2017

December 31, 2017: TFI International is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $32.86. I am comfortable holding this company at this price and will be inclined to add to the position on dips. It’s a very well managed growth-by-acquisition company. It is fa...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.1%.
RioCan was down 2.8% to $24.69 and is an investment that I would consider for income particularly in non-taxable accounts since REITs are not eligible for the dividend tax credit.
Fort...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Toronto rose 0.2%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 1.4% to $38.97
RioCan was up 1.7% to $25.41. Despite fears about the retail sector, this REIT seems likely to continue to pay its distributions and generally ...

U.S. markets were open and the S&P 500 was up 0.1%.
Oil (west Texas Intermediate) is at $59.80. With oil at or near this level, I suspect the  Alberta economy will continue to improve. This should bode well for Melcor Developmensts and the Melcor...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged (down 0.05%) and Toronto was down 0.1%.
CRH Medical was down 5.1%.
AutoCanada was down 2.2%
TFI International was up 1.6%.
It appears that we are set to close out 2017 with the S&P 500 up about 20%, ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.1%.
CRH Medical was up 7.1% to $3.33 in Toronto.
Wells Fargo was up 2.4% to $61.61. This bank bottomed out at under $10 in early March 2009. There was a massive spike in volume as some inv...

Costco is updated and rated (lower) Sell at $187.51. (corrected from the original posting that said (lower) Buy
I hesitate to rate this exceptionally excellent company in the Sell range. But it does look somewhat over-valued at this time. I probably ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.2%.
The U.S. income tax reduction bill has been passed.
While the market seems to expect all of the income tax savings to fall to the bottom line, that will not necessarily be the case....

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was about unchanged.
The republican's income tax reduction bill is expected to be signed by the President tomorrow.
Costco was down 2.1%. I will be updating my report on Costco very soon.
CRH Medi...

Today, one week before Christmas, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.6%
The U.S. markets rose yet again on optimism that the income tax reduction Bill will be passed.
The top gainer on our list was Linamar, up 2.6%.
It should continue t...

Royal Bank is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $101.92
Note that, as an experiment, I have opened this post to comments. Click to comment. I am thinking that once in a while it might be useful to allow comments on a post.
Large banks tend to very pr...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.9% and Toronto was up 0.2%,
Linamar rose 11.5% to $72.50 with the news of its acquisition (see yesterday's comment.
Costco was up 3.3% after releasing earnings. I will update the report very soon. I suspect it will...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.7%.
Linamar was down 2.7% and then, after the close, revealed that it will acquire an Agricultural equipment maker for $1.2 Billion. It is acquiring privately held MacDon of Winnipeg i...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was about flat while the DOW was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.1%.
With the Democrats grabbing the Senate seat last night, I had expected U.S. markets would likely fall today due to a somewhat lower probability of the Inc...

On Tuesday, markets were once again setting record highs. In round numbers, the Dow is now 25,000.  The S&P 500 was up 0.15% and Toronto was up 0.1%.
CRH Medical bounced down 4% in Toronto. I had understood from this company that they were going ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up less than 0.1%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 1.1% to $38.35. That puts it 51% higher than when it was rated a Strong Buy back on June 3. Not only was that a good return but it seemed like quit...

How to profit from (correctly) predicting a lower Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar closed on Friday at 77.88 U.S. cents.
Exchange rates are notoriously hard to predict. But, let's say you are relatively confident, for whatever reason, that the Can...

Note: I am now sending out the occasional tweet under @InvestorsFriend, and those who use twitter can follow me there.
On Friday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up about 0.5%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 2.2% as the market further digested it...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.7%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 3.3% to $37.12 after releasing a strong earnings report. This stock is now up 22% in 2017. It's also up just over 50% since hitting lows under $25 in May. ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 ended the day about unchanged while Toronto was down 0.1%.
Dollarama was down 2.1%, apparently due to lower-than-expected same-store sales figures and in spite of another large increase in earnings. Results compared to e...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Toll Brothers was down 7.4% to $46.93 after releasing Q4 earnings and 2018 outlook that "missed analyst expectations". At a quick look the Q4 results look pretty strong to me and I ...

On Monday, U.S. markets opened sharply higher reflecting the Senate approval of the income tax reduction plan over the weekend. The excitement died down by the end of the day and the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.4%.
I reviewed m...

Melcor Developments has announced it is selling 5 commercial rental properties to the Melcor REIT for $80.9 million. The properties are fully leased and are mostly retail but one of the properties is Industrial.
There was no disclosure by Melcor Deve...

What, me worry? (said the market)
On Friday, the S&P 500 ended the day down 0.2%. But at one point in the day it was very briefly down 1.5% probably due to Flynn's guilty plea. Toronto also ended the day down 0.2%.
Linamar was down 3.0% and Dolla...

As November came to a close, the good times continued in the markets.
The S&P 500 was up 0.8% and the DOW surged 1.4% and Toronto was up 0.6%.
This came as it appears more certain that the Senate will pass the corporate income tax reduction bill ...

