Markets crumbled somewhat on Tuesday ad the Fed chair signaled that the U.S. Fed funds rate would ultimately be going higher than previously thought. The S&P 500 was down 1.5% and Toronto 1.2%. Aecon was strong once again with a 4.4% gain.  I hav...

The report on AutoCanada is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $20.62. Its profits were down in Q4 despite higher revenues. Margins on new and used vehicles had been unusually high during much of 2021 and 2022 due to shortages of vehicles. But that ha...

On Monday markets started out stronger but closed with the S&P 500 up 0.1% and Toronto down 0.3%. Aecon Group was up another 2.9%.  lululemon was down 3.9% AutoCanada was down another 7.8%. Clearly, the market did not like its Q4 results. I am no...

Aecon Group is a huge construction / infrastructure company. They do enormous projects including the new Gordie Howe bridge (Windsor / Detroit), large LRT projects, pipeline construction and much more.  Aecon's profits have recently been abysmally lo...

The recent problems loading this site are caused by the web site hosting company. Yesterday only the home page would load and it was giving an error code [CFN #0005] that I have never seen before. This morning the site is loading quickly and properly...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up a healthy 0.8% and Toronto was up 0.4% Canadian Western Bank was down 5.5% as I commented earlier today. After the close, Costco reported earnings and same-store revenue growth was weaker than analysts hoped. Foer ...

Canadian Western Bank shares are down close to 5% after reporting Q1 fiscal 2023 earnings. Earnings were good but revenue was down. Credit losses were not a problem. It's no surprise that net interest revenue would be down. We all know we are getting...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down 0.5% while Toronto was up 0.2%. Aecon was up 8.4% after announcing better earnings and announcing it is selling a business in Ontario. I still think their profits are far too low but I need to go through the late...

Markets drifted lower on Tuesday with the S&P 500 down 0.3% and Toronto down 0.2%. Aecon Group (the big construction company) was down 2.6%. Then it reported better-tan-expected earnings after the close. This has been a disappointing business. Th...

On Monday, the S&P 500 started off strong but ended the day up just 0.3% and Toronto was up a similar 0.2%. There were no notable moves for any of the individual stocks on my watch list. Warren Buffett's latest annual letter came out on Saturday....

On Thursday, the S&P 500 ended the day up 0.5% while Toronto was about unchanged. Stantec was up 9.3% after releasing Q4 earnings and a strong outlook for 2023. As a side point, it would be a great thing is Turkey started using reputable engineer...

Markets down but only quite modestly today. The S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.3%.  Toll Brothers was strong after its very strong reported earnings release and conference call with a 3.0% gain. And this was despite its contracted h...

Markets were quite weak on Tuesday as the S&P 500 fell 2.0% and Toronto fell 1.3%. For the reasons I explained earlier today - the market is taking notice of higher long-term interest rates. Given this decline, almost everything on our list was d...

The report for this Enbridge Rate Reset preferred share is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $16.56. I know, I know, this one and almost all rate reset preferred shares have been heart breakers. They do pay their dividends as promised but many like t...

I'm not surprised that markets are down today (S&P 500 down 1.6% and Toronto 1.0%). I believe I have mentioned that stocks markets have been slow to react the the very recent increases in longer term interest rates which has occurred becasue the ...

Stocks edged lower on Friday on continued concerns about just how high interest rates will go as the FED and other central banks raise rates to cool the economy in order to fight inflation. The S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.4%. Tol...

Our report on Dollarama is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $79.55. Dollarama has been a fantastic investment and is a fantastic business. At 31 times earnings it is not cheap. Still I was tempted to rate is a bit higher because of its track reco...

On Thursday markets fell as stock markets started to get the message that the interest rate hikes may go somewhat higher than recently hoped. I mentioned yesterday that I expected markets to turn attention to that. The S&P 500 was down 1.4% and T...

It's RRSP season until March 1. RRSP's sometimes get a lot of bad press. But they are still a great choice in some cases and Spousal RRSPs can be a fantastic choice in some cases.  But back to the bad press... Those now withdrawing RRSP funds in reti...

Stocks managed a small gain on Wednesday with the S&P 500 up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.1%. Shopify was notable with a 6.9% gain. But it then came out with earnings after the close disclosing a large loss but with revenues up 27%. The stock was do...

Markets were a bit confused as to how to react to the U.S. inflation report that came out this morning. At the end of the day the report was not too different than expected and markets ended the day virtually unchanged. Toll Brothers was featured on ...

On Monday stock markets were strong. The S&P 500 was up 1.4% and Toronto was up 0.4%. It was another good day to be an owner of stocks. I sold some Toll Brothers today.  As mentioned yesterday, its earnings are basically certain to be lower in 20...

