2018

December 31, 2018: On Monday, markets closed out the year with gains. The S&P 500 was up 0.85% and Toronto was up 0.7%.

It was not a good year in the markets. Fear and predictions of lower earnings ahead came into the market and pushed "multiple...

The report for RioCan is updated and rated Buy at $23.80 to yield 6.0%. This is fundamentally a lower return business but it provides reliable cash distributions. It is very well managed....

The report for Fortis Inc. is updated and rated Buy at $45.07. Fortis projects raising its dividend by an average of 6% per year for the next five years with the earnings increase coming from its various capital investments. In Q4 Fortis will definit...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.4%

The great majority of stocks on our list were up.

Rate reset preferred shares were up with the Enbridge series A share up 5.1%. The Canadian Western Bank rate reset preferred share ...

On Thursday, the U.S. markets appeared set to take back most of Wednesday's big gain. But the market rallied into the close with the S&P 500 up 0.9%. With the markets swinging up and down for no particular reason, the next move(s) are not somethi...

Costco is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $198.63.  It is a pleasure to read the annual report of this company . It is a simple company that has a very powerful business model. My ONLY hesitation on this stock is that it trades at a high price t...

Wednesday brought some welcome relief for the U.S. markets. The Toronto exchange was closed but should catch up tomorrow unless the U.S. market turns sharply negative again.

The S&P 500 was up a huge 5.0%. The increase was a partial bounce back ...

Given recent market actions it was no surprise that markets were down once again on this Christmas Eve Monday.

The S&P 500 was down 2.7% and Toronto was down 1.1%.

Most stocks were down. But Canadian Western Bank, Melcor and Toll Brothers manag...

The recent stock market declines have been hard to stomach.

The economy so far has remained strong with corporate earnings in general at record levels. But the potential that the long economic expansion is about to turn down into a recession and a w...

Royal Bank of Canada is updated and rated (lower) Strong Buy at $90.95.

With the market declines a lot of stocks look very attractive on valuation and that is the basis if the rating. Meanwhile the potential that the long economic expansion is about...

Friday was another weak day as the S&P 500 closed down 2.1% and Toronto was down 1.5%.

The situation with Trump is certainly not helping matters. He is now apparently mulling firing the Fed chair. With all of the investigations and with the Demo...

Thursday was another nasty down day in the markets.

The S&P 500 was down 1.6% and Toronto was down 0.9%.

And tomorrow is not shaping up to be any better... (more below)

Most stocks were down, some of the bigger declines were Starbucks down 3.0...

FedEx is updated and rated (higher ) Buy at $163. It reported adjusted earnings per share in Q2 up 27%, so that was not the problem. But it indicated that "Global trade has slowed in recent month" and this along with customers choosing to pay less in...

On Wednesday, markets were initially up. They then initially rose even more when the Fed increased rates as expected but then fell when the Fed indicated it still planned probably two rate increases in 2019 (down from three but not down to one or non...

Markets closed relatively flat on Tuesday with the S&P 500 about unchanged and Toronto up 0.4%.

Stantec was up 2.3% after announcing a $35 million contract win for planning and design work at a shipyard in Maine.

Melcor Developments was down 3....

Monday's markets were ugly especially considering that the declines come on top of all the other recent declines.

The S&P 500 was down 2.1% and Toronto was down 1.6%. And it is certainly very possible that the declines will continue. The best ne...

The report for Canadian Western Bank is updated and rated (lower) Strong Buy at $26.10. CWB earned an ROE of 11.8% in its just completed fiscal 2018. It has not reported a loss in any quarter in over 28 years. And yet, due to fears and due to general...

Dollarama is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $31.99. After being targeted by a short seller and after reporting unusually low earnings growth, the shares have come down to a more reasonable level....

With so many stocks trading at what appears to be bargain prices I am keeping a closer eye on insider trading.

Melcor CEO Darrin Rayburn bought 1800 shares at $12.55 on Wednesday to hold 43,643. This was reported on Friday. A few days ago I mentione...

Friday was another negative day in the markets. The other side of that coin however, is that those with cash to invest can do so at lower stock prices.

The S&P 500 was down 1.9% and Toronto was down 1.05%.

The decline in the S&P 500 was bla...

Toll Brothers is updated and rates Strong Buy at $32.88.

In it recently released Q4, earnings per share were up 79%. But those earnings were driven by home sales that they contracted for nine to twelve months earlier. The market is focused on slow...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was down 0.2%.

CRH Medical was up 3.2%. Dollarama recovered 3.4%.

TFI International was down 6.1%. I did not see any news to explain the decline. It's been an exceptionally well run...

Stocks rose on Wednesday with the S&P 500 up 0.5% and Toronto up 0.8%.

Constellation Software was up 3.3%. Toll Brothers was up 3.2%. AutoCanada was up 2.4%.

Teranet reported that its index of the price of existing houses edged down slightl...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was down 0.4%.

Alimentation Couche-Tard rose 2.7%. This company continues to be very well managed and has plans for continued growth. The stock has risen since the end of October despit...

Monday was a volatile day in the markets. But at the end of the day, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto was down 0.45%.