There are some things to like about Bombardier as a company. It makes great and exciting products. (Top of the line business jets, great commercial jets including the new C Series, fast trains and subway cars). The company employs many thousands of p...

Never a dull moment... Wednesday was another interesting day in the markets. The S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was down 0.4%. But there were certainly some stocks with bigger moves.
FedEx was up 3.4%. Costco was up 2.2%. Wells Fargo and...

Well then, Party On!
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.0% and the Down Jones Industrial Average was up an attention-grabbing 255 points or 1.1%. The jump was fueled by optimism that the corporate income tax reduction bill is closer to getting pass...

Amazon.com (Is it the only company left that actually has dot com in its official name? There used a bunch of them.) is updated and rated Sell at $1,196.
I can't deny that my rating performance on this stock has been very poor. I first added it to th...

On Friday, the S&P 500 and the Toronto stock index were each up 0.2%.
The Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund units were up 1.6% to $22.48. These units should be a good investment for the 6.5% yield. The price does fluctuate and the units have bee...

Dollarama is updated and rated (lower) Sell at $162.03. For a number of years I have described Dollarama as a great company and one of the best managed companies in Canada. But it has always seemed expensive and I believe the highest I have rated it ...

On Thursday, U.S. markets were closed for Thanksgiving while Toronto was unchanged for the day.
There was no movement of note in any of the stocks on our list.
Oil rose a bit more and is at $58.37. That's good except that part of the reason for the i...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was about unchanged.
Canadian Western Bank was up 1.7% to $36.73. This bank is benefiting from the strong recovery in Alberta. The recession in Alberta bottomed out around November of 2016. Wh...

Markets were up "bigly" on Tuesday with the S&P 500 up 0.65% and Toronto up 0.45%.
There appears to be a lot of optimism in U.S. markets based on recent earnings growth and projections for continued robust earnings growth. GAAP earnings on the S&...

The report for Linamar is updated and rated Strong Buy at $68.50. The price has declined from about the $80 range after the release of Q3 earnings. Earnings per share were down 12% in Q3 whiles revenues per share were up 6%. The company indicated tha...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while Toronto was about unchanged.
Home Capital was up another 7.0%.
Melcor was down 1.6% to $14.70. It is possible that there is some tax loss selling involved. With the shares trading right around half of book...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.4% Oil prices rose and West Texas Intermediate is at $56.68.
TFI Industries was up 1.4%.
Home Capital was up 3.8% to $15.67. It's not on our list but I bought a small amount as mentioned...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.8% as the House of representatives passed a proposed income tax reduction bill. The Senate republicans hope to pass their different version of the bill in the next couple of weeks. If that occurs the two bills woul...

Visa Inc. is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $111.25. The previous rating was Buy at $78.02 on January 1 of this year. It's up about 43% since then. The gains were very steady all year. It remains a power house of course. But at 32 times trailin...

I notice that Ceapro released Q3 earnings yesterday morning before the open, The report has positives and negatives. Moderately higher sales but significantly lower profit. But keep in mind that when profits are low, the percentage swings can easily ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 0.2%.
Recent experience notwithstanding, the S&P 500 index does decline sometimes. Warren Buffett suggests that most Americans simply invest in the S&P 500 index and they will d...

Tuesday's markets saw the S&P 500 down 0.2% and Toronto down 0.7% (as commodity prices fell).
Toll Brothers was up 2.2% to $47.05. It's now up 52% this year to date. Our last rating was (higher) Buy at $42.81 on October 9th. The 10% price increas...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.1%.
AutoCanada was up 2.8% adding to Friday's 9.2% gain which was in response to its Q3 earnings release.
Constellation Software was up 1.4%.
FedEx was up 1.5%.
CRH Medical was down 1.0%...

I just now came across this link which allows users to rate investment "newsletter" services.
The rating part of this site might be new since not many of the 697 newsletter listed have any rankings yet.
I don't know anything about this ranking site b...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
A big winner was AutoCanada up 9.2% after releasing earnings. Some observers predict hard times for auto dealers as the industry moves to more reliable electric cars and ride-sharing...

The Melcor REIT report is updated and remains rated Buy at $8.73 yielding 7.7%.
This REIT was added to the site on September 25, 2016 rated Buy at $8.63.
Since then, the units have done their job paying an annual yield of 7.8% of the $8.63 and with t...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.1%.
Canadian Western Bank was down 1.9% to $34.37. With oil having recently risen to the $57 level I suspect that they will report good results for their Q4 which ended October 31.
Can...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.2%.
Stocks that rose today included Stantec, up 1.0%, Couche-Tard up 1.7%, Costco, up 1.7%, and Toll Brothers up 1.5%.
Spoiling the day, was Linamar down almost 14%. The company claim...

Berkshire Hathaway is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $186.21 which was the closing price yesterday. At the moment the price has dropped slightly to $185.04.
With earnings down somewhat in the past year and with the price up about 30% in the last 12...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was up 0.25%.
Wells Fargo and Bank of America were each down 2.0%.
RioCan was up 1.7% to $25.35. It had released earnings late last week.
Linamar was down 1.9% and then released earnings a...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1%.
Toronto was up 0.45% as oil (West Texas Intermediate) rose to $57.24, up 2.9%.
Toll Brothers was up 2.1%.
Stantec was down 1.8%. It reports earnings on Thursday.
CRH Medical fell another 7.6% in Toronto. Perhap...