Toll Brothers is updated and rated Weak Sell / Hold at $58.47. This is a very tough company to rate at the moment. Trailing earnings are at record levels with a 21% ROE and the the stock is trading at just 1.1 times book value and 5.8 times trailing ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.1%. Fortis Inc. was up 3.3% after reporting year-end earnings. AutoCanada was down 5.1% giving back some of its recent gains. This may have been linked to a weak report from Magna.  ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.9% and Toronto was down 0.4%. Earlier hopes that the end of the hikes in U.S. interest rates was very near have begun to fade. Long-term interest rates have edged up after having declined in recent months. Came...

Markets declined on Wednesday with the S&P 500 down 1.1% and Toronto down 0.2%. Toll Brothers was down 2.6%. Toll brothers will be my next update. The company remains optimistic about the future although fully recognising the current slower marke...

Markets were initially lower on Tuesday but ended the day higher on talk that inflation might be heading down. The S&P 500 was up 1.3% and Toronto was up 0.5%. TFI International was up 6.8% after releasing Q4 earnings.  After the close, West Fras...

Markets declined modestly on Monday as long-term interest yields were on the rise.  The S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.6%.  Most stocks were down on the day. But what a start it has been to this new year. After losing ground in 2022 our Buy...

The report on Visa Inc. is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $230. This is a fantastic company and despite the high P/E ratio of 29 it may still be a good investment at this price. I'm holding a reasonable allocation to VISA and have no plans to sell....

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 1.0% because the huge January job gains at 517,000 net new jobs stoked fears that the end of the interest rate hikes is no so nigh after all. Toronto managed a gain of 0.1%. Starbucks was down 4.4% as its China sal...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 1.5% while Toronto was about unchanged. Meta (Facebook)rocketed up 23% after its earnings announcement and outlook.  I rarely comment on companies I have not recently analysed but I did mention on January 11 Meta (...

The Toronto stock index was down 0.1% on Wednesday. But the U.S. market rose after the FED raised interest rates by 0.25% (not as high as some feared)m and apparently indicted that the end of the rate hikes was possibly in sight but that two more inc...

Tuesday was a strong day in the markets. The S&P 500 was up 1.5% and Toronto was up 0.95%. AutoCanada was notable with a 7.5% gain today. FedEx and toll Brothers were each up 5.3%. Overall, the gains is January were very strong with the S&P 5...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 1.3% and Toronto was down 0.7%. It seems that most "tech" stocks were down. Shopify was down 5.2%. Cameco was up 1.2% and has been strong lately for reasons that I am not familiar with. (Probably higher uranium pri...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.25% and Toronto was up 0.1%. American Express ended the day up 10.5% after predicting better growth in 2023. VISA was up 3.0%. I was reading the first part of their annual report today. This is an extremely powerfu...

The report on Enbridge is updated and rated Buy at $54.53.  I spent a lot of time reading its annual report. It has an almost dizzying list of oil and gas pipelines and some windmill assts. This a massive company. It does not appear to have made many...

Thursday's session saw the S&P 500 up another 1.1% and Toronto up 0.5%. West Fraser Timber for whatever reason was up 8.0%. It may be that the various timber companies have sort of shared the plant shutdowns around (quietly and without officially...

With market up so strongly this month and again today, my thoughts turn to trimming some positions to build cash and to ultimately move more money into more predictable stocks. We've seen a number of strong rallies since the early Summer of last year...

First, a comment about spam and dangerous emails. I think we are all aware that the spammer are getting more sophisticated. If you ever see an email purportedly from investorsfriend with an attachment or a PDF it is almost certainly fake. If in doubt...

The Bank of Canada raised its interest rate this morning by 0.25% to 4.5% and apparently signaled that it's likely done raising rates. Directionally, that is good news for stock prices and longer term rates are coming down in reaction to the news. Bu...

Markets were Quiet on Tuesday with the S&P 500 up 0.1% and Toronto essentially unchanged. We are now in the thick of Q4 earnings reports for U.S. companies and a few early-bird Canadian companies have also reported. After the close CN Rail report...

Monday, was another strong day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 1.2% and Toronto up 0.6%. Shopify was up an impressive 8.9%. Costco was up 2.6% which is a reasonably big move for that company. Canadian Western Bank was up 1.9%. It's nice to enj...

Friday was a strong day in the markets  with the S&P 500 up a hefty 1.9% and Toronto up 0.8%. Shopify was up 5.6%. Visa Inc. was up 1.8% to $224.31. It's up 8% since January 1 and about 12% since I updated it as a Buy on December 22 at $201. That...

Thursday's action saw the S&P 500 down 0.8% but Toronto was down only 0.2%. lululemon was down 3.2%. No surprise that markets are having a couple of down days. But look at long-term interest rates, they are still falling. (Good news for my VBAL i...

Note that you can also follow InvestorsFriend Inc. on Facebook (see link at the top of every page here). I'm more active on the InvestorsFriend Facebook page lately. Just go there and hit follow if you don't already follow it. Markets are down modest...

