2018

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while Toronto was up 0.4%.
AutoCanada recovered 2.8% after it announced that it has, at the request of an activist shareholder, formed a Special Committee of the board to look into strategic alternatives and a...

On Friday, the S&P 500 ended the day down just 0.1% although it been down considerably more earlier in the day on trade war worries. Toronto was also down 0.1%.
BHP Billiton was down 3.7% which I believe was due to commodity price declines.
WSP G...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.25% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
Linamar recovered 2.0%.
CN Rail was up 1.0% to an-time high. That should be no surprise. CN has marched high fairly steadily ever since its Initial Public Offering in November 1995 at...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.1%.
The Federal Reserve Bank in the U.S. increased interest rates by the expected 0.25% and also apparently signaled that there will be two more rate increases by the end of 2018 and ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.2%.
AutoCanada was down 4.4% and so it seems the market is not convinced much will come of the activist investor's request to put the company up for sale even though the company did not reject th...

AutoCanada has responded to the activist shareholder as follows:
"AutoCanada Inc. ("AutoCanada" or the "Company") (ACQ.TO) today acknowledged receipt of a letter from Clearwater Capital Management. The Company's Board of Directors welcomes constructi...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while Toronto rose 0.4%.
AutoCanada was up 5.8% after "activist investor" Clearwater Capital Management released a copy of a letter that it sent to the AutoCanada Board basically requesting the company to put it...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.1%.
AutoCanada recovered 3.2%.
Dollarama recovered 3.5%
Toll Brothers was up 3.0%
The trade spat between Canada and the U.S. appears to be at risk of developing into a significant trade wa...

The report for Canadian Western Bank is updated and the stock is rated (higher) Buy at $37.05.
On Thursday, CWB reported strong growth in its Q2. In its 2017 annual report, the company very much emphasized that it intends to focus even more heavily o...

Thursday's action saw the SP&P 500 finish down 0.1% and Toronto was about unchanged with a 0.05% gain.
As expected, Canadian Western Bank released a strong earnings report for its Q2. Adjusted earnings were up about 19% year over year. Basically ...

Wednesday was mostly a positive day on the markets.
The S&P 500 was up 0.9% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
A report this morning indicated that U.S. exports reached a record high in April and the U.S. trade surplus fell modestly but remained at $46 bil...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
The seemingly unstoppable Amazon was up another 1.9%.
CRH Medical was down 2.2% but this gives back only a small amount of the recent gains.
Yesterday I doubled my small remaining posit...

Monday was a strong day in the markets as the S&P 500 rose 0.45% although Toronto was up only 0.5%.
Couche-Tard was up 2.3% but remains down about 15% this year. Based on past years, it will not report its results for the fiscal year ended April ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up a hefty 1.1% while Toronto was down 0.1%.
There were no particularly noteworthy moves in the stocks on out list.
The report for Berkshire Hathaway is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $192.23
Due to its insurance oper...

Thursday was mostly a negative day on the markets.
The S&P 500 was down 0.7%. Toronto managed a 0.1% gain.
Most of the stocks on our list were down. I started a small position in Canadian Tire today.
The trade war between Canada and the U.S. is b...

Markets bounced back on Wednesday with a 1.3% gain for the S&P 500 and 0.8% for Toronto.
With Kinder Morgan Canada down about 2% earlier today (finished down 0.9% at $15.95) I decided to double my small position. That is not based on my own analy...

Tuesday was a negative day on the markets as the S&P 500 declined 1.2% (and the DOW was down 1.6%) and Toronto was down 0.6%. Apparently the U.S. decline was linked to fears about the implications of yet another election in Italy.
U.S. financial ...

This morning's news about the pipeline nationalization was to me a pleasant surprise. Not a shock since the idea had been floated but a surprise. I think the alternative would have been that Kinder Morgan Canada would have announced it could not proc...

On Monday, the U.S. markets were closed for the Memorial Day holiday. Toronto was down 0.4%.
Our one and only penny stock, Ceapro bounced up 10%. They have their annual meeting tomorrow. This stock is highly speculative by nature. The company is curr...

On Friday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.2%.
Oil (West Texas) has declined about 5% to $67.14. Apparently this was due to rumors of OPEC volume increases.
Those holding various stocks are always waiting for positive news. Mostly we wai...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.1% as Trump rattled markets by canceling the meeting with the North Korean leader and by looking into excuses for imposing duties on vehicle imports.
Linamar was down 1.8% to $67.24. I...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.1%.
Couche-Tard was up 3.5%.
Linamar was down 1.9%.
AutoCanada was down 2.4%.
Markets are set to open moderately down on Thursday and Trump targets auto and truck imports.
...