Melcor's Q3 results were strong (in my opinion) with a year-over-year increase in funds from operations of 25%. The number of single family lot sales was up by 58% and the average price was relatively stable but it appears that somewhat more of the l...

I have updated the composition of my personal total portfolio. I wanted to see in particular what my cash position was. It's 19% and I would not mind seeing it go somewhat higher. I have no fixed income. With no fixed income, a reasonable allocation ...

CRH Medical is updated and rated Speculative (lower) Strong Buy at U.S. $1.85 or Canadian $2.37. This one has been a huge disappointment as it is down 57%  since it was added to the site on October 9, 2016 rated Speculative Buy at U.S $4.32. And it i...

CRH medical is down a further 12 % in Toronto trading this morning. And down 17% in U.S. trading.
This is due to finalization of government-mandated fee reductions for 2018 which included an additional reduction, not previously anticipated.
The compa...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged (though the DOW was up 0.35%) and Toronto was down 0.1%.
Alimentation Couche-Tard jumped 3.1%. There was no news so this may have been due to an analyst recommendation.
Toll Brothers fell 6.1% to $43.7...

Wednesday saw the S&P 500 rise 0.2% while Toronto was about unchanged.
Canadian Western Bank retreated 1.9% which was not surprising after its 4.8% gain of Tuesday which did seem a bit overdone.
Linamar was up 1.7%.
Toll Brothers was up 1.3%.
I m...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.1%.
Our big mover was Canadian Western Bank up 4.8% to $36.34 after it announced the acquisition of a $900 million dollar portfolio of equipment loans and leases. This will add 10 cents per share...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.3%.
TFI Industries was down 3.2% and I think it represents good value.
After the close, Canadian Western Bank announced an acquisition that they say will add ten cents per share to earni...

I was just reading some blog comments about RRSPs. Lots of people are adamant that RRSPs are a bad way to invest. There was a complaint that the tax rate on death of the last surviving spouse was 50%. Truly that is a a heavy tax rate. But the complai...

Visiting Tampa (and nearby areas including Sarasota) Florida this week I have a few observations about business and the economy:
Overall, this area of Florida has a mix of affluent, middle, and more than a few low income people judging by the housing...

Statistics Canada recently reported sales for food service and drinking places for August. The numbers look strong which bodes well for Boston Pizza's Q3 report. Unless BP has lost market share it should show an increase in same store sales which is ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose another 0.8% and Toronto was up 0.4% finally reaching a new record high close.
In the U.S. in particular it starts to seem like stocks only ever go up. Obviously, this is wrong but with gains almost every day for the l...

TFI International, TransForce is down about 6% on its earnings release. Adjusted earnings down a little. But overall the report shows growth in revenue and a gain on an asset sale. I am adding to my position this morning at just over $30.
Amazon is u...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.2%.
Stantec was up 2.2%, FedEx was up 1.6%, American Express was up 2.3%.
Ceapro, which is a risky penny stock was up 11.9% which only takes it back to 66 cents. This was after it announce...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Linamar was up 0.8% despite the down day in the markets and seems attractive although its not clear to me how it might be affected by any failure of NAFTA.
The Canadian dollar was...

The report for American Express is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $93.86.
American Express lost the Costco branded cards in 2016 because they were not willing to cut the merchant fee down as low as Costco wanted. That caused a drop in earnings but ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.3%. And the DOW was up 0.7% after strong earnings reports from Caterpillar and 3M.
CN Rail was up 1.9% but may decline tomorrow as its earnings report after the close was disappointing due ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was about unchanged.
Boston Pizza was down 2.3% to $21.63. It will be interesting to see their Q3 report to see if same store sales were up or down.
Melcor was up 3.5% but given its thin trading vo...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up another 0.5% to yet another record high. Toronto was up 0.2%.
The S&P 500 is now up 15.0% this year to date. That is impressive especially considering it entered 2017 already at a record high and trading at 23.7 ...

Walmart is updated and rated (lower) Sell at $86.22. (Yesterday's closing price, today it closed at $86.40) As always, the report gives the rationale for the rating. Under the rating system that I have always used a (lower) Sell is between a Sell rat...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was up 0.2%.
CN Rail was up 1.6% to $102.64. It's interesting how some blue chip type companies like this seem to go on rising year after year. In an article I wrote in 2003 called Do As ...

This morning I have sold the rest of Bombardier preferred shares Series 4. I have wanted to raise cash to provide stability to my portfolio and for possible other opportunities. Bombardier's latest move has given away half of the C Series project for...

Wednesday was another strong day for U.S. markets with the S&P 500 up 0.1%. The DOW surged 0.7% because IBM was up 9% after reporting better than expected earnings. Toronto was down 0.2%.
It's worth thinking about which companies on our list woul...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average crested the 23,000 level for the first time ever and closed just under that round number.
Bombardier had a good day up 15.7% and its preferred shares that are...

