2019

The report for Toll Brothers is updated and rated Buy at u>s. $35.66. The previous update had noted that while profits were up, contracts to build new homes (which become revenues and profits some 9 to 12 months later when the home is built and deliv...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.6%.
Stocks that rose included Shopify - up 2.1%, Constellation Software - up 2.3%.
Couche-Tard was up 1.5% and continues to set new highs.
Toll Brothers was down 4.6% despite beating ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.85% and Toronto was up 0.15%.
Dollarama was up 3.5%.
Toll Brothers was up 2.2% ahead of its earnings release. It released ts Q2 earnings after the close and the headlines indicate it exceeded analyst expectations...

Our report for Constellation Software is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at Canadian $1182. This is a hugely successful company. However it always seems quite expensive. It might be once again worth paying up due to its track record but on the num...

On Monday, the Toronto stock exchange was closed. The S&P 500 was down 0.7%.
Apple was down 3.1%. Toll Brothers was down 2.4%. Starbucks was down 2.9%.
Over the weekend, Trump ended Steel and Aluminum tariffs he imposed on Canada last year. This ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% but Toronto was up an impressive 1.6%.
Toronto will not trade on Monday due to the Holiday but the U.S. markets are open.
The Canadian banks begin reporting earnings later this week.
Toll Brothers will report...

SNC Lavelin announced a delay in selling part of its stake in highway 407. The reason is that the other owners of the 407 want to exercise their right of first refusal. That supports the valuation of the highway. Analysts have said that SNC's share p...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.9% and Toronto was up 0.8%.
Shopify surged another 5.5%.
CN Rail was up 2.2%. In the latest week reported, Canadian rail car loads were equal to the 2018 figure. Forest products, grain and chemicals were lower...

Wednesday was a positive day in the markets as the S&P 500 rose 0.6% and Toronto was up 0.2%.
Shopify continues to have tremendous investor support with a 4.1% gain today.
Other gainers included: WSP Global - up 2.2%, Stantec - up 2.2%, and Couch...

Markets had a partial rebound on Tuesday with the S&P 500 up 0.8% and Toronto up 0.6%.
WSP Global was up 2.3% after reporting a 27% gain in earnings.
Shaw Communications is selling off its remaining shares in Corus entertainment by way of a secon...

Canadian Tire is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $142.30.
Its Q1 report contained both positive s and negatives. Its same-store sales growth was stellar with 6.1% overall growth and that was on top of the 5.1% growth that occurred in Q1 2018.
But,...

Stocks were down on Monday as Trump's trade war with China escalates. The S&P 500 slumped 2.4%. Toronto did better with a decline of 0.6%.
Among the bigger declines was Apple, down 5.8% because its iPhones are mostly made in China and will be hit...

On Friday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.4% (but futures suggest markets could open lower by close to 1% on Monday morning).
Canadian Tire was down 2.6% as analysts digested its Q1 results which featured very good same-store sales growth...

The report for Melcor Developments is updated for Q1 results and rated Buy at $13.40. Single family home building in Alberta has declined significantly and therefore Melcor sold 46% fewer building lots in Q1 compared to Q1 of the prior year.
In addit...

The report for Boston Pizza Royalties Income Trust is updated and rated Buy at $17.52.
The 7.9% cash yield is quite attractive.
If the 11.5 cents per share (unit) per month distribution will be maintained for a long time then this is a good investmen...

Thursday's action saw the S&P 500 down 0.3% and Toronto down 0.5%.
Alimentation Couche-Tard was up 1.7%.
Canadian Tire was down 1.7% after releasing Q1 earnings that featured lower profits but very strong same-store sales growth. I added to my po...

The BP Royalties Income Fund released Q1 results before the open. The results were better than I feared they might be but not as good as I hoped. Distributable cash per unit was down 0.7%. The trailing payout ratio was about stable at 103.4%. Same-st...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while Toronto rose 0.2%
There was not much movement of note in the prices of the stocks on our list but AutoCanada rose 2.9%.
A headline today was that housing starts in April jumped 23% to an annualized 2...

On Tuesday, markets declined in further reaction to Trump's trade tariff threats against China.
The S&P 500 was down 1.65% while Toronto was down 0.8%.
The larger decliners included : Linamar, down 2.9%; WSP Global, down 3.5%; Constellation Sof...