Toll Brothers is updated and now rated (lower) Strong Buy at $39.58 (that was a price from earlier today, it closed at $39.91.
For those holding it, the recent price decline is certainly disappointing.
It's a cyclical industry and so projecting futur...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto was down 0.1%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 1.6%. Perhaps the market is starting to give some credit for the higher oil prices.
Toll Brothers was down 9.6% after reporting earnings. Despite many...

Toll Brothers has fallen about 8% this morning after releasing earnings.
I though the earnings release had good points (revenues up 17%, home deliveries up 15% in dollars) but the bottom line earnings were down slightly (probably partly due to higher...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.7% while Toronto was closed.
FedEx was up 2.1%.
Toll Brothers was up 1.1% and will report earnings before the open tomorrow (Tuesday).
CRH Medical was up 2.9%.
...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.1%.
Toll Brothers was up 1.8% to $43.18 which came after it had slipped under $41 earlier in the week.
Constellation Software was up 1.5% to $997.68. The stock seems expensive in relatio...

Thursday's markets saw the S&P 500 down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.2%.
I did end up buying back half of the portion of my Linamar shares that had sold on May 10 at $74.90. I paid $70.32. I was tempted to wait ans see if Linamar drops again which...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.1%.
Notable gainers include:
BHP Billiton (The BBL shares) up 1.7% to $47.05. These shares had trended down from $45 in February and bottomed at under $39 on April 9th. This is a case whe...

Tuesday's action in the markets saw the S&P 500 down 0.7% while Toronto was up 0.1%.
The U.S. 10 year government bond yield rose 8 basis points to 3.08% from 3.00%.
The 10-year Canadian government bond yield is at 2.42% as of yesterday. That rais...

The Boston Pizza Royalty units results for Q1 are out this morning and are weak and disappointing although not devastatingly so.
In this particular case GAAP net income means little and the value of the units is driven by growth (or decline) in same-...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.6%.
TFI International was up 2.2% to $37.81 and has risen nicely since it reported excellent Q1 results on April 25. It's been a growth-by-acquisition story that has worked very well.
I am...

Melcor Developments is updated and remains rated Strong Buy at $15.40 (That was the price earlier today although it closed at $15.70). Earnings are volatile so perhaps the attractive P/E of 8.6 is not all that relevant. But the fact that the shares t...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.15%.
Canadian Tore was down 2.0% as investors worry about its announced acquisition of Helly Hanson.
CRH Medical was up 6.6% to $4.49 in Toronto and 9.2% to $3.55 in U.S. trading. It has mad...

Thursday was a generally positive day in the markets.
The S&P 500 was up 0.9% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
BHP Billiton (BBL) was up 1.9%.
Stantec was up 1.9% after reporting earnings that were I guess reasonably good. They do still have some lingeri...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.0% while Toronto was up 0.4%.
BHP Billiton was up 3.1% (the BBL American Depository Receipts in New York).
The Enbridge pref share ENB.PF.A on our list was up 3.2% on news that Enbridge is selling some assets. I...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was up 0.2%.
AutoCanada was down another 3.2%. (See update in the post before this one).
Melcor Developments released Q1 earnings after the close. I will be looking at this very closely an...

AutoCanada is updated and rated Buy at $17.34. Based on trailing year earning it could easily be rated (higher) Buy. But Q1 2018 was quite weak and there is some danger that the weakness will continue. On the hand its recent  acquisition of 8 dealers...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.35% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
Constellation Software was up 2.1%.
AutoCanada was down another 4.0%. I plan to post an update tomorrow. Q1 adjusted earnings were quite weak. In part this was due to the net impact of ...

Friday was a strong day in the markets although AutoCanada was a notable exception.
The S&P 500 was up 1.3% and Toronto was up 0.7%.
CN Rail was up 2.2%, Linamar was up 2.1%.
AutoCanada was down 10.4% after releasing earnings. The quarter was def...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% (but had been down more like 1.2% earlier in the day). Toronto ended the day about unchanged.
CRH Medical was up 3.0% to $4.08  in Toronto and 4.9% to U.S. $3.20 in the U.S. It has held onto the gains it ach...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.7% while Toronto was up 0.1%.
Melcor was up 3.45% but it is very thinly traded and can be volatile for that reason.
Alimentation Couche-Tard was down 2.2%.
In the FedEx update this week I noted that the income...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.25% while Toronto was up 0.1%.
CRH Medical rose 13.5% in Toronto to $4.04 and 10.7% to $3.10 in U.S. trading. This was because it released Q1 earnings. It also announced another modest acquisition, acquiring 51% if ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.8% and Toronto was down 0.4%.
Berkshire Hathaway was down 1.8% to $193.73 and might be worth nibbling on in advance of its Q1 earnings to be released on Friday which will be followed by its famous annual meeting ...