I am in a mood to trim a few positions today because my cash position is low and it is always good to have some cash for opportunities or withdrawals and because U.S. stocks have been going up quite steadily for almost a full year now and are up 22%....

So, Bombardier is selling half of its C Series jet project to Airbus for umm zero dollars.
What an indictment, what a testament to a colossal failure of management. Bombardier spent , as I indicated in 2016, at least $5.4 billion on the program befor...

Monday's markets saw the S&P 500 up 0.2% and while Toronto was about unchanged.
Ceapro was down 4 cents or 6.3%. I have been very disappointed with what I view as poor disclosure at this company. It was always a speculative pick. When first added...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
AutoCanada was up 4.0% with no news during the trading day. But after the close, the company announced it was acquiring a large established Mazda dealership near Montreal. The family tha...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.4%.
AutoCanada rose 3.8%.
Alimentation Couche-Tard was up 3.9% to $61.24. That surprised me given the announcement on Wednesday that Metro was selling 11 million shares in a public off...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up yet another 0.2% and Toronto was also up 0.2%.
Bombardier was up 4.4% to $2.35 after Delta Airlines said it would not be paying a 300% duty. Why is this news? Of course no one is ever going to buy a plane that com...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
Walmart was up 4.5% to $84.13 after announcing that it will buy back $20 billion in shares. That would represent about 8% of its shares which is quite substantial. It also announced tha...

On Monday the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while Toronto was closed.
Costco was down 1.6%. It's not cheap but may be worth nibbling at due to its recent decline.
Stock futures are up this evening.
Big insurance company AIG (American International Group)...

Toll Brothers is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $42.81.
This stock is up 38% in 2017 and is up 55% since it was rated (lower) Strong Buy on February 27, 2016. It was rated Strong Buy 13 months ago on September 11, 2016 and is up 46% since then. It...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Stock markets, especially in the U.S. have been very strong indeed this year. But I would say that Donald Trump could do something at any time that would drive markets down. It's not...

Linamar is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $77.93.
Linamar was added to the site on November 27 last year rated Strong Buy at $51.09. At that time it looked very cheap. It's up about 53% since then. But it still looks quite cheap with a P/E of 9.4....

On Thursday the S&P 500 was up yet another 0.5%. Toronto was up 0.3%.
Ceapro was up 12 cents or 21%. I don't see any news to explain that. And it was only on a relatively few trades later in the day. I would not read anything into that. This is a...

Wednesday's markets saw the S&P 500 up another 0.1% while Toronto was about unchanged.
Canadian Western bank was down 2.0%. Linamar was down 2.6%.
RioCan was up 1.7%.
The Globe and Mail reports that auto deliveries (I believe this is to dealers a...

FedEx is updated and is rated (lower) Buy at $223 (yesterday's closing price).
FedEx has achieved strong earnings per share growth in the past few years. I focus on earnings adjusted for certain one-time or acquisition-related costs. The shares are w...

Tuesday was another positive day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 0.2% and Toronto up 0.1%.
Linamar was up another 1.5%.
The Canadian Western Bank series 5 preferred share was up 2.0% to $23.77.These shares were issued at $25 in 2014 yielding 4...

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and Toronto was also up 0.4%.
The U.S. markets were apparently unaffected by the mass shooting in Las Vegas. Sadly, the general public is mostly no longer all that shocked by such an event.
Canadian Western Bank w...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.1%.
TFI International was up 2.2%.
CRH Medical bounced up 12.5% on Toronto and 10.6% in U.S. trading.
Alimentation Couche-Tard was down 1.2% to $56.90. I would be inclined to use this dip to...

Canadian Western Bank is updated and rated Buy at $33.71. This stock is up 11% this year. It's also up 42% from the low it reached in May when it was dragged down by concerns about sub-prime residential real estate lending when Home Capital suffered ...

Last Saturday, I sent out  an edition of the free newsletter and I followed up yesterday with a link to a new article on exactly how Canadians can put together a low-cost diversified portfolio using Exchange-Traded-Funds. This may be useful for less ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% to yet another record high and Toronto was also up 0.1%
The Bombardier pref shares recovered 6.2%.
Toll Brothers was up 1.8%, FedEx was up 1.9%, Canadian Tire was up 1.4%, Andrew Peller was up 2.2%.
Canadian Wes...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% while Toronto was up a hefty 0.9%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 4.9% to $33.56. Just four months ago it had briefly dipped to just under $24 at the time that Home Capital looked to be circling the drain. It's...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was down 0.3%
Bombardier ended the day up 6.1% but that was before a very negative (albeit preliminary) ruling came out in which the C Series jets could face a 220% duty in the U.S.
The Bo...