TD Direct has a new issue from Capital Power of a 5.75% rate reset share that has a minimum reset of 5.75%. This is worth considering especially for those looking to generate cash yield from a portfolio and especially in a taxable account where the d...

On Monday. markets were initially down about 2% as Trump escalated trade tensions with China, but by the end of the day the decline was modest.
The S&P 500 was down 0.45% and Toronto closed virtually unchanged.
Earnings reports this week include...

Linamar is updated and rated Strong Buy at $48.10. With earnings in the past 12 months of $8.82 and trading at just 82% of book value despite a trailing ROE of 16%, it certainly looks cheap. But the auto industry has declined somewhat especially in E...

Futures indicate the market could open down about 2% as Trump has escalated the trade war with China imposing higher tariffs, apparently hoping to jolt China into fast agreement on a trade deal.
On Friday, the S&P 500 was up a hefty 1.0% and Toro...

The report for CRH Medical is updated for its Q1 report. The company replaced the CEO on April 9th. Q1 had a 22% increase in revenues per share. Adjusted earnings per share were about unchanged. My expectations is that revenues and adjusted earnings...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.6%.
Shopify was up another 3.9%.
Aecon fell 3.1%.
Canadian Tire was up 1.8%.
The Melcor REIT released earnings which were lower but which was not unexpected.
Linimar also released lower ea...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.75% and Toronto was down 0.5%.
Apple was up 4.9%.
Constellation Software was up 2.1%. After the close it announced Q1 earnings with a revenue increase but a decrease of 11% in adjusted earnings per share. It ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.1%.
Shopify was up 7.5% to U.S. $243.53 ($325.75 in Toronto) after reporting a 50% increase in Q1 revenue to $321. million. The market cap is U.S. $27 billion or about 21 times run-rate...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.1%.
AutoCanada was up 2.5% and Linamar was up 1.8%.
I added a small amount to my Canadian Tire position today. In general, I think the company continues to do well. But headwinds in Q1 ...

On Friday, markets were down earlier in the day but recovered for a 0.5% gain in the S&P 500 and 0.2% for Toronto.
Aecon (see update just below) gained 7.1% after releasing Q1 earnings which featured an 18% gain in revenues per share and a smalle...

Aecon is updated for its Q1 results and rated Speculative (lower) Buy at $18.76
Aecon was just added to the list a few days ago. It's Q1 numbers came out and I have done an update for that.
Based on Q1 its numbers are improved. 2019 is expected to s...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was down 0.1%
American Express was up 1.6%.
FedEx was down 4.5%.
Toll Brothers was down 2.1%. It had been doing quite well despite mostly weaker results on U.S. home building so the drop ...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while Toronto was down 0.5%.
TFI International was up 5.0% due to its strong earnings report.
The Bank of Canada indicates that it no longer has a bias toward higher interest rates. The five year Canada b...

Stock markets were strong on Tuesday with both the S&P 500 (up 0.9%) and Toronto (up 0.6%) closing at new highs.
Gainers included Dollarama up 4.1%, Amazon up 1.9%, Constellation Software up 1.6%.
Linamar was down 2.1%.
A report today indicated ...

The large construction company, Aecon is added to our list but only rated Speculative (lower) Buy at $16.86. (It closed today at $17.00) I was asked by an associate of mine to add this to the list and also I thought it would be interesting to learn a...

On Monday, markets mostly took a break from the recent upward trend. The S&P 500 did manage to gain 0.1%. The DOW was down 0.2% and Toronto was also down 0.2%.
Toll Brothers was down 2.6% after a weak report regarding U.S. single family housing s...

Our Melcor Developments report is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $13.70
This has been a frustrating investment. It is extremely thinly traded and has basically no analyst coverage. Partly due to a lack of analyst coverage, it trades at a huge disc...

The Toronto Stock Exchange Index closed at a new record high on Thursday, up 0.4% on the day. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 was up 0.2%.
Most of the stocks on our list were up modestly. Dollarama had a strong day, rising 3.3%.
Statistics Canada released...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% but Toronto was up 0.25%.
Apple was up 1.95%. Constellation Software was up 1.8%.
TFI International was up 1.6%. It announced a small acquisition after the close. It will pay only US $7.2 million plus it w...