FedEx is updated ad rated Buy at $247. This stock is down 1% this year to date but that was after rising 34% in 2017. Given that large rise in 2017 I was predisposed to thinking this stock would rate no more than a Hold rating. But its earnings have ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.2%.
Alimentation Couche-Tard was up 3.6% to $56.91. This is a welcome increase but I am hopeful of a better recovery in this stock. It reached a a high of close to $68 early this year and it...

Further to yesterday's update of CN Rail, I have made a few minor edits to the report emphasize that a new risk in 2018 is the state of NAFTA negotiations given that one third of its traffic crosses the border. I also added a few details about which ...

CN rail, Canadian National Railway Company is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $100.65. The As detailed int he report, CN stumbled through this past winter and encountered operational problems when traffic was higher than expected and the weather was...

Thursday was a strong day for the markets with the S&P 500 up 1.0% and Toronto up 0.8%.
Most stocks on our list were up.
Stantec rose 3.9% (see previous post)
Amazon rose 3.9% and is set to rise noticeably on Friday after it released Q1 results t...

Stantec is up 4.6% this morning to $33.20 on news that it has put the construction company portion of its relatively recently acquired MWH division under strategic review (it wants to sell the division). This would be good in that it would get Stante...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.2%.
CN Rail was up 2.4%. I am in the process of updating the report for CN.
Toll Brothers was up 2.5%.
AutoCanada rebounded 7.8%.
Ceapro bounced up 9.1%.
My small position in VISA got sold on M...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 1.3% while Toronto was down 0.5%.
AutoCanada was down 4.6%. It looks like good value but the market is not yet convinced of that. We will know more when it releases earnings on May 3, after the close.
Amazon was down ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was up 0.4%.
Couche-Tard was up 2.4%.
TFI Industries was up an additional 1.65%.
Penny Stock Ceapro bounced up 8.7% mostly recovering Friday's decline.
Statistics Canada reported a decline in...

Statistics Canada released figures for February sales at food service and drinking places. This is relevant to the prospects for Boston Pizza units and other restaurant stocks.
February sales in Canada were up 4.4% in February versus one year ago. On...

On Friday, Statistics Canada released retail sales figures for February which were up a strong 3.5% for Canada (year over year) driven by a 4.2% increase in Ontario which is likely related more to price increases related to the higher minimum wage as...

On Friday, I had a private tour of Amsterdam Stock Exchange for just myself (and three somewhat reluctant others traveling with me). They include a brief history lesson and a little trading simulation game and it was actually fun for everyone. Also t...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.85% while Toronto was up 0.2%.
WSP Global was up another 2.0%.
Penny stock Ceapro was down 6.1% after releasing earnings. Earnings for 2017 were weak but that situation had developed for at least a year and is no...

Thursday's session saw the S&P 500 down 0.6% and Toronto down 0.5%.
Most of our stock picks were down including Toll Brothers down 3.7%, AutoCanada down 2.7% and Alimentation Couche-Tard down 1.6%.
Meanwhile American Express was up 7.6% after rel...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% while Toronto climbed 1.1%.
West Texas oil is at U.S. $68.75 which is a three year high.
The Bank of Canada left interest rates unchanged today.
BHP Billiton was up 3.5% to $43.00 for the BBL shares in New York...

On Tuesday, markets managed to rise for two days in a row which seems rare lately.
The S&P 500 was up 1.1% and Toronto was up 0.35%.
Seemingly unstoppable Amazon was up 4.3%.
Boston Pizza Royalties was up 2.9%.
Alimentation Couche-Tard continued ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 shrugged off the firing of missiles into Syria that occurred Friday evening and rose 0.8% while Toronto was up 0.1%.
Costco rose another 3.0% to $194.58. It had dipped to as low as $179 earlier this year and still looked ex...

Friday was a less volatile day in the markets as the S&P 500 fell 0.5% and Toronto was about unchanged.
Most stocks were relatively stable.
WSP Global was up another 2.2%.
Some smaller companies were more volatile including CRH Medical up 3.7%. A...