I have updated the article that lists some global ETFs and includes P/E ratios and dividend yields as well as the management expense ratios.
It would be nice if there were some regions of the world that looked like clear bargains. But I did not find ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while Toronto was up 0.4%.
CRH Medical had another weak day, down 7.1% on Toronto and 9.4% in U.S. trading. This was after announced several things in a press release on Friday.
The press release updated expec...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while Toronto was unchanged.
Canadian Western Bank was up 1.2%.
Linamar was up 1.5%.
Stock futures are slightly positive on Sunday evening perhaps relieved by Chancellor Merkel's win in Germany.
The markets cont...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.5%.
Canadian Tire was up 2.2%.
AutoCanada was up 2.2%.
Statistics Canada reported on investment in new home construction in July which as up 6.4% nationally from the prior year. I pay ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.6%
AutoCanada was up 3.4% to $23.96. Apparently some investors like the company at about $24. I wonder what they were thinking in late Spring, early Summer when it was available for $18?
Fe...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
Toys R Us declared bankruptcy. This has been expected. This will not be much of a concern to RioCan since Toys R Us was not listed in its top 30 tenants and therefore likely represents ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 1.9% to $31.80. That is an increase of 25% since I rated it a Strong Buy on June 3. On the other hand it remains below the prices of around $40 and in the mi...

RioCan is updated and rated Buy at $23.84. The company provides a huge amount of detail on its various properties and growth initiatives. The bottom line however is a 5.9% distribution that seems very unlikely to be curtailed and which will likely in...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2%, closing at 2,500. Toronto was about unchanged.
The next update will be for RioCan. The rating will somewhere in the Buy range. It pays a 5.9% distribution and that distribution seems likely to rise over time. T...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.3%.
CRH Medical was up 11.6% to $3.47 in Toronto. It appears that some of the recent plunge in this stock was overdone.
Today I am looking at the reports from RioCan in preparation for...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.1%.
Costco rose 1.8% which is relatively large increase for such a large company.
I no longer have Liquor Stores N.A. on the list but I keep an eye on its price. It was up 2.5% today....

Stantec is updated rated Buy at CAN $34.25. This has been an exceptionally well managed growth-by-acquisition company for many years. Its share price is up 2,642% since I first added it to this site way back in September 1999. Its growth strategies a...

Costco is up another 1.9% this morning to $163.10. This great company always seems expensive but it did dip to the $151 level a couple of times this Summer, including July 10 when I noted I bought some. It's a company I would be interested in adding ...

The Enbridge rate reset preferred share on our list is updated and rated Buy at $21.16.
These shares are similar to the Canadian Western Bank preferred shares updated yesterday. The Enbridge shares fell sharply in 2015 as interest rates declined and ...

The report for the Canadian Western Bank rate reset preferred shares Series 5 is updated and rated Buy at $22.50 yielding 4.9%.
Given the the two recent Bank of Canada rate increases the projected dividend at the reset date of April 30, 2019 has incr...

Monday was a strong day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 1.1% and Toronto up 0.4%.
CRH Medical was up 10.1% in Toronto after announcing another acquisition. My view was (and is)  that despite the recent government-mandated reduction in the reve...

Couche-Tard is updated and remains rated Buy, now at $60.25
I have been following this company since it was added to this site rated (lower) Strong Buy at $5.80 (split adjusted) on March 31, 2005. The gain has been 939%. It would have made a great bu...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Dollarama was up another 3.6% to $139.50. Usually I have said this is a fantastic company but looks too expensive. On November 2, 2014 I had it as (lower) Buy at $49.51 (adjusted for...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was down 0.2%.
Ceapro was down 4 cents or 6%. This is going to remain volatile and its ultimate future depends on its research panning out. Their CEO invited me to meet with them after I ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% while Toronto was down 0.2%.
Couche-Tard rose 2.6% after releasing its fiscal Q1 earnings. AutoCanada rose 2.9%.
CRH Medical slipped 3.1%.
My road trip across most of Canada continued today from Ottawa to Waw...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.8% and Toronto was down 0.7%.
Melcor is showing a bit of life, up 3.3% to $15.70
Wells Fargo down 1.7% and Bank of AMerica down 3.2%
AutoCanada was down 3.0%.
My road trip continues, Ottawa last night, stopped i...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto was down 0.1%
Canadian Western Bank was up 3.4% to $29.99 in further reaction to its strong earnings report. It appears to me that this bank will continue to recover and remains good value at this ...

Thursday was a positive day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 0.6% and Toronto up 0.5%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 1.1% to $29.00 on its strong earnings release and remains a good investment that is likely to continue to recover towards past h...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 2.1% to $28.69. This morning it has reported a very strong Q3 with adjusted earnings per share up 15%. The only negative I saw was gross impaired loans ha...

Tuesday saw the S&P 500 up 0.1% and Toronto up 0.2%. So the markets have shrugged off the North Korean missile shot.
Penny stock Ceapro bounced up 6 cents or 11%. But I would not read much into that as there was no news. The company does have cas...

