Author name: Shawn

Agrium Inc. is updated and rated Speculative Buy at U.S. $97 or Canadian $128.
This stock is up 2.5% this year in New York, but 16.6% in Toronto.
Although headquartered in Calgary, I consider this to be more of a U.S. dollar investment than a Canadia...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was closed and Toronto rose 0.2%.
One thing that investors can give thanks for is that while stock prices can rise or fall on any given day the majority of companies on the stock exchange make an additional profit each an...

Element Financial is updated and rated Speculative Buy at $17.50. This company has grown by acquisition at a huge pace. Barring higher loan losses or other problems it should report significantly higher earnings in the next year based on its current ...

The S&P 500 and Toronto were both essentially unchanged on Wednesday.
U.S. markets are closed on Thursday.
Bombardier had a 12% rebound. The Bombardier pref share that we follow rose 3%. I suspect these shares will rise somewhat as it becomes app...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.2%.
Oil bounced back to $42.85.
Bombardier wasted some money to host an investor day in New York City (the stock does not even trade in New York) and their attempts to reassure investors we...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.4%.
As expected TransAlta got a bounce due to the Alberta climate change report and rose 9.4%. I don't have TransAlta on the list but have mentioned it a few times lately.
I also mention...

Alberta has released a climate change report. It includes higher carbon taxes and a phase out of coal fired generation by 2030. And there will be a cap on oil sands emissions.
Clearly, we have arrived at the point where there will be financial incent...

Friday's markets saw the S&P 500 rise 0.4% while Toronto fell 0.3%.
West Texas Intermediate oil is down to $39.39 which is negative for the Toronto stock index.
Liquor Stores N.A. rose 3.4% which probably indicates that some analyst or other was ...

Walmart is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $60.07. Walmart is currently experiencing declining earnings per share due to the high U.S. dollar and particularly due to the substantial wage increases that it announced early in 2015. The company project...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
The Canadian Western Bank preferred share bounced up 3.2% on a small trading volume. Melcor was up 2.2% but that was also on light volume.  Boston Pizza Royalties was up 1.5%.
Valean...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.6% and Toronto was up 0.9%.
Stocks that rose included CN Rail, up 2.2%; Berkshire Hathaway, up 2.3%, Bank of America, up 2.4% and Visa Inc. up 2.0%.
The Canadian Western Bank preferred share was down 3.8% to $19...

North America stock markets ended Tuesday with the S&P 500 down 0.1% and Toronto down 0.3%.
Stocks that rose included Walmart, up 3.5%. Canadian Western Bank was up 1.7% and its rate reset preferred share was up 2.1%.
Valeant fell another 4.3%....

The report for AutoCanada is updated and rated Speculative Buy at $28.64. This company was added to the site on July 14 rated Buy at $40.36. It had at that time fallen by 55% from highs around $90 in May of 2014. Since being added to the site the sto...

Markets were surprisingly strong on Monday with the S&P 500 up 1.5% and Toronto up 1.8%.
Among the bigger gains were Couche-Tard, up 4.6%, Canadian Tire; up 3.8%; Toll Brothers, up 3.2%; Boston Pizza Royalty units up 2.2%; Stantec up 2.1%.
Stocks...

On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 1.1% and Toronto fell 0.4%.
Bombardier was down another 7.3% as its conditional sale of C-Series planes to Porter Airlines will not be happening since the Federal liberal Transport Minister indicated the runways there ...

The report for Liquor Stores N.A. is updated and rated Sell at $8.55. The dividend appears to be running at double the earnings level which seems highly unsustainable. In addition, I have lost faith in management.
The report for their convertible den...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 1.4% and Toronto was down 1.6%.
Valeant was down 6.2%. Based on my view of adjusted earnings as of Q2 (which was a lower number than the company provided as I did not agree with all of their add backs) Valeant is tra...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.5%.
Canadian Tire was up 4.2% ahead of its earnings report tomorrow (Thursday) morning.
Melcor was up 3.3% after posting reasonably good earnings. It remains very thinly traded with l...

Melcor is updated and rated a Strong Buy at $15.25. It has a long history of earning good returns on equity and it is on sale for close to half price due to fears related to lower oil prices and the Alberta economy. In addition it is thinly traded an...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.5%.
Canadian Tire was down another 2.1% to $108.93. It's probably a Buy at that price but it would probably be best to wait for it to report earnings on Thursday morning. The earnings may b...

The Q3 report for BP Royalties is out and same store sales were stronger than I would have expected given the thinking that Alberta would be a drag. Franchise sales upon which the royalty is collected were up 2.6% on a same store basis. Distributable...

Monday saw a negative start to the level of stock prices in north America, on average. The S&P 500 was down 1.0% and Toronto was down 0.5%.
Liquor Stores N.A. was down 11% to $9.65. We had rated this a strong Sell on March 13 at $15.26. We had lo...

On Friday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were both about unchanged at the end of the day.
Stocks that were on the rise included most rate reset pref shares, including the Canadian Western Bank rate reset pref shares up 4.5% to $21.30.
Bank of America w...

Thursday's action saw the S&P 500 down 0.1% and Toronto down 0.8%.
Valeant was down about 15% after big investor Bill Ackman sent a letter expressing frustration to the company. Last week he tried to explain why the company was still solid in a 4...

Wednesday's markets closed with the S&P 500 and Toronto each down%.
And oil gave back much yesterday's gains but remains above $46.
Couche-Tard was up another 2.7%.
Bombardier was up 6.5% after one of its C-Series customers, the Latvian flag carr...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.6%.
Oil (West Texas Intermediate) was up 3.7% and is just under U.S. $48.
Alimentation Couche-Tard partially recovered some recent losses and was up 3.8% today.
Visa was up 3.6% as this large...

Monday was a strong day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 1.2% and Toronto up 0.7%.
The Canadian Western Bank preferred shares that I updated yesterday were up 2.6%. I notice the volume is very light in these shares. It was up about 2.6% early i...

The report for the Canadian Western Bank rate reset preferred shares is updated. These preferred shares now yield 5.7%. The reset date is not until April 2019. At that point if the five year Canada bond rate remains at about 0.86% then the distributi...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 1.9%.
Valeant's decision to "sever ties" with Philidor (a company that it had an option to buy and which it consolidated and which therefore in a sense was part of Valeant) would seem to b...

The Bombardier pref share on our list is updated and rated Highly Speculative Buy at $10.75.
This has been a terrible investment due to Bombardier's troubles. It's yielding 14.5% which is indicative of very high risk.
However, if you think it is unli...

Bombardier is updated and rated highly speculative (lower) Buy at $1.42.
Clearly, this has not been a good investment for many years.
I added it back to this site on September 23, 2012 rated Speculative Buy at $3.71. It's down 62% since then. I had n...

The S&P 500 was about even and Toronto was down 0.5%.
Constellation Software was up 4.8% after releasing a strong earnings report. Like I mentioned yesterday, some companies just seem to always be on their game.
Bombardier made the news with a U....

Wednesday was a strong day in the markets with the S&P 500 and Toronto each up 1.2%.
The FED once again did not raise rates but appeared to hint that it probably would in December. Maybe. The market ultimately decided that this was good news and ...

I have updated the American Express report for Q3 earnings. It's rated (lower) Buy at $75.25. It's had some "headwinds" lately due to loss of the Costco affiliated card in Canada and the pending less of same in The U.S. in march and also due to the h...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.7%.
TransForce was down 7.0% for probably no good reason. I initiated a small position in this stock today (I bought when it was down more like 4%) and have an order in that will fill i...

Monday saw the S&P 500 down 0.2% while Toronto was down 1.2%.
AutoCanda was down 4.9% and Melcor was down 3.7%.
TransForce was up 3.8%.
Valeant was down 4.8% as it failed to convince investors that all is well. With its debt and all its troubles,...

Friday was another positive day in the markets. The S&P 500 was up 1.1% and has clawed its way back to a small positive gain for the year to date. Toronto was up 0.5% but remains down 4.6% year to date.
Melcor was up a hefty 9.0% but we should no...

TransForce is the largest trucking company in Canada and gets about one third of its revenues from the U.S. It has a very successful track record of both growth by acquisition and of generating strong earnings and cashflow from its operations. It app...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 1.7% and Toronto was up 1.3%. These are hefty gains.
Individual winning stocks today included CN Rail up 2.5%, Canadian Western Bank up 2.0%, Berkshire Hathaway up 3.1%, Constellation Software up 3.4%, and AutoCanada...

America Express was down about 6% to about $72 after posting Q3 earnings that were down 11% per share. Analysts had apparently expected a smaller decline.
I am not exactly shocked by the 11% decline given that one third of its revenues come from outs...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down a full percentage point.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which was added to this site rated Sell on July 30 at $331 is down to $154.  I had concerns about both the valuation and the trustworth...

The S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.6%.
Stantec was up 2.8%. AutoCanada was up 4.6% after announcing it will acquire two Nissan dealerships in Ontario.
Melcor fell 3.4% to $14.34. I had placed an order a couple of weeks ago to add a fe...

A big win for Justin Trudeau. The fact that it is a majority government should be a positive for markets.
Who would have thought Margaret Trudeau could get another PM in her family?
Businesses are not about to stop making money, that's for sure....

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.1%.
The Canadian market will have the results of tomorrow's election to ponder and should react somewhat to that on Tuesday.
The U.S. Q3 earnings reports will be pouring in these next two or...

The S&P 500 was up a hefty 1.5% and Toronto was down 0.3%...
Bank of America which is still trying to recover from the financial crisis was up 3.5%.
Amazon (which I thought looked over-priced in July at $438)  was up 3.2% to $562.
AutoCanada was ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% while Toronto rose 0.2%
Walmart announced that its earnings per share would fall 6 to 12% in the fiscal year that begins in February due to previously announced wage increases. On that news the stock fell 10%.
...

Walmart is down almost 10% after forecasting an earnings decline for its fiscal year that begins in February. The company indicates that sales would continue to increase and that earnings per share would grow 5 to 10% in fiscal 2019 which ends in Feb...

The S&P 500 was down 0.7% and Toronto was down by 0.9%.
Canadian Western Bank was down 4.9%, CN rail was down 3.0%, AutoCanada was down 4.5% and Melcor was down 2.9%.
The Q3 earnings season is underway and Wells Fargo will report tomorrow.
Raymon...

American Express is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $76.78. It is facing a loss of its Costco card business in the United States in 2016 and has already lost the Canadian Costco card. Also the higher U.S. dollar is a negative. Nevertheless it has th...

This Initial Public Offering of shares in the Ontario electricity transmission and distribution is open as I post this. I have not done any analysis but regulated utilities tend to provide  returns over the years that are at least acceptable. I put i...

The S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Toronto was closed for the holiday.
Oil was down 4.4% to $47.44.
The Baker Hughes report of active drilling rigs shows that the number of active drilling rigs in North America is down 59% compared to the year ago figures...

The report for Costco is updated. This is a wonderful business but the price (currently $154) usually seems to high. I was able to grab some at $125 on August 24 when the market had a very bad day. I may sell that and take my quick gain and then hope...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Toronto fell 0.1%.
Costco added to the gains of the previous day and rose 1.5% to $153.97.
There were a few things in the news that struck me as surprising:

Alberta added 12,000 jobs in September according to...

The S&P 500 was up 0.9% and Toronto was up 0.8%.
Stantec was up 3.8%, Costco was up 2.5%, Canadian Western Bank was up 2.3% to $26.50 and CN Rail was up 2.1%.
Melcor fell 4.5% to $15.42.
Oil is trading at $49.54.
Costco released same-store sales ...

Fortis Inc. has been added to our list of stocks and is rated Buy at $39.14. This is "pure play" regulated utility which results in earnings that are relatively low risk. It should report strong earnings growth in the next few quarters due to increas...

S&P 500 up 0.8% and Toronto up 1.6%.
Stocks of note: Melcor up 6.2% (but on thin volume as usual), AutoCanada up 2.8%, Toll Brothers up 2.8%, Boston Pizza up 2.6%, Canadian National Railway up 2.5%. Bombardier down 13%.
Car Prices and currency:
A...