It seems I neglected to make my usual comment yesterday. Well, The S&P 500 was pretty flat yesterday and Toronto was down modestly. But today, Wednesday the markets had a down day after being up almost everyday in January. The S&P 500 was dow...

U.S. markets were closed on Monday for the martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Toronto was up just 0.15% on the day. Apparently, the next thing to worry about is the U.S. debt ceiling crisis. They go down to the wire with this thing every few years and o...

I've been mentioning VBAL as a Buy including in the newsletter dated December 5. I therefore put it in the table of stocks as a Buy. It's a good default position to provide diversification. It got hammered last year because it includes an allocation ...

The report on Couche-Tard is updated and rated Buy at $63.36. What an incredible company this has been for decades! I weep about the times I sold it at a good profit only to miss out on larger gains. Such is life. More and more I am learning that the...

Markets edged up again on Friday. The S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.7%. Shopify was up 6.1%. Next week the market starts to turn its attention to the first of the Q4 2022 earnings releases including the big banks. Some such as J.P. Mor...

Markets pushed a little higher once again today with the S&P 500 up 0.3% and Toronto up 0.9%. The optimism may continue until and unless there is a sign that inflation is not being slayed and / or that the Fed will continue to raise interest rate...

Wednesday was another positive day in the markets apparently based on hopes for or signs of (modestly) lower inflation.  This positivity could increase or reverse course tomorrow as the U.S. December inflation report is due out tomorrow. (Let's all c...

Markets crawled a little higher on Tuesday with the S&P 500 up 0.7% and Toronto up 0.2%. lululemon recovered somewhat with a 3.2% gain. After the close West Fraser Timber announced it would curtail a lumber mill int he U.S. Probably will be a ver...

Markets ended Monday relatively flat with the S&P 500 down 0.1% and Toronto up 0.2%. Rate reset preferred shares were mostly higher once again. lululemon was down 9.3% after reporting lower margins. I don't think anyone who sees hpw busy their st...

Markets were very strong on Friday with the the S&P 500 up a hefty 2.3% and Toronto up 1.7%. A softer U.S. jobs report and some signs of easing inflation apparently led to hopes that the interest rate hikes are nearly done.  Costco was up 7.3% ba...

Thursday's action saw the S&P 500 down 1.2% and Toronto down 0.4% Canadian Western Bank was up 2.8% and has a good recovery from recent lows. Most of the rate reset shares that I track were up modestly. After the close, Costco came out with their...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.75%. Starbucks was up 3.8%. Rate reset preferred shares were up 2 to 4 percentage points in most cases....

On this first trading day of 2023 the S&P 500 was down 0.4% while Toronto was up 0.3%. Canadian Tire was strong with a 3.6% gain. Apple was down 3.7%.  Not too much happening in the markets today, and that can be a good thing....

Apple Inc. is returned to the list as of January 1, 2023 rated Buy. I had added Apple to the list here back on January 24, 2019 After that the price soared over the following three years peaking at the end of 2021. The stock also split four for one. ...

On Friday the S&P 500 was down 0.25% and Toronto was down 0.5%. For the year, the S&P 500 was down 19.4% and Toronto was down 8.7%. I believe the stocks that are currently rated in the Buy or Strong Buy range in our table will do well in 2023...

Our report on the Canadian Western Bank preferred shares CWB.PR.B is updated and rated Strong Buy at $17.00. These rate reset preferred shares have generally been heart-breakers for investors.  But when bought at large discounts to their $25 issue pr...

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For the first few comments of 2023 see the top of the subscriber Home page as the comment page for 2023 is not yet set up. Markets rose on this second-last trading day of 2022. The S&P 500 was up 1.75% and Toronto was up 1.05%.  ...

A rate reset preferred share issued by Brookfield Office Properties Inc. (BPO.PR.G) is added to the site and rated (higher) Buy at $18.86 as it yields 8.68% and will not reset for another 4.5 years. Brookfield Office Properties Ltd. is a subsidiary o...

Wednesday was another negative day in the markets. The S&P 500 was down 1.2% and Toronto as down 1.1%. Almost all the stocks I monitor were down today. Tomorrow I am adding a rate reset preferred share to the list. BPO.PR.G issued by Brookfield O...

Our report on American Express is updated and rated (lower) Strong Buy at $147. (It's at $145 as I write this). American Express is a high quality company that is growing its earnings at a strong rate. The current price is a reasonable opportunity to...

On Tuesday, the Toronto stock exchange was closed while the S&P 500 was down 0.4%. On Friday, there was a press release from the Melcor REIT and one from Melcor Developments. The markets are obviously ending the year on a weak note. The good news...

Markets were weak again on Thursday. It seems the market is giving back gains from this Fall that were mostly based on the wishful thinking that interest rate hikes were very soon to end. The S&P 500 was down 1.45% and Toronto was down 1.1%. Almo...