The horrible tragedy in Humboldt Saskatchewan took the lives of at least two kids from St. Albert, a suburb of Edmonton that has been my home for 23 years and where my kids were raised. I don't know the families but I suspect they were not too many d...

In what seems to be a bit of an alternating daily pattern, markets were up on Thursday as Trump clarified that when he told Russian to get ready for missiles "because they will be coming" he did not say when.
The S&P 500 was up 0.8% on Thursday a...

Sometimes it feels like the U.S. market is taking turns, one day up and one day down. Yesterday was up, today was down somewhat.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.55% while Toronto was about unchanged.
There were no particularly notable moves ...

On Tuesday, the volatility continues with the S&P 500 up 1.7% and Toronto up 0.2%.
Oil (West Texas Intermediate) is at U.S. $65.68.
Most stocks on our list were up. BHP Billiton was particularly strong rising 4.85% for BBL American Depository Rec...

On Monday, markets continued to be volatile. The DOW closed up 46 points but had been up over 400 points at the high point today. The S&P 500 ended the day up 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.1%.
Most stocks were up modestly on the day.
Kinder Morgan ...

Heineken is updated and rated (lower) Sell at 90.20 euros on the Amsterdam stock exchange or $55.20 on New York for the American Depository Receipt HEINY which equates to one half of a Heineken share.
Heineken is best known for its namesake beer bran...

Today, I am posting from the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Brilliance of the Seas on the fourth day of a cruise from Tampa. The first stop is in the Azores. Then three stops in Ireland (Cork, Waterford and Dublin).
We finish in Amsterdam where I will tou...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.7% and Toronto was up 1.3%.
CRH Medical was up 9.5% in a partial recovery of recent losses.
AutoCanada was up 4.9%.
Toll Brothers was up 1.8% to $44.62. A few days ago it had been down very close to $41.
Couche-T...

Markets on Wednesday recovered from initial big losses related to trade worries and the S&P 500 ended the day up 1.2% while Toronto was down 0.1%.
Toll Brothers had a strong day rising 4.1%.
CRH Medical continues to slip back and was down 4.3% in...

The S&P 500 and Toronto are each down about 1% as the market continues to be concerned about escalating trade tensions and actions.
Obviously, with the U.S. market still trading at a high P/E markets could certainly continue to go down. I have ne...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.1%.
TFI International (formerly TransForce) was up 1.3% after announcing an acquisition of a Quebec trucking company with 300 tractors and 1000 trailers. This would seem to be a relativ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 2.2% while Toronto was down 1.0%.
Most stocks were down including:
WSP Global down 2.9%, Canadian Western Bank down 2.6%. Walmart down 3.8%, Costco down 3.0%, and Toll Brothers down 3.0%.
U.S. government treasury b...

The second quarter of 2018 has started off on a negative tone with the DOW currently down 492 points or 2.0%.
This appears to be due (at least partly) to escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China.
Toll Brothers is down 4.7% at the moment t...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 1.4% and Toronto was up 1.3%.
WSP Global; was up 2.8%and BHP Billiton was up 2.2%.
Linamar was up 3.5%.
Thursday marked the end of the first quarter. The S&P 500 was down 1.2% in the quarter while Toronto was d...

Constellation Software is updated and rated (lower) Sell at Canadian $874. (The report has the price in U.S. dollars because it reports in U.S. dollars). Constellation is a great company and exceptionally well managed. Historically, selling this comp...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.30%.
But many stocks were up. Boston Pizza recovered some ground rising 3.3%. Couche-Tard was up 2.9% and Stantec was up 1.4%. Despite a poor start to 2018 I think these investments will do w...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 1.7% giving back a good portion of Monday's gain of 2.8%. Toronto was down 0.5%.
Most of the U.S. stocks on our list that rose yesterday gave back a good portion of those gains today.
Boston Pizza Royalty Income F...

On Monday, the S&P soared 2.8% as fears of a Trump trade war with China were reduced. Toronto was up 0.5%.
U.S. stocks that surged with the rally included FedEx up 4.5%, Berkshire up 3.6%, Costco up 3.5% and Amazon up 4.0%.
The Canadian stocks on...