S&P 500 down 0.4%, Toronto up 0.7%
Oil rose several percentage points and is trading at $49.07.
Among the gainers: Canadian Western Bank up 3.0%, and AutoCanada up 2.8%.
Bombardier surged very near the end of the trading day to close up 14.9% on ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 1.8% and Toronto was up 1.6%.
Notable gainers included TransAlta up 5.7%, Canadian Western Bank up 6.2%, America Express up 3.9% and AutoCanada up 6.2%.
Valeant pharmaceutical was down 11.1%. Valeant is being accused...

I am currently working to add Fortis Inc. to our list. It's a "pure-play" regulated electric and gas utility which owns a number of utilities in Canada and the U.S. (and a small amount further south). It looks like the rating will end up being Buy of...

On each daily post I mention the percentage gain or loss in the S&P 500 and the Toronto stock index for the day. Everyone tends to focus on the closing numbers. But sometimes the closing number has little to do with how the markets traded for mos...

Today, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% (although it was down for most of the day) and Toronto fell 0.5%.
TransAlta managed to gain 2.6% after agreeing to pay a penalty to one of its regulators. I have not added TransAlta to the list but I have mentioned th...

S&P 500 up 1.9% and Toronto up 2.1%...
Notable gainers included Valiant up 12.3% (in a partial rebound from recent large losses). Dollarama, up 2.3%, Liquor Stores N.A. up 3.6%. Couche-Tard up 2.2%, AutoCanada up 4.0%.
I had noticed today that Ca...

S&P 500 up 0.1% and Toronto up 0.2%.
Bombardier was up 7.0% on comments from the Quebec government that Bombardier's contribution to the economy is highly valued by the government and the company would be supported (though there were no specifics...

Stock market indexes declined on Monday. The S&P 500 was down 2.6% and Toronto was down 2.8%.
This year to date, the S&P 500 index is down 8.6% and Toronto is down 11.1%. That is certainly a poor year, but really, it's not disastrous. If all ...

Friday saw the S&P 500 about flat while Toronto was up 0.3%.
Individual stock movements which seem worthy of note include Canadian Western Bank up 3.4% and Bank of America up 2.2%.
I noticed that Melco issued a press release about a change to its...

S&P 500 down 0.3% and Toronto down 0.3% (after bigger losses earlier in the day)
Bombardier was down again, this time down 8.2%.
I grabbed a bit of Toll Brothers shares at something under $36. This buys back some Toll that I had sold a couple of ...

The S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto down 0.8%.
And oil fell about 3.8% to $44.61.
Canadian Western Bank was down 3.0% presumably due to fears related to oil prices.
Bombardier was down 8.6% possibly because it is so hard to know what the future...

Dollarama is updated and remains rated Weak Buy.
I have said repeatedly that Dollarama is one of Canada's very best managed companies.
It's profitability is so high that any economist would tell you the profits should not be sustainable. Somehow it s...

Stock prices mostly traded lower today. The S&P 500 was down 1.2% and Toronto was down 2.1%.
Valiant Pharmaceuticals (which I last rated Sell at $331) was down 5.4% to $287 in Toronto.
Stocks that rose included Stantec up 1.7%, and Boston Pizza u...

S&P 500 up 0.5% and Toronto up 1.0%.
Gainers included CNR up 2.7%, Canadian Western Bank up 1.5%, Canadian Tire up 1.8% and Element Financial up 2.9%.
Boston Pizza Royalties was down slightly and I believe it represents excellent value at its pri...

In Friday's episode of follow the bouncing market the S&P 500 was down 1.6% and Toronto was down 1.0%. And most of our stock picks were down as well.
As this week gets ready to start, the futures are calling for a negative start to trading on Mon...

On Thursday, the big news (or at least confirmation of what was expected by most) was that the FED did not raise interest rates as it continues to await and expect further improvement in the U.S. economy and as it awaits and expects inflation to move...

Liquor Stores NA is updated and remains rated Strong Sell, now at $11.25. It appears to have a highly attractive dividend yield at 9.6%. However this dividend appears to exceed its earnings by close to double. It would appear to be at a high risk for...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.9% and Toronto was up 2.2%.
Oil was up about 5% and is at U.S. $47.27 which is really not such a low price.
Most of our stock picks were up: Stantec up 4.3%, Canadian Western Bank up 2.5%.
TransAlta is a trouble...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 1.3% and Toronto was up 0.8%.
Oil is at $45.08 U.S. which is about $60.00 Canadian. At that level it may be that the western Canadian economy will remain stronger than the market expects. Calgary home prices rose mode...

The report on Canadian National Railway Company is updated and remains rated Buy now at CAN $74.43 or U.S. $ 56.18. The lower Canadian dollar will continue to benefit its results in Q3 and Q4 due to its U.S. operations and will offset what will likel...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.8%.
Canadian Tire was down 2.6% to $118.10. Possibly the decline has something to do with the impact that it will face from the lower Canadian dollar, which is a concern that I have been...

Toll Brothers is updated and remains rated Buy now at $37.23. Its latest quarter reported revenues and earnings were weak with a small decline. However that was related to a decrease in its signed home sales contracts from one year prior. This compan...

The report for Alimentation Couche-Tard is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $60.12.
As mentioned previously, this is one of Canada's very best managed companies. Since it was added to our list on March 31, 2005 rated (lower) Strong Buy at a split...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4%, while Toronto was down 0.8%.
This week the market will be focused on the FED's interest rate announcement on Thursday....

Thursday saw the S&P 500 up 0.5% and Toronto up 0.3%.
Bombardier was up 29% as it showed off its new plane in Toronto. This stock is on something of a knife edge. It's been like a plane in  nosedive. It could crash or it could truly pull out of t...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 finished the day down 1.4% and Toronto was down 0.7%.
Bombardier was a notable gainer, up 23% on rumors that there was some offer for its rail transportation business which offer was rebuffed but might indicate they can ...

Canadian Western Bank is updated and rated Strong Buy at $22.78. I have studied the latest earnings report and read the earnings call transcript. Given the low oil prices I could not have hoped for a better report or outlook. The market however remai...

The software that controls the logins and passwords has been mostly restored and the need to login with a password should be restored very soon. I apologise for the confusion that this has created. For now, you are able to access the material here wi...

Canadian Western Bank's earnings are out. Very positive in my opinion. Stock set to open about $1.00 higher or say 4% (and this 4% will change by the time the market actually opens in about 90 minutes) and remains a clear bargain in my opinion. But y...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
Oil is at $46.55.
Melcor was up 4.6%.
Canadian Western Bank fell 2.5% despite reporting earnings that were about as good as could be hoped for given the low oil price. As of the close ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 3.0% and Toronto fell 2.7%.
I'd rather see rising markets but declines are undeniably a fact of life for investors. As I have said many times, I don't particularly try to predict declines or step aside. I try to build...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.8% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
Canadian Western Bank will report earnings either tonight or tomorrow morning. I expect certainly some increase in the allowance for bad debt and in delinquent loans. And I expect the...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.8% and Toronto was about flat.
Oil surged 8% to over $48 but now sits at $47.60.
AutoCanada was up 4.3%.
Toll Brothers is at $36.97 which is down from recent highs of $42.19 due to both the overall market decline and...

Happy birthday to Warren Buffett who turns 85 today and who remains extraordinarily sharp. In fact part of his success that is seldom recognised is that he has a sort of photographic memory for figures and all things business. And he combines that wi...

Well it certainly has not been a dull week in the markets. On Thursday the S&P 500 rose 2.4% and Toronto rose 2.9%.
Just about everything on our list was up. So, as of now at least, it looks like a policy of hanging tight on this market correctio...

Wednesday's action saw the S&P 500 end the day up 3.9% in partial a rebound from recent losses. Toronto was up 1.7%.
Almost everything was up. Apparently some very nice bargains were picked up in the past few days.
Meanwhile my road trip continue...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down another 3.9% and Toronto was down 3.1%.
Every stock on the list I monitor was down.
I entered orders before the open to pick up a few shares of Costco at $125 and Berkshire at $128. Both were filled. Apparently the...

So the S&P 500 ended the day on Friday down 3.2% and Toronto was down 1.9%.
Every stock on our list was down with the strand exception of Bombardier where the pref shares were up 17% and the common up 1.6%.
I have not changed my opinion on the hi...

My IT provider indicates the login server will be fixed soon meanwhile I have opened all the reports for your access without logging in, just click the links.
August 21, 2015 (12:40 pm eastern time)
Market declines continuing. I have added to Boston ...

On Thursday, the price of owning a share of Corporate America or of Corporate Canada fell 2.1%.
It will be said that investors pulled money out of stocks. Not really. For every share sold there was a buyer. Investors as a population trade shares with...

My server problem continues but should be resolved soon. I use a local small business to host the login page. Over the years the up-time has been very good and I am confident that they can correct this soon. The main site is hosted by Telus and very ...

Canadian Tire is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $127. This is a very well-managed company. For the reasons indicated in the report it will likely struggle to show profit growth in the next couple of quarters and could certainly report lower profits...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto down 0.4%.
Individual stocks of note from our list included Walmart down 3.4% and Bombardier continuing its nose dive. However, AutoCanada managed a 2.1% gain and Toll Brothers rose another 2.8%. ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% while Toronto was down 0.2%.
Boston Pizza fell 2,4% to $17.96. I added modestly to my position at $18.03. In the past two trading days six insiders have bought shares mostly at about $18.50. They would have been...

My login server is still down and so I have opened access to the subscriber page without logging in. I had thought that this was also giving you access to all the reports but that was not the case. I have now opened up access to the recent updates su...

Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund is updated and rated Strong Buy at $18.40 to yield 7.1%.
This entity has declined about 20% since it was around $23 in March of this year and also it was $23 in the Spring of 2013.
Several months ago it announced an...

A server problem is preventing access to the login page so I have temporarily redirected that link to this page.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 ended the day down 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.7%.
West Texas Intermediate oil is now at U.S. $42.95.
Auto...

Melcor is updated and continues to be rated Strong Buy now at $16.37. And the report continues to indicate that the stock is not without risk. This company is trading at 59% of book value and I believe that buyers will be rewarded as the company has ...

A server problem is preventing access to the login page so I have temporarily redirected that link to this page.
Monday's stock market rally was short-lived and on Tuesday the S&P 500 was down 1.0% and Toronto was down 0.4%.
AutoCanada was down 2...

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 1.3% and Toronto rose 1.1%.
Toll Brothers was up 2.3%. Agrium was up 2.2%. Liquor Stores N.A. was up 2.9% (it reports earnings next Monday)
AutoCanada was one of the few decliners on out list and was down 2.6%.
Sunday'...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.7%.
Most stocks were down but there were some gainers:
American Express was up 6.3% on reports that an activist investor company had taken a large position. I'd prefer it to be up on ear...

Thursday was a down day for markets as the S&P 500 fell 0.8% and Toronto fell 0.7%.
Most of the stocks on our list declined. Notable decliners included Valeant Pharmaceuticals down 6.0% and Stantec down 11.0% on its earnings report (see my previo...

Stantec reported earnings before the open and the stock is down about 10.5%.
I just added to my position. I would consider it to be A strong Buy but I continue to consider a good Buy for the long term.
I read most of the earnings report and the earni...

In Wednesday's markets the S&P 500 was up 0.3% anf Toronto was up 0.1%.
Walmart was up 2.4%. RioCan REIT was down 3.7% even as it announced authorization for some share buy-backs (though that does not necessarily mean it will buy any, at least an...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% while Toronto rose 0.15%
TransAlta (which I have mentioned before but do not have on the list) was spanked down another 5% to $7.88. Even though it seems to have suffered from exceedingly poor management these la...