Canada's population growth in 2022 is absolutely epic. A lot of it due to non-permanent residents from Ukraine. But many of them will stay and in any case they are here right now. The population increase in the first 9 months of 2022 was over 3/4 of ...

Markets rebounded on Wednesday. Apparently, this was partly due to good earnings from Nike. And probably bargain hunting after several weak days. The S&P 500 was up 1.5% and Toronto was up 1.4%.  lululemon was up 3.1%. RioCan was up 3.4%.  I was ...

AutoCanada is updated and rated Strong Buy at $22.22. While the stock is down a lot this year, the company has been doing very well. There are always risks but this stock appears to be very cheap on a price to earnings basis. Back around 2017 this co...

Markets were modestly positive on Tuesday as the S&P 500 rose 0.10% and Toronto rose 0.45%. AutoCanada was down 3.9% to $22.35. This will be my next update and I will likely rate it Strong Buy based on its very low price / earnings ratio of 4.9 a...

Monday was another negative day in the markets with the S&P 500 down 0.9% and Toronto down 1.25%. AutoCanada was down 7.8%. Coincidentally, it will be my next update and I expect to rate it a Strong Buy. They have doing very well in terms of earn...

Markets were weak again on Friday with the S&P 500 down 1.1% and Toronto down 0.8%. I had been mentioning that the gains in recent months seemed to be based on wishful thinking that the FED interest rate hikes would soon end. Now the market is fa...

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust is updated and rated Buy at $21.07. This is a relatively lower risk investment but it is also not a very high ROE investment. It has a great portfolio of properties with 53% located in metro Toronto and almost all ...

Yesterday I suggested that markets were more likely to decline by the end of December rather than rally. Today the market agreed, as the S&P 500 was down  a hefty 2.5% and Toronto was down 1.5%. Costco was down 4.1% to $464. Still not cheap but I...

On Wednesday the markets were a bit unsure how to react to the FED rate increase of 50 basis points (as expected) and the indication that the the FED rate will likely rise somewhat higher than previously expected. The S&P 500 ended the day down 0...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was initially up sharply as U.S. inflation came in slightly lower than expected. The rally then fizzled but then rallied back somewhat and at the end of the day the S&P 500 was up 0.7% and Toronto was about unchanged. ...

On Monday the S&P 500 was up 1.4% while Toronto was up 0.4%. I'm surprised that the price of Western Canadian Select is not even lower given the Keystone line shutdown. I had understood it carried 600,000 barrels a day which would now be backing ...

Friday's action saw the S&P 500 down 0.7% and Toronto down just 0.1%. Costco was initially down 2.3% due to its earnings report not quite meeting expectations. But at the end of the day the stock was about unchanged. It's hard to keep such a stro...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.75% while Toronto was about unchanged. After the close several companies reported or had news: Costco reported and the reaction after hours was moderately negative. lululemon reported with strong earnings but low...

Wednesday was another modestly negative day for stocks with the S&P 500 down 0.2% and Toronto down 0.1%. Toll Brothers was a winner with a strong 7.75% gain after its earnings release. Given the negative sentiment in housing it may be difficult f...

The report on Andrew Peller is updated but rated Weak Sell / hold at $5.06 This report was not due for an update yet but I wanted to update it because I am going to be talking by phone to their CEO, John Peller. This seems to be a sad case of a compa...

Markets continued to slide modestly on Tuesday with the S&P 500 down 1.4% and Toronto down 1.25%. After the close, Toll Brothers reported its Q4 and fiscal year results. They had a VERY profitable Q4 and fiscal 2022. But the market has now soften...

Markets were lower on Monday. That's not surprising given that markets had risen so much in the  past seven weeks based mostly on hopes for an end to the increases in interest rates. The S&P 500 was down 1.8% and Toronto as down 1.2%. Checking in...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.2%. Canadian Western Bank was disappointing with a 4.5% decline despite Q4 earnings that apparently met expectations. It appears that the bank is pointing to better days ahead but that m...

Markets were relatively quiet on Thursday with the S&P 500 down 0.1% and Toronto up 0.35%. Shopify was up another 5.5% Costco got spanked down 6.6% after its weak October report on same-store sales growth. I had thought that Canadian Western Bank...

Well, wow! It was quite a strong day in the markets indeed with the S&P 500 up a hefty 3.1% and Toronto up 0.9%. As I listed to FED Chair Jerome Powell earlier today, I heard him say that once rates do get to some terminal rate, they would be sta...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was down 0.4% while Toronto was up 0.4%. So, not a lot of movement. In Canada, the big news was that Royal Bank (RBC) was buying HSBC Canada (subject to regulatory approval) for $13.5 billion. This was considered a very hig...