My article on the valuation of the S&P 500 is updated. Based on actual trailing GAAP earnings the index looks over valued with a P/E of 23.6. But projections are that earnings will surge in 2018 due to the Trump income tax cuts. The article shows...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down a hefty 2.1% and Toronto was down 1.1%.
Most stocks were down...
Canadian Western Bank was down 2.8% to $33.22. I grabbed a few more shares on Friday.
Couche-Tard was down another 1.7% and I added modestly to my po...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell a hefty 2.5% while Toronto was down 1.8%.
The spark was Trump's moves to impose new tariffs on Chinese imports. I don't think investors can claim to be shocked by this. Certainly Trump's anti-trade views have been a ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
Linamar was up 2.5% to $73.52 after some positive news on the NAFTA front that the U.S.A was dropping its proposal that all cars coming into the USA under free trade arrangement wou...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.15% and Toronto was up 0.2%.
Couche-Tard was down 6.5% (see the post just below this one for details).
AutoCanada was down 2.0%.
Oil (at least the West Texas variety) was up 2.2% to U.S. $63.42. That's about $83 C...

Alimentation Couche-Tard is updated and rated Buy at $59.60.
The stock dropped 6.5% today after it released earnings that "missed analyst expectations". I would say it is more accurate to say that its earnings came in lower than analysts incorrect fo...

Markets were down on Monday with the S&P 500 falling 1.4% and Toronto down 0.8%.
BHP Billiton was down 2.6% in New York. This and the recent declines partly due to currency fluctuations as the stock has not fallen much in Australia. But it is fai...

Linamar is updated and rated Strong Buy at $71.73.
There are always risks and Linamar's price reflects a certain amount of NAFTA fear and reflects the fact that auto production in North America slowed in the last half of 2018.
But looking at the valu...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
Toll Brothers was up 2.1%.
The Canadian dollar was down and is currently at 76.3 cents. I had been wanting to move some U.S. dollars back into Canadian dollars and have used this latest ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.1%.
TFI International (TransForce) was down 2.9%. Our last rating was only (lower) Buy.
After the close, AutoCanada released Q4 results that were very strong. I don't know what the exp...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% while Toronto was about unchanged.
Toll Brothers was down 1.6% and is worth considering as a U.S. investment.
See the post just below this for an update and comments on Melcor.
I no longer have Liquor Store...

Melcor Developments is updated and remains rated Strong Buy, now at $14.00.
Certainly, Melcor's stock price has been disappointing since 2014. Some of the decline was warranted due to the lower oil prices and the weak Alberta economy. But when oil pr...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% while Toronto was up 0.3%.
Alimentation Couche-Tard was down 2.8%. I would be tempted to add to this stock on dips.
CRH Medical continued to slip back from its recent gains and was down 4.9%.
Linamar was down...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% whole Toronto was up 0.2%.
Melcor Developments was up 3.6% but that is not very meaningful on this thinly traded stock.
Note the previous post to this which updates the Melcor REIT.
Many Alberta-based stocks a...

The Melcor REIT is updated and rated Buy at $8.07 to yield 8.4%.
This REIT is trading at a 30% discount to the book value of the equity or a 14% discount to the total value of debt plus equity. Presumably there is investor fear about vacancies and re...

Friday was a strong day for the U.S. markets with the S&P 500 up a hefty 1.7%.
Toronto was up 0.25%
Gainers included Visa up 1.9%, American Express up 2.6%, Berkshire up 3.7%, and FedEx up 3.0%.
CRH Medical retreated 4.7%.
My next update will be ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.4%.
Linamar was up 8.4% to $73.75 after releasing a strong Q4 report.
Melcor Developments failed to react to its strong Q4 / 2017 earnings report and closed up 0.5% at $13.97. This for a company...

CRH Medical is updated and rated Speculative Weak Buy / Hold at U.S. $3.15 or Canadian $4.07. Basically I would not buy at this price. This has been a disappointing investment over the past 17 months since it was first added to the site. After an ini...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was close to unchanged (down 0.05%) while Toronto was down 0.5%.
CRH Medical was down 4.3%.
BHP (BBL on New York) was down 1.9% an the company has spoken out against Tump's tariff plans for steel and aluminum. BHP's main...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was about unchanged.
CRH Medical was up 12.8% in Toronto and a similar amount in New York. Apparently the market and or analysts were pleased with its Q4 report and the analyst conference call this ...

With CRH up a little this morning, I took the opportunity to reduce my position by what amounted to 44%. I had added to my position at prices as low as U.S. $1.75 and some at about U.S. $2.35. So these shares were sold at a profit (based on a last in...

Monday's markets improved through the day and the S&P 500 closed up 1.1% and Toronto rose 1.0%.
CRH Medical released Q4 results after the close. The revenue gains seemed quite positive and the outlook for revenue for 2018 seemed somewhat optimist...