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust is updated and rated Buy at $26.79.
The report here contains a great deal of information about the company and the factors that went into the rating of Buy. But the main factors are a yield of 5.3%, a price to book...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% while Toronto was closed.
Oil is trading at $45.81 and the Canadian dollar is at 76.02 U.S. cents.
With Berkshire Hathaway down a bit today I doubled the small position that I had in that company.
I am working on ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% while Toronto rose 0.6%
The Canadian Western Bank preferred shares fell 3.4% to $20.76. At that price I would definitely be a buyer. These shares were close to $25 as recently as early May and have fallen with int...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was up 0.6%.
AutoCanada was up 4.3%.
Bombardier fell 9.7% after reporting a fairly weak quarter. While earnings were weak they were at least positive. But their orders for new planes were e...

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. is added to our list but is rated Sell at U.S. $253.91 or Canadian $331.
I spent considerable time to attempt to understand this company. My description cell near the top of the report may be of interest as...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 gained 0.7% and Toronto gained 1.6%.
Canadian Western bank was up 5.3%. Constellation Software was up 3.1% to $598 dollars. Constellation released a good earnings report after the close although the revenue growth may ha...

Tuesday's markets provided a modest reversal of recent losses. The S&P 500 was up 1.2% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
Most of the stocks on our list were up but there were no dramatic increases.
I continue to work on adding Valeant Pharmaceuticals to t...

Monday was another day that was good for picking up stocks at lower prices but not so good for those already fully invested. The S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 1.3%.
Showing the courage of my convictions I added to my Canadian Western...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 1.1% and Toronto was down 0.6%.
Declinming stocks included AutoCanada, down 3.6%; Canadian Western Bank down 3.0%.
Stocks that rose included Amazon, up 9.8% to $529 dollars on news that it made 18 cents per share i...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 0.6% and Toronto fell 0.3%.
Markets appear to be testing the patience of value investors.
Amazon came out with a surprise profit of 19 cents per share and the stock price soared 18% in "after hours" trading to $482 d...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% and Toronto fell 0.5%.
Several of our U.S. stock picks continue to rise. Toll Brothers was up 2.5%, Wells Fargo was up 1.0% and Bank of America was up 2.0%.
Meanwhile Boston pizza was down 3.0% to $19.90 and Au...

Tuesday was another negative day for Canadian markets. The S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.3%
Bombardier was down another 4.8% to just $1.79.
This company has been a disaster for both investors and for the extended Bombardier family ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% but Toronto fell 1.5%.
Canadian Western Bank fell 4.2% to $24.41. In part, this was likely due to a decline in oil prices which briefly dipped below U.S. $50. Also it may have been due to the overall decline in th...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Toronto fell 0.6%.
Stocks on the rise included the Canadian Western Bank rate reset preferred share up 4.8% to $23.36. Similarly, the RioCan rate rest preferred share on our list was up 4.9%. Both of these had...

An Enbridge Inc. rate reset preferred share has been added to our list rated (higher) Buy at $19.27. At that price it yields 5.7% but only until December 1, 2019. At that point the dividend will be reset to yield 266 basis points plus the 5 year gove...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 0.8% to 2124. This puts it back very near its high of 2134. Toronto was up 0.5%.
Gainers today included Amazon up 3.1%, Liquor Stores N.A. up 3.4% and Constellation Software up 2.1%.
AutoCanada declined 2.3%.
It seems tha...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 0.1% while Toronto rose 0.4% The Canadian dollar fell to a value of U.S. 77.3 cents after the Bank of Canada cut its benchmark overnight interest rate by 25 basis points to 0.50 in order to attempt to stimulate the Canadi...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.5%
Oil was up modestly to $53.25 as I write this. Oil rose despite fears that Iran will soon have the green light to pump more oil now that U.S. sanctions are to be lifted.
Tomorrow's big exc...

AutoCanada Inc. (which owns 48 auto dealerships) is added to the list and rated Buy at $40.36.
I will likely buy some tomorrow.
I found it interesting to see that the gross margin on new cars sold to retail customers averages 10.2%. However the margi...

Markets rose on Monday after a conditional debt deal was worked out for Greece apparently in the middle of the night. The S&P 500 rose 1.1% an Toronto was up 0.8%.
On Tuesday the market was set to open down about 0.2% on the S&P 500.
I am cur...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 1.2% and Toronto rose 0.9%. This was due to optimism over a Greek debt deal. Almost all the stocks on our list rose. The Bombardier preferred shares were down 4.6% to $15.10. This would seem to suggest that "the market...

Bombardier shares have fallen under $2.00. This is appears to be a terribly managed company although possibly the new CEO will ultimately be an improvement. Our report for this company has almost nothing good to say but I did conclude it might be a o...

Yesterday I added to my Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund taking advantage of the lower price.
Markets are up today, presumably on progress on a Greek debt settlement.
Bombardier has been declining. It's obviously a highly speculative stock. It migh...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 1.7% and Toronto was down 1.5%.
Just about everything on my stock list was down.
I grabbed a few more Canadian Western Bank shares.
I also trimmed my large Toll Brothers position by about 20% and will likely tra...

Stocks were volatile on Tuesday as the indexes had been down mid day but finished the day with the S&P 500 up 0.6% and Toronto up 0.2%
Costco surged 3.4% to $140.50 on a favorable analyst report. This stock always seems expensive but the company ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell a modest 0.4% despite the Greek vote to reject the creditors' offer. Toronto was down 0.6%.
And as of this evening futures are predicting that the market will open modestly higher on Tuesday.
The bigger move was in oil...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was up 0.3%.
On Sunday, Greece voted no to a debt deal that was apparently not even on the table anymore.
As of close to midnight eastern time the Dow futures are down about 200 points -- whi...

Amazon is added to our list but is rated Sell at $437.71.
As a customer I am a big fan of Amazon. (Especially because I recently saved over 80% by buying a generic printer toner cartridge through Amazon when other sources only had the over-priced HP ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto, in catch up mode for the holiday, was up 0.6%.
CN railway was up 1.9%.
Canadian Western Bank was down 2.6%.
Times like this when stocks have been flat or down in the past year are often ...

On Canada day, the S&P 500 was up 0.7% while Toronto markets were closed.
On Tuesday the S&P 500 had been up 0.2% while Toronto had been up 0.4%.
The Canadian dollar fell on Canada day and sits at 79.45 U.S. cents per Canadian dollar, or 125....

On Monday, North American markets fell about 2.0% on the news from Greece.
Just about every stock on my list was down.
I have learned not to get stressed out by these things. As usual, in pull-backs I am more interested in buying than in selling.
As ...

Markets are down (1.3% U.S. and 2.0% in Canada) due to the Greece situation. If I had ample cash I would likely add to positions including Canadian Western Bank, CNR and Berkshire. But with limited cash I am trying to be patient and see how the week ...

The reference article listing Global ETFs is updated. However, none of these appear to be compelling investments.
As of about 9 pm eastern, the DOW futures are down 247 points on the Greek situation. I am not inclined to buy stocks in the next few da...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was flat while Toronto was down 0.6%.
Monday's markets may be driven by the Greece debt situation unless markets finally decide they no longer care what Greece does....

The FedEx report is updated and the rating is (lower) Buy at $172.85. This is a strong company. The valuation is not compelling but it may be worth taking a small position in at this time. I marvel that the company charges an average of only $12 for ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was about flat while Toronto was down 0.3%.
Melcor was down 2.5%. Oil was down moderately and is currently at $59.24.
The Dow is set to open slightly higher despite the Greek debt issues.
 ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.7% on fears that a Greece debt deal was not so near after all. But Toronto rose 0.3%.
Melcor rose 3.6% but as usual that was on a small volume.
Canadian Tire rose 1.5% to $136.81. This company was in the low to mi...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Toronto rose 0.8% (as oil rose about 25).
I continue to view certain stocks that have been driven down by oil prices as buying opportunities. These include Stantec, Melcor and Canadian Western Bank and to som...

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.6% and Toronto was up 0.9%. This was on optimism about the Greek debt deal.
Most of the stocks on our list were up.
Melcor managed to fall 1.5% to $17.25. In my view that is "Mr. Market" offering to sell a stock chea...

On Friday the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.8%.
However, Canadian Western Bank was up 1.8% and Toll Brothers was up 1.6%.
As of Sunday evening the DOW futures were up 73 points on optimism about the Greece debt talks -- but that ca...

Walmart is updated and rated Buy at $72.98. Its earnings per share have declined in the past two quarters due to the higher U.S. dollar (which reduces earnings from Canada and other international locations) and also due to increased wages and benefit...

In a further reaction to the FED statements of Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 1.0% on Thursday and Toronto was up 0.3%.
Berkshire Hathaway was one of the bigger gainers, up 1.9%.
Melcor managed to fall 1.3% to $17.50. I grabbed another 200 shares. T...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto was down 0.1%
Janet Yellen, chair of the FED, said she expects the FED to start to increase interest rates before the end of  this year. Also the indication is that the rise in interest will be s...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was up about 0.6% and Toronto was relatively unchanged.
Dollarama which I judged on Monday as too expensive for my tastes rose another 2.9%. Today it indicates that some of its share buybacks will be by private placement wi...

Markets this morning are mixed with New York up slightly and Toronto down slight.
It sounds like Hudson's Bay Company made another good deal yesterday buying the a big German retailer and then doing a partial sale of the real estate by putting the re...

Dollarama is updated and rated Weak Buy at $72.01. I first added Dollarama to the list in early 2012 rated Weak Buy at $21.75 (all stock prices mentioned here are split adjusted). I considered it then to be very well managed but it seemed too expensi...

Friday's action saw the S&P 500 down 0.7% and Toronto down 0.6%.
Almost all the stocks on my list were down but Melcor managed a 2.2% gain albeit on practically no volume.
I notice TransAlta (which I have not had on the list in the last dozen yea...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.4%.
Canadian Western Bank at $28.02 is trading at 10.5 times trailing earnings according to Yahoo. The dividend yield is 3.1%, I calculate the P/E ratio as 10.2. The book value per share i...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.2% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
Most of the stocks on our list were up. Some notable gainers were Dollarama up 2.7% after releasing an earnings report. Visa up 2.5%. Canadian Western Bank up 2.0%.
Oil was up but the...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto was up 0.5%.
Oil was up about 4% and is now at $60.85 for the July West Texas futures contract.
Dollarama will report earnings tomorrow. I plan to update the analysis for Dollarama in the ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.7% and Toronto was down 1.4%.
Lower prices provide the opportunity to buy shares at better prices. For example, CN railway, Boston Pizza, Melcor, Canadian Western Bank  and Berkshire Hathaway....

On Thursday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.9%.
Among the few stocks rising in price was Constellation Software up another 1.5% after announcing an acquisition on Tuesday.
The May job creation report will be out tomorrow and will no-dou...

The report for Canadian Western Bank Group is updated and the stock is rated Strong Buy a $28.27. The Q2 report showed continued good growth and only a minimal increase in bad loans. The market remains worried about the low oil prices and potential r...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
Couche-Tard was up 2.8%.
Canadian Western bank is expected to release earnings this evening but the report has not come out yet. It was up 1.4% today.
 ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
Dollarama was up 3.6%. Element Financial was up 2.4%. There were no major declines for the stocks on our list.
The Canadian dollar was down about 0.6 cents and is currently at 79.9 cents...

Canadian National Railway Company Ltd. is updated and rated Buy at CAN $74.88 or U.S. $58.98. It had reached a high of CAN $88.89 in February and returned close to that again in march. It then fell about 17% despite an excellent Q1. The fall was like...

On Friday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.6% apparently due to weak figures for GDP growth in the first quarter.
Melcor was down 4.2% to $18.30. Due to its low trading volume, Melcor is inherently volatile and I would not read anything ...

VISA Inc. is updated and rated Weak Buy at $68.68. I have said many times that it has monopoly characteristics to some degree in that most retailers have effectively no choice but to accept its cards and pay the merchant discount fees. And those merc...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was about unchanged.
Rising stocks included Couche-Tard up 2.0%, e-Bay up 2.0%, and Onex up 1.9%.
The Bombardier pref share on our list fell 2.8% to $17.40. Whole it is definitely a riskier preferr...