On Tuesday, markets were little changed as the S&P 500 was up fractionally and Toronto was down 0.1%.
Toll Brothers was up 1.9%. Constellation Software was down 2.3%.
Canadian Western Bank announced that its rate reset preferred share which reset...

Our report on the Melcor REIT is updated and rated Buy at $7.64
The yield at 8.8% is quite attractive. But note it does not qualify for the dividend tax credit and so is best suited for non-taxable accounts. While the yield is attractive there may be...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.2%.
Costco was up 1.8% and trades at a trailing P/E of 32 and a forward P/E of 29. That is expensive but it is also about typical for Costco.
Shopify was up another 1.8% to $292 in Toron...

On Friday, markets were strong with the S&P 500 up 0.7%, Toronto up 0.5% and the DOW up a full percentage point.
Correspondingly, most of the stocks on our list were up on the day. FedEx was up 2.6%, Canadian Western Bank was up 1.8%. Berkshire H...

Ceapro is updated. This basically something of a lottery ticket stock. It's a difficult one to put a rating on but I settled on Highly Speculative Buy / Hold.
Actually, Ceapro does not really even belong on this site because it is such an early-stag...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each essentially unchanged.
Shopify was up 2.5% to a another record high.
Penny stock Ceapro was up 10% most of the day and ended the day up 7.5%. It reported a big gain in sales in Q4 and a small profit ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto each rose about 0.35%.
Linamar was up 1.7%. Dollarama was up 2.0%. CRH Medical was up 3.0%.
AutoCanada rebounded 4.1%. An interesting report today revealed that sales at Canadian new car dealers actually ros...

Tuesday's action saw the S&P 500 fall 0.6% and Toronto down 0.4%.
Shopify rose 2.0%.
Boston Pizza royalties Income Fund rose 1.1% to $17.31. At this price the yield is 8.0%. That suggests that the market may fear a distribution cut and certainly...

After starting the day in negative territory, market ended slightly positive with the S&P 500 and Toronto each up 0.1%.
Apple Inc. was up 1.6% to $200.10. Canadian Tire was up 1.5%.
Statistics Canada reported the value of building permits for Feb...

Bank of Montreal is out this morning with a 5.1% rate reset preferred share. This is down a little from a recent CIBC issue at 5.2% but still indicates lower investor appetite for these shares which means the banks need to offer higher yields to sell...

On Friday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.5%.
Notable gainers included: WSP Global, up 2.3%; TFI International, up 2.1% and Linamar, up 1.7%.
Statistics Canada released another of its volatile jobs reports, this time indicating little cha...

Stantec is updated and rated Buy at $32.64. Historically, Stantec has been a strong growth-by-acquisition company. However, the stock has been relatively flat for the past four years. Initially, this was due to the impact of lower oil prices which sl...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.2%.
Toll Brothers rose 1.9%.
Shopify was down 4.9% after a short seller report came out. That's really not much of a drop considering how fast this stock has risen and considering its high multi...

CRH Medical is updated and rates Speculative Buy at U.S. $2.71 or CAN $3.59.
This Canadian company started with a patented hemorrhoid banding product (of all things) that it was successfully selling to many of the Gastrointestinal physicians (GIs) in...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto as up 0.1%.
Toll Brothers was up 1.4%. TFI International was up 1.7%.
CRH Medical was down 1.9%. Our report for CRH will be updated tomorrow and rated probably Speculative Buy. I will likely add ...

Although the DOW was down 79 points, Tuesday ended relatively flat with the S&P 500 virtually unchanged and Toronto up 0.2%.
Constellation Software was up 2.7% while Shopify was down 2.0%.
Figures for March auto sales were released and there was...

Monday was as strong day for the markets with the S&P 500 index up 1.2% and Toronto up 0.8%.
Among the gainers were:
BHP Billiton - up 3.0% for the BBL shares on New YorkCanadian Western Bank, up 2.6%.FedEx, up 2.8%.Dollarama, up 6.1%American Exp...

Thursday was a mostly positive day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 0.4% and Toronto up 0.1%.
Gainers included CN Rail up 1.6%, Constellation Software up 1.7%, Starbucks up 1.7% and Alimentation Couche-Tard up 1.3% to a new all-time high.
Stoc...