Stantec is updated and rated Buy at CAN $32.22 or U.S. $25.05 (It was analysed at the previous closing price, it closed today at $32.42 and U.S. $25.05). Stantec has been a prodigious creator of wealth over the years but the stock has been relatively...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% (although the DOW was down 0.3%) and Toronto as down 0.1%.
AutoCanada was down 2.0%. They will not release Q4 results until March 15. I am expecting improved results in Q4 and and an improved outlook for 2018.
C...

Toll Brothers is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $43.91. The last update was on October 9, 2017 at $42.81. After that it went as high as about $52 before sliding back after the middle of January. I had reported trimming my position somewhat but I s...

Markets fell on Thursday and Trump indicated he will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to the U.S. I am not very familiar with the rules but for things subject to NAFTA the partners are allowed to impose anti-dumping or countervailing tari...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 1.1% and Toronto was down 1.5%. I don't know if there was any special reason. U.S. markets remain relatively close to record highs and seem somewhat jittery regarding higher interest rates. Lately a 1.1% move in...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 1.3% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Toll Brothers was down 5.1% to $45.10 even though it reported strong Q1 fiscal 2018 earnings. Apparently the market was disappointed with the full year outlook. I believe it is a go...

Monday was another strong day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 1.2% and Toronto up 0.5%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 2.5%.
CN rail was up 2.2%.
Berkshire Hathaway was up 3.9% after releasing Q4 earnings and the annual letter and after Buffett ...

Friday was another strong day in the markets. The S&P 500 was up a hefty 1.6% and Toronto was up 0.8%.
Stantec was down 1.8% and I added modestly to my position in that company.
Warren Buffett's annual letter came out on Saturday. I will comment ...

Canadian Tire is updated and rated Buy at $176.15.
This company has been extremely well managed and has set ambitious goals to keep improving and growing and has met those goals.
In the very long term it has created billion in value for shareholders....

Thursday's markets were surprisingly strong or at least the DOW was, especially earlier in the day. The S&P 500 ended higher by just 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.1%.
It was disappointing to see Stantec down 11.0% after it released earnings.  GAAP ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.55% as FED meeting minutes apparently caused the market to be more concerned about rising interest rates. Toronto was up 0.55%.
TFI International was up 10.5% after releasing Q4 earnings.
CN rail was up 2.8%.
...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% while Toronto was down 0.1%.
Most of the names on our list were down.
Walmart was down 10.2% to $94.11 after reporting earnings. Our last rating was (lower) Sell in October at $86.22. It had then promptly soa...

BHP Billinton came out with earnings which were strong but were lower than analysts expected. It also raised the dividend but my understanding is that they essentially have a policy of having a dividend that floats up as well as down with adjusted ea...

Friday's markets saw the S&P 500 about unchanged and Toronto up 0.3%.
Fortis Inc. jumped 3.75% to $42.08 as the market perhaps decided that its recent slide was over done.
Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd was up 4.45% to $19.97 after it got some positive...

A report this morning headlines that U.S. housing starts soared in January (albeit some of related to bad weather in December) and that housing permits are at a 10 year high. Despite that Toll Brothers was up only 0.8% to $47.08 and remains well belo...

Stocks were mostly higher on Thursday as the S&P 500 rose 1.2% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
Canadian Tire surged 6.5% after reporting Q4 earnings. Costco was up 2.5%.
Constellation Software was up 3.1% after reporting Q4 earnings.
Dollarama was up 2....

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.3% and Toronto was up 0.7%.
Notable gainers included BHP Billinton, up 3.2% in New York. Costco up 1.7% and Visa up 2.0%. Amazon up 2.6% (And they said trees don't grow to the sky).
Fortis was down 1.7% to $39.6...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.2%.
TFI International was down 3.1% to $29.75. This company has a strong history of growth by acquisition and is very well managed. But it is in a tough industry. The price decline may be...

Sometime around the end of this month, Warren Buffett will release his annual letter.
It's hard to predict what Buffett will write about, but here are my guesses in that regard.
The letter always starts by noting the percentage change in Berkshire's ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 1.4% and Toronto was up the same amount.
In part this was due to Trump releasing details of an infrastructure subsidy plan.
The plan seemed to get mixed reviews with some pointing out that the $200 billion is over te...

On Friday, the U.S. markets once again were highly volatile and the DOW, at it low, was down 500 points before finishing the day up 330 points or 1.4%. The S&P 500 finished the day up 0.5% and Toronto finished down 0.2%.
A number of U.S. stocks r...

