was expected by most) was that the FED did not raise interest rates as it continues to await and expect further improvement in the U.S. economy and as it awaits and expects inflation to move...

Liquor Stores NA is updated and remains rated Strong Sell, now at $11.25. It appears to have a highly attractive dividend yield at 9.6%. However this dividend appears to exceed its earnings by close to double. It would appear to be at a high risk for...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.9% and Toronto was up 2.2%.

Oil was up about 5% and is at U.S. $47.27 which is really not such a low price.

Most of our stock picks were up: Stantec up 4.3%, Canadian Western Bank up 2.5%.

TransAlta is ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 1.3% and Toronto was up 0.8%.

Oil is at $45.08 U.S. which is about $60.00 Canadian. At that level it may be that the western Canadian economy will remain stronger than the market expects. Calgary home prices rose m...

The report on Canadian National Railway Company is updated and remains rated Buy now at CAN $74.43 or U.S. $ 56.18. The lower Canadian dollar will continue to benefit its results in Q3 and Q4 due to its U.S. operations and will offset what will likel...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.8%.

Canadian Tire was down 2.6% to $118.10. Possibly the decline has something to do with the impact that it will face from the lower Canadian dollar, which is a concern that I have b...

Toll Brothers is updated and remains rated Buy now at $37.23. Its latest quarter reported revenues and earnings were weak with a small decline. However that was related to a decrease in its signed home sales contracts from one year prior. This compan...

The report for Alimentation Couche-Tard is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $60.12.

As mentioned previously, this is one of Canada's very best managed companies. Since it was added to our list on March 31, 2005 rated (lower) Strong Buy at a sp...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4%, while Toronto was down 0.8%.

This week the market will be focused on the FED's interest rate announcement on Thursday....

Thursday saw the S&P 500 up 0.5% and Toronto up 0.3%.

Bombardier was up 29% as it showed off its new plane in Toronto. This stock is on something of a knife edge. It's been like a plane in  nosedive. It could crash or it could truly pull out o...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 finished the day down 1.4% and Toronto was down 0.7%.

Bombardier was a notable gainer, up 23% on rumors that there was some offer for its rail transportation business which offer was rebuffed but might indicate they c...

Canadian Western Bank is updated and rated Strong Buy at $22.78. I have studied the latest earnings report and read the earnings call transcript. Given the low oil prices I could not have hoped for a better report or outlook. The market however remai...

The software that controls the logins and passwords has been mostly restored and the need to login with a password should be restored very soon. I apologise for the confusion that this has created. For now, you are able to access the material here wi...

Canadian Western Bank's earnings are out. Very positive in my opinion. Stock set to open about $1.00 higher or say 4% (and this 4% will change by the time the market actually opens in about 90 minutes) and remains a clear bargain in my opinion. But y...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.4%.

Oil is at $46.55.

Melcor was up 4.6%.

Canadian Western Bank fell 2.5% despite reporting earnings that were about as good as could be hoped for given the low oil price. As of t...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 3.0% and Toronto fell 2.7%.

I'd rather see rising markets but declines are undeniably a fact of life for investors. As I have said many times, I don't particularly try to predict declines or step aside. I try to bu...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.8% and Toronto was up 0.5%.

Canadian Western Bank will report earnings either tonight or tomorrow morning. I expect certainly some increase in the allowance for bad debt and in delinquent loans. And I expect ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.8% and Toronto was about flat.

Oil surged 8% to over $48 but now sits at $47.60.

AutoCanada was up 4.3%.

Toll Brothers is at $36.97 which is down from recent highs of $42.19 due to both the overall market de...

Happy birthday to Warren Buffett who turns 85 today and who remains extraordinarily sharp. In fact part of his success that is seldom recognised is that he has a sort of photographic memory for figures and all things business. And he combines that wi...

Well it certainly has not been a dull week in the markets. On Thursday the S&P 500 rose 2.4% and Toronto rose 2.9%.

Just about everything on our list was up. So, as of now at least, it looks like a policy of hanging tight on this market correc...

Wednesday's action saw the S&P 500 end the day up 3.9% in partial a rebound from recent losses. Toronto was up 1.7%.

Almost everything was up. Apparently some very nice bargains were picked up in the past few days.

Meanwhile my road trip co...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down another 3.9% and Toronto was down 3.1%.

Every stock on the list I monitor was down.

I entered orders before the open to pick up a few shares of Costco at $125 and Berkshire at $128. Both were filled. Apparent...

So the S&P 500 ended the day on Friday down 3.2% and Toronto was down 1.9%.

Every stock on our list was down with the strand exception of Bombardier where the pref shares were up 17% and the common up 1.6%.

I have not changed my opinion on ...

My IT provider indicates the login server will be fixed soon meanwhile I have opened all the reports for your access without logging in, just click the links.