Berkshire Hathaway is updated and rated Buy at $144.75. What Buffett has accomplished with Berkshire is almost beyond comprehension (stock price up 1.8 million per cent from the 1965 starting price which was in the range of about $12 for the A shares...

Tuesday was a negative day in the markets with the S&P 500 down 1.0% and Toronto down 0.9%.
Melcor was one of the rare stocks on the rise and it was up 2.7% to $19.00.
Element Financial was up 4.7% on confirmation that it is in talks to buy "flee...

Monday was the Memorial Day holiday int he U.S. and stock trading was closed. Toronto was down 0.1%.
Melcor was up 2.3% on higher-than-average (but still low) volume....

The report on the Wells Fargo preferred shares is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $24.49
I had first mentioned these shares on December 19, 2013 when I had bought them at $19.90. At that time they looked like a bargain because they had fallen fr...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was about flat.
Element Financial was up 3.4% to $18.34. The stock price ahs done well as the company continues to grow by acquisition. It appears to be expensive but could continue to do well if i...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto rose 0.9%.
Oil (West Texas Intermediate July futures contract) was up almost 3% to $60.61.
The biggest gainer on my list today was Agrium, up 2.5%.
My next update will be for Wells Fargo, which i...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Most of the stocks on my list were down. The seemingly unstoppable Constellation Software was up 2.7% to $511 after announcing another acquisition....

Yesterday, it was reported that new home starts are up sharply in the U.S. This should bode well for Toll Brothers which reports earnings on May 27.
The Canadian dollar has recently declined about 2 cents. This was after having risen about five cents...

Monday was a holiday in Canada but not in the U.S. The S&P 500 was up 0.3%.
Toll Brothers was up 1.4% to $37.90. It's my second largest position and should continue to do well over time. It reports earnings on May 27.
 ...

Stantec is updated and remains rated Buy, now at $35.78.
Stantec is a wonderful business (has earned ROE in the range of 17% to 19% for years despite a rapidly growing equity base). It has excellent management. And its available at a reasonable price...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% to a new record high close and Toronto was up 0.5%.
Canadian Tire was up 4.2% and this was on top of yesterday's rise of 1.7% after it released earnings on Thursday morning. It appears that after having time to st...

Canadian Tire is updated and rated Buy at $133.55
It just released earnings which were exceptionally strong in terms of same-store sales.
We have been rating it a (lower) Buy since last year (May 10, 2014 at $111.29). It has done better than I would ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 1.1% and is basically at its record high. (Which is in no way a danger signal.) Toronto was up 0.3% and is about 4.5% below its all time high.
Stantec was up 4.6% to $34.52 after reporting good earnings. We had last ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was down 0.4%.
Canadian National Railway was down 3.2% to $74.11. I think it would be good value at this price.
Couche-Tard was down 2.3% to $46.08. It still seems expensive at that price ...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 fell 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.7%.
But oil (West Texas Intermediate on the futures market) rose around 1.5% today and is currently up another 0.45% this evening to $61.20.
Melcor reported earnings after the close and ever...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.1%
Bond yields were up modestly (10 year U.S. Treasury up to 2.28% from 2.16% on Friday and from 2.12% on May 1. That 2.28% is still an incredibly low rate and I am not sure the increase con...

Friday was a good day to own stocks. Actually, on average, most days are good days to own stocks. When you own stocks you own a slice of the corporate world. Most large corporations are profitable. The gyrating prices of stocks often makes them seem ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and Toronto also rose 0.4%
Bombardier rose 6.7% after announcing it would sell a portion of its Transportation (rail) business in an IPO while retaining control. The company also announced first quarter earnings...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 1.0%.
Agrium was one of the few stocks on our list that rose and it was up 3.2% to $129.01 This was due to the dividend increase and the increase came despite a projection that earnings...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 1.2% and Toronto fell 1.3%
Melcor was up 4.9% on higher than usual volume.
Agrium reported earnings after the close which were apparently below expectations but if also raised its dividend 12%. I am not sure which way...

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.2%.
Notable gainers included Couche-Tard up 4.6%, Liquor Stores N.A. up 3.2%,  Constellation Software up 2.8%, and Bank of America up 2.0%.
In the next two weeks we will get a number of Q1 rep...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 1.0% and Toronto was down 0.8%.
Notable decliners included Couche-Tard down 5.1%, Constellation Software down 4.1%.
I don't hold any Berkshire Hathaway but am tempted to grab some with the price now at about $141 dow...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.4% while Toronto was about unchanged.
Melcor recovered some of yesterday's decline and was up 3.0%. I found out today that, to my surprise, Melcor has not bought back any shares under its normal course issuer bid ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% while Toronto was about unchanged.
I was surprised to see Melcor down 5.4% to $17.00. Most of the decline was in the last hour of trading but was on more than a tiny volume. It could be that someone was just in...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto also declined 0.4%.
Among the decliners was Melcor, down 2.1% to just under $18.00. I continue to think it offers excellent value.
Bombardier was down 4.7%. I did not see any news to cause that. I ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.1%.
Most preferred shares rose which was likely associated with a rise in interest rates in the bond market in the past few days.
My pace of updates to the stocks reports has been quite slow...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
Toll Brothers was down another 4.2%. I did not see any reason for that. Then again, stocks have NEVER really needed a reason to rise or fall. Much of the fluctuations are essentially r...

With Toll Brothers down a bit more I grabbed a few more shares this morning. I see a couple of Home Builders reported good earnings reports, one today and one yesterday. So it seems to me that buying on this dip could work out well. Toll Brothers sho...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Visa was up 4.1% on news it might be free to do business in China before long. Visa has acted as a financial toll booth for years now. The stock has looked expensive for some years ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% and Toronto fell 0.4%.
CN rail was down 3.1% after reporting earnings. Melcor was up 2.0%.
The federal budget was investor friendly. It's nice to get a bigger opportunity to shield investments from tax including ...

Markets were strong on Monday.
Boston Pizza Royalties as down about 1% to $21.30. I was perhaps over-zealous buying into the recent rights offering at $22.10. But it was as high as $23 before the rights offering and with the planned distribution incr...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 1.1% and Toronto was down 0.2%.
A notable decliner was American Express down 4.4% to $77.32. Its earnings per share for Q1 were up 11% but "the market" seemed to have been taken somewhat by surprise by the currency...

Constellation Software is updated and rated Weak Sell at $491.30.
There is no doubt that this is a great company and one of the very best managed Canadian companies. Nevertheless, the stock may now be too expensive in relation to earnings. For the ne...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 0.1% and Toronto fell 0.4%.
The Canadian dollar rose and now sits at 82.0 cents. Oil (West Texas Intermediate futures New York) rose and now sits at $56.13.
The dollar had bottomed out at just under 78 cents and so i...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.5% and Toronto rose 0.4%
The Canadian dollar rose 1.2%, Oil rose several percentage points to just under $56.
Canadian Western Bank was up 1.5%. Melcor was up 1.4%.
Rate reset pref shares have continued to slide i...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was about flat.
There were no big gains among the stocks on our list but Canadian Western Bank and Stantec each edged up 1.2%.
Meanwhile FirstService declined 3.4%. It will soon split into two separ...

On Monday the S&P 500 was down 0.5% while Toronto was about unchanged.
The RioCan pref share that I mentioned yesterday was up 3.3%. But that is a bt misleading . Upon checking it was really just a few low traces on Friday that has pushed it down...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
Element Financial was up 4.8%. Constellation Software was up 2.2%.
The RioCan rate reset share was down 2.5% to $19.36. This decline appears to be related to the fact that these shares are...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.7%.
Costco fell 2.1% as it reported lower same-store sales in March due to the lower U.S dollar. Its international same store sales were down 9% due to currency but would have been up 4% if ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.2%.
Toll Brothers followed up its 2.6 % loss of yesterday with a 2.6% gain today. I chalk this sort of thing up to random noise in the market. Constellation Software was up another 3.3% a...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.6% as oil rose about 3%.
FedEx was up 2.7% on news of an acquisition.
Canadian Western Bank was up 1.6%.
Toll Brothers fell 2.6% to $38.86 apparently because some advisors suggested takin...

American Express is updated and rated Buy at $79.70. It has suffered a blow due the upcoming loss of its co-branded Costco card. Sometimes it pays to buy good companies when they suffer a problem. On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto ...

Agrium is updated and rated Speculative (lower) Buy at U.S. $104.83 or CAN $131.72. While I am not a buyer at this time, I do like this company. It makes its living in a very honest way. Manufacturing and distribution fertilizers is something that is...

U.S. markets are set to open slightly to the down side.
Gainers yesterday included FirstService up 2.3% and RioCan REIT up 2.1%.
Target is now set to have all its stores closed by April 12. Most Canadians will say good riddance. They leave a path of ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.9% while Toronto was relatively flat.
Melcor was up 2.5% to $19.45. This stock has risen modestly from the $18.00 level since the company announced on Friday a modest share buy-back program and indicated that the sh...

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 1.2% and Toronto rose 0.6%.
FirstService was up another 2.25% to $81.68 I have often indicated a great respect for the management of this company but I thought it looked somewhat expensive in December at $58.49. Most o...

The Canadian Western Bank rate re-set preferred share report is updated and rated Buy at $24.81.
Our popular article on the valuation of the S&P 500 is updated and suggests that the S&P 500 is somewhat over-valued at this time....

Alimentation Couche-Tard is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $50.54. This company just reported exceptionally strong growth in Q3. It is one of the very best managed companies in Canada and has an exceptional history of growth. It is one of very ...

U.S. markets are set to open slightly to down side which would add to the declines of this week.
Oil markets are "volatile" due to escalating conflicts in Yemen.
As the first quarter draws to a close there is increasing emphasis on the earnings hit t...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 1.5% and Toronto was down 1.0%.
One of the few stocks going the other way was Dollarama, up 2.7%. While Dollarama had a great Q4, it also reported that the sharply lower Canadian dollar is hurting its profits in Q1....

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% while Toronto was up 0.8%.
Notable gainers included Couche-Tard up 4.0%, Melcor up 2.2% (on typical low volume), Stantec up 1.9%, CN rail up 1.7%.
Boston pizza Royalties Income fund was down 3.6% to $22.12 af...

Overall markets were relatively flat today.
Melcor is updated and rated Strong Buy at $17.82. It's earnings will almost certainly decline in 2015. However, that appears to be more than fully priced in. But those that believe that Alberta is more or l...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.9% and Toronto was up 0.5%.
I spent time reading Melcor's annual report today. Based on the numbers Melcor appears to be a clear bargain. There are always scenarios that could happen involving sustained low oil pri...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.5%.
Melcor fell 2.5% to $17.40 which is no surprise really given the drop in oil prices and announced layoffs in Alberta. Couche-Tard was down 2.7%. Element Financial was up .5%.
Canad...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 ended the day up 1.2% and Toronto was up 0.4%
The Candadian dollar rose more than one cent.
Oil has fallen and there have been more layoffs. Canadian interest rates are lower and this hurts bank profits. On the other han...

Markets are down moderately at this hour but as always some stocks are up, Couche-Tard and the Bombardier pref share are up. Melcor is hanging in at about the $18 level. I have an order in for a family account that I just took over at $17.55 but may ...

Greetings from Puerto Vallarta (which in on the West coast of Mexico south of the baha peninsula).
On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 1.3% and Toronto was up 0.9%.
Most stocks were up today. Notably, Melcor was up 4.0% and this despite oil being down ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Oil was down about 4%.
The report for Liquor Stores N.A. is updated and the company is rated Strong Sell at $15.26. Perhaps I am too negative on this company and perhaps I am biased ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 1.3% and Toronto was up 0.3%
Notable gainers included Wells Fargo up 3.5%, American Express up 2.7% and Onex up 3.1%.
Melcor gained 3.2%. This is a thinly traded stock and even after releasing earnings it traded on...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% while Toronto was up 0.7%
Canadian National Railway was up 2.6%, The Bombardier Series 4 preferred share was up 2.3% to $19.00, Bombardier was up 6.4% to $2.49. The RioCan preferred share was up 3.5% to $22.00....