It was not surprising to see that markets were down on Monday. The markets have been quite optimistic lately and that makes them vulnerable to any bad news. Today, the concern seemed to be mostly about COVID lockdowns in China (slowing that economy) ...

Friday was a quiet day in the markets with the S&P 500 about unchanged and Toronto up 0.2%. Monday appears set to open with a market decline due to concerns about unrest in China. On Tuesday we will get the first of the Q4 earnings reports from C...

With the U.S. markets closed for the holiday, Toronto gained 0.3% on Thursday. Canadian Tire was up 2.0%.  According to CBC radio, Alberta at noon, Albertan's are facing long waits when wanting to buy the most popular vehicles such at the Toyota Rav ...

Wednesday was another positive day in the markets as the S&P 500 rose 0.6% and Toronto rose 0.3%. Toll Brothers was up 2.6% as New Home Sales in the U.S. unexpectedly rose modestly in October versus September. Shopify was strong with a 4.1% gain....

Markets were strong on Tuesday with the S&P 500 up 1.4% and Toronto up 1.2%. The market seems to be more confident that the end is nigh for the interest rate hikes. If that turns out to be wishful thinking then we could certainly see a market dec...

Markets were down modestly on Monday with the S&P 500 down 0.4% but Toronto was about unchanged. West Fraser Group was up 3.4% and has held up very well in the face of lower home construction.  Home Capital was in the news today with a take-over ...

Grocer / Pharmacy chain Metro inc. is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $76.67. (It closed slightly higher than that today) It's a high quality company that could be bought and held for the very long term. ...

Melcor Developments has a share buyback program and has been buying back shares regularly. However, due to its very thin trading liquidity it is limited to buying just 1281 shares per day on the open market. This is a very tiny amount. It's welcome b...

On Friday, markets did well as the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.5%. This will likely be a fairly slow week for stock market news since the Q3 earnings reporting season is largely over. The next FED interest rate change is not until mid Dece...

Markets were down on Thursday with the S&P 500 down 0.3% and Toronto down 0.4%. I'm not surprised to see markets down since the recent gains were based on some pretty thin evidence that inflation is starting to cool and therefore the hope that th...

My last update of Dollarama was January 27, 2021 where it was rated (lower) Buy at $50.77 and I indicated it was a quality company and that I was buying some. Dollarama is a great company but is not cheap. Currently I am rating it Weak Buy / Hold at ...

Not surprisingly, markets gave back some ground on Wednesday. The S&P 500 was down 0.8% and Toronto was down 0.2%. But Restaurant Brands was up 7.0% after posting higher than expected earnings and announcing that it has hired the ex-CEO of Domino...

Markets were higher Tuesday morning due to the news of slight drip in the producer price index (a measure of inflation) in the U.S. Then news broke that the Russians had apparently (and hopefully accidentally) fires two missiles into Poland near the ...

On Monday, markets were positive for most of the day but turned negative later in the day. The S&P 500 and Toronto were both down 0.9%. Canadian Tire was down 6.3% after a similar sized gain on Friday. There may have been more focus on what the l...

On Friday, stocks surprisingly added to Thursday's big gains with the S&P 500 up 0.9% and Toronto up 0.9% Shopify was up 7.6%. Canadian Tire was up 7.3% as analysts decided its Q3 report was not too bad despite lower earnings than Q3 2021. Earnin...

The report on Melcor developments is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $10.90.  This has been a disappointing company and investment for many years now. But it is yielding 5.5% and trades at a seemingly ridiculously low price to book value of just 0....

The report on the Melcor REIT is updated and rated Buy at $5.59. The cash yield is very attractive at 8.6%. And they have had good success in leasing space such that the occupancy level improved in Q3 and is set to improve again by Q1. On the other h...

Stocks soared on Thursday and the U.S. inflation report came in slightly lower than expected. The hope is that inflation is now trending down and that the FED can begin to ease off on its interest rate hikes. Possibly the FED will raise 50 basis poin...

Markets were down on Wednesday. Possibly this was due to the market being disappointed that he Republicans did not do a bit better.  Also there was really no good reason for the markets to have risen in the past week in the face of coming higher inte...

Tuesday was another positive day as the S&P 500 and Toronto both gained 0.6%. After the close, FedEx revealed that package volumes are running below projections and blamed this on e-commerce sales reverting to physical retail as the pandemic ebbs...

The market seems to want to sort of forget about last week's bad news that interest rates will go even higher than recently expected by next Spring. On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 1.0% and Toronto was up 0.5%. Companies are still taking over other...

Fortis Inc. is updated and rated Buy at Canadian $53.35 or U.S. $39.63. It's been almost two years since I last updated this in January 2021. But not much has changed. The price is almost the same as it was then although in the mean time it had risen...