On Monday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each about unchanged.
Markets are forecast to be down on Tuesday due to a missile launched by North Korea that flew over a part of Japan. It's anyone's guess how markets will react and how far Korea will go...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.1%.
Toll Brothers was up 2.1%
As of Sunday night, oil prices have not reacted much to the Texas hurricane and shutdown of some offshore oil production in the Gulf of Mexico.
Canadian Weste...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while Toronto was up 0.1%.
Costco was down 5.0% on news that Amazon will close its acquisition of Whole Foods on Monday and intends to lower prices. For the same reason, Walmart was down 2.0%.
Costco has alw...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% while Toronto was up 0.5%.
Constellation Software was up 2.0%.
Royal Bank rose 1.1% after releasing a good earnings report and raising its dividend. I am optimistic that Canadian Western Bank will also have...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.0% while Toronto was up 0.2%.
Toll Brothers was down 2.6% to $37.27 after reporting earnings. In may ways the earnings were strong, but the market found some aspects disappointing. I continue to view Toll Brothers...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while Toronto was unchanged.
CRH Medical was down 4.3%. There were no other particularly noteworthjy moves in the stocks on our list.
News reports today indicate that Warren Buffett / Berkshire "lost out" in its...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.5%.
Ceapro, a tiny Edmonton biotechnology company was down 12.7% to 69 cents after releasing Q2 earnings. An d this decline is in addition to a steady slide in the share price. I had men...

Canadian Tire is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $151.46.
I had last updated Canadian Tire on April 1, based on its December 2016 annual results and rated it Weak Buy /Hold at $157.98. Since then it has released Q1 and more recently Q2 earnings whi...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 1.5% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
While 1.5% is  a sizeable one day drop I don't really consider it to be that significant in light of how much the U.S market is up since November. When these dips happen, I never k...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.1%.
Boston Pizza Royalties was up 2.7%.
Costco was up 2.1% even after being ordered to pay $20 million to Tiffany's for selling (very real) diamonds but using the Tiffany name which t...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.2%.
It certainly seems possible that the market could react negatively to the fiasco that is the Trump presidency. The chances of Trump getting much legislation passed seems slim.
Melco...

AutoCanada is updated and rated Buy at $21.96. Many aspects of its Q2 report were positive and it now appears set to resume earnings growth.
On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 1.0% and Toronto was up 0.6%.
AutoCanada was up 5.8% as the market continue...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% (despite Trump / North Korea) while Toronto was down 0.3%.
AutoCanada had a strong day, up 10.4% after releasing earnings. This will be my next update. Reading through the report there were a lot of positives. M...

Our report on Boston Pizza Royalty units is updated and rated Buy at $21.12.
There has been modest weakness in same-store sales, which is by far the main driver of distributable cash per unit, in the past year due to weakness in Alberta and Saskatche...

Melcor Developments is updated and rated (lower) Strong Buy at $14.50. Those of us who have put a material amount of our portfolios into this stock are no doubt frustrated by this stock. Despite posting what would appear to be good results in Q1 and ...

Thursday was a negative day in the markets with the S&P 500 down 1.5% and Toronto down 0.9%.
Canadian Tire was a notable bright spot, up 5.4% after releasing a good earnings report.
CRH Medical also managed a gain, up 2.3%.
Boston Pizza Royalties...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was down 0.3%.
I consider Trump's tweets (taunts) regarding North Korea to be dangerous and this could turn into a catalyst for a market decline. But there is always the risk of a market...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while Toronto was flat
Linamar was up 2% after another auto parts maker reported strong results.
CRH Medical was down another 7% in Toronto and 10% in U.S.A. trading. At this point it is likely going down sim...

CRH Medical is updated and rated Speculative (lower) Strong Buy at U.S. $2.70 or CAN $3.42. $2.70 was the price earlier today in U.S. trading but it closed at $2.60, up 5.1%.
This stock has certainly been very disappointing recently. Therefore it see...

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% while Toronto was closed for the civic holiday.
 
...

The report for Constellation Software is updated and rated (lower) Buy at Canadian $704. That was the price I used in the analysis but it closed today at $698. The company reports in U.S. dollars. Therefore I do the analysis in U.S. dollars and conve...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while Toronto was down 0.5%.
CRH Medical got pummeled down by 29% after releasing Q2 results. I have read the release and listened to the conference call. To me the stock reaction continues to look over-blow...

CRH Medical down 23% in early trading. Apparently the market focused on the negative aspects of the earnings release. The conference call has starts at 11 am eastern and may change the tone. I am not sure if the RBC or Scotia analyts have commented y...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was up close to unchanged while Toronto was up 0.4%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average breached the 22,000 point mark.
CRH Medical was up about 11% after announcing an acquisition and forecasting more acquisitions. It then...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto was up 0.4%.
Toll Brothers was up 2.2%.
AutoCanada was down 3.6%. That was in spite of some news that July auto sales were very strong in Canada but weak in the U.S. However Chrysler sales were dow...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.1%.
Costco was up a hefty 3.7% gaining back some recent losses. Looking on Yahoo Finance (which has become increasingly useless) I don't see any news to explain this. Not that the market...

