Author name: Shawn

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.6%. Canadian Western Bank was up 2.1%. All in all, it was another day to be glad to be an owner of companies. Oil was up 2% to about $49 U.S. dollars. While lower than peak prices, $49 is no...

Melcor Developments is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $16.50. (last trade as I post this was $16.25. As detailed in the report (see Recent Developments) the company had a surprisingly large increase in residential building lot sales in Q1. And the...

On Friday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down about 0.1%. AutoCanada was down 3.5% to $20.06 I last rated the company a Buy at $21.80. It exhibits some volatility. As long as it is destined to grow in value eventually (and I believe it is) th...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.5%. Linamar was up 8.0% to $63.83 after releasing earnings. Stantec was down 5.0% after releasing earnings. AutoCanada was down 2.9%. With stocks apparently sliding my strategy is to a...

With Stantec down 4.9% due to below expectation earnings, I added to my Stantec position just now. I believe its growth model is fully intact. Earnings are impacted in the short term by acquisition-related costs....

Wednesday's market saw the S&P 500 up 0.1% and Toronto up 0.4%. I added to my position in Canadian Western Bank taking advantage of the recent slide. I have done quite well over the years by adding to positions in companies that I had confidence ...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.5%. About the only notable move in the stocks on our list was Toll Brothers up 2.0% to $37.36. Home Capital (which is not on our list) bounced up 30% on news of selling some assets. As...

Possibly out of bordom, I just added about half to my small Ceapro position at $1.22. I mentioned some concerns about their reporting and I am afraid they might be too promotional with their stock price and there is a risk that their products especia...

Monday saw the S&P about unchanged and Toronto up 0.4%. CRH Medical was down 4.9% on Toronto. Warren Buffett held Berkshire's annual meeting on Saturday. There is a livestream archive of the meeting available and it is well worth listening to.  h...

I am traveling this week and was unable to post for a couple of days. Apologies. I am also behind on updates and plan to be active with updates soon. Meanwhile I am looking to slowly add to some positions such as Stantec and Canadian Western Bank and...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down O.1% and Toronto was down 0.5%. AutoCanada was down 3.5%. As stocks decline I will look to add to positions. But I don't want to get in a hurry doing that. Regarding mortgage arrears the latest figures are for F...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Toronto rose 0.3%. TransForce was down 2.3% to $28.70 and is worth considering at that price. Constellation Software was up 2.5% to about $666. It's a wonderful company. It always seems expensive however. I h...

On Monday the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto was down 0.1%. Constellation Software was up 4.0%. The CEO of Constellation writes a fairly lengthy annual letter. He is, by far, the most candid CEO I have ever come across. He is also one of the m...

Regarding CRH Medical. I have now taken a close look at the earnings release from last week and listened to most of the conference call. The stock, after rising rapidly to about $11 in Toronto (our analysis is based on the U.S. price since it reports...

On Thursday the S&P 500 rose 0.1% while Toronto fell 0.9%. CRH Medical was down 6.9% in Toronto to $8.37. I'm tempted to add to my small position as I think the company has a good business including growth by acquisition. Bombardier was down 2.7%...

Lots happening today... Trump released a tax cut proposal that most say is entirely unaffordable and will add hugely to the deficit. Coincidentally? it included a couple of measures that would benefit Trump and his family hugely: The end of the alter...

I don't know if Home Capital is going to survive its current problems or if its shares are worth more than the $6.95 that they are trading at this minute. In theory I would think the shares should be worth more than that even is a distressed sale to ...

Tuesday... Another day and another 200 points plus up for the DOW... S&P 500 up 0.6% Toronto up 0.2%. At this rate, it starts to feel like investing is easy. CN Rail was down 3.0% after releasing earnings. But that comes after big increases in th...

On Monday the S&P 500 rose 1.1% and Toronto rose 0.6%. Bank of America rose 4.0%. Reports tonight say that the U.S. will impose a 20% tariff on Canadian softwood imports. As on result, the Canadian dollar fell to 73.8 U.S. cents. In terms of the ...

BNN reports that the reason CRH medical has dropped on Friday and again today is due to a short-seller issuing a negative report. I hold a very small position in the company. While it would be more prudent to wait for the earnings report on Wednesday...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.1%. CRH Medical was down almost 19%. I am not aware of any reason for it. It could be some bad news has leaked. Or perhaps some analyst report has come out suggesting that the stock has ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.8% and Toronto was up 0.5%. American Express was up 5.9% after reporting Q1 earnings. Stantec was down 2.4% and remains a company that I would Buy at this price. After the close SNC Lavelin announced a huge acqui...

Wednesday was an uneventful day for the stocks on our list. The S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.5%. Oil is back down to $50.77. Statistics Canada reported on sales of new motor vehicles for February. Sales across Canada were up 3% in...

My reference article that details the percentage contribution of each industry to the GDP of Canada has been updated for the latest data. This article also shows the percentage of Canadian exports going to each major country. It shows graphically tha...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.4%. Toll Brothers crept up another 0.7% and is now up almost 20% year to date. This company has  required patience since it was first added to the site on June 5, 2011 at $21.03 as a way to...

On Monday, the S&P 500 shook off fears of world tensions and rose 0.9% while Toronto rose 1.0%. My recent approach of holding about 30% cash has cost me gains. However, I feel that it's a good compromise. I benefit from a 70% exposure to equities...

My detailed analysis on the valuation of the Dow Jones Industrial Average is updated. On a point estimate basis it appears to me that it is about 6% overvalued or not far from fair value. But the article shows that it can be considered 14% under-valu...

(Apologies as this post was meant to be published Thursday evening and I seem to have run into a technical issue) On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and on Thursday it declined 0.7%. Toronto was down 0.5% on Wednesday and a further 0.7% on T...

On Tuesday, the S&P ended the day down 0.1% after recovering from somewhat deeper losses earlier in the day. Toronto was about unchanged. Toll Brothers was up 3.5% to $36.58 after RBC Capital markets raised its outlook for the share price. Toll B...

On Monday, the S&P gave back back earlier higher gains and ended the day up 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.4%. CRH Medical was up 5.0% on Toronto. AutoCanada was up 2.7%. Boston Pizza Royalties was up 0.9% to $23.04 and yields 6.0%. Despite some dip...

Ceapro is updated and rated Speculative Buy. As an early stage bio tech company, it is not very well suited to analysis by means of looking at earnings and the balance sheet. A good portion of its value lies in products that it has in development and...

I am currently working on an update for Ceapro which is a small company that I introduced as a speculative pick on February 17. I am quite bothered by what I view as weak disclosure of a 29% revenue decrease in Q4. In addition I now realize that the ...

CRH Medical is updated and remains rated Speculative Buy at U.S. 8.55 and Canadian $11.49. This small medical services company was added to the site on October 9, 2016. Since then it's price is up 98%. Its earnings are still rising sharply and it sti...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.3%. Costco was up 1.8% after reporting relatively strong same-store sales growth in March. Futures markets for the S&P 500 and DOW are down only modestly on the news of the U.S. attack o...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 ended the day down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.2%. Earlier in the day the Dow had been up 200 points. As of this evening futures are indicating a moderately negative start to trading on Thursday. I am maintaining a somew...

Tuesday's markets saw the S&P 500 gain 0.1% and Toronto gain 0.5% as oil was higher. One of the smaller companies on our list, Ceapro, was up 6.4%. There was no news from the company. At this point I would wait for the 2016 earnings report before...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while Toronto was up 0.2%. This evening, futures are suggesting that market will open slightly to the downside on Tuesday. Linamar was down 2.1% This may have been due to weaker auto sales in the U.S. where re...

On Friday the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.2%. On Friday, Statistics Canada released positive news on the growth of the economy. I think Bombardier executive chairman and (not coincidentally) controlling family member Pierre Beaudoin did ...

Canadian Tire is update and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $157.98. Keep in mind that the ratings are always based on judgement after looking at the various financial and non-financial items in our report. A simple rating cannot convey all of the material ...

On Thursday the S&P 500 was up 0.3% while Toronto was down 0.5% Dollarama was up 11.2% as this impressive company continues to do well. AutoCanada was up 2.7% Bombardier was criticized after raising executive pay by some 50%. It's a shame that th...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.4%. Melcor has once again renewed its share buyback plan. If the past two years are any indication, virtually no shares will actually be repurchased. Rail car loadings in Canada are runni...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.7% and Toronto was up 0.6%. Most of the stocks on our list rose today. Home Capital was the big topic of conversations in business news for Canada today. The stock fell 9.6%. If I owned it, I know it would be diff...

On Monday the S&P 500 was down 0.1% after recovering from deeper losses earlier in the day. Toronto was up 0.4%. The U.S. markets continue to largely shrug off concerns about investigations into the Trump campaign and concerns that he will not be...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.1%. About the only large mover on our list was Ceapro up 6.4% But this is a penny stock and so big moves are to be expected. Small companies are allowed more time to release earnings and...

Thursday's markets saw the S&P 500 down 0.1% while Toronto rose 0.5%. Fedex was down 3.4% after releasing earnings. It seems to be becoming more clear that Trump will not have an easy time getting legislation passed. Also, the investigations into...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto each rose 0.2%. AutoCanada was down 2.4%. I find it interesting to see how negatively the market has reacted to the declines in its revenues in 2016. The company reports that the prices being asked when if of...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 1.2% and Toronto was down 0.8%. While I don't ever claim any ability to predict short-term moves, this was not a surprise given that the S&P 500 seems over-valued and given the fact that the Trump Campaign is ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.3% AutoCanada was down a further 2.0%. Statistics Canada reported a strong increase in wholesale trade driven mostly by the motor vehicle category. In another positive sign for the econo...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.5%. AutoCanada was down 9.7% after reporting earnings and an executive departure. Our report on AutoCanada is updated and remains rated Buy now at $21.80. I am a bit concerned about what...

AutoCanada is down 7.4% to $22 after announcing weak earnings and an executive departure. (In trying to react to this news I had to change this post a few minutes after first publishing it as I had at first not seen the earnings release.) Yesterday o...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.3%. AutoCanada was up 4.6%. But then after the close it announced two things. One was a two year extension to its big line of credit. The second was the immediate resignation of its Pres...

So, on rate-hike Wednesday, the FED did raise as expected. But apparently it spoke of two more increases this year rather than the feared three. Interest rate increases are like gravity to stock prices but the market viewed today's announcement as a ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 1.1%. Oil is down to $48.51. Couche-Tard was down 4.8% to $58.85 after reporting weaker-than-expected earnings.  I have only a small position in this company. For about the past 10 weeks,...

Stantec is updated and rated Buy at $34.25 or U.S. $26.45. The company does not appear to be undervalued based on trailing earnings. However, it appears that earnings per share are set to increase sharply in the range of 25% in 2017 as the economic r...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was up 0.2%. CRH Medical was up 3.3% and Linamar was up 2.1%. The next update will be for Stantec. It looks expensive on a trailing earnings basis. But it appears to be forecasting earnings g...

Our report on an Enbridge rate reset preferred share EB.PF.A is updated and rated Buy at $20.87. These shares are considered to be somewhat less secure than the Canadian Western Bank versions and also the reset yield is 0.1% lower. Still with the low...

Our report on the Canadian western Bank rate reset preferred shares CB.PR.B is updated with a rating of (lower) Buy at $22.95. These shares have done quite a bit better than I had expected when rating them a Buy on December 7 at $19.00. They rose par...

Our report on Canadian Western Bank is updated with a rating of (lower) Buy at $30.58. On its face, the chance to buy a well managed bank for only a 30% premium to book value is attractive. This bank is extremely simple compared to the large Canadian...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.1%. Most of the stocks on our list were up modestly. I notice a couple stocks that we no longer follow have declined. Liquor Stores N.A. which I turned quite negative on some time ago was do...

I was not happy to hear earlier this week about accusations that TD Bank has been overly aggressive regarding selling goals for tellers. I was also surprised. I have been a TD customer for almost 30 years and I have not experienced Tellers or other b...

Our Canadian Exchange Traded Funds list is updated to show the latest P/E ratios, yield and P/B ratios. ETFs can be a quick way to get into or out of the market or a particular segment of the market. And many people use them as permanent parts of the...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was about unchanged. Linamar was down 3.8% despite posting good earnings and raising its dividend. The stock certainly looks cheap on a trailing earnings basis but the market seems to fear that its...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.7%. Oil declined about 5% and was down to $50.28. Bombardier was down 5.8% to $2.10 Canadian (our report is in U.S. dollars because it reports in U.S. dollars) even though it announce...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.1% Melcor has been strong lately and is now at $15.99, which is significantly higher than its 2016 lows of under $12.50. Melcor will report next week. It is likely to report quite weak ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.1%. It was in the news tonight that an Alberta man had taken his own life after losing money in a "binary options trading scam". Most subscribers here are not likely to fall for that kin...