Most of the stocks on our list were down. Constellation Software was among the few gainers and was up 1.1%.

Checking ...

Melcor continues to buy back its small allowed quota of 1262 shares per day. It began the buybacks on October 9. This came after several years where Meclor had obtained permiossion from regulators to buy back shares but then did not do so. They buy b...

Friday's action saw the S&P 500 down 2.3% and Toronto down 0.95%.

Costco was down 3.6%.

AutoCanada was down 4.4% to $11.09.

Statistics Canada reported large job gains for November. And this is NOT explained by Christmas hiring since thes...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 ended the day down 0.15% while Toronto was down 1.6%

Earlier on Thursday, the S&P 500 had been down as much as 2.9%.

Investors are nervous about trade tensions with China and in general are fearful of declines. ...

On Wednesday, the U.S. markets were closed to respect the late President George H. W. Bush.

Toronto rose 0.8%

The Bank of Canada held interest rates constant but apparently sees risk in the economy and therefore it is now thought that interest ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down a hefty 3.2% while Toronto was down 1.4%.

Most stocks were down.

FedEx took an extra hit (and ended up down 6.3%) because a Morgan Stanley analyst said that Amazon has some planes of its own and will take aw...

On Monday, the S&P 500 ws up 1.1% which was likely due to reduced trade tensions between China and the U.S. after Trump met with the Chinese leader on Saturday.

Toronto was up 0.5%

West Texas Oil is up to $53.55 after Russian and Saudi Arab...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.8% while Toronto was about unchanged.

AutoCanada was up 10.7%. This may have been due to an analyst recommendation given that the company did not release any news.

Boston Pizza Royalties was up 3.3%. After th...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while Toronto was up 0.15.

Linamar recovered 3.3%.

AutoCananda was up 4.1%. Earlier this week, AutoCanada announced a new partnership with Kijiji as its preferred online partner. It's hard to say what ...

The report for Melcor Developments is updated and rated (higher) Strong Buy at $12.75 based on the fact that it trades at 42% of book value per share and based on the "hard" nature of its assets. This has obviously been a very frustrating stock to ow...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 surged 2.3% and Toronto was up 1.3%. This came after remarks by the FED Chair that were interpreted to mean that interest rates may not rise as high as had been expected in 2019. However, this was only an interpretation ...

There are lots of things to mention tonight.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% while Toronto was down 0.5%.

CRH Medical was up 6.9%. The company did not release any news and there was no new insider buying. Therefore, the reason could be ...

Our report on the Melcor REIT is updated. Based on its 9.0% yield and the fact that it is trading at 67% of book value, and supported by recent insider buying, it is rated Buy. But at the same time its distributable cash per unit has declined in 2018...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 1.5% while Toronto was about unchanged.

Boston Pizza Royalties recovered 4.6% after it announced it will initiate unit buy-backs. I was a bit surprised by that because it has already taken on a material amount of ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.7% and Toronto was down 0.5%.

BHP Billiton was down 4.0% which may have been linked to lower oil prices.

Canadian Western Bank got pushed down 5.8% to $27.89. This was no-doubt due to the current gloom in t...

Our report for Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $15.53 (It closed today at $15.13 to yield 9.1%).

These units have been falling in price. Presumably, the market is now expecting a distribution cut. I believe ...

On Thursday, the U.S. stock markets were closed while Toronto was about unchanged.

There were no particularly note worthy moves in the Canadian stocks on our list.

Boston Pizza is down to $15.53 yielding 8.9%. Rising interest rates would not se...

Wednesday was another interesting day in the market.

The S&P 500 was about unchanged. But Toronto was up 1.5% and almost all the stocks on our list were higher.

CN Rail was up 3.0%.

Constellation Software was up 3.1%.

TFI Internationa...

The report for WSP Global is updated and rated Buy at $64.18. It's not cheap but if it keeps growing like it has been it will do well.

WSP Global is fairly similar to Stantec in that both are consulting engineering companies that have grown by acq...

Tuesday was a non-bring day in the markets.

The S&P 500 was down 1.8% and Toronto was down 1.3%.

Almost all the stocks on our list were down. But the three exceptions were stocks I mention a lot.

Toll Brothers was up 2.0%.

Linamar was...

Monday's action saw the S&P 500 down 1.7% and Toronto down 0.6%.

Canadian Western Bank had a notable decline of 2.7% to $29.91. Book value per share is $25.77 (end of Q3 and will almost certainly be higher when it reports Q4 in early December)...

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

Melcor Developments was up 4.0%. The company continues to buy back each day the small amount of shares that it is allowed to which is just 1262 shares per day. They are also allowed t...

Stantec is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $31.01.

I was tempted to rate it higher due to a potential turn-around in 20019 but the numbers don't support that just yet.

The story of Stantec is that it has been a successful growth-by-acquisition...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 1.1% while Toronto was up 0.1%.

Stocks on the rise included: Visa, up 1.9%, American Express up 1.7%, Linamar up 1.7%.

Stocks on the decline included: CRH Medical down 4.2%, AutoCanada down 1.9%, Dollarama do...