Wednesday was generally negative in the markets but some of our top picks did well.
The S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.1%.
But Couche-Tard was up 3.0%; Toll Brothers was up 2.0%, Melcor Developments was up 3.5%.
Also, Andrew Peller ...

Tuesday was a positive day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 0.7% and Toronto up 0.6%.
Most of the stocks on our list were higher. Notably, Constellation Software was up 2.6% and FedEx was up 1.8%.
Toll Brothers was about unchanged as there was ...

Monday was a relatively quit day in the markets with the S&P 500 down 0.1% and Toronto down 0.15%. You would never know that any big news (the Mueller Report) came out over the weekend.
Couche-Tard was up 3.3% and Toll Brothers was up 2.8%.
I wa...

As of tomorrow Monday, the focus will be on how the market reacts to the Mueller report. Trump was not really fully exonerated - though he claims he was - but there was no proof of collusion and insufficient proof of obstruction of Justice. The marke...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 1.1% as the market apparently decided (for the moment at leeast) that the benefits of lower-for-longer interest rates out weighted the risk that this was signalling a recession ahead. Toronto was up 0.5%.
Apple Inc...

Wednesday's session saw the S&P 500 down 0.3% and Toronto down 0.1%.
FedEx was down 3.5% after reporting earnings.
Amazon was up another 2.0% which is certainly impressive for such a large company.
As foreshadowed yesterday, I did add to my Couc...

Tuesday was an eventful day for market news. North American stock market were positive earlier in the day but ended weak. The S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was down 0.4%.
AutoCanada was up 3.6%. It has, around 10 analysts covering it ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.7%.
FedEx was up 2.5%.
Now that almost all (97.5%) companies have reported their 2018 earnings, the final GAAP earnings for the S&P 500 index came in at $132.08. That is 20% higher than...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
There were no particularly large moves in the stocks on our list but Amazon was up 1.5% and CRH Medical was down 2.3%.
In economic news, Canada's manufacturing sales rose more than expec...

AutoCanada is updated and rated Sell. In the previous update I had noted that the value ratios would suggest a sell unless earnings were expected to increase. And I did expect an increase in 2019 (and possibly in Q4 2018) due to the efforts of the ne...

I sold what amounted to 43% of my AutoCanada position today.
As mentioned in my previous post, the Q4 earnings were quite awful. I am surprised that the stock is only down 5.5% at the moment. Earlier today it was briefly down as much as 18%.
I had ac...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.4%.
The market took little notice of Melcor's earnings as Melcor rose 0.5%.
CRH Medical, which also released earnings yesterday was down 3.2%.
AutoCanada released its Q4 results afte...

Wednesday was another strong day for the U.S. stock market with the S&P 500 up 0.7%. Toronto was up just 0.1%.
Nothing on my list was up as much as 2.0% but a number were up over 1%.
Dollarama was down 2.75%.
There have been a lot of large corpo...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.2%
CRH Medical was up 6.5%. It will report earnings tomorrow, after the close.
Fortis Inc., was up 1.5%. Costco was up 1.4%.
Linamar was down 4.4% after reporting earnings and lower "guidan...

Linamar is down 4.5% to $48.52 after releasing Q4 earnings that were good but which included lowering their revenue growth outlook for 2019 to mid single digits while they expect earnings to grow high signal digits. It appeared to me that the stock w...

Markets were higher on Monday with the S&P 500 up a hefty 1.5% and Toronto up 0.7%
Among the gainers were: Apple, up 3.5%; Canadian Western Bank, up 2.0%, FedEx, up 2.7%; Toll Brothers up 2.2%, Visa up 2.2%; and Amazon, up 3.1%.
Linamar reported ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.4%.
Costco was up 5.1% after reporting earnings.
AutoCanada was up 2.3%. It's scheduled to release earnings on Thursday, after the close. Given its troubles in 2018 and given it is try...

Statistics Canada reports (I probably should say claims) that Canada added 56,000 jobs in February driven by full-time job gains and that this came on top of strong gains in January.
Once again I would take this with a huge grain of salt. Firstly, ...

Thursday was a weaker day in the markets with the S&P 500 down 0.8% while Toronto was down only 0.2%.
On the positive side, Toll Brothers was up 2.0%. And CN Rail was up 0.8% and has has been trending up steadily since the December 24 low.
FedEx ...