On Saturday I sent out the latest edition of my free newsletter. This particular issue would be of interest mostly to non-paid subscribers. If you did not get it by email then add your email address to the list (The system will indicate if your email...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto rose 0.5%. Costco fell 4.3% to $170.26 after announcing it would increase its annual membership fees. Costco is a wonderful comp[any but the stock has seemed too expensive. I don't think th...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 0.6% and Toronto fell 0.4%. I have just updated my comprehensive analysis of the valuation of the S&P 500 index. I may be in danger of being labeled some kind of doomer since my point estimate for what I believe ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 1.4% and Toronto was up 1.3%. Apparently, the market quite liked Mr. Trump's speech. Some of the more notable gains on our list included: CRH Medical up 8.3% on Toronto. Linamar up 3.1% Canadian Western Bank up 4.9%...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.4%. Tomorrow we will see how markets react to Trump's speech. There were certainly some positives for the market to consider (subject to getting them passed in the house and Senate): A ...

For the tenth year in a row, following the release of his annual letter, Warren Buffett appeared for three hours on CNBC's Squawk Box: Here are my few comments about his latest investments that he discussed this morning. He has invested about $18 bil...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.5%.  And the DOW set its 12th straight record close as it rose 0.1%. Stocks of note included Andrew Peller down 1.9% to $10.64. Toll Brothers was up 2.0% to $34.40. I think this company ...

Warren Buffett released his 2016 letter on Saturday morning. He will also appear on CNBC's Squawkbox for 3 hours from 6 am to 9 am eastern on Monday morning. I have followed Buffett very closely for quite some years and so there was nothing really ne...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% but Toronto fell a hefty 1.6%. Reports were that Toronto fell because, with the closing Monday of its acquisition of Spectra Energy, Enbridge was becoming a much larger percentage of the Toronto indexes (the lar...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was down 0.3%. CRH Medical was up 5.3% after releasing earnings. Statistics Canada released the latest figures on operating profits by industry....

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average however was up 0.2% marking the ninth day of increases in a row the longest stretch in 30 years! Toll Brothers was up 6.1% to $33.93 after releasin...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 rose another 0.6%, for a total gain of 5.6% this new year, and Toronto rose 0.5% for a total gain of 4.1% this year. Melcor was down 3.5% today $15.11. But it is so thinly traded that one or two trades can push its price up...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto was down 0.2%. The Canadian Western Bank preferred share (CWB.PR.B) was up a surprising 3.0% to $21.22. However, this appears to have been due to one tiny trade near the end of the day. It is basic...

The table showing the breakdown of my own portfolio has been updated. My cash position is at 22%. Given, that overall stock market indexes seem expensive I think having a substantial allocation to cash is appropriate. I may try to raise it. Note that...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.1%. Canadian Tire surged 6.9% to $154.51  after posting a blow-out Q4 with same-store sales increases of 8.1% in the Canadian Tire branded stores (recall they also own Mark's and vario...

Another day, another record high for North American stocks... On Wednesday the S&P 500 climbed another 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.4%. Heineken was up 3.7% in Euros. Melcor was up 4.0% albeit on its usual tiny volume. Bank of America was up another...

I just set up a twitter account as @InvestorsFriend   I probably won't use it that much but it may be useful for things like pointing out any posts I make on InvestorsFriend.com during the day (but I usually post only in the evenings and weekends). I...

As of Valentine's day, the markets were still showing us the love. The S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.2%. Linamar was up 2.5% to $60.43. Wells Fargo was up 1.6% to $57.98. That is impressive considering it still has the "unauthorized ac...

North American markets on Monday added to the record highs of Friday. The S&P 500 was up 0.5% for a total gain of 3.9% in the first six weeks of this year. Toronto was up 0.2% for a total gain of 3.1% in those same six weeks. These are enjoyable ...

Ceapro Inc. a small biotechnology company that trades on the Venture exchange is added to the list as a Speculative Buy. It's not easy to get a good understanding of a company like Ceapro given that it is very research and science based. I have tried...

In the next couple of days I will add Ceapro Inc. to the list. It's a small and profitable biotech company. I consider it to be somewhat speculative due to its small size, its low share price and for various other reasons. But it looks to me like a r...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.7%. With this latest gain, North America stock market indexes are at record highs. That does not mean that stocks are necessarily over valued, but it should be taken as a sign to be somewhat...

Markets rose to new highs on Thursday after reports that Donald Trump had indicated that his plans to lower taxes on U.S. businesses was progressing well. The S&P 500 was up 0.6% and Toronto was up 0.4%. Andrew Peller was up 4.4% to $10.84. U.S. ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.4%. Melcor was up 2.9% but this was on a tiny volume. Linamar was down 2.1%. Bombardier was up 2.0%.Details emerged today that the new government loan is interest free and repayable over ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was up 0.3%. Heineken was up 2.1% (this is the Euro price as we analyze this stock in Euros) Bombardier's CEO seemed almost giddy about the Canadian government lending it some $372.5 milli...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.1%. Melcor was up 6.0% on volume that was higher than normal but still small. Nice, but not likely the start of any kind of trend. We will see how their Q4 earnings come in and especiall...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.7% and Toronto was up 0.5%. Wells Fargo was up 2.7% on indications that Trump would attempt to move forward with  reducing certain regulations applicable to large financial companies. For the same reason, Bank of A...

Thursday saw the S&P 500 up 0.1% and Toronto about unchanged. Costco jumped 3.9% due to its strong same-store sales results in January. CRH Medical was up 3.7% on Toronto as the stock continued to react to an acquisition it  announced two days ag...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was up 0.1%. Constellation Software was down 1.8% to $577.28. I had placed an order about a month ago to add a few shares to my (sadly) small position if it gets down to $570. Costco rep...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.1%. Statistics Canada reported sales at food service and drinking establishments for November and sales were generally up marginally including in Alberta. GDP was also up marginally in Novemb...

I am just watching Warren Buffett and Bill Gates who were on Charlie Rose a few days ago. https://charlierose.com/videos/29774 I wanted to capture a few thoughts. First in terms of Warren's annual letter I mentioned a few days ago some possible topic...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 1.1%. The rate reset preferred shares have continued to recover. I sold my small remaining position in the Canadian Western Bank preferred share today at $20.61. I had bought this in an RR...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.3%. Transforce was up 2.8%. Toll Brothers was down 2.5% and I believe offers good value. My sense is that the market is going to decide that it does not like Trump quite so much after al...

Andrew Peller Limited, the wine producer and marketer is added to the list. It is rated only a (lower) Buy at $10.79. I may take a small position and then see if a better buying opportunity arises. It's a well managed company. Those who buy Andrew Pe...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.2%. There were not many notable moves in the stocks on our list but AutoCanada was down 4.4%. I await with some trepidation the next moves from Trump and the inevitable reaction. HBO i...

As anyone, not living off the grid is likely aware, Wednesday was a strong day on the markets with the DOW surmounting the 20,000 level for the first time. The S&P 500 was up 0.8% and the Dow was up 0.2%. AutoCanada and Stantec were each up 5.5%....

I am in Hawaii, arrived today for a week (Maui, Kihei) Business wise one observation was Costco very busy mid afternoon Tuesday. S&P 500 was up 0.7% and Toronto was up 0.8%. Toll Brothers was up 4.6% and FedEx was up 3.3%. Very few stocks on our ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.4%. Linamar was up 1.8% recovering some of the ground lost recently. Wholesale trade for November was reported and was up marginally. What will Buffett say? In about five weeks, Warren B...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.9%. Canadian National Railway, which looks expensive to me, was up 2.0%. The December inflation numbers were reported and inflation remains tame. The investment in new home construction for ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% while Toronto was up 0.1% American Express released earnings that were lower than expected. But that was due to a 35% increase in marketing spending which could benefit future earnings. And the company revis...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto fell 0.3%. The stocks on our list were "mixed" with no particularly noteworthy movements. Statistics Canada reported the change in "Employment Insurance" for November. Alberta was up 3.4% and in...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.3%. The Canadian dollar rose to 76.5 cents on Trumps remarks that the U.S. dollar is too high. The Canadian Western Bank Preferred shares Series 5 have risen to $20.24. In the past week or two ...

On Monday the U.S. markets were closed while Toronto was down 0.1%. Linamar was down 3.5% to $55.65 on concerns that Trump's protectionist policies will be harmful to non-U.S. based auto parts companies. That is a risk. However, I am not changing my ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.5%. AutoCanada was up 4.1% to $26.62. I am not aware of any particular "reason" for this (which is not unusual as stocks move every day for reasons that may sometimes be known only to the bu...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.5%. Most of our stocks were down today although none by a particularly notable amount. I am pretty much biding my time and waiting to see if any of the below market bids I had placed t...

Wednesday's markets saw the S&P 500 up 0.3% and Toronto up 0.4%. Bombardier had another strong day, up 4.9% to $2.59. Welcome news for long-suffering share owners. And AutoCanada was up another 2.5%. The market reaction to Trump's news conference...

Tuesday's session had the S&P unchanged and Toronto up 0.2%. CRH Medical was up 6.2% in Toronto. Bombardier had another positive day, up 4.2%. I own a preferred share which has also been rising though not as much as the common. Statistics Canada ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.7%. Linamar was down 4.9% (probably based on some analyst downgrade given that the company did not release any news). Melcor was up 2.5% but that was on its typically very thin volume. S...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% while Toronto was down 0.6%. Toll Brothers was down 2.0% to $31.24. It seems that home builder stocks are out of favor at this time. But I expect Toll Brothers to continue to grow its earnings this year and to b...

Thursday's action saw the S&P 500 decline 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.4%. Amazon was up 3.1%. Costco was up 2.0% after reporting strong December same-store sales growth. Bombardier was down 2.9%. There was a story today about one of its component...

On Wednesday the good times in the stock market continued. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% and Toronto rose 0.7%. Markets do not rise in straight lines and we should always be prepared for "corrections" at any time. Trimming any stocks that seem over-value...

On the first trading day of 2017, the S&P 500 rose 0.8% and Toronto was also up 0.8%. Bombardier had a strong day, up 5.6%. I left it rated Sell for the start of this year. It is so far down that it does have potential but it remains a very poorl...

Most of the stocks on the list are now up to date. The ratings as they stand along with the final prices for 2017 will be used to track performance in 2017....

Our report on the Enbridge Series 9 preferred shares is updated with a rating of Buy at $18.80 to yield 5.85%. Last year at this time they were also rated Buy at approximately the same price ($18.67). At that time I did not think there much chance th...

Heineken is updated and rated (lower) Buy at 71.26 euros on the Amsterdam exchange. It can be bought more conveniently as two shares of the America Depository Receipt HEINY at U.S. $37.41 per share. I had added Heineken to our list last July 28. The ...

On the final trading day of 2016, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.9%. Amazon was down 2.0%. For 2016, the S&P 500 was up 9.5%, and Toronto was up 17.5%. Our four strong Buys were up an average of 26.1% and the 24 stocks that ...

Visa Inc. is updated and rated Buy at $78.02. It looks to be poised for strong growth in the next year. I intend to buy a small position and then enter a bid to perhaps double the position if the shares decline. I may set the buy for that around $67....

On this second-last day of trading for 2016, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while the Toronto index was up 0.4%. There were no particularly noteworthy moves in the stocks on our list. (Melcor was up 3.4% but the volume is too low for that move t...

CN Rail is updated and rated (lower) Sell (meaning somewhere between a Hold and an outright Sell rating) at $92.01. CN is a great company with excellent economics and strong management. But it is selling at 20.3 times trailing earnings per share and ...

Today, I completed a currency transfer of $25,000 U.S. dollars from the U.S. side of my RRSP to the Canadian side. The process was to buy DLR.u (an exchange traded fund that simply holds only U.S. dollars) on the U.S. side of the RRSP and have it jou...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.8% and Toronto was up 0.2%. Rate reset preferred shares were up today. I thought that was perhaps due to a rise in the 5 year Bank of Canada rate but that rate was actually down today. I notice that more and m...

Amazon is updated and remains rated Sell, now at $771. This company is not well suited to fundamental analysis because its earnings are still low in relation to its stock price. Nevertheless, I wanted to provide some knowledge of the fundamentals of ...