Canadian Tire is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $152.70. The stock has fallen in the past week even thought the company reported strong earnings growth in in Q3....

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.8% while Toronto was about flat.

AutoCanada fell 12.3% to $11.09 giving back a good portion of its recent gains. Unfortunately, there may be nothing to support the share price unless and until it able to po...

The drop in the price of West Texas Oil along with continued wide discounts on Alberta oil do not bode well for the Alberta economy unless something changes.

In downtown Edmonton there is nevertheless a LOT of building going on. Near the new...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.15% and Toronto was down 0.2%.

AutoCanada rose 11.4% to $12.65. But it is likely to continue to be quite volatile until and unless it can book some solid improvements in 2019. See update below.

TFI Intern...

The report for AutoCanada is updated and rated Speculative Buy at $12.45. The future of this investment is heavily dependent on the abilities of the new management team that took over in July. They have made a number of changes and they seem to have...

Monday was a government holiday, but the markets were open. The S&P 500 was down a hefty 2.0% and Toronto was down 0.8%.

Amazon was down 4.4%. Visa was down 2.9%. Stantec was down 3.4%. Canadian Tie was down 2.85%.

AutoCanada managed a gai...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.9% and Toronto was down 0.5%.

Stantec was down 6.5% in what seems to be a delayed negative reaction to its earnings release of Thursday morning.

Linamar was down 3.2% in further negative reaction to its ear...

Linamar is updated and rated (higher) Strong Buy at $48.21. This is primarily based on its low price to earnings ratio of 5.4 times and low price to book value combines with management's optimism that earnings will continue to grow. There are ne...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.25%, giving back a bit of yesterday's gains. Toronto was down 0.1%.

Melcor was down 4.3% to $13.40. That puts it at 44% of book value. Unfortunately, the wait for a recovery here continues. CMHC reported to...

Wednesday, in response to the results of the mid-term elections, the S&P 500 was up 2.2% while Toronto rose 0.5%.

Among the many gainers were:CRH Medical up 8.4% Amazon, up 6.9%Starbucks up another 3.3%Visa, up 2.8%

And Canadian Western Ba...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.7% as U.S. markets await the election results. Toronto was up 0.5%.

TFI International was up 3.6%. Starbucks was up another 2.4% 

Melcor Developments released earnings after the close that were very similar...

On Monday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up about 0.6%.

Berkshire Hathaway surged 4.7%, Toll Brothers was up 2.4%, TFI International was up 2.1%, Costco was up 1.9% and Canadian Western Bank was up 1.8%. Most stocks were up but Linamar wa...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 0.2%.

Starbucks was up 9.7% to $64.32 after releasing Q3 earnings and sales figures. This high-quality company was added to our list on August 25 rated Buy at $52.75. Linamar was up 3....

(This post was made on November 1, but inadvertently, was not uploaded until November 3) On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 1.1% and Toronto was up 0.8%.

BHP Billiton was up 5.0% after it released details on a special dividend and a stock b...

Our report for FedEx is updated and rated Buy at $222. The stock is down 11% this year to date. That's in spite of sharply higher earnings per share. Growth in volume of packages moves has been strong and it has also increased prices charged. The low...

CRH Medical posted Q3 results after the close. In general the results looked positive with higher adjusted EBITDA attributable to owners ( a good portion is attributable to minority interests) but lower net income attributable to owners. Given the c...

The Melcor REIT released earnings after the close. The bad news is that adjusted Funds From Operations per unit were down 13% in Q3 and 8% year to date. Furthermore, the payout ratio as percent of this AFFO has risen to 105% in Q3 and 99% year to da...

So, Halloween was anything but scary in the markets.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose (or recovered) 1.1% while Toronto was up 0.9%.

Notable winners included:Amazon, up 4.4%Visa, up 3.8%TFI International, up 2.3% CRH Medical, up 4.1%

Doll...

Tuesday was a positive day in the markets as the S&P 500 rose 1.6% and Toronto was up 1.2%.

Our big gainer was Toll Brothers which rose 8.75%. Tomorrow will be the last day of its fiscal 2018 and it will report earnings in December. It's earn...

On Monday, stocks were initially higher but closed the day with the S&P 500 down 0.7% and Toronto down 1.1%.

Amazon was down 6.3%. (see update below)

Toll Brothers was down 2.5% as was Visa Inc.

CRH Medical was down 3.3% in Toronto and w...

Our report for Amazon is updated for Q3 earnings. With the recent slide in its stock price and its recently higher earnings the price / earnings ratio of this stock has come down a lot but is still very high at 86. The company is forecasting slower 1...

There is news this evening that IBM is making a big acquisition.

What shocks me about it is the price paid in relation to not only profits but even revenues. Based on this I dearly wish that some of the companies I own and that are on our list wou...

Our report for Constellation Software is updated and rated (lower) Buy at Canadian $871. The price has declined from a high of $1,134 and meanwhile earnings have continued to grow briskly. While the stock is not cheap, this may be an opportunity to s...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 1.7% while Toronto declined 0.2%.

Amazon was down 7.8% to $1643. In early September it had briefly reached $2050.