On Friday the markets seemed to have trouble reacting to the strong jobs report in the U.S. (and Canada although markets primarily key off the U.S). A strong jobs report is good except it would signal the FED to keep raising interest rates even highe...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 1.1%. That was not surprising as the market is glum about the FD chair's statement yesterday that interest rates have to climb somewhat higher than he had previously thought. Toronto was down 0.2%. Restaurant Bra...

Markets fell hard on Wednesday with the S&P 500 down 2.5% and Toronto down 1.2%. This came after the Federal Reserve Bank in the U.S. raised interest rated buy 0.75% and, mor importantly, indicated that rates were going to ultimately have to go s...

I neglected to make my usual daily comment yesterday. My apologies to anyone who looked for it. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% while Toronto was up 0.5%. AutoCanada was up 4.9%.  In the U.S. the jobs market remains tight and a report today...

Cameco, the big uranium miner is added to our list but rated only Highly Speculative Weak Buy at $32.99. I wanted to take a look at Cameco because the nuclear power generation business appears to be on the upswing as a solution to getting to net zero...

Friday's market nicely capped off a strong week for equities. On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 2.5% and Toronto was up 0.6%. Apple Inc. was a stand-out today with a 7.6% gain. By far, most stocks were up today. But TFI International was down 6.0% af...

Thursday's  action saw the S&P 500 down 0.6% but Toronto was up 0.4%. Shopify was up a hefty 17.1% after releasing Q3 earnings. Amazon was out with earnings after the close and is down a further 12% in after-hours trading Meta (formerly facebook)...

U.S. markets were down on Wednesday due to weakness in the big "tech" stocks. The S&P 500 was down 0.7%. In Canada, the Toronto stock index was up 1.0% after the Bank of Canada raised interest rated by 0.50% rather than the expected 0.75%. This s...

Tuesday was a positive day in the markets as the S&P 500 rose 1.6% and Toronto was up 0.9%. lululemon was up a hefty 7.7%. Toll Brothers was up 4.3%. After the close, CN Rail released very strong Q3 results and raised their outlook for the full y...

On Monday the S&P 500 was up 1.2% and Toronto was up 0.3%. Costco was up 3.9%. TFI International was up 4.2%.  Starbucks was down a hefty 5.5% due to its heavy presence in China after the Chinese leader consolidated his power over the weekend and...

Markets were surprisingly strong on Friday with the S&P 500 up 2.4% and Toronto up 1.5%. Markets  may continue to drift down with higher interest rates as well as lower growth in earnings. We know that short-term interest rates are still rising. ...

On Thursday, markets started out higher but ended the day with the S&P 500 down 0.8% and Toronto down 0.5%. TFI International has held up well this year but today was down 4.9%. Despite the housing slowdown caused by higher interest rates, Toll B...

On Wednesday, markets gave back some of the gains of Monday and Tuesday. The S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.7%. Toll Brothers was down 5.1%. AutoCanada was down 6.8%. It's been a very volatile stock. But it is well managed and I suspect it ...

On Tuesday, stock markets managed t a second day of gains with the S&P 500 up 1.1% and Toronto up 0.95%. After the close, Netflix released results that exceeded expectations and this could provide support for stocks on Wednesday. I notice that th...

Our report on Aecon Group is updated and rated Weak Sell / Hold at $9.96. Possibly it should be rated Sell but I am reluctant to rate it Sell at the low share price. The company enjoys growing revenue but faces a number of headwinds. Most notably cos...

Monday featured a welcome rally in stock prices after Bank of America posted strong earnings growth. The S&P 500 was up 2.65% and Toronto was up 1.6%. Almost all the stocks that I monitor were up on the day. After the close, I saw that TD Direct ...

It was not too surprising that markets on Friday gave back most of Thursday's big gaisn. That's because the gains on Thursday really seemed to have come for "no particular reason". In any case the S&P 500 was down 2.4% ad Toronto was down 1.5%. O...

Our report on CN Rail is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $148.60 or US $107. CN is truly a great company and has been extremely well run. Despite having been very profitable for many years they are always striving to increase profits. They constantl...

The report on lululemon is updated adn rated Speculative Buy at U.S. $296 (it has slipped to about $289 as I post this). It remains an expensive stock and is pricing in strong growth. But it has a history of strong growth and it has set out ambitious...

On Thursday, markets were initially lower due to the higher-than-expected U.S. CPI report. But then for apparently "no particular reason" markets staged a surprising rally and the S&P 500 ended the day up 2.6% and Toronto was up 2.2%. Given that ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 slipped another 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.1%. Linamar was down 2.2% after it announced weaker market conditions. Thursday's focus will be on the U.S. CPI data.  I have not heard much news about Q3 earnings. Many compan...

The Toronto market was down 2.0% on Tuesday. In part, this was becasue it was catching up on Monday's U.S. market losses since Toronto had been closed for the holiday on Monday. The S&P 500 slipped another 0.65%. At the moment it appears that thi...