I edited one cell of the Costco report to comment on its switch from accepting only American Express credit cards to only MasterCard (Canada) and only Visa (U.S.A). Most retailers are virtually forced to accept both Visa and MasterCard, and often Ame...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% while Toronto took the day off. Toll Brothers was up 1.8% to $31.91. The Case-Shiller home price index was updated for October today and showed another small increase (See the seasonably adjusted numbers). Howeve...

Walmart is updated but is rated Weak Sell. This is a neutral rating with a slight leaning to Sell. In some ways it may be a waste of time to follow such a huge company especially since it is mature and is in low growth period and there is little reas...

Costco is updated and rated Weak Sell at $162.08. It is clearly a fantastic company. It's the best in class for warehouse style stores. No retailer relishes competing with Costco. But it is trading at 30 times trailing earnings and the growth is good...

I was one of three "stock-pickers" featured in the Edmonton Journal on Saturday as my three stocks picks for 2016, provided to the Edmonton Journal last year, returned an average of 37.5% each (including dividends) from December 14, 2015 to December ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.1%. Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund rose 1.4% to $22.94 and is up 28% this year. And it is up 36% since I rated it a (higher) Strong Buy on February 10. This was a very good "call" beca...

FedEx is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $192.60 This stock is up 29% in 2016 and we had it rated Buy to start the year. And it's up 19% since we updated it as a Buy on August 1, 2016. It's a great company and a valuable contributor to the economy. ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while Toronto was up 0.2%. Bombardier was up 3.4% Statistics Canada reported that that the Consumer Price Index was up just 1.2% year over year in November. Core inflation was apparently somewhere between 1....

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.1%. Fedex was down 3.3% after releasing earnings. I plan to update that report next. Statistics Canada reported that rail car loadings for October were down 0.6% versus last year. I use...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.1%. And the Dow Jones Industrial Average came withing a whisker of cresting the 20,000 level. It's interesting that the markets have risen this week despite the assassination of the Russian...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.1%. Bombardier had a strong day, up 6.8% and the Bombardier pref share that I follow (and own) was up 2.9%. After rising relatively sharply last week, the 5 year Canada bond yield was down s...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.2%. Bombardier had a good day, up 5.1% after holding an "investor day" in New York last week and also providing some updated forecasts. I am not a fan of such Investor Days since, even whe...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.1%. AutoCanada was up 2.6%. TransForce was up 2.5%. Bank of America was up 2.2%. Most of the rate reset preferred shares that are trading well below $25 rose about 2% as the Bank of Canada...

Constellation Software is updated and rated Buy at CAN $591. Note that the analysis is in U.S. dollars because it reports in U.S. dollars which is appropriate because it earns most of its revenues in U.S. dollars. This is definitely one of the very b...

On Wednesday, the FED raised its target overnight inter-bank lending rate by 0.25%. This was fully expected. They also indicated they expected three more rate hikes next year instead of the two they previously "saw". Apparently they see increased ris...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up (another) 0.6% and Toronto was up the same percentage. Agrium was one of the few decliners, down 3.5%. I did end up selling the rest of my Wells Fargo today. And, after the close there was news that Wells Fargo had ...

Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $22.64 Here is some history on this one. In 2013 when it got up around $23 I indicated I was not a buyer at that price. The stock then slipped back to $20 to $21. It got back to $...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0,1% and tronto was down 0.2% (despite a rise in oil prices) CRH Medical was down 6.8% on Toronto. I am not aware of the reasons for the volatility. CN Rail was down 2.3% apparently after some allegations against i...

The next update will be for Royal Bank. I just read closely through about 100 pages of its massive annual report. The saying "Too Big to Analyse" comes to mind. Last March 6th I added Royal Bank to the site as a Strong Buy at $71.38. I also noted tha...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.6% and Toronto was up 0.1%. Agrium was up 2.5% to $144.13. I have not looked at its numbers since early this year. I will likely remove it from the site rather than try to update it. It's proposed merger with Potas...

Bank of America is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $23.09. This stock is up 37% this year and started the year at $16.83 rated (higher) Buy. On January 20, it was updated to Speculative Strong Buy at $13.69. Since then it is up 69%. And it is up 187...

Our report for Dollarama is updated and rated Weak Buy at $101.27. I continue to view this as one of Canada's very best managed companies. It is a tremendous success story. But it always seems too richly priced for me. I believe it will now grow earn...

Thursday was yet another positive day on the markets. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.4%. AutoCanada surged 11.3%. I do not see any news to explain that. Possible some analyst "upgraded" it. Canadian Western Bank was up an additional...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.3% and Toronto was up 0.7%. Linamar was up 4.0% for a 20% gain since it was added to this site on November 25. Wells Fargo was up 3.1% and has staged a HUGE recovery from its lows of October. As of now, 2016 has...

The report on the Canadian Western Bank Series 5 rate reset preferred shares is updated. At $19.00 these are rated Buy for a dividend yield of 5.8% which however would reset to 4.9% in about 28 months if interest rates remain as they are now and high...

Toll Brothers (a luxury home builder) is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $32.40. The recovery in the U.S. home building and home prices continues. Due to contracts already signed Toll Brothers has an earnings increase of about 14 to 18% more or les...

  On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.2%. Notable gainers included: Linamar, up 4.5% Canadian Western Bank, up 4.7%. Possibly it rose based on two large propane refining projects that the government of Alberta announced ...

Monday was another positive day on the markets with the S&P 500 up 0.6% and Toronto up 0.3%. Notable gainers included Linamar, up 2.6%, Melcor up 4.6% (but on its usual tiny volume) Bank of America up 2.9% and Toll Brothers up 3.9%. Toll Brothers...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged, while Toronto was up 0.2%. Canadian Western Bank (see the update) fell 2.6%. Presumably the Q4 report was considered less positive after analysts had more time to review it. AutoCanada was down 3.5%. I ...

The report on Canadian Western Bank is updated and rated Weak Buy /Hold at $29.51. I had last rated it Buy on September 4 at $26.46. The price is only 11.5% higher now, but the earnings were down in Q4 and the valuation ratios are less attractive for...

Thursday was a mixed day in the markets as the S&P 500 was down 0.4% (even as the DOW was up 0.4%) and Toronto was down 0.4%. Some of the notable gainers included: Linamar up 5.4%.  Canadian Western Bank up 3.9% after releasing its Q4 earnings pr...

Wednesday was a positive day for the Canadian stock market as the members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to curtail production somewhat. This boosted oil prices by about 8% to $49.44. The Toronto Stock index rose 0.5% whi...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.1%. Oil was down about 4%. CRH Medical was up 6.8%, partially recovering the big decline of Monday. Toll Brothers was up by 1.5%. Bank of Nova Scotia's earnings were higher than forecas...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.4%. CRH Medical corporation was down 16.2%. It had had a good run. I did not see any news behind the decline but it is a small company and volatility probably comes with the territory. B...

Linamar is added to our list as a Strong Buy at $51.09. With very strong recent earnings growth and a P/E of 6.7 the numbers suggest this is a strong Buy. This 6.7 seems particularly low given the U.S. stock markets are at a record high with average ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% to another record high. Meanwhile, Toronto was unchanged for the day. TransAlta was up 17.1% and is up 32% since I mentioned on Monday evening last week that it might be a good speculative pick despite being a h...

On Thursday, the U.S. equity markets were closed for the holiday while Toronto ended the day about unchanged. TransAlta, which I mentioned on Monday evening as a possible speculative pick was up 7.7%. The increase was related to news that TransAlta (...

As of now, the post-election party in the markets continues for most stocks. (Update 12:15 eastern  with U.S. markets closed we don't know if stocks in the U.S. would have matched the small gain seen in Canada today.) This morning Statistics Canada i...

U.S. stock indexes set new record highs again today. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto (which is not at a record high) was up 0.4%% (on thin volume, as always Notable gainers included Canadian Western Bank up 2.8%, Stantec up 2.9%, Melcor up 3....

Returns are bustin' out all over... The U.S. stock market indexes are at record highs. The S&P 500 was up 0.7% (to a new high) and Toronto was up 1.2%. Most of the stocks on our list were up today. I added once again to my Melcor Development posi...

Toll Brothers stock price has declined in the past three month and remains well below where it was in 2014 and 2015. And, it did not benefit very much from the Trump bump. I suspect that there are fears that higher interest rates will lead to a slowd...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.3% Canadian Western Bank was up 2.7% to $27.69. While I think it offers good value at this price, it is interesting to see this stock rising while Melcor Developments continues to decline....

TransForce is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $33.15. It's a great company. But it is facing a weak economy. It has done well with cost cutting but that may not be sufficient to justify the recent sharp price increase. I reduced my position toda...

Thursday was a positive day as the S&P 500 rose 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.6%. CRH Medical was up 4.5% on Toronto to $7.72 and in the U.S. was up 3.6% to $5.70. Toll Brothers was up 2.8%. Constellation Software was up 2.9%. Walmart was down 3.1% t...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.2%. The biggest decliner on our list was Bombardier down 4.5%. Bombardier has issued new bonds paying 8.75%. According to news reports "The company said it intends to use the net proceeds and...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.7% and Toronto was up 1.1%. Some of the U.S. bank shares continued to rise but Wells Fargo was down 1.2% probably due to its unique challenges at this time. U.S.bond yields stopped rising today. It may be that the...

Enbridge is out with a 5.15% rate reset preferred share that features a minimum 5.15% upon reset. That minimum provides protection in the event the 5 year Canada bond falls back. These could prove unattractive if rates really soar but there is  not m...

Monday was a bit of a mixed day in the markets as some stocks had notable increases while others had notable decreases. The S&P 500 was flat on the day while Toronto was up 0.3%. Canadian Western Bank was up 4.0%. I did not see any news to explai...

TransCanda is out with a 4.9% minimum rate reset preferred share. That seems attractive for a portion of most portfolios. At the moment it was not sold out but likely will sell out very quickly. U.S. bank shares are up sharply again today. Those hold...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 1.3%. Dollarama was down 3.4%. It never seems to be cheap but I'd rather buy it on a dip than after a surge. Toll Brothers was down 1.6%. I may add to my position. The breakdown of my own ...

Stantec is updated and rated (lower) Buy at Canadian $34.17. This is a great company and will continue to grow. But it does not appear to be a compelling buy at this time....

Our report on American Express is updated for the Q3 results and rated Speculative (lower) Buy at $70.50. It has become a bit more speculative due the possibility of new disruption in the electronic payments industry and due to the ongoing impacts of...

Our report on Melcor Developments is updated as a Strong Buy at $12.89. This stock is down 11.5% in 2016 and was down 26% in 2015. And its main business of selling residential building lots is down about 60% in 2016 to date. And any recovery in the b...

Markets are up strongly again today. With Wells Fargo up 6.6% and given its recent troubles and given there may be better stocks to own, I sold more than half my Wells Fargo today. First I sold the small amount in registered accounts. Then, with trig...

Few people would have predicted that stock markets would rise on a trump victory. The S&P 500 was up 1.1% on Wednesday and Toronto was up 0.7%. And that was on top of strong gains in the U.S. on Monday and Tuesday which were thought to be attribu...

My strategy would be to buy the likes of Berkshire and Costco on the dip. This result is more proof that predictions are very hard. A more realistic strategic is just to react to events rather than try to predict things like this. The economy and the...

I am not surprised by the continuing steep decline in the price of Valeant. In the case of Valeant, the potential bottom is zero. This is because its debt may be larger than the market value of its assets. In late July 2015, several weeks before it p...

Markets were very strong on Monday as most investors decided that the end of the FBI's email investigation, announced Sunday, means that Clinton is more likely to win. The S&P 500 was up 2.2% and Toronto was up 1.0%. Most stocks were up today. I ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.5%. Stantec was down 3.7% to $29.09 ahead of its Q3 earnings. It may face some unusual costs in relation to recent large acquisitions. But I believe it will be a good investment at this ...

Berkshire Hathaway is updated and rated (lower) Strong Buy at $142.95. I believe it is a good time to buy this stock. It should have little downside risk given that Berkshire will repurchase shares if it falls below $131. The price to book value is m...

AutoCanada is updated for its Q2 earnings release and rated Buy. The earnings results were disappointing and the stock was down 3.0% on Friday and had been down about 7% Friday morning before recovering somewhat during and after the conference call. ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.1%. Canadian tire was up 2.4%. AutoCanada was down 1.7% and then reported earnings after the close. Adjusted earnings were down 25% and there was a loss after a substantial write-off o...