Costco was down 3.6%

On a day when most stocks were down, Toll Brothers gained 3.1% and TFI...

Our report for Visa Inc. is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $137.74. Shares in this powerful money maker have looked expensive on a P/E ratio basis for quite a few years. But the subsequent growth has justified the premium valuation. Now, the valuat...

Thursday saw a partial rebound from Wednesday's market declines.

The S&P 500 was up 1.9% but Toronto was up only 0.1%.

Amazon surged 7.1% but then was down 5.3% to $1687 in after-hours trading after it released Q3 earnings. If I had some U....

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down a very hefty 3.1% and Toronto was down 2.5%.

Given a lot of negative sentiment including concern about the outcome of the U.S. mid-term elections and many other international risks, it is certainly possible t...

Our report on CN Rail is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $107.79. It's an excellent and strong company with a good outlook but is not cheap in relation to earnings....

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 ended the day down 0.55% but had been down over 2% earlier in the day. Toronto closed down 0.8%.

Among the few stocks on the rise were Toll Brothers, up 4.1% and Linamar, up 3.4% and Melcor, up 2.2% and TFI Internationa...

The report for TFI International is updated with a (higher) Buy rating at $44.99.

Amid the gloom of falling stock prices in recent days, it was nice to see this company report an eye-popping 97% increase in adjusted earnings per share in Q3. Year ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.4%.

Most stocks were down.

But Stantec rose 5.8% as the market continues to react positively to last week's news that it has reached a deal to sell its problematic construction services di...

The steep decline in the price of Toll Brothers down to about book value is hard to stomach.

Investment banks including Bank of America and RBC analysts have turned negative on the home building sector. Still, the forward P/E ratio is very low at ...

Our report on American Express is updated for Q3 earnings and rated (higher) Buy at $106.73...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was up 0.4%.

Stocks on the rise included:
CN Rail, up 1.9%.
Stantec up 3.3% on its pending divestiture of its problematic construction services division.
American Express up 3.8% on i...

Canadian National Raiway Company will report Q3 earnings on Tuesday. I expect another good quarter. CN is up 2.5% this morning after Canadian Pacific reported good results in Q3.

Rail car loadings for Canada are running higher than 2017 in most we...

Stantec has announced it has reached a deal to sell its problematic MWH Constructors division. This division was acquired in May 2016 as a portion of the acquiistion of MWH Global which included substantial core free-for-service business. The MWH Con...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 1.4% and Toronto was down 0.8%.

Most stocks on our list were down. Heineken was up 2.3% to $78.50.

FedEx was down 2.7% to $217. It is well below its high of $274 and looks attractive.

Canadian Western Ba...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was down 0.3%.

Starbucks was up 2.3%.

Linamar was down 2.15%. I could not resist adding a little to my position again today.

It was disappointing to see Toll Brothers down 2.6%....

Our one mining company, the giant BHP Billiton (market cap about $129 billion U.S.) is updated and rated Speculative Buy. This is an inherently unpredictable company since its earnings can swing massively with commodity price changes. As detailed in ...

Tuesday was a very positive day for North American stock markets with the S&P 500 up 2.15% and Toronto was up 1.1%.

Constellation Software was up 6.0%. Amazon was up 3.35%. Visa was up 3.3%, Toll Brothers was up 3.3%. There were quite a few s...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% while Toronto was about unchanged.

Linamar recovered 3.4%.

Canadian Western Bank recovered 2.0% to $33.72 and trades at 1.30 times book value and, according to Yahoo Finance 12.3 times trailing earnings...

On Friday, markets recovered somewhat as the S&P 500 rose 1.4% and Toronto rose 0.6%

Visa was up 4.7% and Amazon was up 4.0% and so perhaps Thursday was the day to grab these. But it is never clear when these dips have hit a low. 

Linamar,...

Thursday was a negative day in the markets with the S&P 500 down 2.1% and Toronto down 1.3%.

Most stocks were down including AutoCanada down 4.3%.

A few stocks on our list managed not to fall today including Melcor up 1.0% and Constellatio...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down a hefty 3.3% and Toronto was down 2.1%.

I don't think investors can complain much about the S&P 500 giving back a little of the big gains it has recently made but complaints about the TSX being down 2.1%...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.6%.

Ceapro was up 19% on its news but for whatever reason most of the gain and most of the trading came only in the last 90 minutes of trading. Walmart was up 2.5%. Starbucks was ...

Ceapro press release this morning that they have Health Canada approval to start a human trial on using one of their two main products as a cholesterol lowering agent. If this panned out it could be a very big deal. And perhaps this will give the ma...

On Monday, the S&P 500 ended the day about unchanged. Toronto was closed.

Amazon was down 1.3% to 1864 but was as low as $1831. Those wanting to own Amazon could consider buying on this dip but probably don't need to be in any rush.  There is...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 0.4%.

Costco was down a hefty 5.6% to $219. This was after Costco announced earnings and announced that it had identified some control issues regarding the accuracy of its financial rep...

Thursday saw the S&P 500 down 0.8% and Toronto down 0.4%.