August 21, 2015 (12:40 pm eastern time)

Market declines continuing. I have added to B...

On Thursday, the price of owning a share of Corporate America or of Corporate Canada fell 2.1%.

It will be said that investors pulled money out of stocks. Not really. For every share sold there was a buyer. Investors as a population trade shares w...

My server problem continues but should be resolved soon. I use a local small business to host the login page. Over the years the up-time has been very good and I am confident that they can correct this soon. The main site is hosted by Telus and very ...

Canadian Tire is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $127. This is a very well-managed company. For the reasons indicated in the report it will likely struggle to show profit growth in the next couple of quarters and could certainly report lower profits...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto down 0.4%.

Individual stocks of note from our list included Walmart down 3.4% and Bombardier continuing its nose dive. However, AutoCanada managed a 2.1% gain and Toll Brothers rose another 2.8...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% while Toronto was down 0.2%.

Boston Pizza fell 2,4% to $17.96. I added modestly to my position at $18.03. In the past two trading days six insiders have bought shares mostly at about $18.50. They would have b...

My login server is still down and so I have opened access to the subscriber page without logging in. I had thought that this was also giving you access to all the reports but that was not the case. I have now opened up access to the recent updates su...

Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund is updated and rated Strong Buy at $18.40 to yield 7.1%.

This entity has declined about 20% since it was around $23 in March of this year and also it was $23 in the Spring of 2013.

Several months ago it announ...

A server problem is preventing access to the login page so I have temporarily redirected that link to this page.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 ended the day down 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.7%.

West Texas Intermediate oil is now at U.S. $42.95...

Melcor is updated and continues to be rated Strong Buy now at $16.37. And the report continues to indicate that the stock is not without risk. This company is trading at 59% of book value and I believe that buyers will be rewarded as the company has ...

A server problem is preventing access to the login page so I have temporarily redirected that link to this page.

Monday's stock market rally was short-lived and on Tuesday the S&P 500 was down 1.0% and Toronto was down 0.4%.

AutoCanada was ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 1.3% and Toronto rose 1.1%.

Toll Brothers was up 2.3%. Agrium was up 2.2%. Liquor Stores N.A. was up 2.9% (it reports earnings next Monday)

AutoCanada was one of the few decliners on out list and was down 2.6%.
...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.7%.

Most stocks were down but there were some gainers:

American Express was up 6.3% on reports that an activist investor company had taken a large position. I'd prefer it to be up ...

Thursday was a down day for markets as the S&P 500 fell 0.8% and Toronto fell 0.7%.

Most of the stocks on our list declined. Notable decliners included Valeant Pharmaceuticals down 6.0% and Stantec down 11.0% on its earnings report (see my pre...

Stantec reported earnings before the open and the stock is down about 10.5%.

I just added to my position. I would consider it to be A strong Buy but I continue to consider a good Buy for the long term.

I read most of the earnings report and the...

In Wednesday's markets the S&P 500 was up 0.3% anf Toronto was up 0.1%.

Walmart was up 2.4%. RioCan REIT was down 3.7% even as it announced authorization for some share buy-backs (though that does not necessarily mean it will buy any, at least...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% while Toronto rose 0.15%

TransAlta (which I have mentioned before but do not have on the list) was spanked down another 5% to $7.88. Even though it seems to have suffered from exceedingly poor management these...

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust is updated and rated Buy at $26.79.

The report here contains a great deal of information about the company and the factors that went into the rating of Buy. But the main factors are a yield of 5.3%, a price to b...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% while Toronto was closed.

Oil is trading at $45.81 and the Canadian dollar is at 76.02 U.S. cents.

With Berkshire Hathaway down a bit today I doubled the small position that I had in that company.

I am wo...

On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% while Toronto rose 0.6%

The Canadian Western Bank preferred shares fell 3.4% to $20.76. At that price I would definitely be a buyer. These shares were close to $25 as recently as early May and have fallen with ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was up 0.6%.

AutoCanada was up 4.3%.

Bombardier fell 9.7% after reporting a fairly weak quarter. While earnings were weak they were at least positive. But their orders for new planes ...

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. is added to our list but is rated Sell at U.S. $253.91 or Canadian $331.

I spent considerable time to attempt to understand this company. My description cell near the top of the report may be of interest...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 gained 0.7% and Toronto gained 1.6%.

Canadian Western bank was up 5.3%. Constellation Software was up 3.1% to $598 dollars. Constellation released a good earnings report after the close although the revenue growth may...

Tuesday's markets provided a modest reversal of recent losses. The S&P 500 was up 1.2% and Toronto was up 0.5%.

Most of the stocks on our list were up but there were no dramatic increases.

I continue to work on adding Valeant Pharmaceutical...