On Wednesday markets were down as oil prices were down and as fears of the election outcome put downward pressure on stock prices. The S&P 500 was down 0.7% and Toronto was down 1.2%. AutoCanada was down another 3.0% to $21.42. I added modestly t...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.7% while Toronto was down 0.1%. There were no particularly noteworthy moves in the stocks on our list. Statistics Canada reported August GDP up 0.2%. That is not an annualised number. Overall the report was neit...

I am a day late to talk about tricks, but watch out for the following one: I am getting emails purportedly from Canada Revenue with an interact transfer of a refund owing to me. It might be easy to fall for it in a weak moment if you are expecting a ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each about unchanged. Constellation Software was up 3.9%. TransForce was up 2.8%. Both TransForce and Constellation have been excellent investors over the long term following a growth-by-acquisition strateg...

TransForce is up 7.4% to $29.17 on its news that it is making another large acquisition. It's been a great investment this year given that it got under $20 early this year. They were smart to have bought back substantial shares around $21 earlier thi...

At mid-day Toll Brothers was down another 2.0% to about $27.50. I have almost no U.S. cash available but used what I have to add to my Toll Brothers position. Perhaps I am just being stubborn but I do like to show the courage of my convictions. I als...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.4%. CN Rail was down 3.8% after its earnings release. Heineken was down 3.6% as it announced 3rd quarter sales volumes and earnings and that it would be hurt by currency fluctuations....

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.4%. CRH Medical was up 2.1% to $6.22 in Toronto and $4.75 in the U.S. (The report on this one is in U.S. dollars.) Toll Brothers was down 1.9% to $28.22. I continue to think this company repres...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% while Toronto was down 0.1%. The best gainers on our list were Costco up 2.1%, Agrium up 2.5%, Amazon up 2.3%. Statistics Canada reported that wholesale trade increased....

On Friday, the S&P 500 was unchanged and Toronto was up 0.6%. The Canadian dollar fell to 0.7% to 75.0 U.S. cents which is the lowest in six months. This increases the value of U.S. investments if measured in Canadian dollars. Canadian inflation ...

Posting tonight from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was about flat. American Express was up 9.0% to $66.78. That is a huge gain for such a large cap company. The stock is still well down from its hi...

Wednesday's market saw the S&P 500 rise 0.2% and Toronto rise 0.6%. Oil was up over 1% and is now at $51.44. Canadian Western Bank was up 1.5% and Auto Canada was up 1.6%. This may have been related to the increase in oil. Visa was up 1.5% after ...

Tuesday was an up day in the stock markets with the S&P 500 up 0.6% and Toronto up 1.1%. Most of the stocks on our list were higher. The news at Wells Fargo is not getting any better. There is evidence that the CEO was told about fraudulent accou...

On Monday, the S%P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.1%. Oil has slipped below $50 but is currently at $50.20. Costco was down 1.0% to $148.70. I would consider nibbling at it at that price. Bank of America was out with a strong earnings repor...

On Friday, the S&P 500 ended the day about unchanged while Toronto was down 0.4%. The Canadian Western Bank rate reset preferred share (series 5) rose 3.2% to $18.60. These shares have about 30 months to go before they reset. If interest rates ri...

Wells Fargo is updated and rated Speculative Buy at U.S. $44.71. This bank has been very much in the news due to the fact that an audit has found that its branch staff opened some 2 million deposit and credit card accounts without customer authorizat...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.2%. One of the larger gains was Couche-Tard up 1.7% to $66.35. Most of our American stocks were down modestly. Wells Fargo and a couple of other big U.S. banks will report earnings on Frid...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.5% and oil hung in just over $50.00. TransForce was up 1.7% to $27.92. That's a nice recovery from lows under $19 early this year. It's a great company but I would not add to my position ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 1.2% while Toronto was down only 0.1%. There were no particularly large moves in the stocks on our list. CMHC reported that housing starts were up strongly in September. In Alberta, single family starts were margi...

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.5% while Toronto was closed for the holiday. Markets were positive on the perception that Trump's chances are diminishing. CRH Medical (added to the site yesterday) was up 1.8% in U.S. trading and I bought a few shar...

CRH Medical Corporation is added to our list as a Speculative Buy at U.S. $4.32 or Canadian $5.72. Technically, it is a Canadian company. In substance, it should be thought of by investors as a U.S. company since it earnings all of its revenues in th...

On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.2%. There were few larger moves in the stocks on our list. The biggest decline was Canadian Western Bank down 1.8%. In my own investing I bought 100 shares of HEINY an America Deposit Receip...

Thursday's action saw the S&P 500 about unchanged while Toronto was down 0.1%. Canadian Western Bank was up 2.6%. Walmart fell 3.2% as it plans to build fewer new stores and to spend more on e-commerce. AutoCanada was up 4.5% to $24.61. American ...

Wednesday the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.6%. West Texas Oil came very close to U.S. $50.00 and is currently at $49.74. Canadian Western Bank recovered some of yesterday's loss as it gained 3.7%. CN Rail rose 1.5% to $88.32. Canadian r...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 1.1%. Some stocks declined in reaction to the measures announced yesterday to cool the housing market. Canadian Western Bank was down 4.1% which may have been related to its Optimum Mortg...

On Monday, the S%P 500 and Toronto each declined 0.3%. Heineken was up 2.6%. I have not bought any of this company yet but I would like to grab at least a few shares at some point. (Apparently though, I will NOT then be allowed to write off beer purc...

On Friday the S&P 500 rose 0.8% while Toronto fell 0.2%. Part of the reason for Friday's S&P 500 gain was an unofficial report that Deutsche Bank was about top settle a major U.S. fine for $5.4 billion instead of the $16 billion amount of the...

Bank of America is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $15.38. That was yesterday's price, the price as I post this is $15.65. Bank of America is a large U.S. bank with a huge branch network serving consumers and small businesses. It also has very larg...

Thursday's markets saw the S&P 500 fall 0.9% while Toronto was up 0.2%. U.S. financials stocks fell due to fears of that Deutsche Bank was facing something of a run on certain of its deposits. Banks are always highly leveraged and fears about the...

On Wednesday, markets got a boost from reports that OPEC would plan to reduce production starting in November. Some Canadian stocks such as Stantec were also boosted by news of the conditional approval of a large LNG project. The S&P 500 ended th...

Tuesday's action had the S&P 500 up 0.6% while Toronto was down 0.4%. Liquor Stores N.A. was up 3.0% to $10.51. I had rated this a Sell last year at $8.55. Since then it cut its dividend and has had higher sales and relatively flat profits but th...

On Monday, investors bid down the price of stocks as the S&P 500 fell 0.9% and Toronto fell 0.5%. Futures rose this evening as the consensus appears to be that Clinton won the debate handily. I am tempted to add to positions in my American stocks...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 0.7%. Most of the stocks on our list had modest moves such as plus or minus 1.5% or less. Bombardier was down 1.8% to $1.60 as S&P downgraded its credit rating to single B minus. That ...

The Melcor Real Estate Invest Trust entity is added to our list and rated Buy at $8.63. Based on the 7.8% distribution yield it looks attractive. But I also wanted to understand the properties it owns and to understand its accounting. These and other...

Thursday was a strong day in the markets as the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.6%. AutoCanada was up 1.9%. This morning I had a notice from TD Direct that Capital Power had  a new issue out of a rate reset preferred share paying 6.0%. That so...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 1.1% and Toronto rose 1.3%. The FED kept its target interest rate unchanged. FedEx was up an impressive 6.9% after releasing a strong earnings report. Wells Fargo was down 1.6% as the fallout over its account openin...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was up 0.2%. Bombardier was down another 5.1%. This was reportedly due to fears of weak sales and weak deliveries of aircraft. Element Financial was up 2.0% on news that its split into two...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was unchanged and Toronto was up 0.3%. The biggest gainer on our list was Constellation Software, up 2.0%. Bombardier was down 4.9% to $1.75. I did not see any news to explain the sharp drop. Oil has slipped down to $43.13....

On Friday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.4%. TransForce was up 1.9% to $26.76. It is a very well managed company and likely to continue to do well. Wells Fargo was down another 1.6% to $45.43 as the fallout from the fact that its emplo...

North American markets rebounded on Thursday with the S&P 500 and Toronto each up 1.0%. Element Financial was up 5.5%. It is splitting into two separate companies. The hope being that one divided by two will equal more than 0.50. Toll Brothers wa...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.1%. Element Financial was the largest gainer, up 2.4%. I have been corresponding with Element trying to understand their income taxes which seem rather complicated. They have been fri...

The report on Boston Pizza Royalty Income Trust units is updated and now rated (higher) Buy at $21.00 to yield 6.6%. Because this is a top-line entity where you are essentially just buying a piece of the franchise fee, the yield is the biggest driver...

Tuesday was a down day in the markets with the S&P 500 falling 1.5% and Toronto down 1.7%. A drop in oil prices was identified as part of the reason for the market drop. Some of the bigger moves down were: Bombardier down 4.1% Agrium down 3.6% We...

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 1.5% while Toronto was up 0.4%. Walmart was the highest gainer on our list, up 2.3%. Agrium was down 2.5% after making official its plans to merge with Potash Corporation in an all stock deal. It's hard to imagine that...

On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 2.5% and Toronto was down 1.8%. Apparently this was due to fears of a FED interest hike in September and North Korea's Nuclear test. In any case fluctuations like this simply come with the territory for stock investors...

Toll Brothers is updated and rated Strong Buy. As we expected, earnings are up very sharply in 2016. The price to book value ratio at 1.22 is very attractive for a company with that has a long history of profitability (albeit it did lose money during...

AutoCanada is updated and rated Buy. Although its sales in Alberta are weak the stock price already reflects that. And despite lower sales the individual dealerships continue to be profitable in virtually all cases. The long-term strategy of growing ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% while Toronto was about unchanged. Oil rose due to a decline in inventories (albeit a decline that was apparently linked to storms preventing oil from being unloaded from tanker ships into storage tanks). Oil is...

Our report on Alimentation Couche-Tard is updated with a Buy rating at $65.50. This stock is up 1029% since it was first added to this site rated (lower) Strong Buy on March 31, 2005. Of course the stock did not increase in a straight line. But it wo...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was unchanged while Toronto was down 0.1%. Oil rose this evening to $46.24. Couche-Tard was down 2.2% today. I just completed but have not yet posted an update on this company and it will be rated Buy. Yesterday, after s...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.1%. Amazon was up 2.1% today. Constellation software was down 2.7%. Enbridge is buying Spectra for about $36 billion in Stock. Enbridge had been a fantastic investment and a well run company ov...

Canadian Tire is updated and rated Buy at $136.72. Its Q2 earnings report was yet another quarter of strong growth. In a strange development, despite recent very strong results, they ousted their CEO after only 18 months in the top job (he had been p...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.8% (as oil prices recovered somewhat). Our top gainer was our only European stock, Heineken, up 2.9%. Friday's U.S. jobs report was lukewarm - which allowed the market to largely shake off f...

Canadian Western Bank is updated and rated Buy at $26.46. While there is always a chance that this bank could suffer very harmful loan losses, the bank is not expecting this to be the case and overall appears to represent a good risk/reward. These sh...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.6%. Oil is down to $44.90. Bombardier was up 2.9% to $2.15. This stock can certainly gain on news. But I am not convinced it will gain much since each quarter when it reports earnings...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% while Toronto was about unchanged. Agrium was a big gainer, up 7.3% on news it may merge with Potash Corporation. I would wonder if the competition Bureau of Canada would allow this merger. Kevin O'Leary stated t...

Monday's action saw the S&P 500 rise 0.5%. Toronto was up 0.3% despite a modest drop in oil prices. Wells Fargo was up 2.2%. I sold about two thirds of my Bombardier shares today. I kept the one third in the hopes of getting a higher price. In an...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while Toronto was up 0.1%. Our biggest gainer was Bank of America up 1.7%. Toll Brothers was down 1.6%. I have confidence that the continued improvement in the U.S. housing market and Toll's earnings over time...

Our report on Bombardier is updated and the stock is rated Sell at $2.05 Canadian. (Our report converts that to U.S. $1.58 because the company reports in U.S. dollars). Our last update was on October 29,2015 when we rated Bombardier a Highly Speculat...

Markets are reacting to a speech this morning from the FED chair after a meeting taking place at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Oil is at U.S. $47.82 or $61 Canadian dollars, a level that is not high but which is also not really low in the context of even th...