A drop in the S&P 500 is no surprise and not distressing after almost two years of almost uninterrupted gains since Trump's election. But it also seems to pull down Toronto and vari...

Whenever I travel, I like to make note of how various retail and consumer businesses are doing or what my impressions are.

At Edmonton Airport on Tuesday night I went to the BP for a beer before our flight (strictly for research of course).

The...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.3%.

Canadian Tire was up 1.7%.

Toll Brothers was down 2.0%. Competitor Lennar reported strong earnings and sales growth this morning but its price was down 1.1%. It appears that the...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto (apparently unexcited by the big LNG announcement) was down 0.5%.

CRH Medical bounced up 7.1% on Toronto to $4.99. It's been quite volatile lately but has mostly trended down after reac...

Our report on the Enbridge Rate reset preferred share, the Series 9 trading as ENB.PF.A is updated and rated Buy at $20.47.

The shares happen to be very similar to the Canadian Western Bank rate reset preferred share that is on our list which is r...

Shell and partners have announced a go-ahead decision on this project. They say it is $25 to $30 billion capital investment. That would be U.S. dollars which may explain why we are seeing a $40 billion figure in the Canadian news. It appears that a $...

On Monday, with a NAFTA (Sorry Trump, I mean USMCA) deal in hand, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was up only 0.2% on this news.

Linamar was up 6.3%. It will probably rise more as the good news is digested.

In unrelated news, Alimentati...

Late Sunday night, CBC indicates that sources tell it that a tentative NAFTA deal has been reached,his should be very positive for Linamar and probably also CN and AutoCanada perhaps most Canadian stocks.

As for Friday, the S&P 500 was unchang...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.2%

Toll Brothers was down 2.4% to $33.55. That makes the price to book value 1.13. The trailing price to earnings ratio is 8.4 and the stock is trading at just 6.5 times the earnings th...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto rose 0.1%.

The FED increased interest rates as expected and apparently signaled more increases to come.

AutoCanada was up 3.8% on news of the sale and lease-back transaction that I menti...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.3%.

Linamar was down 2.2% and will probably continue to be weak until and unless there is some progress on NAFTA.

After the close, AutoCanada announced it did a deal to sell and l...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.35% which was blamed on the escalating China / U.S.A. trade war.

Toronto was down 0.1%

West Texas Oil rose 2.1% to $72.25 as OPEC indicated it would not increase supply as requested by Donald Trump.

Most...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was up 0.1%.

Amazon was down 1.5% to $1915.

BHP Billiton was up 2.0%. Due to commodity price volatility this is an inherently volatile stock. It can be held for diversification althou...

Our report for Dollarama is updated and rated Weak Buy at $43.21

After a decade of growing its earnings per share at a compound annual average rate of about 31%, Dollarama grew earnings per share by "only" 12% year-over-year in the latest two quar...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 closed at a new record high, surging 0.8% to 2931. The 3000 level is not far away. The U.S. economy is undeniably strong. And the great bulk of the income tax reductions appear to have fallen to the bottom line. If the 50...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.3%.

West Texas Oil is at $71.48. Unfortunately as BNN Bloomberg reported today, basically ALL the different grades of Canadian crude are selling at big discounts to the West Texas ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% as investors basically ignored any negative risks from Trump's trade war with China. Toronto was up 0.7%.

West Texas oil is just a hair under $70.

TFI International was up 3.3% to $48.70.

FedEx was dow...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% which was at least partly due to concerns about Trump's escalating trade war with China. An announcement by Trump about new Tariffs is apparently pending as of early Monday evening. Update, Trump has now annou...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto edged up 0.1%.

Costco was down 2.4% as an analyst report pointed out the high P/E ratio.

Penny stock Ceapro was down 5%.

Our best hope this week would be for good news on the NAFTA f...

Our report on Amazon is updated and rated Speculative Weak Buy / Hold at $1970.

I was very tempted to not put a rating on it because it is "too hard". Buffett has said that many investments should be put in the "too hard" basket and that he would ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% while Toronto was down 0.3%.

Linamar was up another 4.5% top $61.06. I suspect it was upgraded by some analyst(s) since there does not seem to be any NAFTA news to explain it.

Toll Brothers was down 1.6%...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was down 0.3%.

West Texas Oil was back over $70 U.S. dollars.

Linamar was up 5.8% and AutoCanada was up 4.5%. I did not see any news to explain this. When (if?) a NAFTA deal is ann...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% while Toronto was up 0.2%.

Yesterday, after the close, Boston Pizza Royalties had announced that its latest distribution would remain at 11.5 cents. I had been wondering if the market had been expecting or f...

Alimentation Couche-Tard is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $65.99 which was the closing price yesterday. Its recent Q1 fiscal 2019 earnings report featured stellar gains. The next two quarters should also show some growth based on acquisitions. Ho...

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

Canadian Western Bank was down 1.7% to $35.16.

CRH Medical which is a higher risk pick, was up 2.3% to U.S. $4.35 or Canadian $5.72. I reduced my position by 20% today. I had a...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.1%.