Monday was another day that was good for picking up stocks at lower prices but not so good for those already fully invested. The S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 1.3%.

Showing the courage of my convictions I added to my Canadian West...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 1.1% and Toronto was down 0.6%.

Declinming stocks included AutoCanada, down 3.6%; Canadian Western Bank down 3.0%.

Stocks that rose included Amazon, up 9.8% to $529 dollars on news that it made 18 cents per s...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 0.6% and Toronto fell 0.3%.

Markets appear to be testing the patience of value investors.

Amazon came out with a surprise profit of 19 cents per share and the stock price soared 18% in "after hours" trading to ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% and Toronto fell 0.5%.

Several of our U.S. stock picks continue to rise. Toll Brothers was up 2.5%, Wells Fargo was up 1.0% and Bank of America was up 2.0%.

Meanwhile Boston pizza was down 3.0% to $19.90 ...

Tuesday was another negative day for Canadian markets. The S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.3%

Bombardier was down another 4.8% to just $1.79.

This company has been a disaster for both investors and for the extended Bombardier f...

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% but Toronto fell 1.5%.

Canadian Western Bank fell 4.2% to $24.41. In part, this was likely due to a decline in oil prices which briefly dipped below U.S. $50. Also it may have been due to the overall decline in...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Toronto fell 0.6%.

Stocks on the rise included the Canadian Western Bank rate reset preferred share up 4.8% to $23.36. Similarly, the RioCan rate rest preferred share on our list was up 4.9%. Both of these ...

An Enbridge Inc. rate reset preferred share has been added to our list rated (higher) Buy at $19.27. At that price it yields 5.7% but only until December 1, 2019. At that point the dividend will be reset to yield 266 basis points plus the 5 year gove...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 0.8% to 2124. This puts it back very near its high of 2134. Toronto was up 0.5%.

Gainers today included Amazon up 3.1%, Liquor Stores N.A. up 3.4% and Constellation Software up 2.1%.

AutoCanada declined 2.3%.

It ...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 0.1% while Toronto rose 0.4% The Canadian dollar fell to a value of U.S. 77.3 cents after the Bank of Canada cut its benchmark overnight interest rate by 25 basis points to 0.50 in order to attempt to stimulate the Canadi...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.5%

Oil was up modestly to $53.25 as I write this. Oil rose despite fears that Iran will soon have the green light to pump more oil now that U.S. sanctions are to be lifted.

Tomorrow's b...

AutoCanada Inc. (which owns 48 auto dealerships) is added to the list and rated Buy at $40.36.

I will likely buy some tomorrow.

I found it interesting to see that the gross margin on new cars sold to retail customers averages 10.2%. However the...

Markets rose on Monday after a conditional debt deal was worked out for Greece apparently in the middle of the night. The S&P 500 rose 1.1% an Toronto was up 0.8%.

On Tuesday the market was set to open down about 0.2% on the S&P 500.

I ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 1.2% and Toronto rose 0.9%. This was due to optimism over a Greek debt deal. Almost all the stocks on our list rose. The Bombardier preferred shares were down 4.6% to $15.10. This would seem to suggest that "the market...

Bombardier shares have fallen under $2.00. This is appears to be a terribly managed company although possibly the new CEO will ultimately be an improvement. Our report for this company has almost nothing good to say but I did conclude it might be a o...

Yesterday I added to my Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund taking advantage of the lower price.

Markets are up today, presumably on progress on a Greek debt settlement.

Bombardier has been declining. It's obviously a highly speculative stock. I...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 1.7% and Toronto was down 1.5%.

Just about everything on my stock list was down.

I grabbed a few more Canadian Western Bank shares.

I also trimmed my large Toll Brothers position by about 20% and will l...

Stocks were volatile on Tuesday as the indexes had been down mid day but finished the day with the S&P 500 up 0.6% and Toronto up 0.2%

Costco surged 3.4% to $140.50 on a favorable analyst report. This stock always seems expensive but the compa...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell a modest 0.4% despite the Greek vote to reject the creditors' offer. Toronto was down 0.6%.

And as of this evening futures are predicting that the market will open modestly higher on Tuesday.

The bigger move was ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was up 0.3%.

On Sunday, Greece voted no to a debt deal that was apparently not even on the table anymore.

As of close to midnight eastern time the Dow futures are down about 200 points ...

Amazon is added to our list but is rated Sell at $437.71.

As a customer I am a big fan of Amazon. (Especially because I recently saved over 80% by buying a generic printer toner cartridge through Amazon when other sources only had the over-priced ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto, in catch up mode for the holiday, was up 0.6%.

CN railway was up 1.9%.

Canadian Western Bank was down 2.6%.

Times like this when stocks have been flat or down in the past year a...

On Canada day, the S&P 500 was up 0.7% while Toronto markets were closed.