Wednesday was a mostly negative day in the markets. The S&P 500 fell 0.5% and Toronto fell 0.9%. The only stock on our list with a notable gain was Alimentation Couche-Tard, up 2.5%. Toll Brothers was down 2.8% giving back some of the big gains i...

On Tuesday, the U.S. markets closed near record highs with the S&P 500 up 0.2% to 2187. And Toronto was up 0.1% to 14,765. As hoped and expected, Toll Brothers had a very strong day and gained 8.8% to $31.91. Interestingly it started off the day ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.1% and Toronto rose 0.4%. A big mover today was Alimentation Couche-Tard, up 7.4% to $66.78. This was due to the announcement of a very large acquisition. I have long said that this is one of Canada's very best manag...

On Friday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.1%. The biggest move on our list was Walmart, down 2.0%. Statistics Canada reported July inflation numbers. There is a lot of data in the report. You can click to the source CANSIM tables to see...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% while Toronto was flat. Oil is at just shy of $49 and the Canadian dollar is at 78 U.S. cents. Walmart was up 1.9% today and is up 21% this year. But that came after a 29% decline in 2015. It's hard to say where...

Wednesday's action saw the S&P 500 rise 0.2% while Toronto was about unchanged. Stantec was up 3.0%. Oil is now at $46.78 There was a report that U.S. housing starts increased more than expected in July. That bodes well for Toll Brothers. See the...

Our report for Element Financial is updated with a rating of Speculative Buy at $13.60 (It closed today at $13.55). I have  a mixed message here. Based on the numbers, Element looks like good value. And it is about to split into two separate companie...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 0.5%. Alimentation Couche-Tard was up 3.1% on rumors that it will announce a major acquisition. Statistics Canada reported June auto sales. In Alberta the June sales were up slightly vers...

The U.S. markets closed at record highs on Monday with the S&P 500 up 0.3%. Toronto was up 0.2% but is not near a record high. Our biggest gainer today was Toll Brothers, up 3.2%. Oil remains above $45. Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway have ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.3%. Element Financial was down 3.5%. I have been reading its annual report and its latest quarterly report. I find management to be very aggressive about adding back things in adjusted e...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.5% to a new record high close of 2186. The DOW and the NASDAQ also set new record highs. Are these markets over-valued? Well, they would appear to be based on earnings and based on assuming  future earnings per sha...

Wednesday saw the S&P 500 down 0.3% while Toronto was down 0.2%. Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund was out with Q2 earnings this morning. Distributable cash per unit was up 1%. I thought distributable cash per unit might fall this particular qua...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was up 0.3%. The rate reset preferred shares seem to be rising the last few days. This despite that the five year government of Canada yield remains low at 0.6%. If interests stay very low...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.1% while Toronto rose 0.7%. The biggest gainer on our list was AutoCanada, up 3.2%. Stantec was down another 2.6%. Looking at the conference call transcript, analysts asked about the project execution problems in Q2....

% to $15.05. On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.9% to a new closing high. This was driven by a strong U.S. jobs report. And Toronto rose 0.8% despite a weak Canadian jobs report. Bank of America was up 3.9% to $15.05. Constellation Software was up 3.6...

Stantec is updated and remains rated Buy now at CAN $29.95 and U.S/ $22.72. It has suffered a significant decline in adjusted earnings per share in the past nine months due to the weakness that it oil and gas and mining customers are facing. But its ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged whil;e . Toronto was up 0.1%. Canadian Tire rose 4.4% on a strong earnings report. After the close, Liquor Stores N.A. reported what looks to me like weak results but which they describe as strong. Als...

Stantec is down 6% to $30.65 after releasing earnings that were lower than last year. The market may be over reacting. Earnings are lower mostly due to costs associated with their recent very large acquisition although as well due to some problems on...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and Toronto rose 0.2%. Oil was up about 3%. Most of the stocks on our list were up modestly. AutoCanada, which will report earnings tomorrow (Thursday) was down 1.6%. With the recent weakness in oil prices and ...

The report for Canadian National Railway Company is updated and rated Weak Sell / Hold. In Q2 its carloadings were down 11%. Earnings per share were down 0nly 4% as currency exchange, lower fuel prices and fewer shares along with strong cost manageme...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 0.7%. Oil closed at $39.50. Almost all the stocks on our list were down. July was a very strong month for stocks and it is not surprising to see markets move in the other direction. I am ...

FedEx is updated and rated Buy at $161.66. (This was yesterday's closing price, as I post this it is at $158.78, down 1.8% on a day that most stocks are down). FedEx has substantially increased its earnings due to cost cutting and due to share buy ba...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% whilke Toronto was closed. Heineken fell 3.7% after reporting earnings partly due to the forecast impact of the weaker Euro. Oil is down to about $40 and this could certainly cause Canadian and especially Albe...

Costco is updated and now rated Sell at $167.22 Costco is an exceptionally strong company and will certainly continue to grow its earnings per share over the years. But it's trading at almost 32 times trailing earnings and that is very expensive. It ...

The report for Amazon is updated and is rated Sell at $759. Amazon has a P/E ratio of 189 times trailing earnings. There are several possibilities to explain such a high P/E: i) Perhaps the GAAP earnings are understated - And I think there is some tr...

On Friday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.2%. Statistics reported on GDP figures for May. The decline in real GDP was (estimated) at 0.6% annualized with the decline mostly attributed to lower oil sands production due to the Fort McMurray...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Toronto was about flat. AutoCanada was down 2.1% perhaps indicating some lack of confidence regarding its Q2 earnings to be released next week. Amazon came in  with another record quarter. I am going to upda...

Heineken had its start in Amsterdam in 1864 when Gerard Adriaan Heineken, at the age of 22, purchased an existing Brewery. Heineken N.V. is a very strong company with excellent growth and profitability. Unfortunately, the stock price already reflects...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was about unchanged. AutoCanada was down 2.1% to $22.12. It will report earnings on August 4. Oil is at $42.08. We may see Alberta-based companies decline in price if oil does not bounce back ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was about flat while Toronto was up 0.4%. Stantec was up 2.2% to $33.84. Toll Brothers was up 1.7% to $29.14. I am looking at adding Heineken to our list of stocks. It trades in Europe but can be purchased in U.S. dollars ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.7%. There were no particularly noteworthy movements in the prices of the stocks on our list. Oil is down to just over $43 and the Canadian dollar is down to 75.7 U.S. cents. CN Rail reported...

The report on the Wells Fargo preferred share on our list is updated and rated Sell at $26.07. While the 4.9% yield on these preferred shares may look attractive given the strength of Wells Fargo and given record low interest rates, these shares are ...

Our report on VISA Inc. is updated and remains rated Weak Buy at $78.94. VISA is a very strong company with exceptional economics. But it is also expensive. The amount of payments flowing through its system is sure to grow. But there is also pressure...

Our Report for TransForce is updated and rated Buy at $24.81. I like the approach of the founder / CEO of this company which I find to be highly rational and also very open and transparent. His strategy has ben very successful over the years and this...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% while Toronto was up 0.2%. TransForce reported, after the close, earnings that were lower than last year and with a weak outlook. However, this may have been anticipated. VISA reported lower earnings mostly ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% to another record high closing. And Toronto was up 0.1%. Notable gainers included Liquor Stores N.A. up 2.7% and Dollarama also up 2.7%, Canadian Western Bank up 2.2%. After buying on dips over the last year ...

The American Express report is updated for yesterday's earnings release. It is no rated Speculative Buy as opposed to the previous Weak Buy/ Hold. Based on the Q2 report it appears to me that AMEX expects adjusted earnings to rise about 15% in 2017 d...

Wells Fargo is updated and remains rated (higher) Buy now at $48.53. As I read the earnings report I was struck by the many positive aspects including robust growth in loans and deposits as well as the large share repurchase program. The earnings rep...

On Tuesday, markets were about flat. Melcor bounced up 5.0% but this essentially merely offset the decline of the previous day in this volatile and very thinly traded stock. Bombardier was down 2.9% and faces more negative news today regarding delays...

On Monday, markets were up as the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Toronto rose 0.3%. A notable gainer was Bank of America up 3.3% despite reporting an earnings decline of 20% in Q2 versus last year. Clearly the decline was expected. Bank of America plans t...

On Friday, Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing activity across Canada was down 1% in May, the third decrease in five months. While there were some temporary factors, it does appear that the trend is negative. Statistics Canada also reported...

I was unable to post for a few days due to lack of a sufficient internet connection. But the market did very well in the meantime reaching new highs in New York. The terrible attack in Nice, France had no noticeable impact on North American stock mar...

Stocks rose again on Tuesday with the S&P 500 up 0.7% and Toronto up 0.8%. Bombardier was up 3.3% to $2.16 which is a good recovery from its lows earlier this year. But is has a long way to go if it is ever to get back to the even the $6 level th...

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% to close at a new all-time high. Since stocks do not rise in a straight line, a new high is not something that can or should happen every day or every month or even every year. But a new all-high is also not at al...

On Friday the markets added to what was already a strong week. The S&P 500 rose  1.6% and Toronto was up 0.9%. A strong U.S. jobs report helped push markets higher. A top gainer was Toll Brothers, up 3.7%....

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.7%. Oil was down 4.7% to $45.21. Costco was up 4.9% on a positive June sales. It seems expensive at 30 times earnings but people keep paying up for its high quality. Insured losses in ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.1%. AutoCanada was down 3.6% to $21.71. I did not see any news that "caused" that but stocks don't always need a reason to move (much less a valid reason). Toll Brothers was up 2.4% to $2...

After last week's rebound, it seems the U.S. market returned from yesterday's Holiday in a bad mood about BREXIT which dragged down the Canadian markets as well. West Texas Oil is at $46.54. Canadian interest rates which were already impossibly low a...

On Monday, the Toronto Stock Exchange index was up 1.4% while the U.S. markets were closed. It is somewhat welcome to see that Melcor rose 3.5% to $15.00. But it is thinly traded and its stock price is relatively volatile. One or two eager buyers or ...

When I heard that some company had a made a bid to buy the Hershey company, I wondered it might be Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett has frequently used the Hershey chocolate bar brand as an example of a powerful and enduring brand. It turned out to be Mon...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 1.4% while Toronto was up 0.2%. On Canada Day the S&P 500 rose another 0.2%. With the year half over, the S&P 500 is up 2.9% and Toronto is up 8.1%. (Neither of these figures include dividends) Our Stock Pi...

What BREXIT Market correction? On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 1.7% to 2071. Toronto rose 1.4%. Last Thursday, before the vote, the S&P 500 closed at 2113 as it rose that day and the day before in anticipation of a "stay" win. The S&P 500 ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 1.8% and Toronto was up 1.1%. Almost all stocks were up. With the five year government of Canada yield once again plumbing pretty much record lows, the rate rest preferred shares once again may suffer as the outlook f...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 1.8% and Toronto was down 1.5%. Most stocks were down including Stantec down 5.1% and Canadian Western Bank down 4.6%. And Bank of America was down 6.3%. There are signs that Tuesday will be a better day. Oil is up 1.5...

Markets are down again today with the S&P 500 down 1.7% and Toronto down 1.6%. The U.S. bank stocks have been hit hard. If I had U.S. funds available I would add to my Bank of America and Wells Fargo positions. On Wednesday this week the FED will...

So, the surprise BREXIT result pushed the S&P 500 down 3.6% and Toronto down 1.7%. And it pushed oil down to $47.09 and the Canadian dollar down to 76.6 U.S. cents. Notable decliners included Bank of America down 7.4%, Wells Fargo down 4.6%. Many...

Markets are down on the BREXIT leave vote. But with the S&P 500 down 2.3% it's really not that big of a decline. Toronto is down 1.3%. If I had spare cash in my U.S. accounts I would buy some U.S. shares such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo and T...

Markets rose today on speculation of a remain vote win in the U.K. The S&P 500 was up 1.3% and Toronto was up 0.9%. The great majority of stocks rose today. Friday's market direction will likely depend on the Brexit vote. Bombardier was in the ne...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.1%. The markets are waiting now to see how the BREXIT vote goes. It will be known on Friday morning. Boston Pizza was up 0.6% to climb back above $19.00 for the first time since August...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% while Toronto was about flat. Toll Brothers Fell 1.2% despite the fact that Lennar, also a home building company reported an earnings gain and strong new home orders today. After the close, KB Home reported bette...

Our report on Constellation Software Inc. is updated with a rating of (lower) Buy at $507. This is an exceptionally well managed company. It's not cheap but it is reasonably priced. I would be interested in adding to my small position if the price de...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.6% and Toronto was up 0.8%. Most stocks were up. AutoCanada was up 4.4%. Stocks that I would buy if I did not already own them include Bank of America, Melcor, Toll Brothers and Boston Pizza. Bank of America could ...