Stocks declined on Tuesday. The S&P 500 was down 1.7% and Toronto was down 1.4%. Of such a day, it is often said "investors sold off stocks". But of course, as always, for every sale there was also a buyer.  I would describe today's action as "in...

Today marks exactly six years since the market bottomed out after the financial crisis. We were buying stocks near the bottom and that certainly worked out well.
You can see what we were saying in March, 2009 by clicking this link and scrolling to th...

Toll Brothers is updated and remains rated Buy at $36.92. In June 2011, I added this company to the site and rated it Speculative Buy at $21.03 as one way to "play" the expected recovery in U.S. house prices.  The share price has been volatile but th...

Canadian Western Bank is updated and rated Strong Buy at $27.06. The price has fallen due to concerns about bad loans due to lower oil and gas prices. The bank indicates that it does not expect to experience excessive bad loans. It seems reasonable t...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up a similar amount.
Canadian Western Bank fell 7.1% despite releasing a fairly good earnings report and despite the fact that it is still expecting to grow earnings in 2015. The stock appears ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Bombardier was down 4.6% after QATAR Airlines said it was no longer interested in the C Series after all the delays and had basically forgotten about it (ouch).
Canadian Western B...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.9%.
Couche-Tard was down 2.5%. The Liquor Stores N.A. convertible debenture was down 6.8% to $102.54 indicating that yesterday's rise to $110 was, as suspected, some kind of anomaly.
Af...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.6% while Toronto was up 0.2%.
Notable gainers included the RioCan preferred share up 3.0% to $21.66. Visa, up 2.6% on news it will be the new exclusive credit card at Costco. Constellation Software up 2.9%.
The Liq...

On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 0.4% and Toronto was about flat.
Canadian Tire is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $131.72. On the numbers it would be a Buy but I it also faces almost certain headwinds due to the sharply lower Canadian dollar. The im...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.1%
Canadian Tire rose 8.8% to a new record high on a very strong earnings report. This company has been very well managed and has been firing on all cylinders for at least several years....

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.4%.
It seems my comments of yesterday that the banks could suffer due to low interest rates and bad loans related to oil prices and the weaker economy may have been misplaced. Royal B...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% while Toronto fell 0.2%
Toll Brothers released a good earnings report and the stock rose 3.8%. I plan to update the report by Sunday. It will remain rated Buy or possible drop to (lower) Buy. I am not planning to...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was about flat while Toronto was up 0.2%.
Canadian Western Bank was down 2.8%, Melcor was down 3.6%. I continue to believe that these will be good long term investments but the short-term is hard to predict. (They are already "...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.6% (to another new record high) while Toronto was down 0.1%.
Stocks (from our list) that were on the move included Melcor up 2.2% and the Bombardier Preferred share up 6.6%
The RioCan preferred A share report is up...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.2%.
Stocks on the move included; Canadian Western Bank down 2.5%,
FirstService up 6.0% (illustrating once again that it can be good to stick with high quality companies even when they ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was essentially unchanged while Toronto was down 0.5%.
In yesterday's post I said that the yield on a 5-year Bank of Canada bond was 0.42%. Actually, I should have said 0.73%, and the latest update is 0.79%. If the rate ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.1%
Stantec and Canadian Tire were each up 2.0%. Couche-Tard was up 2.2%, Liquor Stores N.A. was up 5.3%.
Meanwhile the RioCan pref shares REI.PR.A were down 3.2% to $21.23. These are rate r...

Bombardier Inc. is updated and rated Highly Speculative (lower) Buy at Canadian $2.58. I just spent many hours reading its brand new 2014 annual report. This is a sad story. It's a huge company with 74,000 employees. It's profitable on an adjusted ba...

Welcome to our new look Web Site. It was developed by the expert developers at the Edmonton offices of ARC Business Solutions Inc....

With American Express down another 3% today to $78, I decided to add a small amount to my relatively modest position. Basically I am showing the courage of my convictions in having recently rated it a a Buy at $93. I don't know the impact of losing t...

On Thursday the S&P 500 rose 1.0% and Toronto rose 0.5%
Notable gainers included Canadian Western Bank up 1.7%, Boston Pizza Royalties up 1.7%, Wells Fargo up 1.8%, Toll Brothers up 1.5% and Bank of America up 1.9%.
America Express was down 6.4% ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was unchanged and Toronto was up 0.3%.
FirstService jumped 7.1% after announcing earnings and that it will split into two separate companies.  Onex was up 2.2%.
Bombardier was up 4.8% (albeit to just $3.04) after an indu...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 1.1% while Toronto rose 0.1%.
Couche-Tard was up 3.0%. The seemingly unstoppable Constellation Software was up 2.7%. Toll Brothers was up 2.1%.
After the close Canadian Western Bank announced that it will sell its pro...

On Monday the S&P 500 was down 0.4% while Toronto was up 0.1%.
Liquor Stores N.A. was down 4.25% Onex, Dollarama and Boston Pizza were each up 1.6%. And that is about the extent of the excitement today in the stocks on my list....

Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund is updated and rated Buy at $21.80 to yield 5.6%. It it somewhat like a perpetual preferred share except that the cash distribution can be expected to increase at perhaps 1 to 2% annual but could fall in the event o...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 1.0% and Toronto was up 0.9%.
Most of the stocks on my list were up roughly 1 to 2 percent.
Costco was down 4.4% a day after after reporting that January's international sales were down 4% due to currency impacts thou...

Wednesday was another non-boring day in the markets. The S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.5%.
Notable losers included Canadian Western Bank down 3.7%, Canadian Tire down 2.0% and FirstService down 2.3% and CLO the oil sands ETF down 4.7%....

Tuesday was another good day for stocks.
The S&P 500 was up 1.4% and Toronto was up 1.1%.
Stocks on our list that gained the most today were Canadian Western bank up another 5.6%, Stantec up 4.0%, Costco up 5.3%!, and the oilsands ETF, CLO, up 5.7%.
...

Monday was a positive day as the S&P 500 rose 1.3% and Toronto rose 1.5%.
It was nice to see Canadian Western Bank rise 7.2%. Other notable gainers included Canadian Tire up 2.4%, Costco up 2.1%, Bank of America up 2.0% and Onex up 2.1%.
Oil has ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 1.3% while Toronto was up 0.3%.
Notable losers included Canadian Western Bank down 3.1%, Walmart down 3.1%, FedEx down 2.2%.
Gainers included CLO, the oils sands ETF up 6.2%, Couche-Tard up another 3.2%, and Visa u...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 ended the day up 0.9% and Toronto was up 0.2%.
The amazing Couche-Tard was up 4.0%. Agrium was up 1.9%, and Toll Brothers was up 3.2%
Meanwhile, Canadian Western Bank fell 2.7% to $26.60 and its rate reset preferred share...

Wednesday was not a good day in the markets. The S&P 500 was down 1.4% and Toronto was down 1.6%.
Notable decliners included Constellation Software, down 4.7%, Canadian Western Bank down 2.9%, and Bank of America down 2.8%.
The preferred shares t...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 lost 1.3% but Toronto was up 0.2%
Some disappointing earnings reports in the U.S. pulled the market down. In particular Caterpillar and Proctor and Gamble had earnings that were hurt by the high U.S. dollar (or the decline ...

On Monday, the markets started off the week with the S&P 500 rising 0.3%
and Toronto up 0.1%.
Canadian Western Bank was down 2.5%. This could be due to continued fears of weakness in the western-Canada economies due to low oil prices. It could al...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% while Toronto was up 0.1%
About the only notable winners on my list was Constellation Software up 3.0% and Element Financial up 3.3%.
As far as losers FedEx was down 3.0% after UPS reported lower profits due t...

Thursday was a good day to own stocks. To own, that is, your share of the largest and most profitable companies in the marketplace.
The S&P 500 was up 1.5% and Toronto was up 1.4%
Some of the notable gainers on our list were CNR, up 3.9% , Stante...

It really does seem that there is never a dull day in the markets. Today we got the surprise interest rate cut followed by a steep drop in the Canadian dollar which in turn was seen as positive for stocks.
The S&P 500 rose 0.5% and Toronto was up...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was about unchanged.
Agrium was up an impressive 4.5% to $124.22. The only news that I see is that a former Board member with apparently very good credentials is returning to the Board after an offe...

On Monday, the New York stock markets were closed for the Martin Luther King holiday. Toronto was open and finished the day about unchanged.
Bombardier took another tumble. Melcor was down 2.6% to $16.55.
So, let's take a look at both of these.
Melco...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was 1.3% and Toronto was up 1.9%.
It has only been two week but our Stock picks have not started the year off well. Canadian Western Bank and Melcor are each down about 15% since December 31 (and down a lot more than that f...

Markets continue to be anything but boring.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.9% and Toronto was down 0.3%
I was shocked to hear that Target will close up.
I did point out way back (see Sept 19, 2011, August 1, 2012, February 27, 2013) when it ...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 0.7%.
Melcor was down 5.7% to $17.06. Canadian Tire was down 3.0%. Agrium was down 3.0% as was Walmart, Liquores N.A> down 3.2%, Element Financial down 3.3%.
Clearly there is some lev...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 ended the day down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.6%.
Onex was up 6.0% on the announcement of an acquisition (I wish my overall net worth would jump 6% instantly when I bought an investment, but such is the strange world of co...

On Monday the S&P 500 was down 0.8% and Toronto was also down 0.8%
Some notable decliners included Canadian Western Bank down 5.4% to $27.73, Stantec down 3.2% to $29.79 and the oil sands ETF, CLO down 5.5% to $8.40.
I will freely admit that I di...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.8% and Toronto was down 0.5%
The U.S. unemployment rate among those in the labor force and actively looking for work is down to 5.6%. Many people will argue that the true rate is far higher. But the thing is that...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 1.8%, and Toronto was up 1.2%.
That makes a gain of 3.0% for the S&P 500 in two days and certainly makes for a different feel to the market than Tuesday.
The reason for the gain int he U.S. was apparently in an...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.2% and Toronto was up 0.3%. Almost all the stocks on my list were up.
Liquor Stores N.A. was up 4.5%. I have to admit that this stock fell when I thought it was a Buy and lately it has risen when I thought it wa...

Tuesday was a nasty day in rated (higher) Buy on NOvember 17, 2012 at $68.12the markets (except for new investors or those who were otherwise largely in cash and who were looking to buy)
The S&P 500 was down 0.9% and Toronto was down 1.0%
Notable...

On Friday, the new year of trading started off with the S&P 500 about flat for the day but with Toronto up 0.8%.
Today the Canadian dollar is at 84.63 American cents. That is $1.18 Canadian to buy one U.S. dollar. Add in the bank fee and you are ...

I have updated many of the Stock Picks as we start a new year. For performance tracking purposes for 2015 (just like the other years) I will use the closing prices from December 31 as the starting prices for 2015. I will use the ratings above. In fou...

Element Financial is updated and rated Highly Speculative Weak Buy at $14.14. This company may do very well. Management is expanding it very aggressively. I spent a full say looking at its reports. I just could not get comfortable with what I feel is...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.2%.
I will have a few more updates before the start of trading for the new year.
Bombardier Inc. is updated and rated Speculative Buy at CAN $4.11. It reports in U.S. dollars and does mo...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.4% despite another decline in the price of oil.
Most of the stocks on my list were up. Liquors Stores N.A. was up 3.3% to $15.46. Maybe some of their stores are doing well. But in my area th...

Alimentation Couche-Tard is updated and rated Sell at $47.50. I feel I am going out on a limb by rating this great company "Sell" but it just seems too expensive at this time. We had rated it only a (lower) Buy at the start of this year and it is now...

FirstService is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $US. 49.95 or CAN $58.49. Due to both its cyclical nature and to a number of accounting complexities it has a been a difficult company to value or predict. I have always thought that it was well ma...