On Thursday, the DOW ended the day down 1033 points or 4.15%. The S&P 500 was down 3.75% and Toronto was down 1.7%.
The biggest decliners on our list included Toll Brothers down 5.0%, American Express down 5.6%, Visa down 4.8%, FedEx down 4.7%, a...

The Dow was down 680 at one point and 518 as I write this.
So, it seems that the days of wild swings and possible big down moves are continuing.
I never know where the market is headed short term. I imagine another day of headlines of losses could tu...

The results for Boston Pizza this morning were fairly weak. Not terrible, but weak. Distributable cash per unit declined 2.9% in Q4 and 0.6% for the year. Royalty-;igible same store sales which is the key performance number was negative 0.2% in Q4.
T...

On Wednesday, U.S. markets were mostly higher but ended the day down slightly.
The S&P 500 was down 0.5% while Toronto was down 0.2%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 2/0%.
Canadian Tire was up 2.6%.
Statistics Canada released data for building permi...

There is widespread confusion about how RRSPs really work and whether they are a tax-avoidance mechanism or a mere tax deferral mechanism, or worse a "tax trap".
The following illustrates divergent views on the matter:
A tale of Two Attitudes Towards...

U.S markets were once again not boring today, opening down then bouncing around considerably and then closely strongly higher.
The S&P 500 finished up 1.7%, the DOW was up 2.3% and Toronto was up 0.2%.
Boston Pizza was a notable winner today, up ...

So, after falling 666 points on Friday, the DOW fell another 1175 today.
The S&P 500 was down 4.1%, the DOW was down 4.6% and Toronto was down 1.7%.
Many commentators are aghast. But they should really get a grip. The U.S. markets were roaring hi...

WSP Global is added to the list rated Buy at $58.75. Many Canadians may not be familiar with this company. I hope the "Description" cell of the report does a reasonable job of giving an overview of the company.
It's a growth-by-acquisition company. I...

As of about 6:45 eastern the futures markets have the DOW down about 200 points. This often changes vastly over night so we will see where it opens.
In the last half of 2017 I had increased my cash position. As the U.S. market continued to soar that ...

There was nothing boring about Friday's markets.
The S&P 500 tumbled 2.1% and Toronto was down 1.6%.
Despite the scary headlines of the DOW being down 666 points or 2.5%, this drop is not large in the context of the way the U.S. market roared ahe...

At minus 20 or so here in the Edmonton area any talk of an early end to winter is certainly premature.
Stocks are down today. In the case of U.S. markets that seems like a bit of overdue sanity.
Boston Pizza Royalty is down 4.7% to $19.55. That may b...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1%. The Dow was up 0.1% but had been down earlier in the  day. U.S. markets have been gyrating a little. Tomorrow we will see how the market has reacted to several big earnings reports after the close today.
To...

On Wednesday, the U.S. markets initially rebounded from Tuesday's losses but were volatile. The indexes were negative in the afternoon before closing at a modest gain with the S&P 500 up 0.05%. Toronto was about unchanged.
CN rail was up 1.2%. Bo...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 1.1%. Despite the headlines, this is minor decline in the context of recent gains.
Toronto was down 0.9%.
Canadian Western Bank was down 2.7%.
Stantec was up 1.3% which was a nice gain on this negative day.
Boston Piz...

Well, the U.S. market decided not to rise on Monday. Well, markets don't rise everyday. (And normally they don't rise 9 out of 10 days either, but that seems to be about the recent situation).
The S&P 500 was down 0.7% and Toronto was down 0.9%.
...

Ceapro which is the only true penny stock on our list and which we have considered speculative for that and many other reasons announced this morning that it has lost a court judgement which appears to total $724,000 plus interest. (There a was anoth...

BHP Billiton is added to the site rated Speculative Buy at $U.S. 25. As noted in my post of Han 26 at 12:50 I bought the slightly cheaper BBL. See the report for more about the stock tickers. This company depends heavily on commodity prices so is inh...

UP, UP AND AWAY!!
On Friday, the S&P 500 surged another 1.2% while Toronto was up 0.2%.
Most stocks rose including Walmart, up 1.6%, Berkshire up 1.0%, Dollarama up 2.0%, Amazon up 1.75%.
Bombardier (no longer on our list)  had a great day, up 15...

I am going to add BHP Billiton to the site probably rated Speculative Buy with an emphasis on Speculative. I usually don't look at commodity stocks but I am making an exception here. This is a huge and complex company and its value depends very heavi...