Our report American Express is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $62.30. America Express is forecasting little to no earnings growth for this year and next. The credit card business is facing pressure to lower the fees charged to Merchants. Americ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.1%. The Bombardier Series 3 preferred share was up 4.4% to $15.25. This is a very weak company. Still, the preferred share dividend is likely to continue to be paid and governments seem ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 ended the day up 0.3% while Toronto was down 0.3%. After the close, Canadian Western Bank announced a common share issue at $24.50 which sold out very uickly. This will increase the share count by about 7.2%. I have writt...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 fell 0.2%. It initially rose on the FED decision to leaves rates unchanged but fell late in the day. Toronto was up 0.3%. TransForce was up 2.3%....

Canadian Western Bank is updated and rated Buy at $25.91. This is an almost pure lending bank (The big banks derive only about half their revenues from interest on loans). While it is headquartered in Alberta, 35% of loans are in BC and in total 60% ...

Tuesday was a negative day as the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.8%. American Express got spanked down 4.2%. CN rail notes that inter-modal shipping container movement across North America is down about 7% and suggests this indicate...

On Monday the S&P 500 was down 0.8% and Toronto was down 0.3%. There were no particularly notable moves in our stock picks. Boston Pizza is at $18.67. I bought some of my BP units at about $21 and some over $19. But I also bought in the $16s when...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.9% and Toronto was down 1.4%. Accordingly, most of our stocks were down. Melcor was down 6% which is probably explained by its extremely low trading liquidity. It's certainly not a stock for short-term trading. S...

In Glasgow now and fly out tomorrow morning. In two weeks in the U.K. I saw about a half hour of light rain while driving and other than that a half day of overcast and the rest was basically bright and sunny and temperatures of mid twenties. Apparen...

Posting from Inverness Scotland today... Apologies for lack of posts due to technology issues. Meanwhile the market seems to be going along well with no major developments that I am aware of. Oil is at $51.29 which is of course good news for a number...

It seems the markets managed to do okay today despite me not looking in until after the close. Canadian western bank up 2.4%. Melcor up 2.0% to $15 adding to recent gains. But trading is so thin that I won't get too excited about it. My travels now h...

Saturday is yet another warm sunny day here on the Isle of Man (our last day here). Liverpool then Western Scotland. Our stock picks were mostly down yesterday after a weak U.S. jobs report. Stantec down 2.8%, Wells Fargo down 1.8%, Bank of America d...

Markets on Thursday were up modestly as were most of our stocks with no big moves either way. Oil is a bit over $49. Canadian Western Bank's earnings report must have been about as expected as the stock did not move on the news. National Bank is out ...

It's another sunny day on the Isle of Man though a bit windy. On Tuesday our stocks were mostly up. Canadian Western Bank will report shortly, perhaps today. The headline number will be well down because they had a large special gain last year this t...

Greetings now from the Isle of Man where a famous motorcycle race event is taking place. The weather is remarkably good here, sunny highs around 20. Nothing too exciting happening in the markets that I know of. |Stocks set to open somewhat lower toda...

Greetings from Morecambe, England. A tourist area on the western sea. Not far from Scotland. Quite an older area which makes it more interesting. On Friday, markets and our stocks were mostly up modestly. Oil is hanging in at over $49 as of early Mon...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 and Toronto each ended the day about flat. See my previous post for two updated reports. As noted in an earlier post, I am traveling in the U.K. starting Sunday and may not be able to post much especially next week. &nbsp...

Toll Brothers is updated and rated (lower) Strong Buy at $29.46. (It's currently at $29.00 as I post this). Earnings per share were up sharply in it's Q2 earnings report released this week. I had expected that based on houses it contracted to build l...

I will be traveling in the U.K. for two weeks starting Sunday and so my posts will be less frequent. Particularly next week I may have limited ability to connect to the internet. This morning the markets are relatively flat overall. Costco is up abou...

Wednesday was a positive day in the markets with the S&P 500 and Toronto each up 0.7%. Wells Fargo was up 2.6% after holding an investor day. The presentations are available here. When I looked briefly through the CFO's presentation I was struck ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 1.4% and Toronto rose 0.2%. Toll Brothers ended the day up 8.7%. Other gainers included Element Financial up 3.3%. Visa up 2.8%. Alimentation Couche-Tard was up 2.7%. And American Express was up 2.0%. I spoke to the P...

Our report for Alimentation Couche-Tard is updated and rated Buy at $56.37. This has been an absolutely tremendous Canadian success story. It's been one of Canada's very best managed companies since it came on the stock market in 1986. Today, it is n...

U.S. markets are about unchanged this morning while Toronto is closed for the holiday. I sold my Walmart shares this morning and used the money to add to my Toll Brothers position. Walmart seemed about fairly valued while Toll Brothers appears to be ...

Our report for Walmart is updated and now rated (lower) Buy at $69.86. The shares seem about fairly valued but I would lean somewhat towards selling. I own 100 shares in an RRSP account and plan to sell and perhaps use the funds to add to my Toll Bro...

Stocks are mostly higher this morning with the S&P 500 up 0.7% and Toronto up 0.6%. Statistics Canada reported today that consumer prices are  up an average of 1.7% in the past year but the core rate was 2.2% excluding gasoline and food. That put...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.1%. Walmart ended the day up 9.6%. This was based on an earnings report that was not very strong but which exceeded expectations or fears. Couche-Tard was up 2.5%. Toll Brothers announ...

Walmart is up 8% this morning while the markets overall are somewhat down. The market may have been a bit quick in writing off Walmart. Statistics Canada reported weaker wholesale trade figures this morning....

The S&P 500 was flat on Wednesday and Toronto was down 0.7%. Wells Fargo ended the day up 2.2% and Bank of America was up 4.8%. At Melcor Developments, Andrew Melton bought 1000 shares today at $13.45. The particular account was listed as an indi...

Oil is at $49.26. The S&P 500 is up 0.2% and Toronto is unchanged. Bank of America is up 3.6% to $14.50. Wells Fargo is up 1.8%. to $48.55 This may be linked to a higher possibility of a June rate increase by the FED, which would be a positive fo...

Tuesday's action saw the S&P 500 fall 0.9% while Toronto rose 0.2%. Some companies in Canada have been active raising new equity money int he past two days. TD Direct was selling e new equity issues in Algonquian Power and Utilites today. And yes...

The S&P 500 is down 0.5% while Toronto is up 0.3%. Statistics Canada reported Manufacturing sales for March: Manufacturing sales decreased 0.9% to $50.0 billion in March, a second consecutive monthly decline. The decline in March mainly reflected...

On Monday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 1.0%. Melcor was up 3.0%. Oil is at $48.22...

This morning, the S&P 500 is up 0.6% and Toronto is up 0.9%. Oil is up 3.3% to $47.73. This should be good for all the Alberta-based companies on our list. The Canadian Real Estate Association reports that home prices for existing homes continue ...

Melcor is updated and continues to be rated Strong Buy at $13.25. On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.9% and Toronto was down 0.3%. Onex was down 4.8%. Canadian Tire was down 2.9% giving back a portion of recent gains....

The Toronto market is flat at this hour while the S&P 500 is down 0.3%. Oil is down 1.3% but is still just over $46 which is not so bad. Natural Gas prices in Alberta have plunged to ridiculously low levels due to the shut-down of the huge gas co...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 and the Toronto stock index were both about unchanged. Canadian Tire was up 4.5% on its earnings release. Stantec was down 3.4% also on an earnings release. Melcor did not react much to the earnings release and was down 1...

Markets are down modestly on Thursday. Canadian Tire is up 2.7% to about $143 after releasing earnings. This company/stock was below $110 most of January (after declining from highs over $135 last Summer) and it was briefly below $105 in January. The...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 1.0% and Toronto was up 0.1%. Melcor reported Q1 earnings after the close. (Note that our report is as of Q4) Things were mostly about as expected. The Income property income is still growing modestly. Occupancy...

On Wednesday, U.S. markets are down modestly while Toronto is up 0.2%. Oil is up 2.5% to $45.78. This is positive for Canadian Western Bank and Melcor and AutoCanada. It is, of course, hard to say how the Fort McMurray situation will affect various c...

Markets are higher on Tuesday with Toronto up 1.5% and the S&P 500 up 1.0%. Liquor Stores N.A. is up 6.1% after reporting Q1 results. They seem to be making progress but I am still not a fan given that they lost money in the quarter (albeit Q1 is...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was down 1.0%. Melcor was down 2.2% to $13.40. They will release earnings on Thursday. It continues to trade at just less than half of book value. Given the quality of its assets and its modest debt ...

Toronto is up 0.8% while the S&P 500 is down 0.2%. AutoCanada is up 12.5% after reporting earnings. This is despite a 60% cut to the dividend. It appears that "the market" is okay with the dividend cut and so am I. The high dividend on this compa...

The main market indexes were about unchanged on Thursday. Element Financial was up 5.6% but I did not se what news might have caused that. It will be interesting to see which insurance companies are hit by the Fort McMurray losses. I would think Inta...

Markets are moderately higher this morning. Oil is up 3.5% apparently related to production cuts associated with the Alberta fires. Costco is down 3.4% on a somewhat weak April same-store sales report. Sales were flat in U.S. dollars but up a respect...

http://www.investorsfriend.com/bostonpizzaroyalties/Stocks ended the day on Wednesday with the S&P 500 and Toronto each down 0.6%. Canadian Western Bank was down another 3.0% to $24.81. The Canadian Western Bank preferred shares Series 5 were dow...

Stocks are mostly down this morning. One exception is TransForce up 1.4% to $24.00 continuing a recent recovery from a low of just under $19.00. AutoCanada is down 0.5% to $19.53 despite a new report indicating that April auto sales in Canada were at...

Tuesday's session ended with the S&P 500 down 0.9% and Toronto down 1.1%. Oil is at $43.57 U.S. and the Canadian dollar fell to 78.6 cents U.S. Canadian Western Bank was down 6.8% for the reasons mentioned this morning. AutoCanda was down 5.1% to...

Stock markets are down today. The S&P 500 is down 1.1% and Toronto is down 1.5%. There are probably a variety of reasons. But the fact is that markets are always volatile. Canadian Western Bank is down 8% after it pre-announced that loan loss pro...

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.8% while Toronto was down 0.6% Oil is hanging in at about $45 U.S. dollars and the Canadian dollar is at 80.0 U.S. cents. Amazon rose 3.7% to $684. This is in addition to gains last week. I had rated it a Sell on Dec...

Warren Buffett appeared in a very lengthy interview on CNBC this morning. His insights are always worth listening to. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/02/warren-buffett-on-coke-bezos-wal-mart-and-more-cnbcs-full-coverage.html    ...

You can listen to Warren Buffett (and Charlie Munger) answer questions for about five hours at the following link: https://finance.yahoo.com/brklivestream There are always valuable nuggets of great wisdom in the responses. This is the first year that...

This morning, the S&P 500 is down 0.8% while Toronto is up 0.5%. Oil is at $46.39. I bought a small amount of Constellation Software today. Bombardier is down 4.4% to $1.95 as the market perhaps realises that the C Series plane sales required ver...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.9% while Toronto was about unchanged. Most of our stocks were down. Constellation Software was down 5.1% to $487. This is an extremely well managed company and the price decline provides an opportunity to buy. ...

The big news this morning is that Bombardier announced a firm sale of 75 C- Series planes to delta airlines. Plus options for 50 more. This is certainly good news for the employees. For investors the news may not be as good as it seems. The planes we...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.6%. Oil is at $45.24. AutoCanada was up 2.8%. The former Valeant CEO faced the hotseat in Washington today. It is remarkable that this industry which was unregulated as to price in the Un...

The Toronto stock exchange index is up 0.3% this morning while the S&P 500 id down 0.4%. Oil is up 2.1% to U.S. $44.95. That's $56.90 in Canadian dollars which is not such a low oil price. This is positive for many Alberta-based companies includi...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.1%. Bombardier was up 10.6% to $1.99. After the close, Bombardier announced that it would release its Q1 earnings the day before its annual meeting rather than the day of. I saw speculation...

Markets are moderatly higher this morning. Bombardier is up another 7.8% to $1.94. Looking at this I wondered if I should sell some of my position. It's a relatively small position for me. I don't recall if my last purchases were above this price or ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% and Toronto fell 0.6%. Most of our stocks were down moderately and there were no particularly notable moves. The Canadian dollar is at almost 79 U.S. cents and oil is at (U.S.) $43.14....