Canadian National Railway Company is updated and rate Weak Buy / Hold. It's a great company and should be a good long-term investment. It had a blow-out quarter in Q2 with traffic and earnings up strongly. However they are projecting only very modest...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.1%.
Fedex was down 2.9%.
Constellation Software was down 3.5% after releasing Q2 earnings.
CN Rail really had a huge Q2. Carloadings were up as follows: Metals and minerals 32%! Grai...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged (even though the Dow Jones was up 0.45%) and Toronto was down 0.2%.
Ceapro was down 4.8% to 78 cents. This is a very speculative stock. I expect a poor earnings report in Q2. Unless they can announce ...

Tuesday was a strong day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 0.3% and Toronto up 0.5%.
There will be a lot of earnings reports in the next few weeks to give direction to the market.
The yield on the 5 year Canada bond continues to rise and is now ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.4%.
CRH Medical had a modest bounce, up 10.6% in Toronto. They will report earnings a week from this Wednesday (i.e. August 2).
Constellation Software was up 2.8% after announcing anothe...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was down 0.5%.
Melcor was down 3.5% to $14.00. I am cautiously optimistic that they will report a decent Q2. Their views on the outlook may be more important than the Q2 numbers. It is alwa...

Thursday's action saw the S&P 500 about unchanged and Toronto up 0.1%.
Limamar was up 4.4% to $71.56.
CRH Medical was down another 2.6% to $4.06 on Toronto. Scotia Bank precipitated the big plunge of last Friday when it warned about government-ma...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up another 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.6%.
TFI Internaltional (TransForce) was up 2.9%.
After the close, American Express reported earnings that were apparently higher than expected.
Statistics Canada reported that man...

Tuesday saw the S&P 500 up 0.1% and Toronto down 0.1%.
CRH Medical was down another 10.5% on Toronto. It's doing a good job of making my opinion on that company look very wrong. Well, time will tell if this was just some big dip from which it wil...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto edged down 0.1%.
There were not any particularly noteworthy movements in the stocks on our list.
CRH Medical issued a press release explaining that it will face lower revenues in 2018 due t...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% to another record high. Toronto was up 0.3%.
CRH Medical was down a withering 28% on Toronto and 27% in U.S. trading. I understand this was precipitated by a negative report from Bank of Nova Scotia analysts. I ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% while Toronto was down 0.1%.
Linamar was up another 1.8%.
AutoCanada was up 2.8%.
I drove through a large Melcor development in St.Albert, Alberta today. This is Jensen Lakes which they own half of in a joint ve...

On June 28th Berkshire announced:
On June 28, 2017, Bank of America Corporation announced that it plans to
increase its quarterly dividend to $0.12 per common share. When this occurs, Berkshire will exercise its warrants to acquire 700,000,000 shares...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.7% while Toronto was about flat.
Alimentation Couche-Tard was up 3.7% to $62.40 after releasing earnings prior to the open.
As expected, the Bank of Canada increased its key interest rate by 0.25 percentage poin...

Tuesday's action had the S&P 500 down a scant 0.1% and Toronto up 0.3%.
Linamar was up another 2.1%
Couche-Tard was up 1.2% after announcing another acquisition deal. They post earnings tomorrow, Wednesday.
The big news tomorrow is expected to be...

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.5%.
Linamar was up 2.2%. to $65.53 (Our report is out of date on that one as the stock is up 28% since we added it to the site in November.)
Toll Brothers was up 1.3% to $40.95. That's its h...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.6% while Toronto was down 0.3%.
I mentioned in the last post here that I liked Alimentation Couche-Tard under $60 and I added to my position in that on Friday. It's no screaming bargain but I like the management an...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 0.9% and Toronto was down 0.5%.
Melcor was down 5.9% to $14.40. The Melcor REIT was down 3.2%. I did not see any specific reason for this. It could be related to fears about commercial rental property values in Alber...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up about 0.1%.
Canadian Tire was down 3.0% to $144, possibly due to a negative opinion from some major analyst. I rated it a Weak Buy / Hold in April at $158. With this decline it might be worth nib...

On Tuesday, American markets were closed for their holiday while Toronto was down 0.3%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 1.7%.
Constellation Software was down 2.3%.
Interest rates are on the rise. The yield on the government of Canada five year bond is u...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto was closed.
U.S bank stocks rose.
Statistics Canada reported April GDP growth on Friday. It should always be remembered that this is an estimate of GDP growth and is subject to statistical error. G...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto was down 0.2%.
No particularly big moves in our stocks. Toll Brothers was up 1.5% to $39.51. Hopefully back over $40 soon. This company had languished around $28 for much of 2016. We had it rated (...

Thursday saw the S&P 500 and Toronto both down 0.9%.
U.S. banks went the other way with Wells Fargo up 2.7% and Bank of America up 1.7%.
Alimentation Couche-Tard was down 2.5% to $62.75. It is a stock that I would be tempted to add to at this pri...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was up 0.9% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
The Canadian dollar was up strongly to 76.8 U.S. cents as currency buyers and sellers reacted to predictions that the Bank of Canada might start to raise interest rates in July. My str...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.8% while Toronto was down 0.2%.
Rate reset preferred shares were up as the yield on the government of Canada five year bond rose.
Couche-Tard was up 1.9% and after the close the Canadian competition regulator approv...