On Tuesday the S&P 500 had been up 0.2% while Toronto had been up 0.4%.

The Canadian dollar fell on Canada day and sits at 79.45 U.S. cents per Canadian dollar, o...

On Monday, North American markets fell about 2.0% on the news from Greece.

Just about every stock on my list was down.

I have learned not to get stressed out by these things. As usual, in pull-backs I am more interested in buying than in sellin...

Markets are down (1.3% U.S. and 2.0% in Canada) due to the Greece situation. If I had ample cash I would likely add to positions including Canadian Western Bank, CNR and Berkshire. But with limited cash I am trying to be patient and see how the week ...

The reference article listing Global ETFs is updated. However, none of these appear to be compelling investments.

As of about 9 pm eastern, the DOW futures are down 247 points on the Greek situation. I am not inclined to buy stocks in the next few...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was flat while Toronto was down 0.6%.

Monday's markets may be driven by the Greece debt situation unless markets finally decide they no longer care what Greece does....

The FedEx report is updated and the rating is (lower) Buy at $172.85. This is a strong company. The valuation is not compelling but it may be worth taking a small position in at this time. I marvel that the company charges an average of only $12 for ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was about flat while Toronto was down 0.3%.

Melcor was down 2.5%. Oil was down moderately and is currently at $59.24.

The Dow is set to open slightly higher despite the Greek debt issues.

 ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.7% on fears that a Greece debt deal was not so near after all. But Toronto rose 0.3%.

Melcor rose 3.6% but as usual that was on a small volume.

Canadian Tire rose 1.5% to $136.81. This company was in the low...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Toronto rose 0.8% (as oil rose about 25).

I continue to view certain stocks that have been driven down by oil prices as buying opportunities. These include Stantec, Melcor and Canadian Western Bank and to ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.6% and Toronto was up 0.9%. This was on optimism about the Greek debt deal.

Most of the stocks on our list were up.

Melcor managed to fall 1.5% to $17.25. In my view that is "Mr. Market" offering to sell a stoc...

On Friday the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.8%.

However, Canadian Western Bank was up 1.8% and Toll Brothers was up 1.6%.

As of Sunday evening the DOW futures were up 73 points on optimism about the Greece debt talks -- but t...

Walmart is updated and rated Buy at $72.98. Its earnings per share have declined in the past two quarters due to the higher U.S. dollar (which reduces earnings from Canada and other international locations) and also due to increased wages and benefit...

In a further reaction to the FED statements of Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 1.0% on Thursday and Toronto was up 0.3%.

Berkshire Hathaway was one of the bigger gainers, up 1.9%.

Melcor managed to fall 1.3% to $17.50. I grabbed another 200 sha...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto was down 0.1%

Janet Yellen, chair of the FED, said she expects the FED to start to increase interest rates before the end of  this year. Also the indication is that the rise in interest will b...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was up about 0.6% and Toronto was relatively unchanged.

Dollarama which I judged on Monday as too expensive for my tastes rose another 2.9%. Today it indicates that some of its share buybacks will be by private placement...

Markets this morning are mixed with New York up slightly and Toronto down slight.

It sounds like Hudson's Bay Company made another good deal yesterday buying the a big German retailer and then doing a partial sale of the real estate by putting the...

Dollarama is updated and rated Weak Buy at $72.01. I first added Dollarama to the list in early 2012 rated Weak Buy at $21.75 (all stock prices mentioned here are split adjusted). I considered it then to be very well managed but it seemed too expensi...

Friday's action saw the S&P 500 down 0.7% and Toronto down 0.6%.

Almost all the stocks on my list were down but Melcor managed a 2.2% gain albeit on practically no volume.

I notice TransAlta (which I have not had on the list in the last doz...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.4%.

Canadian Western Bank at $28.02 is trading at 10.5 times trailing earnings according to Yahoo. The dividend yield is 3.1%, I calculate the P/E ratio as 10.2. The book value per shar...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.2% and Toronto was up 0.5%.

Most of the stocks on our list were up. Some notable gainers were Dollarama up 2.7% after releasing an earnings report. Visa up 2.5%. Canadian Western Bank up 2.0%.

Oil was up b...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was up 0.5%.

Oil was up about 4% and is now at $60.85 for the July West Texas futures contract.

Dollarama will report earnings tomorrow. I plan to update the analysis for Dollarama i...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.7% and Toronto was down 1.4%.

Lower prices provide the opportunity to buy shares at better prices. For example, CN railway, Boston Pizza, Melcor, Canadian Western Bank  and Berkshire Hathaway....

On Thursday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.9%.

Among the few stocks rising in price was Constellation Software up another 1.5% after announcing an acquisition on Tuesday.

The May job creation report will be out tomorrow and will ...