(I was unable to make my usual post last evening due to a very rare server problem on the telus system where this website is hosted.)
Canadian Western bank was out with a good earnings report this morning and increased the dividend by 4% which was in...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.3%.
There was not much movement in most of the stocks on our list.
But AutoCanada slipped 2.7% and Toll Brothers was down 2.3%. Dollarama was up 2.4%.
Regarding interest rates. It appea...

On Monday, the markets started out higher but ended lower with the S&P 500 down 0.4% and Toronto down 0.2%.
Dollarama was up 3.0%. Amazon was up 1.5%. Toll Brothers was up 1.2%.
I have to say Amazon is truly amazing. Last night at about 11:30 my...

Bad news on the pipeline front as Enbridge announced a delay in its Line 3 pipeline. Now expected to be operational sometime in the last half of next year rather than late this year. This was due to a new schedule for when U.S. State and federal perm...

Canadian auto sales in February were 3.7% lower than the prior year. The lower sales number is clearly not good news for the economy or for AutoCanada. But it should be noted that February 2018 was "a tough comparable" month. February 2018 had been ...

Friday was a strong day in the markets and for our stock picks. The S&P 500 was up 0.7% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
Linamar was up 3.0% as after Martinrea (also an auto parts company) reported strong results. Linamar will report on March 11. Accord...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.5%.
BHP Billiton was down 3.0% in New York. It's a volatile stock that moves with commodity prices including iron ore. It also of course moves with company-specific developments.
Toll ...

Stantec's earnings came in apparently somewhat above expectations. But not great. There is a 5.5% dividend increase. Our latest rating was (lower) Buy and from a quick look at the earnings report I don't think the rating will increase. I plan to trim...

Wednesday's session saw the S&P 500 and Toronto each about unchanged.
Toll Brothers ended the day down 2.5%. It's interesting that after its earnings release yesterday, the stock rose in after-hours trading and the one headline I saw said that th...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.1%.
Couche-Tard was up another 2.7%.
Stantec was up 1.9%. It will report Q4 earnings on Thursday. The hope is that with the sale of it construction Services division it can get back to ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
AutoCanada was up 4.4% to $13.46. This stock has been increasing despite a lack of positive news regarding Canadian auto sales. January sales were weak. While I hope that the new managem...

Berkshire Hathaway is updated and rated Buy at $203.71.
The headline news from Berkshire's Q4 report is hat Berkshire / Buffett lost $25 billion in the quarter and that this included a write-down and other problems as Kraft Heinz. The loss was cause...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.6% and Toronto was up 0.1%.
Shopify was up another 2.25% in Toronto.
Andrew Peller was up 4.5%.
The S&P 500 and Toronto are each up over 11% in 2019 gaining back much of the ground lost in late 2018.
If Berks...

Canadian Tire is updated and rated (lower) Strong Buy at $145.42. This has been a strong company for decades. It will likely continue to do well with steady but relatively modest growth. Its price to earnings ratio is seldom as low as it is right now...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.35% and Toronto was down 0.2%.
TFI International was up 2.1% to $40.45. This is a very well-managed company.
Toll Brothers was up 1.5% to $37.30.
AutoCanada was up 1.4% to $12.54. I reduced my position in this...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.6%.
AutoCanada was up 2.8%. It has recovered a bit of ground lately although it has not released any further news.
Constellation Software was up 2.3%.
Canadian Tire was up 1.9%. I will u...

On Monday markets were closed for President's day and Family Day holidays.
Over the weekend Trump tweeted (among other things):
"The Mueller investigation is totally conflicted, illegal and rigged! Should never have been allowed to begin, except for...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 1.1% and Toronto was up 0.9%.
Linamar was up 3.9% to $50.28. AutoCanada bounced up 3.6%.
Constellation Software was down 3.3% giving back part of Thursday's big increase.
As of Sunday evening futures were suggesting ...

On Thursday the S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.4%.
Canadian Tire was down 4.75% after releasing earnings. The only headline on Yahoo Finance last night said that they beat earnings expectations. If that is the case then it was likel...