Fedex is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold. This company has been difficult to rate over the years due to its profits being quite volatile with the state of the economy in recent years.
eBay is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $57.01. This is a d...

On the short trading day of Wednesday the 24th the Canadian and U.S. markets were about flat overall.
Melcor was up 4.0% but as always it can jump around more than other stocks due to its thin trading.
The thinly traded Canadian Tire voting shares (C...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 and The DOW again hit record highs.
The S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 1.1%
Most of the stocks I monitor were up. Canadian Western Bank was up 3.3%. Melcor was down 2.2% which I would attribute more to randomnes...

On Monday, the Dow and the S&P 500 hit record highs....
The S&P 500 was up 0.4% while Toronto was down 0.3%.
Melcor was up 3.2% at $19.56...
I note the very (very) thinly traded Canadian Tire voting shares have dropped from recent highs of $2...

Costco is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $141.77. Based on the P/E at 29.5 we could have rated it a Weak Sell. But one has to respect the fact that it is the one of the very lowest cost and most efficient retailers in the world. It will continu...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.8%. The oil sands ETF, CLO was a notable gainer, up 5.0%.
American Express is updated and rated Buy at $92.90. We first added American Express to the site last February 8 rated Buy at $87. W...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 2.4% and Toronto was up 0.9%.
Almost all the stocks on our list were up.
As always I don't spend much time trying to predict where the market is headed. Basically no one can because it is subject to many random eve...

Wednesday was a strong day in the markets and today, Thursday is strong as well.
Canadian Western Bank and Melcor have risen somewhat.
Couche-Tard (note, our analysis is out of date due to the large price increase) is up 7.6% after announcing a large...

On Tuesday the price of oil did not drop - which was news. The S&P 500 fell 0.9% while Toronto rose 1.1%.
The oils sands ETF, trading under the symbol CLO rose 4.5%. A number of stocks on our list rose but none by exciting amounts especially give...

On Monday the S&P 500 fell 0.6% and Toronto fell 0.2%
Melcor was down another 2.2% to $17.80, Canadian Western Bank was down 1.8% to $29.41.
A few stocks on our list rose - Couche-Tard up 4.1%, and Element Financial up 2.7%.
My long-time and larg...

Toll Brothers is updated and rated Buy at $31.56. This stock was added to the site in mid 2011, rated Speculative Buy at $21.03 at a time when it was suffering heavy losses. I added it to the site as a way to benefit from the expected recovery in U.S...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was also up 0.4%.
Most of the stocks on my list were up somewhat.
A notable decliner was Melcor, down 7.0% to $18.35. This is a thinly traded stock and can be volatile partly for that reason. But a...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 1.6% and Toronto fell 2.4%.
Almost all of the stocks on my list were down.
The biggest decline was for Toll Brothers, down 7.9%.
Toll Brothers released earnings this morning. Earnings were up 25% compared to the sam...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 ended the day about flat while Toronto gained 0.4%.
Canadian Western Bank fell another 1.5% and I added to my position in it. Most of the stocks I track were up somewhat today.
As I drove to work this morning I heard on th...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.7% and Toronto was down 2.3%.
Once again lower oil prices were causing investors to bid down the price of many stocks.
Many reports will say that investors "pulled money out of stocks". It's true that some investors ...

Canadian Western Bank is updated and now rated (lower) Strong Buy. Its share price has recently fallen from the $40 to $42 range of this past Summer. Nothing it its achieved earnings explains the decline. Rather, the decline is based on fears of a sl...

I have updated the composition of my own portfolio. For this update I included an explanation of why I like to track the P/E ratio and earnings of my overall portfolio. I had started doing that years ago based on some advice I read from Warren Buffet...

Thursday was a nasty day in the Canadian markets with Toronto down 1.9% while the S&P 500 was down 0.1%
Our Alberta stock picks were hard hit with Melcor down 6.2%, Stantec down 2.1% and Canadian Western bank down 4.6%.
I was surprised to see Can...

Wednesday was a better day for the Canadian stock market with Toronto up 0.9%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 was up 0.4%.
Canadian winners today included Canadian Western Bank up 2.0%, Stantec up 1.9%, and FirstService up 3.6%.
After the close of tradin...

Tuesday was yet another interesting day in the markets.
The S&P 500 was up 0.6% whole Toronto was about flat.
Most of the stocks on our list were up. But three Edmonton-headquartered companies that I like were down. Melcor was down another 2.8% t...

Monday was another ugly day for the Canadian stock market. Toronto was down 0.8% and the S&P 500 was down 0.7%.
The last I had looked the Canadian dollar was up about three quarters of a cent which reduces the value of American stocks when measur...

Canadian National Railway Company (CNR or CN or CNI) is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at CAN $81.23 and U.S. $71.05. I have now been "tracking" CN for 15 years. Its share price is up a staggering 905% in that time or 17% per year on average. I ha...

Friday was an ugly day in the market for those with exposure to oil and gas stocks or anything related to it.
The S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 1.2%.
Lower oil prices hit the Toronto market hard. I have always been clear that I have ...

On Thursday, the American stocks exchanges were closed. But Toronto was open and fell 0.8%.
I got clobbered on my oils sands ETF CLO which was down 8.7% to $10.59. This ETF reached a high of $16.00 in late Spring / early summer this year. That's a de...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.2%.
Liquor Stores N.A. was up 1.6% to $14.91. Looking at the earnings and looking at the low level of business at their stores in my area and looking at the extreme level of competition...

Canadian Tire is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $125.50. The stock is up 26% this year to date. We had rated Buy at $99.49. Normally it might be expected to rate a weak buy / hold after a 26% gain in 11 months. But the earnings per share have risen...

On Monday the S&P 500 was up 0.3% while Toronto was down 0.6%.
Toll Brothers was up 0.8% which put it just above $35. In October it had gotten down under $30 and I reported adding to my position under $30. Stantec was down 2.1% at $34.00 (it rece...

As another year draws to a close our performance figures for 2014 look good. Our two Strong Buys from the start of the year are up 19% (Wells Fargo) and 18% (Melcor). The average for all the 15 stocks rated in the Buy or Strong Buy ranges is a gain o...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Toronto rose 0.6%
Couche-Tard was down 3.8%. I did not see any news top explain why....

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was about flat.
Bombardier was up 2.0%. The company always seems to have its struggles. I'd certainly like to see it it do well. It seems to have great products but is in a very competitive indus...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 closed up 0.5% for yet another record high. Toronto was up 0.6%.
The biggest gainer for the stocks on my list as Agrium which closed up 2.6% at $115.60. This morning it was as high as $117.56 or up 4.3%. At my recent update...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
Canadian Tire was up 1.7% to $127.137and set another high. It's up 28% this year. And that's on top of a 43% gain in 2012. It started 2013 at $69.38. I have not yet updated for its excel...

As you may have seen in my email of yesterday if you are on the list for my free newsletter, I am currently working on a series of articles that shows with actual data that people who invested annually in U.S. stocks (the S&P 500 index) over a 30...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto fell 0.5% on lower oil prices.
After the close Melcor announced that it would sell $138 million worth of its rental buildings to its 47% owned REIT. It appears that $45 million will be pa...

Wednesday was a case of another day and another few dollars made. The S&P 500 was down 0.1% but Toronto was up 0.6%
Gainers included Canadian Tire up 1.7% to $126.00. Agrium. up 2.3%.
I noticed an offering today of Melcor REIT convertible debentu...

While many of us had today off the American and the Canadian stock markets were both open.
As happens every day "the market" or at least the consensus opinion of the marginal sellers and the marginal buyers of each stock changed the view of the value...

On Monday the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and Toronto rose 0.1%
The Canadian dollar fell which raises your wealth if you own U.S. assets and measure your wealth in Canadian dollars. But it lowers your wealth if you have Canadian assets and measure in U.S. ...

Melcor is updated and rated (lower) Strong Buy at $23.89. Its just released Q3 earnings report was very strong. There was however a modest market value decline on some of its rental buildings and this could be a sign of more to come. Based on achieve...

Berkshire Hathaway is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $143.61. Berkshire has always been difficult to analyze because its results are a bit volatile by nature due to the impact of catastrophes on insurance results. Also its earnings have been under-...

In Thursdays market the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and Toronto rose 0.1%.
Melcor rose 3.0% to $23.90. Volume at 21,500 shares was a little higher than normal. It's a somewhat thinly traded stock. The value traded today was about $514,000. And lots of days...

On Wednesday stocks rose. In part, this was due to the republican gains in the U.S. elections.
The S&P 500 was up 0.6% and Toronto was up 1.1%.
Some notable gainers included:
VISA Inc. up 2.7% at $250. This is a company that touched under $200 le...

I remember times when the markets seemed boring for weeks and months at a time. But it seems like its been years since that was the case.
Today the S&P 500 fell 0.3% and Toronto fell 1.0% as oil fell about 3% to just over U.S. $77.
I got fairly c...

On Monday the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto fell 0.5%.
Oil fell 2 or 3% to close under U.S. $80. This pushed the Canadian dollar down so that it worth only 88.1 U.S. cents.
I should probably start to get a bit concerned about the pric...

Dolllarama is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $99.02. As I mentioned back on September 27, 2013, this is one of the best managed companies that I know of. They are shockingly profitable. Unfortunately the shares have always traded at a high multiple...

Well, I had to laugh when I checked the markets today and saw Visa up about 10%. Not sure I would want to buy at the new price but its certainly a nice jump in the last couple of weeks. I had noted that I bought some Visa on October 9. As a company i...

On Wednesday the FED, as expected, confirmed it would end its bond buying program. There was no indication of imminent interest rate increases.
The market fell only modestly. The S&P 500 was down 0.1% but Toronto was down 0.7%.
Visa was down 1.0%...

Tuesday was a strong day in the markets, with the S&P 500 up 1.2% and Toronto up 1.1%
Almost all of the stocks on our list were up. FirstService however was a notable decliner, down 6.9% after releasing earnings before the start of today's tradin...

On Monday the S&P 500 fell 0.23% and Toronto fell 0.5%.
Constellation Software rose 1.9% to close just over $300. Agrium rose an additional 2.1% for the same reason noted on Friday. While energy stocks were down, most of the stocks on our list we...

Bank of America is updated and rated Speculative (higher) Buy at $16.72. This bank is difficult to analyze because it earnings have been affected by numerous litigation settlements related to the financial crisis and other unusual items. It's balance...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.7% and Toronto was up 0.4%
Agrium was up 7.5% on news that an activist investor now owned a stake around 6%. I am not sure that this is a good reason for the stock to go up. But the market seems to believe that the...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 1.2% and Toronto was also up 1.2%
The strength of the recovery, particularly in U.S. stocks, seems surprising. It illustrates how hard it is to guess the direction of the market in the short term. I basically avoid...

Terrible news from Ottawa today. It was impressive the way the Seargeant at arms apparently shot and killed the terrorist. No surprise really that these ISIS-linked attacked have reached Canada. But Canada will not be cowed by this. Security will be ...

Wells Fargo is updated and rated Buy at $50.45. Possibly it should be rated higher than that but I will be a bit conservative due to its leveraged nature as a Bank and due to the still slow U.S. economic recovery.
Tuesday was a strong day in the mark...

On Monday the S&P was up 0.9% and Toronto was up 0.8%. The S&P rose despite IBM reporting a big loss.
I read the Wells Fargo Q3 report (from last week) and this bank is still growing strongly in almost all of its business lines. Its net inter...

On Friday the S&P 500 was up 1.3% and Toronto was up 1.2%.
As of Sunday night the Dow futures were up 84 points. It's anyone's guess whether the market remains volatile. But in the end owning high quality companies tends to work out unless one re...

On Thursday, the markets again had people guessing where they will head next. Markets opened down quite noticeably but in the end the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was up 1.3%.
Some of the earnings reports coming out were strong and tha...

It probably did not escape anyone's notice that markets got hammered down on Wednesday. Even after a partial recovery from steeper declines, the S&P 500 was down 0.8% and Toronto was down 1.2%
Bank of America reported approximate break-even resul...