Markets are down this morning. This is despite oil holding in at $43.43. With Couche-Tard down 1.6% to $53.70 I have added 100 shares to my position. The shares are still relatively expensive but it is a company that seems worthy of accumulating on d...

On Thursday night, I sent out an email with a link to the free newsletter. If, by chance, you did not receive it, you can join  the list by clicking the link to the free newsletter from the menu at the top of each page on this site. On Friday, the ma...

Statistics Canada has released retail sales figures for February. Within Canada, retail sales were up 0.4% versus the prior year. The increase would have been higher if not for lower gasoline sales. In volume terms sales were up 1.5%, indicating that...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.2%. Oil was down to $43.18. Actually, that is higher than yesterday but is considered to be down because we have moved to the next months contract. Yesterday's price on the May contrac...

Markets are flat overall this morning. Canadian Western Bank is basically steady (down four cents) which is impressive after gaining about 12% in the past two days. Toll Brothers is up 2.5% and AutoCanada is up 2.1%. Statistics Canada reports that in...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.3%. It was a better day than that for some of our Stock Picks. Canadian Western Bank was up 5.0% to $28.90. This stock bottomed at $19.26 earlier this year. AutoCanada was up 4.7%. Canadi...

Stock indexes are up modestly this morning. Canadian Western Bank is up a somewhat immodest 5.1% on top of yesterday's gain of 6.6%. I suspect some popular analyst or other has "upgraded" the stock. Bombardier is up 4.8% also on top pf yesterday's ga...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 1.1%. Canadian Western Bank was up 6.6%. I am not aware of any news from the company but some analysts may have concluded it was under valued. Bombardier, which is a volatile "penny stock" wa...

Statistics Canada reported a survey of large retailers today. A very mixed picture . Liquor up 10%, footwear up 15% on the year (probably due to the lower dollar), Toys games and hobby supplies down 17%. The implication is that some retailers will do...

On Monday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.6%. Brookfield Office Properties came out with a 6.0% rate reset preferred share that will renew at a minimum 6.0% in five years unless the company buys it back at its face value of $25. Unless Br...

Markets are moderately higher today despite the oil price decline. TD Direct alerted me to a new issue of rate reset preferred shares at 5.75% with a minimum 5.75% distribution at the reset. It sold out quickly. This was a very attractive return as l...

On Sunday, oil fell 7.4% to $38.42 as OPEC talks of a production freeze went nowhere. Reportedly, Saudi Arabia wanted Iran to freeze at January levels. That seems like a nonsense request. Iran quite clearly planned to ramp up production after its san...

Markets are modestly weaker this morning. Oil is down 3.5% to $40. Bombardier is up 13% on rumors that a deal to sell 75 C Series jets to Delta is close. It's welcome news although the jets will apparently be sold at half of list price and at a loss....

Markets were about unchanged on Thursday. Bombardier was up 7% on rumors of a sale of C Series jets to Delta but Delta indicated that nothing would be announced one way or the other until next month. Wells Fargo earnings results were relatively stron...

Statistics Canada reports that new vehicle sales in Alberta in February were down 9% in units and 4% in dollars compared to February of the prior year. For the country as a whole new vehicles sales were up 9% in units. The Alberta figures are not bad...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose by 1.0% and Toronto by 0.7%. Bank of America was up by 3.9% and Toll Brothers by 3.3%. Some weak companies also rose. Bombardier was up 5.94% and Liquor Stores N.A. was up by 4.8%. I have been watching impatiently f...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.0% and Toronto was up 1.2%. Oil finished at just over $42 and the Canadian dollar is at 78.4 U.S. cents. Canadian Western Bank was up 3.0% and AutoCanada was up 3.7%. I received my proxy documents today from Bomba...

Markets are strong this morning with the S&P 500 and Toronto each up 0.8%. Oil is holding at just above $42 although it was down somewhat earlier today. Toll Brothers is up 3.6% The reason for higher U.S. markets today probably includes that J.P....

Markets are strong on Tuesday morning with the S&P 500 up 0.7% and Toronto up 1.0%. Oil is at $41.12 and the Canadian dollar is at 78.15 U.S. cents. Melcor, unchanged today at $14.50 appears to continue to offer excellent value. Boston Pizza has ...

On Monday the S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.2%. The stocks on our list were quiet although Liquor Stores N.A. was up 3.9% to $8.44. Oil is just over $40 and the Canadian dollar has climbed back to 77.5 cents U.S....

Markets are higher on Monday morning. The TSX is up 0.8% with oil up to $40.3. Toll Brothers is up 1.7% to $29.23 after some positive comments from Barrons. AutoCanada is up 3.1%. Britain is introducing a law to crack down on companies that facilitat...

The Toronto market was strong on Friday rising 1.0% as oil rose. The S&P 500 was up 0.3% Canadian Western Bank rose 4.2%. Along with oil, the big market mover this week might be the several large banks which report Q1 earnings this week....

Markets are strong this morning with oil up 6.3 to $39.60. Canadian Western Bank is up 4.4%. Statistics Canada came out with a very positive jobs report for March. This is welcome news. But we should be a bit cautious given that these figures are bas...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 1.2% and Toronto was down 0.6%. Costco was down 3.0%. I have updated the report for Costco and rated it (lower) Sell at $152.03 (lower) Sell means somewhere between a Sell and a Hold.  The story with Costco has not c...

Markets are down this morning. However Statistics Canada reports that building permits were up significantly in February versus March in Canada. Also commercial rents continue to rise. These factors indicate continued strength in the Canadian economy...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 1.0% and Toronto rose 0.3%. Element Financial was up 3.3%, Amazon was up 2.7% and AutoCanada was up 2.6%. Toll Brothers was up 1.7%. Costco reported same-stores sales that, after adjusting for currency and gasoline price...

Statistics Canada has provided an annual review of Canada's 2015 imports and exports. Canada had a $23 billion dollar trade deficit in 2015 whereas it had a $4.8 billion surplus in 2014. The deficit can be attributed to currency fluctuations which ma...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 1.0% and Toronto was down 0.2%. Wells Fargo was down 2.0%, Bank of America was down 2.4% and Couche-Tard was down 2.0%. Before anyone gets too upset about that; here's another thing that happened today: The companies ...

Statistics Canada reported today that Canada's exports were down in February versus January and that the trade deficit has widened. Some of the notable figures are: Energy product exports were down 14% in February versus January. This included price ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.8%. Melcor was up 5.2%. However, this was based on the usual very tiny volume for this company and so may not mean anything....

Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion The use of tax havens is in the news after a leak of documents. I don't have much sympathy for anyone practicing tax evasion or even very aggressive forms of tax avoidance. When companies report that they have subsidiari...

Our Dollarama report is updated and rated Weak Buy at $92.13. The story here has not changed. Fantastic company but the stock price is expensive at 31 times earnings. The success of Dollarama in generating earnings growth is very remarkable....

Markets are moderately weak today. Oil is down 3.8% to $36.88. Despite the difficulties that causes for many, (including to some companies that I own shares in) it is beneficial overall for the citizens of Canada and the world. (At least, if any resu...

Time marches on and Q1 is now over. On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.1%. AutoCanada was up 5.3%. Dollarama was up 2.8%, a partial give back of recent gains. Cara is buying St. Hubert... TD Direct was out with two more...

Statistics Canada reported today that GDP rose a huge (assuming it's not an annualized figure) 0.6% in January and rose 1.5% year over year. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/160331/dq160331a-eng.htm?cmp=mstatcan Some of the figures may be rat...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.6%. The Canadian dollar is at 77 U.S. cents. Earlier this year it touched 68 cents and a LOT of people seemed to think it was heading to 60 cents. "Run and get your investments into U.S. ...

Markets are strong this morning with the S&P 500 up 0.6% and Toronto up 1.0%. Dollarama is up 6.3% based on its strong earnings report. Stantec is about unchanged at $31.98 which is impressive given that it just successfully closed an issue of su...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.9% and Toronto rose 0.3%. Notable gainers included Toll Brothers up 3.2%,  Melcor up 2.7% (although on thin volume as usual). Constellation Software up 2.8% and Dollarama up 2.3%. TransForce announced that it manage...

The Toronto stock market is down about 0.6% today as Oil is down to $38. Melcor Developments is out with an announcement of a new Normal Course Issuer Bid whereby it apparently intends to repurchase some shares given that it "believes that its common...

Markets were tame on Monday with the S&P 500 about unchanged and Toronto up 0.2%. Reports today indicate that Warren Buffett has continued to add to Berkshire's massive position in Wells Fargo. At year end he reported an even 500 million shares. ...

Market are slightly weak today... I have added today to my Stantec position. I also started a new position in Royal Bank of Canada which we had rated a Strong Buy. I am expecting Bombardier to post very soon its circular for its April 28 annual meeti...

Our report on Stantec is updated with a rating of Buy at CAN $31.33 or U.S. $31.33. Stantec's earnings declined moderately in 2015 but declined about 30% in Q4. This was due to the down-turn in oil and gas activities and mining activities. And Stante...

Our report for AutoCanada is updated and the stock is rated Speculative Buy at $17.42. It could have been rated higher but I wanted to be conservative given that the earnings could decline in 2016 due to the recession in Alberta where 45% of its deal...

Markets are down modestly this morning... Statistics Canada reports that the number of people on EI (Employment Insurance) did not change much in January versus December. In Alberta the change was just 2%. However, on a year-over-year basis the numbe...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 0.8%. AutoCanada was down 3.6% to $16.52. I will update that report within the next couple of days and I believe it is attractive at this price. I have updated my article on Understandin...

This morning Amaya Gaming is down 22% to $14.50 on news that's its CEO is charged with insider trading in relation to the stock. I mentioned in my comment of February 1, 2016 that this was not a company or a CEO that I would be prepared to put a lot ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 ended the day down 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.5%. Rate reset preferred shares have risen as the government of Canada five year bond yield has risen moderately in the past month. TransForce closed down 1.6% to $21.99. It...

Markets are down moderately on the Brussels, Belgium attacks. It would be understandable if people react be canceling trips to the Netherlands and perhaps to other places as well. But that would seem to allow the terrorists to win. It so happens that...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.5%. Yahoo Finance reports Oil (West Texas, May contract) at $41.63. Bombardier was up 6.2% and the Bombardier pref. share that we follow was up 5.8%. Presumably on hopes for a Federal govern...

In this morning's news Valeant's CEO will soon step down and the company has admitted that it has serious problems and has accused a current Board member who was a prior CFO of improper conduct. That Board member has refused a request to step down. T...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% while Toronto fell 0.9%. Decliners included Couche-Tard down 3.5%, Stantec down 3.2% and AutoCanada down 6.0% on its earnings report. I bought some AutoCanada for a an account owned by relatives of mine. On Friday...

Our report on Melcor is updated and rated Strong Buy at $13.82. The stock price has fallen substantially over the course of the developing recession in Alberta since the Spring of 2014. According to the financial statements each share represents equi...

Markets are up modestly in the U.S. but down modestly in Toronto. Oil is at $42. AutoCanada is down 5.2% on its earnings to $18.14. I'd be tempted to buy at that price. Statistics Canada reported today that core consumer prices rose 1.9% in the past ...

Markets were strong on Thursdays as the S&P 500 rose 0.7% and Toronto rose 1.1%. Oil (West Texas) is at $41.58 and the Canadian dollar will buy 77 U.S. cents. Notable gainers today included: Fedex up 11.8%, Stantec up 4.4%, Bombardier up 7.8% and...

Markets are strong this morning and oil has surged 2.4% to $41. Melcor's stock is up 1.7% to $14.00. But that is on its usual tiny volume and is really almost no reaction to the earnings report given that it should be up with the oil prices. Fedex is...

Statistics Canada reports strong manufacturing sales in January: Manufacturing sales rose 2.3% in January to $53.1 billion, the highest level on record. Higher sales of motor vehicles, food, and motor vehicle parts were largely responsible for the ga...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.6% - propelled by Valeant's 51% face-plant. Those who emailed me about making sure they are on the list for the free newsletter have been added. (There were more of you than I expected ...

Markets are down moderately this morning and oil is down 1.9% to $36.47. Valeant is down an ugly 34%. Sometimes the mighty do fall hard. The unfortunate fact is that Valeant has a lot of debt and that means the equity could conceivably go to zero. I ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.3%. There were no big moves in any of the stocks on our list. My next update will likely be for Stantec. I suspect it will be rated Buy or (higher) Buy. It's an exceptionally well-manage...