Boston Pizza Royalties Q4 earnings were not great but definitely better than I expected / feared. The key points are:

Same store sales growth of negative 0.2% for the Period and positive 0.1% for the Year.
On a Franchise Sales basis, SSSG was posi...

Reporting today from off Roatan, an island that is part of Honduras. Spent the day there. The local population is mostly of Spanish heritage but many or most speak English. The local income levels are mostly quite low. But they are an entrepreneuria...

Belize City
Markets were positive on Tuesday with the S&P 500 up a hefty 1.3% and Toronto up 0.5%.
A report today indicated that American's confidence in their financial future is the highest in 16 years.
That sounds positive for Toll Brothers wh...

Posting today from Rhapsody of the Seas just out of Costa Maya entoute to Belize. I expect to be able to post each day but a weak internet would be the problem if I go AWOL.
On Monday, The S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.4%.
Canadian T...

On Friday the S&P 500 ended the day up 0.1% but Toronto was down 0.45%.
FedEx was down 2.3%, and Linimar got pushed down 7.6%. These both may have been related to some negative news or views on trade talks, especially China / U.S. There was no ne...

Posting from Tampa Florida today...
On Thursday markets were down moderately with the S&P 500 down 0.9% and Toronto down 0.1%.
CRH Medical was up 4.9% in Toronto.
Costco was down 0.9% despite reporting yet another very strong month of same-store ...

Wednesday was a relatively quiet day overall in the markets with the S&P 500 down 0.2% and Toronto up 0.1%.
Not much of particular note, but Linamar was up 1.8% and has now recovered to $52.16. The stock is cheap but faces a lot of negative senti...

Tuesday was another positive day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 0.5% and Toronto up 0.6%.
WSP Global was up 2.2%. Stantec was up 2.4%. Starbucks as up 2.6%. Couch-Tard was up another 2.0% to an all-time high.
Tomorrow there may be some reac...

Markets were positive on Monday as the S&P 500 gained 0.7% and Toronto was up 0.6%.
CRH Medical was up 4.0% and Ceapro bounced up 6%.
AutoCanada slipped 2.8% which was not surprising given the January auto sales report that I mentioned in my last...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Most rate reset preferred shares were up modestly as the government of Canada five year bond yield rose 7.5% to 1.862%.
Visa was up 3.6%.
Amazon was down 5.3%, giving back j...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.9% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
AutoCanada bounced up 5.7%. I stopped in at their Volkswagon dealership in an Edmonton suburb today. This dealership is only about two or three years old and is still ramping up towar...

Wednesday was a positive day in the markets with the S&P 500 rising 1.55% but Toronto as up only 0.1%
The U.S. FED seemed to give something of an "all clear" signal indicating that it sees less need to continue raising interest rates.
WSP Global...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.15% while Toronto was up 0.55%
The Canadian Western Bank preferred share that I said (see January 21) was over-priced in relation to a new CWB issue was down 2.6% to $20.11. CWB's new 6% issue started trading to...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.8% while Toronto managed a 0.1% gain.
There seems to be a lot happening in the news. The U.S. has now charged Huawei and its CFO Meng Wanzhou, who is facing an extradition hearing in Vancouver. I don't particula...

I have never had SNC Lavalin on the list but its bad news this morning is possibly of relevance to Stantec and WSP. SNC will report lower 2018 earnings for a number of reasons. The stock is down 20% on the news. On a mining&metallurgy division pr...

Friday was a positive day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 0.85% and Toronto up 0.6%.
Our one penny stock, Ceapro was up 7.5%.
Linamar was up 4.8% to $51.17 after it announced approval for a share buy-back. They are authorized to buy back up ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 finished the day up 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.5%.
Toll Brothers was up 1.7% and Linamar was up 2.8%.
Starbucks was down 2.5% but is up about 2.0% in after hours trading after it released a favorable earnings report.
Au...

Apple Inc. is added to our list and rated Speculative Buy at $153.92. Apple is well known as one of the most valuable companies in the world. It also has a low P/E ratio at 12.9 - those two factors together tell you that it is highly profitable. It...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto was down 0.2%.
About the only notable move in stocks on our list was Constellation Software, up 3.0%
Rail car loading reports are out for the third week of January. In Canada, every category exc...