Costco was up 2.0% to $241.46 after releasing very strong same-store sales figures for August. I listened to a recorded call regarding the results and it was not clear to me how m...

Our report and rating on the Canadian Western Bank rate reset preferred share Series 5 CWB.PR.B is updated and now rated (lower) Sell at $24.57.

These shares will reset in less than seven months on April 30, 2019. The yield will reset to the yield...

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

WSP Global was up 7.3%. It did not release any news and so perhaps the price rise was due to an analyst upgrade in outlook.

Alimentation Couche-Tard was up 4.5% due to its ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.15%.

Toll Brothers was up 2.1%. AutoCanada was up 2.5%, possibly on optimism that the new management will turn things around.

Visa was down 3.5%. Its had strong increases in the...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was down 0.7%.

The cancellation of approval and therefore work permits for the Trans Mountain pipeline was an ugly blow for Alberta on Friday. That could continue to affect stocks this w...

Our one penny stock, Ceapro Inc., is updated and rated Sell at $0.45. When first added to this site, Ceapro was a profitable operating company that was also engaged in research that might payoff. But over almost the past two years sales declined and ...

Canadian Western Bank is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $35.50.

It was surprising and disappointing to see CWB drop $2.00 after releasing a strong earnings report on Thursday morning. The earnings growth of about 9% apparently fell short of ana...

Happy Birthday to Warren Buffett who turned 88 today. He spent the day in Manhattan at a lengthy lunch for eight that he auctions off annually. This year the lunch auction had raised over $3 million for a charity. He was interviewed on CNBC today. I ...

Canadian Western Bank reported earning this morning. Earnings per share up 9%, the dividend raised by 4% and giving a positive outlook. And the stock promptly declined 5%.

Headlines indicate analysts expected 12% earnings growth. And perhaps the 4...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.6% and Toronto was up 0.2%.

AutoCanada was up 5.1%.

On Thursday morning, Canadian Western Bank will report. With its commercial lending  focus, its results do not necessarily track that of the large Canadi...

Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund is updated and rated Speculative Buy at $18.09.

The thesis for investing in the BP Royalty units was that you get a good yield and the yield should rise perhaps 1 to 3% annually on average. If that can be expecte...

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

Linamar was up 3.3%.

Our one penny stock, Ceapro was down 10% after releasing its latest results.

The next update will be for Boston Pizza Royalty Units. On a yield...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up another 0.8% and Toronto was up 0.5%.

Linamar rose 6.5% on news of progress on NAFTA. I suspect that if Canada gets a NAFTA deal done then Linamar could easily rise another 20% or more. Meanwhile it could be volat...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up  0.6% to a new all-time closing high.

Toronto was up 0.2%.

Constellation Software was up 2.2%.

This week the Canadian market will get earnings reports from the remaining big banks. We will also get earnings ...

Starbucks is added to the list rated Buy at $52.75.

Starbucks is not a screaming Buy but it is a solid blue-chip type company that is very likely to be a decent invest over the long term. If you are  customer then why now own at least some shares?...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.1%.

AutoCanada was down 5.1%. If new management are successful in their plans to substantially increase earnings, those earnings are not likely to start to materialize until Q4. Q3 ...

On Wednesday, the market basically ignored Trump's latest troubles as the S&P 500 was about unchanged.

Meanwhile, Toronto was up 0.3%.

Canadian Western Bank was up 2.4% to $38.68. This was likely in reaction to good results from Royal Bank ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto was down by 0.2%.

Toll Brothers earnings were better than expected in all regards and the stock was up 13.8% and I think remains cheap.

Canadian Western Bank was up 1.8%.

AutoCanada manag...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto was about unchanged.

CRH Medical was up 6.0% in Toronto. With the strong recent gains, I am considering trimming my position in this company.

Toll Brothers is scheduled to report earnings bef...

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

CRH Medical was up 4.5% to $5.14 in Toronto.

The big Canadian Banks will begin reporting their Q3 earnings this week. They will likely report continued growth in profitability on t...

Constellation Software is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at Canadian  $949. Note, though that it is analysed in U.S. dollars because it reports in U.S. dollars.

Constellation Software has been a fantastic investment over the years. I have gener...

Markets were very strong on Thursday with the S&P 500 up 0.8%, the DOW surging 1.6% and Toronto up 0.5%.

Walmart surged 9.3% after a strong earnings report which including a big gain in on-line sales.

CRH Medical was up 6.3% in the U.S. and...

Wednesday was a down day in the markets apparently due to worries about the situation in Turkey and contagion from that.

The S&P 500 was down 0.8%. Toronto was down 1.2% as the price of West Texas oil fell to about U.S. $65.

Most stocks wer...

Tuesday's markets were strong with the S&P 500 up 0.6% and Toronto up 0.5%.

Dollarama was up 4.0% although it did not issue any news. Many stocks were up in the range of 1% to 1.5% today. Linamar was up 2.0%.

Stantec was down 0.4%. But afte...

The report for Costco is updated and rate Weak Sell / Hold at $220.31 (That was the analysis price, it's 221.33 as I post this).

Costco is a fantastic business. It's high P/E (34 currently) is the reason that I have typically rated the stock as We...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.5%.