The report on Costco is updated and rated Weak Sell / Hold at U.S. $468. Costco is a fantastic company and is growing strongly. But even after the recent decline its P/E ratio of 36 may not have come down enough to reflect the higher interest rate en...

Investors got spanked again on Friday as the S&P 500 fell a hefty 2.8% and Toronto fell 2.1%.  Most stocks were down about 2%. Shopify was notable with a 9.6% drop. The S&P 500 remained up 1.5% for the week. The reason for the drop on Friday ...

Markets gave back some more ground on Thursday as the focus returned to how much higher interest rates are going. Central banks in the U.S and Canada signaled hat they are far from done with raising rates. The S&P 500 was down 1.0% and Toronto wa...

It was not surprising to see that the markets on Wednesday gave back a little of the big gains of Monday and Tuesday. The S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.7%. OPEC pledged to reduce oils production quotas by 2 million barrels a day. B...

Markets staged a big bounce upwards on Tuesday, adding to Monday's gains. The S&P 500 was up 3.1% and Toronto was up 2.6%. Shopify bounced up 12.7%. Almost all the stocks I monitor were up.  It remains to be seen if this is just a bounce or more ...

Markets had a noticeable bounce upwards on Monday with the S&P 500 up 2.6% adn Toronto up 2.4%. Virtually all of the stocks that I monitor were up on the day. In part it was likely due to the U.K. government backing down on a promise to cut taxes...

Friday marked the end of the third quarter and saw the S&P 500 down another 1.5% while Toronto finished unchanged on the day. So, what's next? That's hard to say of course but the following are some thoughts. September inflation for the U.S. will...

Thursday turned out to be another negative day in the market as the S&P 500 fell 2.1% and Toronto was down 1.1%. Linamar was down a hefty 11.6%. Shopify was down 8.0%.  Fortis Inc. announced a 6% dividend increase but the stock nevertheless fell ...

Markets bounced up somewhat on Wednesday with the S&P 500 up 2.0% and Toronto up 1.9%. Toll Brothers was one of the higher gainers with a 5.4% increase. Statscan released figures today that showed that Canada gained a huge number of people in the...

Markets were initially higher on Tuesday but then faded for a loss on the day. The S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.1%. This may be an opportunity to add to a quality stock like Visa Inc. It's not exactly cheap but it is certainly che...

The report on Melcor Developments is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $10.00. This has been a very disappointing investment for years. But the recent price seems almost absurdly low in relation to its book value of over $34 and in relation to its ea...

Monday was another down day in the markets with the S&P 500 down 1.0% and Toronto down 0.8%. While this can be depressing it can also provide buying opportunities. This is one reason why it is never a bad thing to have some allocation to cash....

Friday was another negative day in the markets with the S&P 500 down 1.7% and Toronto down 2.75%. Almost all the stocks I monitor were down on the day. Thinly traded ones like Melcor get hit hard as it only takes a few owners bailing out to push ...

The report on the Melcor Real Estate Investment Trust is updated and rated Buy at $5.89. The higher interest rates are a definite head wind in three ways: Firstly, the price that investors are willing to pay for any dollar of earnings or dividends de...

Markets declined again on Tuesday with the S&P 500 down 0.8%and Toronto down 0.95%. Shopify was down 6.25% and is at a 52 week low. Higher interest rates and fears of recession continue to add to the negative sentiment and trends. Putin's threats...

Markets ended lower on Wednesday. The decline was not due to the 75 basis point increase by the FED which was as expected. The decline was due FED remarks and forecasts for further interest rate increases taking rates ultimately somewhat higher than ...

Markets were down again on Tuesday as the S&P 500 fell 1.1% and Toronto fell 1.0%. Almost all the stocks that I monitor were down. Apple was one exception with a gain of 1.6%. Stocks may continue to go down and may continue to offer some bargains...

On Friday, markets rallied somewhat in the afternoon and the S&P 500 was up 0.7% and Toronto was up 0.9%. West Fraser Timber was up 3.2%. But there is news this morning that CanFor is cutting production due to weak markets so West Fraser could de...

Markets fell on Friday which may have been largely due to FedEx announcing that its express air business and its ground deliver business were both much weaker than expected in the three months ending August 31 and that it was getting even worse in th...

On Thursday markets moved lower again as the focus returns to the higher interest rates. The S&P 500 was down 1.1% and Toronto was down 0.8%. Most stocks were down on the day. West Fraser Timer was down 3.7%. After the close, FedEx announced some...

Markets rebounded somewhat on Wednesday as the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and Toronto 0.4%. Starbucks was the strongest performer on our list with a 5.5% gain after they held an investor day and provided guidance indicating higher growth ahead. I like Sta...

Markets took a tumble on Tuesday as the U.S. inflation rate came in just slightly higher than expected. This dashed hopes that the FED might soon stop raising interest rates. The S&P 500 was down a very hefty 4.3% while Toronto as down 1.7%. Almo...