Wells Fargo is out with Q3 earnings this morning. Earnings per share growth was only 3% but overall the report seemed strong. Deposit growth was very strong and loan growth was good. The shares were down 1.5% adding to recent declines. I grabbed a fe...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was up 0.2%, while Toronto, playing catch-up (or catch-down) for yesterday's holiday was down 1.3%.
Wells Fargo ended the day down 2.7% at $48.83. I was surprised they got their earnings out so fast. Seems to be a competiti...

On Monday the S&P 500 fell 1.7%. Toronto was closed.
It seems that the declines will test the resolve of those of us who invest based on fundamental analysis. Stocks can always get cheaper and for that reason it is probably best to nibble at posi...

On Friday, Stocks also got cheaper. The S&P 500 was down 1.2% and Toronto was down 1.6%.
For the year to date Toronto remains up 4.4% and the S&P remains up 3.1% while the DOW is down 0.2%.
Our two Strong Buys from January 1, 2014 remain up 1...

On Thursday ... stocks got cheaper.
The S&P 500 was down 2.1% and Toronto was down 1.4%.
One of the few gainers was Canadian Tire up an impressive 3.1% as its new or incoming CEO predicted profit growth an at investor day conference. Those holdin...

On Wednesday the markets were down for a time but then ended very strong to the upside as the FED signaled that an interest rate hike was not likely imminent.
The S&P 500 was up 1.7% and Toronto was up 0.6%.
Fedex was up 2.7%. Costco reported str...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 1.5% and Toronto was down 1.1%.
Most of the stocks I monitor were down. A notable gainer was Canadian Tire up 1.0% to a hew high of $117.37. That is impressive on a down day. I did not see any special reason for that....

Walmart is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $77.32 (That was Friday's close it closed today at about the same price $77.35). It's not an exciting investment and it is not very likely to deliver double digit returns over the next five to ten years. Bu...

On Friday the S&P 500 gained 1.2% while Toronto was up 0.2%. Almost all of the stocks on my list were up.
Wal-Mart will be updated shortly and most likely rated (lower) Buy. Not an exciting investment but probably a fairly safe one.
Walmart has b...

Visa Inc. is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $212. It was last updated on December 29, 2013 and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $220. It traded above $220 for the first tree months of 2014 and then dipped very briefly under $200 in April and has since been...

On Thursday markets were at one point down more noticeably but ended the day with the S&P 500 unchanged and Toronto down 0.3%.
Agrium was down 2.5% on a warning of lower profits. That does not seem too surprising given that profits had declined i...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down 1.3% and Toronto was down 1.0%. But the S&P is still up 7.3% year to date and Toronto is up 10.3% year to date, so really there is not much to complain about.
Melcor managed a 1.2% gain today although on very...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.1%.
The Canadian dollar is worth 89.15 U.S. cents in the U.S. It remains, as always, worth precisely $1.00 in Canada. A lower dollar benefits Canadian exporters and makes imported things...

On Monday the S&P 500 ended the day down 0.25% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
I added a new short article about Buffett just to document the total return achieved since he took over Berkshire in 1965....

Most subscribers will be aware that this web site is something I work at on a part-time or side-business basis. Starting around next May I expect to devote closer to full time hours to this site and to my investment work in general.
Stantec is update...

My personal portfolio composition is updated. My own portfolio is highly concentrated and not diversified. Somewhat offsetting this is the fact that I have a 23% allocation to cash.
Our Buys and Strong Buys have averaged a gain of 5.9% this year to d...

A down day on Thursday as the S&P 500 fell 1.6% and Toronto fell 1.5%.
It's anyone's guess where the market will head next. My tactic has always been to react to overall market moves rather than predict them. I have an order in to get a bit more ...

Wednesday was a good day for U.S. stocks with the S&P up 0.8%. But Toronto was basically flat.
Toll Brothers did not participate in the rise and instead fell 0.4% even as a report came out that new home sales (deliveries) in August were well abov...

Tuesday saw the S&P 500 down 0.6% while Toronto was flat.
Most stocks fell today. Among the rare winners were Couche-Tard, up 3.3% and Agrium up 2.7% on news that some other fertilizer company was being taken over.
Canadian Western Bank is down t...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.8% and Toronto was down 0.9%.
Stocks on our list that declined included Stantec and Canadian Tire each down 1.9%. Toll Brothers down 3.1% and Liquor Stores N.A. down 3.4%. Toll Brothers shorter term stock price will ...

I have updated my article on the valuation of the S&P 500. The index does appear to be over-valued using conservative (but not pessimistic) assumptions. That is not a prediction of an imminent decline but it does offer reason to be cautious....

On Friday, the S&P 500 was flat but at one point during the day set another record high at 2019. Toronto fell 1.3%.
Wells Fargo hit a new high of $53.80 and closed at $53.36. My figures show that the P/E is 14.2, the price to book value is 1.8, t...

Thursday was a strong day in the U.S. markets with the S&P 500 up 0.5%. Toronto however was up less than 0.1%.
Gainers of particular interest included Bank of America up 1.6% and Berkshire Hathaway up 1.2% and Wells Fargo up 1.4%.
Liquor Stores N...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Toronto fell 0.3%. U.S. markets were slightly buoyed be the FED statement which was basically a stay-the-course statement.
Housing stocks were buoyed by news that homebuilder sentiment was up and by a strong...

Markets rose on Tuesday after reports indicated that the U.S. inflation rate remains subdued which was interpreted as meaning that the FED will not be in a hurry to raise interest rates.
The S&P 500 rose 0.75% and Toronto rose 0.2%.
Canadian Tire...

Monday was not a particularly exciting day in the market, at least not for the stocks I follow.
The S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.3%....

On Friday the S&P 500 was down 0.6% while Toronto was about unchanged.
Toll Brothers was down 1.8% to $33.07. Melcor was down 1.1% to $23.74. That drops the price to book value to 1.0. It is a cyclic company that would suffer if there happens to ...

Canadian Tire is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $115.51. We rated this company a Buy at the start of this year at $99.49 and it is up 16% this year. At the start of 2013 we had rated it (lower) strong Buy at $69.38 and it rose 43%. At the start of ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.4%
Bank of America rose again today, up 1.3% to $16.57.
The Canadian dollar was down close to a cent and that pushes up the value of American stocks when valued in Canadian dollars. Fo...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and Toronto fell 0.4%.
As long-time subscribers know, my approach when the prices of stocks that I own and like fall is usually to add to positions.
Most investors would not do that. And a major reason for that...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.7% while Toronto rose 0.2%.
I picked up some more Melcor shares based on an order I had placed at $24.10. There was a report today that the pace of Canadian home building was down slightly but that the pace in Alber...

Stocks fell on Monday with the S&P 500 down 0.3% and Toronto down 0.4%.
Bank of America was up 2.1%. It should rise in price as it finally puts the the problems of the financial crisis and the resulting litigation behind it (or at least mostly be...

Canadian Western Bank is updated and rated Buy at $40.54. This has been a very well managed bank and been an excellent investment over the years. I made the mistake of selling my shares last August (as detailed at that time) due to concerns about the...

Toll Brothers is updated and is rated Buy at $33.78. It's P/E is still high at about 23 and the ROE is too low at 7.9%. But it is set to continue to increase earnings strongly in the next six to nine months. However with new contracts to sell houses ...

On Thursday stocks were mostly down slightly with the S&P 500 down 0.15% and Toronto down 0.5%.
Costco was up 3.1%to $125 on a strong earnings report (and very strong same-store sales in August). It's another example of a strong and very well man...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down less than 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.25%
Toll Brothers was down 4.7% to $33.95 after it reported earnings this morning. This was a case where a year over year earnings increase of 110% and revenue increase of 53% ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto both ended the day down very slightly less than 0.1%.
FirstService was up 3.8% to $62.00. I had apparently under-rated it at my last look at it in May. I have long said that I really like the management. It has...

Liquor Stores N.A. is updated and rated Sell at $13.37. I mentioned in recent posts that I had pretty much given up on this entity and had sold my shares. With a strong gain in the price in the past two weeks (which gains did not seem based on any ne...

On Thursday the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Melcor was down 3.4% to $25.11. But most of the decline was based on one small trade at the end of the day....

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was flat and and Toronto was down 0.1%.
Stantec was up 1.4%. Melcor was down 1.25% to $25.98 as the interest that had been generated this Summer by the RBC analysis that it was really worth more like $35 has waned. I will...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 rose 0.1% to finish at an even 2000. Toronto also rose 0.1%.
Liquor Stores N.A. rose 5.9%. I did not see any news to justify the recent gain. Presumably some investors have taken a sudden interest.
Tim Hortons rose 8.1% aft...

There is in fact mostly cash involved with the Tim Hortons deal, so it appears selling yesterday would have been pre mature. Still there is a long ways to go before this deal closes. As I speculated in my first post yesterday, Buffett is involved. Th...

There was interesting news yesterday about a proposed Tim Hortons / Burger King merger.
This is far from done and may never happen. It may not be a good deal for Tim Hortons shareholders who will apparently trade a majority stake in Tim Hortons (a wo...

Monday provided an interesting start to the week. The proposed Burger King / Tim Hortons merger is big news taht send both companies stocks up about 20%.
In other trading, the S&P 500 rose 0.5% to 1998. It also briefly rose above 2000 which excit...

On Thursday, Bank of America was up 4.1% as it reached a huge settlement of fines and penalties associated with mortgages from the financial crisis era. I had noted previously that it appears that Bank of America is about finished with these past tro...

FedEx is updated and rated Weak Buy at $149.47. It is an interesting company. It's profit margin is surprisingly low but may mean there is an opportunity for improvement. It could be more aggressive in the use of debt to boost profits. It is projecti...

Markets were positive in Wednesday as the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Toronto rose 0.5%. CN Rail was up 1.6%. Liquor Stores N.A. rose 2.2%
Melcor was down slightly but still remains close to its recent highs and is up about 30% this year....

Tuesday was another good day for our stock picks. The S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.9%.
We had Toll Brothers up 2.2% on news of higher housing starts in the U.S. Liquor Stores N.A. was up 2.2% though that is one I gave up on. FirstServ...

On Monday, the markets got off to a strong start for the week. The S&P 500 was up 0.8% and Toronto was up 0.2%. Toll Brothers was up 1.7%, Visa was up 2.0%. All in all it was a good day for our stock picks....

On Friday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was up 0.1%
I am working now on an update for Fedex. It's a great company but is probably not much of a bargain. But I have not crunched the numbers yet.
Owning equities is always risky or at...

eBay is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $52.64. It's a powerful and relatively fast growing and profitable company. The share price is not cheap at about 22 times earnings. Still, it may be a good investment. I am tempted to buy just a modest am...

On Wednesday the markets were relatively flat.
The next update will be for eBay, it continues to show strong growth.
Much has been made of Stats Canada's error in the July job numbers. I have never believed that things like jobs added or certainly th...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and Toronto rosé 0.2%.
Notable gainers included Berkshire up 1.7% and Toll Brothers up 2.1%.
Melcor was up 1.3% on decent volume.
Element Financial was up 4.2% and that was on top of a good gain yesterday as it ...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 fell 0.2% and Toronto rose 0.1%
Melcor fell 1.5% to $25.61 after being up slightly for much of the day. I am comfortable holding Melcor and I think it will be a good long term investment and that it will be worthwhile buyin...

On Monday the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and Toronto rose 0.4%.
Almost all of our stock picks were up.
I sold most of the rest of my Liquor Stores N.A. shares. I retail a small amount in a tax free savings account. It has been a disappointment. They will ...

Melcor is updated and rated Buy at $25.88.
On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 1.1% and Toronto rose 0.5%.
Toll Brothers was a notable gainer, up 2.7%....

On Thursday, Canadian Tire was up 2.6% as it released strong earnings. Melcor released earnings after the close that were relatively good. Melcor was set to open up slightly this morning. If RBC updates its report on Melcor that could generate some e...