On Thursday, the DOW surged ahead another 0.5% but the S&P 500 was only up 0.1%. Toronto was down 0.5%.
Canadian Tire was up 1.5%. Costco was up 1.9%. Dollarama was up 1.6%. Amazon was up 1.5%.
Toll Brothers was down 3.3%. It's always been somewh...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.5%.
CN rail was down 2.1%. Stantec was down 1.5%, Toll Brothers was down 1.5%.
CRH Medical has continued to recover and was up 3.0%.
U.S. stocks have kept going up despite P/E ratios ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up another 0.2% while Toronto was up 0.1%.
AutoCanada was up 3.0% and Amazon was up another 2.6%.
Boston Pizza Royalties was down 1.5% to $21.18 and yields 6.5%. Despite somewhat higher interest rates this is an attrac...

On Monday, as the partial government shut-down looked to be a short-lived situation the S&P 500 rose 0.8%while Toronto was about unchanged.
Berkshire was up 1.3%, Costco up 1.1%, Toll Brothers 1.3%, Visa 1.3%, Amazon 2.5%... The good times roll o...

The U.S. Senate has adjourned until tomorrow and so the U.S. government partial shutdown will last at least part of Monday. But it did appear that a vote on Monday morning might resolve matters for a few weeks.
Futures markets had been down only marg...

Canadian Western Bank is updated and rated Buy at $40.55. It has already made a strong recovery from the lows it experienced in 2016 due to (apparently unfounded) fears that it might experience problems with sub-prime mortgages similar to the Home Ca...

On Friday, the U.S. markets were unfazed by the impending (partial) U.S. government shutdown.
The S&P 500 was up 0.4%. Toronto was also up 0.4%.
CRH Medical was a notable gainer, up 6.7% in Toronto to $3.85. It's still down 32% from the price at ...

On Thursday, the markets had what seems to be a rare down day.
The S&P 500 index was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Our biggest gainer was Constellation Software, up another 1.6%.
A number of large U.S. financial companies have reported big...

U.S. markets continue to be on fire. At the moment, this is a market that knows no fear.
The S&P 500 was up 0.9% on Wednesday and the DOW was up a scorching 1.25%. Meanwhile, Toronto was up 0.2%.
CRH Medical was up 6.5% to $3.44. The company cont...

I didn't intend to take yesterday off from posting (It was Martin Luther King Day and U.S. markets were closed) but due to some other distractions that is how it turned out.
On Tuesday, U.S. markets first posted new within-day highs as the DOW burst ...

U.S. markets soared again on Friday.
The S&P 500 rose 0.7% and the DOW was up 0.9% to 25,803. Toronto was up just 0.1%.
There appears to be a great deal of optimism that the Trump corporate income tax reductions will fall straight to the bottom l...

Wednesday was a rare negative day in the markets.
The S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.4%.
Canadian stocks were likely negatively affected by the announcement that the U.S. is imposing countervailing duties on newsprint imports from C...

Another day and another set of records in the U.S. markets.
S&P 500 up 0.1% while Toronto was about unchanged.
With the recent strength in markets, especially the U.S. markets, reasonably diversified equity portfolios and balanced portfolios have...

I notice Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. has an offering this morning (still open at TD Direct as I write this) that pays a minimum 5.0% on a rate reset preferred share. This seems tempting. Even with interest rates rising, 5% does not seem like a...

On Monday, the S&P 500 ended the day up 0.2% while Toronto was down 0.2%.
Toll Brothers was up another 1.3%. Walmart, which we last rated (lower) Sell, was up 1.5%.
The rate reset preferred shares are generally still edging up and that's because ...

Friday's action had the S&P 500 up another 0.7% and the Dow up 0.9%. The gains have continued to come fast and easy on Wall Street. Toronto, however, was down 0.4%.
Toll Brothers was up another 2.2% to $51.21. This company has worked out as a dec...

Thursday was yet another wonderful day for stock investors. Especially U.S. stock investors.
The S&P 500 was up another 0.4%. The Dow was up 152 points or 0.6% as it cruised through the 25,000 point milestone without even slowing down to acknowle...

Markets were up fairly strongly again today. The S&P 500 was up % and Toronto was up 0.4%.
Toll Brothers was up 4.3% to $50.42.
TFI Industries was up 3.2%.
I don't know any specific reason for these two rising today. But I do know that, like virt...

The market is off and running for 2018 with the S&P 500 rising 0.8% and Toronto rising 0.6% on this first trading day of the new year.
FedEx was up 3.2%.
CRH Medical was up 4.8% on Toronto to Canadian $3.47. This has been quite a volatile stock w...