On Monday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each about unchanged.
Alimentation Couche-Tard was up 3.6% after the Competition regulator in the U.S. cleared it to close its latest huge acquisition. The deal will close on Wednesday.
Andrew Peller was up...

Every once in a long while I will take the liberty of posting a personal advertisement here. And today's the day.
I have a son who just graduated in Geology from St. FX University in Nova Scotia. He was a good student and (probably more importantly) ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.6%.
Stocks on the move included TFI Inc. up 2.0% and AutoCanada up 2.3%.
On Friday, Statistics Canada reported that inflation was running at only 1.3% and this cooled expectations for a Bank...

With Costco down to $157 from its recent peak of  $183 I thought it might be worth looking at. In addition it has reported stellar same-store sales of late. Unfortunately it still certainly does not look cheap and I am rating it a Weak Buy at $157.13...

Amazon is updated and rated Sell at $1004. Every time I look at it, it appears to be way over-valued but I have noted in the past that it can still keep going up. Which it has.  I continue to look at it and try to understand why investors are paying ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was up 0.5%
Canadian Western Bank was up 5.9% to $27.00 as all the smaller lenders went up after it was announced that Warren Buffett / Berkshire Hathaway would invest in Home Capital. Be...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was about unchanged.
There was not much movement in the stocks on our list. Bombardier was an exception, down 5.0%.
Statistics Canada reported the investment in new home construction for April. Giv...

Stantec announces that its CEO of the last eight years will retire at the end of this year to be replaced by another long-time Stantec executive.
This looks like business as usual. Stantec has always named its new CEO's from within. This is a sign of...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.7% and Toronto was down 0.8%.
Ceapro, our one penny stock, was down 5.1% to 92 cents. This could easily continue to go down unless there is some positive news on the earnings or future products front. This was a...

Regarding TFI Inc. (TransForce) I see that the company bought back almost 900,000 shares in May at prices as high as $29.30 but mostly at closer to $28. This company has been very smart in the past about buying back shares at good prices. This buybac...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.8% while Toronto was up 0.5%.
Most stocks on our list were up today including TFI International (TransForce) up 3.0% and Stantec up 3.4%.
I notice Tim Hortons faces several lawsuits by franchisees. I followed Tim H...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was up 0.2%.
Amazon was up 2.4% on the announcement that it would acquire Whole Foods.
Whole Foods increased 29% on the news to $42.68. But it remains below its peak of about $54 reached in...

Fortis Inc. is added to our list and rated Buy at Canadian $45.56 or U.S. $34.32. Headquartered in Newfoundland, Fortis has grown by acquisition into a huge North American utility company. It sticks almost 100% to regulated assets. It has basically b...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while Toronto was down 0.1%.
TFI International (TransForce) was down 2.6% and I added to my position in this company today.
In the next day or so I will add Fortis Inc. to the list and it will likely be rate...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 closed down 0.1% while Toronto was down a hefty 1.4%.
Oil is down to $44.69 which pushed Toronto lower.
Toll Brothers was up 1.4% to $39.12.
AutoCanada was down 2.3%. Statistics Canada today reported the April new vehicle...

With the collapse in the share price of Aimia (owner of Aeroplan) which came after Air Canada announced it will cease its partnership with Aeroplan in 2020, it is worth taking a look at the value of the shares. (Particularly since it was on our list ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% to another record high while Toronto was about unchanged.
(Apologies as yesterday's post here did not get uploaded.)
Toll Brothers was up 1.5% to $38.57 and is up 24% this year.
Rate reset preferred shares have...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.3%.
U.S. financial stocks were strong while the big "tech" stocks were weak.
Bombardier was down 7.1% as Boeing's complaint against it passed a first hurdle. A U.S. trade body ruled in f...

North America stock markets are up about 0.4% this morning.
The U.S. banks are particularly strong.
The latest employment figures are out from Statistics Canada this morning and are very strong.
The unemployment rate in Quebec was down 0.6% to 6.0%, ...

Wednesday's action saw the S&P 500 up 0.2% but Toronto down 0.6%.
Our one penny stock, Ceapro was down 5.6%. Unless earnings turn higher in Q2 this stock could certainly go down a lot more unless earnings from existing products recover or there a...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.4%.
AutoCanada was up 4.2% after announcing it might buy back some shares. Buy backs are generally positive for share prices but the real driver has to be earnings. If the company has t...

Monday was a mildly negative day with the S&P 500 down 0.1% and Toronto down 0.2%.
Toll Brothers gave back 2.0%. Ceapro which is a speculative penny stock was down 6%.
Canadian Western Bank ended about unchanged today. I see some articles talking...

CN Rail is updated and rated Weak Sell / Hold. It's a great company but seems expensive at this time (as it usually does). It had some weakness in carloadings in 2016 but carloadings have rebounded very strongly in Q1 and now Q2 as well. I expect it ...