On Wednesday. the S&P 500 and Toronto both closed at approximately the same level as the day before.
Bank of America received permission and raised its dividend from one cent per share to five cents. That is still almost nothing but it is a sign ...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 fell 1.0% and Toronto fell 0.2%
Agrium was up 2.0% which was the highest of the stocks on our list.
This week I am looking forward to Melcor's earnings release on Thursday (probably after the close)...

On Monday, the Canadian markets were closed. New York was open and the S&P 500 rose 0.7%.
Berkshire Hathaway rose 3.1% due to its earnings release. It hit a new all-time high. The A shares traded as high as $195,000. 50 years of compounding growt...

On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% and Toronto fell 0.8%. Constellation software was up 7.3%.
Berkshire Hathaway is updated and rated Buy at $125.83. On Friday I increased my position in Berkshire because the shares were down a bit and I figured th...

On Thursday the S&P 500 was down 2.0% and Toronto was down 1.3%.
For those with an allocation in cash it now may be time to consider if one should begin buying on this dip. And if so how aggressively. Or should one wait for a larger dip. Logicall...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was flat today while Toronto gained 0.5% and rose to a new all-time record.
Canadian Tire was up 1.5%, Canadian Western Bank was up 1.8%, FirstService was up 2.3%. Bank of America was up 1.6%.
I added to my Toll Brothers...

The S&P 500 fell 0.5% apparently due to global tensions (particularly sanctions against Russia) while Toronto was about flat.
American Express reported (after regular hours) a 13% increase in earnings per share and rose slightly in after-hours tr...

On Monday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were relatively unchanged.
Liquor Stores N.A. was up 1.8% to $11.42. I probably should use the recent gains to reduce my position in this stock. I consider it speculative and my opinion of the company has deteri...

On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% while Toronto rose 0.4%.
Melcor declined 1.9% to $25.14. It will report earnings on August 7. With this company I am certainly more inclined to buy on dips than to sell.
Canadian National Railway is updated and ra...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each about unchanged.
However Toll Brothers fell 4.1% as some other home builder companies reported heavy use of incentives to sell more houses. Also recent reports indicated some slowing in new home sale...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 crawled a little closer to 2000, up 0.2% at 1987. That right around 200% higher than its March 6, 2009 low of 667.
Toronto was up 0.5% to a new record high.
Toll Brothers was up 1.4% today.
Bombardier announced layoffs a...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.5% and set a within the trading day record. It's very close to 2000. In theory there is absolutely nothing special about 2000. In practice a bunch of traders will take that as either a buy or a sell signal and gener...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.1%. So far, it seems that the market is only moderately concerned about recent world events.
I added modestly to my Bank of America position today. If the U.S. economy continues its slow...

Bombardier perpetual preferred shares are updated and rated Buy for fixed income at $22.05. The dividend at just over 7% is attractive. But there are risks. The company is relatively weak financially. Perpetual shares will fall precipitously if long ...

Bank of America is updated and rated Speculative (higher) Buy at $15.49. I believe now may be a good time to buy these shares. Its reported earnings are predicted to rise sharply as it puts the settlements related to the mortgage issues of the financ...

I (very) rarely ever call and speak to company executives. I prefer the results to speak for themselves I prefer not to become friendly with management as that can make me less objective. Also executives will almost invariably paint a rosy picture.
T...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 1.0% and Toronto rose 0.4%.
Most of our stock picks rose as well.
Alimentation Couche-Tard is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $29.29. It's a fantastic company. One of the very best managed large companies in Canada. A...

On Thursday the S&P 500 was down 1.2% and Toronto was down 0.1%. This was apparently driven by the downed air plane.
Most of our stocks were down...
My strategy is to ignore events like this.
I am tempted to buy some more Bank of America shares....

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and Toronto was up 1.0%.
Toll Brothers was up 2.3% as new home builder sentiment improved.
Bank of America fell 2.0% as it released earnings that wer a mixture of good and bad items. Overall it appears that Ban...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% and Toronto fell 0.6%
In part, the Toronto market has fallen with lower oil prices as oil was down under $100. Thought it is just above $100 at the moment.
Liquor Stores N.A. fell a bit more. It announced after t...

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.5% and Toronto rose 0.3%.
Liquor Stores N.A. was down 1.8%. Of my own investments this is the one I worry about. Historically they had done well. I had thought their size gave them advantages over smaller players. Bu...

My personal portfolio composition is updated. With the rise in Melcor, I am certainly dangerously concentrated in that stock. I have an order in to begin trimming that if it hits $27.95. I expect it to release a good earnings report for Q2 and I susp...

On Friday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were little changed, each up about 0.1%.
Wells Fargo is updated and rated Buy at $51.40. Due partly to its price rise (up 13% this year to date), I am no longer rating this a Strong Buy. It's still considered a ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.7%.
Melcor had a good day and was up 1.6% to a new multi-year high at $27.40. Back in 2007, this stock briefly was around $30. But back then it did not deserve to be that high. Today i...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto each rose 0.5%
Most of our stocks were up. The biggest gainer was Element Financial, up 3.5%.
I plan to dedicate time for updates the full week starting July 19. Until then I won't likely have any updates (po...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.7% and Toronto was down 0.2%.
Almost all of our stock picks were down.
However, Costco was up 1.0% and Walmart rose 0.8%. Costco always seems expensive but is a great company and I would like to buy it at some point...

On Monday the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Most of our stock picks were down. After so many positive days this tiny decline does not seem like anything to complain about.
The market's direction this week will likely depend on ...

On Friday, the U.S. markets were closed. Toronto rose 0.05%.
This week, the S&P 500 companies will start to report Q3 earnings, although most will report closer to the end of July. Canadian results will not start for about two weeks.
Hopefully, t...

On Thursday the S&P 500 as well as the DOW set new records before closing early for tomorrow's holiday. Toronto was about flat.
The Canadian dollar has risen to about 94 cents U.S. from lows of 89 and 90 cents earlier this year. And back in Janua...

Wednesday was a positive day on the markets as the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
Melcor was unchanged at $26.50 but had 124,000 shares traded. This included a 100,000 share traded that was likely a "block trade" between two institu...

On Monday, the TSX was up 0.3%. The S&P 500 was flat.
On Tuesday, the Toronto market was closed and the S& P gained 0.7% and made a new record closing high.
Melcor was up 0.6% to $26.50 on Monday. It had just over 30,000 shares traded which i...

On Friday the S&P 500 rose 0.2%and Toronto rose 0.4%. Most stocks on our list were up including Constellation Software, up 3.2%.
Agrium is added to the list above as a new stock pick rated Speculative Buy at CAN $98.05 and U.S. $91.89. I call it ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.4%.
Melcor was down 2.6% to $26.22 on good volume (by the standards of this thinly traded stock).
I finally entered an order tonight to sell about 10% of my Melcor shares if they shoul...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.1%.
It was a strong day for Melcor, which rose 2.0% to $26.93 on higher-than-normal volume. Melcor announced today that it would redeem some convertible bonds that it has outstanding whic...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 1.0%.
However, some of our stocks did well, Canadian Western bank up 1.5%, Toll Brothers up 1.2%.
I neglected to mention that on Friday my order to buy back some of the Canadian Tire shar...

On Monday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were both about flat.
There was nothing too exciting happening with our Stock Picks today.
Currently I am reading a book that traces the history of commerce back about 5000 years. According to this book trading ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Toronto was about flat.
Wells Fargo rose 1.7%. Wells Fargo has been a great investment. It was first added to this site very near the bottom of the stock market in February 2009. It was rated highly speculativ...

On Thursday the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Toronto was about unchanged.
Constellation Software was up 2.5% and Element Financial was up 3.4%
Melcor was down 0.9% and its volume was closer to its old normal. Almost everyone owning this has made exvelle...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was up 0.8% and Toronto was up 0.3%. Both gains wee after statements from the FED about interest rates rising relatively modestly were taken as positive.
Melcor edged up another 1.4%. Obviously it can't rise everyday and ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.1%
Those who don't own it may tire of hearing about Melcor but it managed another 1.2 % today. Volume was 25,000 shares. At that level it would trade 6.25 million shares a year. It has 33 m...

On Monday the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.3%
Melcor rose 4.0% on the continued effect (or affect?) of the RBC report on Friday. But really the volume, although a good bit higher than normal, is still quite low and for that reason the...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and Toronto rose 0.6%.
Similarly, most of our stock picks were up.
There was an interesting development for Melcor on Friday. RBC Capital markets has initiated overage with a rating of outperform and a $35.00 pric...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 0.7% and Toronto rose 0.1%.
Fedex fell 2.5%, possibly because oil prices rose.
I am pretty much holding tight, not buying and not selling though I do have an order in for some Canadian Tire at $101.50 and it got down...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.1%.
Alimentation Couche-Tard was up 2.8%. Canadian Tire was down 1.6% to $103.55. I still own some in a taxable account but had sold most of what I owned (all in registered accounts) a...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was up 0.2%
There were no particularly notable moves in our stock picks.
I am cognizant that there have been few updates lately or new companies added to the list. I plan to work to change t...

Monday was a positive day in the markets as the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Toronto rose 0.2%
My own portfolio took a hit due to Melcor being down 2.3%. But that is not something that bothers me given the recent gains in that company. I suspect it will...

On Friday the S&P 500 rose 0.5% and Toronto rose 0.3%
Canadian Western Bank was up 3.1% and American Express was up 2.3%
Last week I purchased data from the TMX group (data that used to be free) so that I could check the P//E ratios and yields of...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.6% and Toronto was about unchanged.
I did not note any dramatic moves in our stock picks.
The European central bank will charge banks 0.1% to keep money on deposit at the central back. I don't pretend to have a gre...

Toll Brothers is updated and rated Buy at $36.01. As the report indicates its earnings are still too low but they are recovering very rapidly. This still seems to be a reasonable play on the long-term recovery of the U.S. housing market. I first adde...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0/2% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
I added to my Toll Brothers position today based on the update posted earlier today.
The reference article on the valuation of the Toronto stock index is updated. I had to purchase th...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was up 0.4%
There as a new issue of "split shares" stocks and debt today form a company called. NewGrowth Corp. That's interesting, a company with a name that contains absolutely no clue abo...

On Monday , the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.1%
FirstService was up 3.1% on news of an acquisition it is making.
Element Financial was down 2.6% on news it is making a large acquisition. It also has a new issue out for subscription re...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Toronto rose 0.1%
Melcor closed up 0.6% at $25.00 and is up 25% this year.
The next update will be for Toll Bothers. My preliminary analysis indicates it will be rated Buy at its recent price of $36.22. As its...

On Thursday the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.2%.
None of our stocks moved much. Today may have been my chance to buy back some Canadian Tire as it hit a low of $102.26 before ending the day up 0.7% at $103.97. I have now placed an o...

This morning it is Bank of Montreal out with an offering of five year rate reset non-cumulative preferred shares at 3.9%. It is probably a decent alternative to cash but you have to be willing to hold for five years. You could sell any time but it wo...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Toll Brothers rose 2.1% after releasing strong second quarter earnings.
Onex (which we had rated only a Speculative Weak Buy at $62.00 rose 4.3% to $67.70 after releasing earnings....

On Tuesday the S&P 500 rose 0.6% to a new closing record high. Toronto fell 0.4%.
American Express rose 2.9% to $91.39. Constellation Software rose 3.1%. and Bank of America rose 3.4%.
Wells Fargo continues to rise and was up 0.8% to $50.55.
This...

On Monday the U.S. markets were closed for the Memorial Day holiday. Toronto rose marginally (0.05%)....

FirstService is updated but remains rated Weak Sell / Hold at U.S. $48.77 or Canadian $52.91.
In many ways I like the company and its management. But it has a number of accounting complexities. Also even on an adjusted earnings basis the trailing P/E...

On Thursday the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Toronto rose 0.4%.
Toll Brothers rose 2.0%. It will release its Q2 earnings next week.
I am considering adding to my Wells Fargo position and Boston Pizza. But I may wait and see what else turns up....