On Tuesday some fear returned to the market and the S&P 500 was down 1.4% and Toronto was down 0.8%.
BHP was down 3.2% in New York (the BBL shares).
CN Rail was down 3.2%. Amazon was down 3.8%. CRH Medical was down 3.5% in Toronto.
Our one penny ...

U.S. markets were closed for the Martin Luther King jr. holiday on Monday. Toronto rose 0.3%.
CN Rail was up 2.3% amid reports that it and CP are rationing capacity due to congestion - which is to some degree a nice problem to have for the two rail l...

This is very time sensitive but CWB is out with a new rate reset preferred share issue paying 6%. I just placed an order for some. This 6% yield would suggest to me that the current pref issues of CWB should fall a bit in price today.
...

American Express is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $100.48.
With this update I added four new lines to the report (all reports will get these new rows as they are updated).
The new rows are just below the rating cell as follows:

Generic Rati...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 1.3% and Toronto was up 0.6%.
Berkshire Hathaway was up 2.9%, TFI International, FedEx and Constellation Software were each up 2.1%
Among the relatively few stocks on our list that were down was Linamar, down 1.5%.
A...

Thursday's action saw the S&P 500 rise 0.8% ans Toronto was up 0.7%
Dollarama was up 2.5%. Most stocks were up but Toll Brothers was down 1.6% and Linamar was down 1.2%.
Regarding rate reset preferred shares, Toronto Dominion was out with an issu...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% as U.S. banks rose after some of them reported higher-than-expected earnings. Toronto was up 0.4%.
Shopify was up 2.1%. With a great future but no current earnings, the value of this company is somewhat "unt...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.1% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
Shopify was up 3.55%. Amazon was also up 3.55%
Most stocks have risen considerably off their December lows. This includes Toll Brothers up 1.1% today to $36.11, Canadian Western Bank ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% which was blamed on news a decline in China's imports and exports in December. The market did not seem to pay much attention to the latest news about Trump. (Allegedly took steps to keep secret his discussions...

I have added Shopify to the list of stocks but only on a preliminary basis and have not yet assigned it a Buy / Sell rating other than to say that it is Speculative. Shopify appears to have a wonderful business model and a great future. But it it is...

Friday was a relatively quiet day for the markets with the S&P 500 unchanged and Toronto up 0.2%.
And there were no noteworthy movements in any of the stocks on our list.
A possible headwind for the markets is the political situation. Friday ther...

Markets were up moderately on Thursday with the S&P 500 up 0.45% and Toronto up 0.7%
TFI International continued to recover and was up 2.2%.
Linamar was up 1.7% and that was despite news that Ford and Landrover Jaguar would be laying off thousan...

Today, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and Toronto rose 1.4%
West Texas Oil is at $52.16 and I believe I saw Western Canadian Select at over $43 on BNN today. The Canadian dollar is back up to 75.7 cents from lows of 73.3 U.S. cents just one week ago.
Two ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.0% and Toronto was up 0.7%.
Notable gainers included: TFI International, up 4.4%Dollarama, up 5.1%WSP Global, up 3.0%Andrew Peller, up 2.9%
Canadian Western Select oil continued to climb and was over $40 U.S. Thi...

Markets rose on Monday with the S&P 500 up 0.7% and Toronto up 0.5%.
Rate reset preferred shares rose with the Canadian Western Bank pref share on our list up 4.2% and the Enbridge one up 3.7%.
Couche-Tard was up 2.5% and sits basically at an al...

Wine maker Andrew Peller Limited is added back to the list rated (lower) Buy at $13.87. It's not particular cheap but it has been well managed and may be of interest especially to those who enjoy its products.
...

The next update will be to add wine maker Andrew Peller back to the list. Its price is down to about $14 from highs of $19. With the recent market declines it was briefly under $12 in December. At $14 it is probably reasonably priced but not cheap an...

Markets  were higher on Friday due to a strong U.S. jobs report combined with soothing comments from the Fed Chair.
The S&P 500 was up a huge 3.4% and Toronto was up 1.5%
Some of the larger gainers were:
Amazon, up 5.0%
American Express up 4.5%
V...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 2.5% while Toronto fell 0.9%. Apple reported lower sales in China and there was also other weak economic news from China including lower automobiles sales.
Berkshire Hathaway which has a large investment in Apple sha...