AutoCanada fell another 6.5% to $10.05. Trump's threats about auto tariffs are another factor pushing this stock down.

Toll Brothers was down 4.2% to $34.17. They will report e...

The report for AutoCanada is updated and rated Speculative Buy at $10.75.

This has been a very (very) disappointing investment since it was added to this site on July 14, 2015 rated Buy at $40.36. At that point it had already declined from a high ...

AutoCanada released its Q2 results and they are extraordinarily poor.

They are replacing the CEO (though weirdly keeping him on as an adviser in the area of relations with the various auto makers and dealership acquisitions).

The CFO is resigni...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% but Toronto rose 0.6%.

Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund released Q2 earnings which I found to be somewhat disappointing. The increase in same-store franchise-fee-eligible sales that I thought would occu...

Stantec is updated and rated (lower) Buy at Canadian $34.14 or U.S. $26.20 after releasing Q2 earnings.

Q2 results were hampered by continued losses related to a few projects that Stantec inherited in its 2016 purchase of MWH Global. These were Co...

Boston Pizza Royaties Q2 results are out this morning. The results are at least moderately disappointing with same-store-franchise-eligible sales down 0.4% and this is despite some menu price increases and increased take-out orders. Traffic volume in...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was up 0.2% despite a decline in oil prices.

Canadian Tire surged 3.2% after announcing it would partner with Petco to bring bring Petco's prducts into its stores and online. It was n...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% while Toronto was down 0.8%.

Based on my Melcor update I added a little to my position in that stock.

I also added a little to AutoCanada which will report on Thursday. It's certainly possible that AutoCa...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up another 0.35% while Toronto was closed.

Berkshire Hathaway was up 2.9% on its good earnings results. I had mentioned that Berkshire had not yet bought back any shares under its new plan and I thought that might be...

Melcor Developments is updated and once again is rated Strong Buy at $14.52.

It is frustrating to see this stock languish at just under half of book value. Not only does the equity per share have a value that is likely around twice the share price...

On Friday, markets were strong with the S&P 500 up 0.5% although Toronto was up only 0.1%.

Berkshire Hathaway released its Q2 numbers on Saturday morning. They were strong. Of interest they reported no share buybacks have taken place. In isola...

The report for CRH Medical is updated and rated Speculative Buy at U.S. $3.45 or Canadian $4.49. While nominally a Canadian company it is in fact a 100% U.S. company in substance and my report is in U.S. dollars.

This company was added to the site...

Thursday saw the S&P 500 rise 0.5% and Toronto rise by 0.2%.

CRH Medical was up 3.5% after reporting earnings. The market apparently agreed with my assessment (on a quick look at the earnings) that the earnings report was good but not great.
...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.35%.

TFI International was up 5.2%. This has been a very well run company. Reducing my position in this name earlier this year has not turned out so well. Sometimes it seems that t...

The report on the Melcor REIT has been updated and rated (lower) Buy at $8.17.

On the one hand the 8.2% yield is highly attractive. And the units are trading at 73% of book value. And the REIT is doing a good job of signing on new tenants and keep...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 and Toronto were both up 0.5%.

TFI International was down 2.2% giving up part of recent gains. In contrast Constellation Software was up 2.5% recovering part of a recent decline.

FedEx was up 2.2% and has been volatile of...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 0.3%.

Heineken fell 5.3% after releasing first half earnings.

Constellation Software slipped another 4.2%.

The Canadian dollar is at 76.7 U.S. cents which is a six week high.

W...

I ate at the large BP at Niagara Falls, BP calls this a flagship location. On a Saturaday afternoon it was certainly very busy although not full. Almost any food and drink business in Niagara Falls seems to be quite busy due to the crowds.

Sunday ...

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

TFI International (formerly TransForce) was up 10.0% after releasing Q2 earnings. It's now up 32% year to date and 67% since being added to this site rated (lower) Strong Buy on O...

The main recent problem processing PayPal payments including new subscriptions have been (it appears) solved. Nevertheless, I am working on having a second payment processor to provide more choice in payments. For now, I am leaving the subscriber pag...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.9% adn Toronto was up 0.2%.

CN Rail was up 4.7% after reporting Q2 earnings. This has been a stellar long term investment. It usually looks expensive but seems to end up justifying the price paid. Probably wi...

When traveling, I like to check out and document anything I see related to companies on our list or just observations on the economy.

At the Edmonton airport on July 19 at just before noon I saw that the big Couche-Tard store in the arrivals area ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% while Toronto fell 0.2%.

BHP Billiton jumped 5.1% (The BBL American Depository receipts in New York). I don't see any news or earnings release to explain that. It might have been an increase in the price of iron...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto was down 0.1%.

Boston Pizza units were down 2.6% to $18.33

No doubt, we are all getting tired of too many stocks giving opportunities to buy rather than just giving gains.

In this case the yie...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.65%.

Linamar was down 4.8% due to tariff war fears. The U.S. Commerce department was conducting hearings late last weak regarding the (preposterous) issue of whether auto and auto p...