Stocks are mostly down modestly to start the week. Statistics Canada has reported new auto sales for January. For Canada, new auto sales were up a hefty 9.2% versus January last year. (I don't know if weather played a role in either year). Ontario wa...

Our Canadian Western Bank rate reset preferred report is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $16.61. These shares yield an attractive 6.6%. But at the reset date in three years time if the five year government of Canada yield remains at about 0.70% the...

I just sent a note to the free newsletter list that the S&P 500 index is over-valued. You should have received this email as most of you would be on the list for the free newsletter. But it is a separate list. If you did not receive that email, l...

Our Berkshire Hathaway report is updated and rated Buy at $141. I would judge this to be a good stock to buy and to accumulate on dips....

Stocks were up pretty much across the Board on Friday. The S&P 500 was up 1.6% and Toronto was up 1.1%. Some of the notable gainers included: Liquor Stores N.A. was up 5.7% as some investors apparently agree that cutting the dividend could signal...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was down 0.1%. Liquor Stores N.A. fell 6.9% due to its poor Q4 earnings report. This morning Canadian Western Bank announced an  issue of $100 million of 6.25% rate reset preferred shares. ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.5% and Toronto rose 0.6%. Canadian Tire rose an impressive 2.9%. Liquor Stores N.A. released Q4 earnings this evening. Overall the results were awful although there was a marginal increase in same-store sales. And...

Just when we were all getting used to the market going up pretty much everyday for the past few weeks, the markets delivered a negative day on Tuesday. The S&P 500 was down 1.1% and Toronto was down 0.5%. Notable decliners included AutoCanada dow...

Laurentian Bank is out with a offering of five year rate reset shares this morning. Available through TD Direct and probably most of the other big bank brokerages. The yield is 5.65% and then resets to the five year Canada yield plus 5.13% in five ye...

Monday was a strong day on the markets, particularly in Toronto which was up 1.3%  as oil rose about 5% to $37.90. The S&P 500 was up 0.1%. Canadian Western Bank was up 3.8%, AutoCanada was up 5.2% and TransForce was up 5.4%. AutoCanada has not y...

Canadian stocks are mostly higher this morning. Oil is up 3.3% to $37.09 and the Canadian dollar is at 75.0 U.S. cents....

The report for Canadian Western Bank is updated and it remains rated Strong Buy. Their Q1 earnings were about flat compared to the prior year which is good performance given the recession in Alberta. While impaired loans have increased 40% in the pas...

Royal Bank of Canada has been added to our list and rated Strong Buy. It appears attractive based on a 10.7 P/E ratio, 17% ROE and 4.5% yield. Earnings per share could suffer in 2016 due to energy loan losses, the recession in Alberta and due to the ...

Subscribers, please forgive me using this space for a personal advertisement. My son is looking for a summer job position and perhaps one or more of you happen to be looking to hire a geology student this summer, preferably in the Edmonton area. Loga...

U.S. markets are slightly up this morning after a positive jobs report in which the unemployment rate remained at 4.9%. Markets would likely be higher except the worry now is that the FED will have more leeway to raise interest rates. Meanwhile, Stat...

Thursday was a positive day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 0.3% and Toronto up 0.8%. Oil is at $34.68 and the Canadian dollar is at 74.5 cents U.S. Canadian Western Bank ended the day up 2.9%. AutoCanada was up 8.2%. I don't know if that is j...

The Canadian Western Bank Q1 earnings report was released this morning. The results were relatively good (earnings flat) considering the fears of large loan losses. The stock is up about 4.6%. I suspect that the difficulty (why the stock is not highe...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% while Toronto was up 0.3%. AutoCanda was up 5.6% but that of course is after months of declines... I eagerly await their Q4 earnings report to see where things stand. Canadian Western Bank was up 4.7% and relea...

Statistics Canada reports this morning that capital spending in the oil and gas extraction industries in Canada was down $10.3 billion to $11.9 billion in Q4 or down 46.4% from the prior year. That is clearly a HUGE decline. To put this in perspectiv...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 surged 2.4%. "Strangely", I don't think you will hear very many investors at all complain about this type of "volatility". It's only downward volatility that tends to draw complaints. Toronto was up 0.9%. Some of the more ...

Markets rose this morning due to positive economic reports. Note that, unlike analysts in the media, I will NEVER say that markets are rising since that implies they will keep doing so and my view has always been that markets can change direction any...

Warren Buffett was the guest for a full three hours on CNBC's Squawk Box this morning. This was from 5 am to 8 am at Buffett's Omaha location. I am not sure how many 85 year olds would or could go on live T.V for three hours starting at 5 am twice a ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 ended the day down 0.8% while Toronto gained 0.5% as oil rose to $33.75. Constellation Software was up 1.9% to $565. We last rated this a Speculative (lower) Buy on December 15 at $580. Basically, a great company but it loo...

Markets are off to a slightly positive start for the week. Statistics Canada reports that restaurant/bar sales rose in December in all provinces including Alberta.  ...

Buffett's annual letter was posted today. He once again expressed confidence in the future, noting that today's crop of new babies is the luckiest in history and will live better than their parents, on average. He explained that increasing productive...

Our Toll Brothers report is updated and the stock is rated (lower) Strong Buy. I was disappointed that the earnings were down modestly in its latest report and that the number of homes delivered was down 3%. However, this is basically a timing issue....

Life expectancy was addressed today in a new Statistics Canada report. Life expectancy is, of course, a major factor in retirement planning and in the solvency calculations of pensions.  One fact that is sometimes forgotten or not understood is that ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 1.1% to 1952. This puts it 8.5% below its all time high. That is really not that much below the peak considering the inherent volatility and nature of stock markets. Toronto was up 0.1% to 12,754 and is about 18.5% b...

Stantec is down 3.8% after releasing Q4 earnings that were down 33% mostly due to lower oil and gas and mining activities. Stantec is an exceptionally well managed company and will continue to grow. I would be comfortable adding to my position. Stant...

On Wednesday, markets closed relatively unchanged after a very weak start to the day. The S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.2%. After the close, Enbridge announced an equity raise of $2 billion dollars at $40.70 per share. For context, Y...

Markets are down this morning partly due to Royal Bank's earnings not being as good as hoped with concerns about loan losses in the energy sector and also oil down again. Negative days in the market are nothing unusual of course. I grabbed a few more...

Tuesday's action had the S&P 500 down 1.3% and Toronto was down 0.6%. Most stocks were down but Bombardier was up 4.8% and Toll Brothers was up 3.8% on its earnings release. I thought Toll should be up more than that. Perhaps it will rise again t...

Markets are down this morning with weaker oil prices. Toll Brothers came out with earnings. The stock at first dropped but now is up 4%. The profit was lower than expected and I will try to understand why the much higher contracted home sales of a ye...

Monday was a strong day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 1.4% and Toronto up 0.2%. Oil is at $32.93 having lost some of day's gain in evening trading. The reason Toronto was not higher was that Valiant Pharmaceuticals was down 11% to $104. It i...

Markets are up this morning due to oil being up 5.4% which was in turn due to some new projections about shale supply and drilling rigs. The finance Minister announced lower growth projections and a higher deficit projections. I am not sure that was ...

I have now listened to Canadian Tire's conference call. My reason for selling the shares was that I have been expecting for the last year that they would get hurt by the lower dollar as they import a lot of their products. The company constantly said...

Friday, the S&P 500 was unchanged while Toronto was down 0.9%. Canadian Tire was up 3.3% to almost $130. I have not yet had a chance to got through its Q4 results. Canadian Western Bank was down 2.8% presumably due to lower oil prices and worries...

Markets are down this morning. But Canadian Tire is up another 1.9% to $128. Statistics Canada reports that annual inflation is running at 2.0% as of January and is also at 2.0% on a core basis (strips out volatile food, which is up and gasoline whic...

In Thursday's action, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.5%. Canadian Tire was up 7.8% on its earnings. The Bombardier Preferred shares series C shares that I own and follow were up 10.1% to $10.90 to yield 14.3%. That yield signifies...

Canadian Tire's Q4 earnings were strong and the stock is up about 7%. And this on a day when markets are about flat. I sold too early. (They say you can't go broke taking a profit. But that's poor advice and you sure can leave a lot of money on the t...

Wednesday was another interesting day in the markets. The S&P 500 was up 1.6% and Toronto was up 2.5%. Oil was up sharply and now sits at $31.45. Some notable gainers on our list included: Bombardier was up 21% and the Bombardier pref. shares wer...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.6% and Toronto was up 1.4%. Most of the stocks on our list were up. Bombardier, which is priced as if near death bounced up 11% on rumors that there would some improvement to its governance. It will report earning...

Markets are up modestly this morning but are down from earlier highs. It had been hoped that OPEC meetings would result in some collusion (err agreement) to lower production but instead the agreement was only to freeze production and Iran was not par...

I have been thinking about adding Royal Bank to our list because so many Canadian investors own it and because I don't have  any of the large Canadian banks on the list. However, just to read its 215 page annual report is no small task. And it's prob...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 1.9% and Toronto was up 2.4%. Oil was up 11% on hopes that OPEC would soon resume the collusion and production curtailment process that in the past kept oil prices artificially high. This week there are earnings repo...

TransForce Inc. is updated and rated (higher) Buy. Earnings from continuing operations will likely decline modestly in 2016 due to weakness in some of its segments and due to the sale of its waste management division. However, the company is very wel...

Statistics Canada reports that new car sales in December for Canada were down 2%. In Alberta they were down 22%. TransForce is up 4.6% to $21.50 due to its earnings and its plan to buy back 10% of its shares in an auction process at a price somewhere...

Agrium is updated and rated Speculative buy at Canadian $114 and U.S. $81.25. It's a tough company to predict since its product prices tend to be quite volatile as are some of its input costs. On top of that the volumes that it sells are dependent on...

Statistic's Canada reports that new home prices were about unchanged in December. These prices tend to be stubborn and take a long time to react to a slower economy. Even in Calgary new home prices are down only 1% year over year. That may not accoun...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was down 0.8%. Boston Pizza reported basically blow-out results especially given low expectations and rose 3.3%. See related posts just below. Oil is down 2% on Wednesday evening to under ...

The Boston Pizza report is updated and rated (higher) Strong Buy at $16.90. Normally I would not expect Boston Pizza to provide much in the way of a capital gain. It's the yield that is attractive. But given that a more reasonable price (or value) is...

Gasoline in Edmonton this morning is selling at 59.9 cents per liter. Deduct 5% GSP and that is 57.0 cents per liter. Deduct 10 cents Federal excise tax and 13 cents provincial gasoline tax and that is 34 cents per liter before tax. THAT is cheap. Th...

The Boston Pizza Royalty units Q4 report out this morning far exceeded my expectations. Same-store sales royalty-eligible sales were up 1.8% despite the slower economy in Alberta. Distributable cash per unit was up a remarkable 13.3% due to a transac...

Tuesday's markets had the S&P 500 down 0.1% while Toronto was down 2.0% as oil slid about 5%. It's human nature to focus on the recent declines in stock market prices. It's impossible not to see the gloomy news about declines. However, what reall...

Statistics Canada reports that: "Canada produced 19.2 million cubic metres of crude oil and equivalent products in November, up 3.6% from the same month a year earlier." The solution to lower oil prices is lower world oil production. Canada's oil pro...

Monday was a negative day in the markets with the S&P 500 down 1.4% and Toronto down 1.8%. Among the bigger decliners were Element Financial down 6.2%, Couche-Tard down 6.0%, Bank of America down 5.3%, Visa down 5.3% and Dollarama down 3.8%. I am...

The report for Canadian National Railway is updated and the stock remains rated Buy....

Oil is below $30. And with few signs of supply reductions oil could certainly remain low. Financial stocks are down this morning with Bank of America down% to $12.26 and Element financial down 4%. It's tempting to add to positions but also, of course...

On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 1.9% while Toronto was down 0.1%. Bombardier fell 8% while its preferred shares fell 9%. I have updated the composition of my own portfolio to show what I own at this time. This week I am looking forward to several Q4 ...

The U.S. added only an estimated 151,000. This was weaker than the expected 190,000. But the official unemployment rate fell to 4.9% which while not a record low is in fact quite low. Overall, the American economy is still growing although slowly. In...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 1.4%. Costco was down 2.3% after reporting same-store sales up 1% in the U.S. in January. Its same store sales in Canada were down 6% but were up 11% after adjusting for currency and gasolin...