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

CRH Medical was up 3.5% to $4.18. It has settled back from the $.50 to $4.60 range it reached in early May. The market is still dealing with the uncertainty of how profitable it...

Firstly, as you likely noticed, I have a new contributor, Zack Trease, to InvestorsFriend who has written some posts that you see below. We actually intended his posts to show up on a separate page. They showed up here on the daily posts page before ...

Tuesday saw the S&P 500 rise 0.4% and Toronto 0.15%.

Linamar was up 3.0% to $59.38 modestly rewarding those who were brave enough to buy near its recent low of under $55.

Toll Brothers was up 2.8%. My betting is that this stock will rise as...

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

Linamar recovered 2.75%. There was not much movement of particular note in most of the stocks on our list.

A headline this morning on BNN television said that U.S. consumer spe...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while Toronto was about flat (it was down marginally).

AutoCanada was down another 0.1% to $15.32. Earlier in the day it was as low as $14.74.

Reviewing its press releases I took notice that in addition to...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.9% which made for a strong day in the markets.

Constellation Software was up a hefty 4.6% and has continued to be a real winner even when it seems expensive. Similarly, Amazon was up another ...

The report for Alimentation Couche-Tard is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $62.20.

The fact that this is (inexplicably) now Canada's largest company by revenue does not seem to have gotten much attention.

It now only derives about 13% of its ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.7% and Toronto was down 0.8%. Today, the market took notice of Trump's trade was threats and his insults to NATO and Germany.  It's hard to argue with his economic success so far. Time will tell if that contin...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.35% and Toronto was up 0.6% to a record high.

The record high on Toronto is welcome, but it is not necessarily cause for any great celebration, and the achievement of a record high certainly is not a recent to ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.9% and Toronto was up 0.5%.

FedEx was up 2.9% recovering some of its recent decline.

C.N. rail was up 2.7% to a record high.

Linamar bounced up 2.7%,

Toll Brothers was up 2.2%.

Couche-Tard was up 1.7...

Friday was a positive day in the North America stock markets as the S&P 500 rose 0.85% and Toronto rose 0.65%.

Statistics Canada reported the labour Force survey results for June. The report was positive with 32,000 jobs added. More people ret...

On Thursday, the U.S. markets were quite strong with the S&P 500 rising 0.9%. Toronto, however was down 0.2%.

Q2 earnings reports from U.S. companies will start to be released next week.

Also Alimentation Couche-Tard will release on Monday ...

AutoCanada

With AutoCanda currently undergoing a 'Strategic Review", I wanted to put down some thoughts about the company's strategy and its competitive advantages. I will also send these to the Special Committee of the Board that is currently loo...

On Wednesday, U.S. markets were closed for the holiday while Toronto was up 0.3%.

Canadian Western Bank rose 1.9%.

The Enbridge rate reset preferred share that is on our list rose 0.6% to $20.60. These shares will reset to the yield on the gove...

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

Canadian Western Bank was up 1.9%.

Couche-Tard was down 2.9%, giving back a portion of its recent partial recovery. There was news today that Irving Oil will acquire 13 and ...

On Monday, the Toronto Stock market was closed for the holiday and the S&P 500 ended the day up 0.3%.

Oil remains strong at U.S. $74.50 for West Texas Intermediate.

Trump is complaining that OPEC has manipulated oil prices higher than they ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto was up 0.6%.

Linamar recovered 3.2% to $58.91. Perhaps Thursday was the day to buy.

The first half of 2018 has not yielded much return for most investors. The Toronto stock index is up 0.5% i...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.6% while Toronto was down 0.3%.

Linamar was down 4.5%. This came after CEO and founding family member Linda Hasenfratz painted a very grim picture of what would happen to the entire North America economy if he...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.9%. And Toronto was down 0.3%. Earlier in the day both markets had been up.

CRH Medical was down 3.9% and has generally given back some of its recent gains.

Toll Brothers was down 2.3%. Yet when I check ...

On Tuesday, markets rebounded somewhat and the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.6%.

West Texas oil was up about 2.5% and sits at U.S. $70.63 which is close to $94 Canadian which is actually not at all a low price for oil if you look at...

Monday was a down day in the markets with the S&P 500 falling 1.4% and Toronto down 1.6%.

Most stocks were down on the day. This was blamed on Trump's escalating trade wars.

Walmart was an exception and rose 1.9%. I suppose higher prices fo...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2%.

Toronto was up 0.7% as the price of oil climbed because OPEC agreed to production increases that were smaller than expected/feared (feared by those who want higher oil prices, which is certainly not everyone...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 0.5%.

AutoCanada was down 3.8% losing some of the little bounce it had had on news that it will look at strategic alternatives.

Linamar was down another 2.9% on trade war worries.
...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2%.

Toronto was up 0.6% and has crept up to a new record closing high. That's a good thing but not exactly earth-shattering. Stock markets should be expected to trend up over time and therefore must at least ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% (modest compared to the decline of 1.1% in the DOW). Toronto was also down 0.4%.

BHP Billiton was down 2.9% in New York. This was due to lower commodity prices. Volatility is par for the course with commod...