Markets were higher on Monday as the S&P 500 and Toro to each rose 1.1%. Apple was up 3.85%.  RioCan was up 2.1%.  The gains were widespread, as most stocks were higher....

Friday was another positive day in the markets as the S&P 500 rose 1.5% while Toronto as up 1.9%. With the bank of Canada rate up 0.75% last week I notice that TD bank raised the interest on its TDB8150 product by only 0.60% to 2.85%. I don't kno...

Markets moved moderately higher on Thursday with the S&P 500 up 0.7% and Toronto up 0.9%. lululemon was up another 2.65%.   ...

After the recent losses on the S&P 500 it was rather surprising to see the S&P 500 gain 1.8% on Wednesday. And Toronto was up 0.8% despite the lower oil price. Starbucks was strong with a 4.5% gain. And lululemon added another 2.8%. The Bank ...

I've had some feedback from the very top management at Melcor. The CEO and Board have not expressed any interest in an analysis I sent them regarding calculating the return on equity by division or on calculating what level of gross margin has led wh...

Stocks moved lower once again on Tuesday with the S&P 500 down 0.4% and Toronto down 0.95%. lululemon bucked the trend and was up 4.3%. And Starbucks was up 1.9%. The outlook for stock prices may continue to be negative due to higher interest rat...

West Fraser Timber is updated and rated Weak Speculative Buy at CAN $109 or US $83. Based on trailing earnings it could be rates a Strong Buy. But lumber prices have declined and there is probably no reason to expect the shares to rise in the near te...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was initially higher but ultimately closed down 1.1%. Toronto as up 0.7%. lululemon gained 6.7% after posting better than expected sales and earnings. While many people struggle with bills due to inflation there are  also m...

Restaurant Brands, the franchiser of Tim Hortons, Burger King, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs returns to our list rated Buy at U.S. $59.25 or CAN $77.83. Its income comes mostly from franchise fees to its almost 30,000 locations and from selling the coff...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down most of the day but then rebounded to close up 0.3%. Toronto was down 1.0%. Couche-Tard did well with a 4.1% gain. TFI International was also strong with a 3.7% gain. After the close, lululemon reported a very st...

Wednesday was another down day in the markets with the S&P 500 down 0.8% and Toronto down 0.9%. Almost all the stocks on my list were down. I notice Canadian Tire is down to $154.47. Its trailing P/E ratio is 8.9 and the forward P/E ratio is 8.4....

Linamar is updated and rated Buy at $63.06. It's trading at 90% of book value which in my experience indicates a good buying opportunity for this company. And its earnings are emerging from recent weakness related to supply chain issues. And it is ve...

On Tuesday markets continued to move down in further reaction to the FEDs announced determination to raise interest rates until inflation is tamed. The S&P 500 was down 1.1% and Toronto was down 1.6% as oil prices slid. Linamar was one of relativ...

On Monday, markets continued to react negatively to the news from the FED that interest rates will probably be going somewhat higher than the market previously expected. The S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.2%. TFI International was d...

I updated Ceapro again for its Q2 results. I had updated it in early July at 56 cents. The Q2 results were good and the stock remains rated Speculative Buy now at 78 cents. Its "base business" supports the share price and if they can announce any kin...

Markets were sharply negative on Friday with the S&P 500 down  hefty 3.4% and Toronto was down 1.5%. This came after the Fed chair made a speech and dashed hopes that the interest rate hikes would end relatively soon. The market may have been hop...

Markets rose on Thursday with the S&P 500 up 1.4% and Toronto up 0.75%. West Fraser Timber was up 6.4%. Toll Brothers was up 4.0%. TFI International was up 3.0%. Tomorrow the market will focus on the Fed Chair's speech at the Jackson Hole meeting...

Markets were modestly higher on Wednesday with the S&P 500 up 0.3% and Toronto up 0.2%. AutoCanada was up 5.9%. Penny stock Ceapro was up 8.4% after announcing strong Q2 results. It has a lot of research irons in the fire. If some of its research...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while Toronto was almost unchanged with a 0.05% gain. Auto Canada was notable with a 5.2% gain. After the close Toll Brothers reported its Q3. While profits were good they noted the slowdown in demand but als...

On Tuesday the markets continued the recent pull back. The S&P 500 was down 2.1% and Toronto was down 0.7%. Melcor wad down 4.3% on higher than normal volume. Perhaps a couple people throwing in the Towel.  The Melcor REIT was also down 4.3% tp $...

Friday saw the S&P 500 down 1.3% and Toronto down 0.8%. Almost all of the stocks on our list were down with the market. This morning the futures market suggests that the S&P 500 will open down modestly. After a big rally since June we have no...

The Boston Pizza Royalties Income units return to our list and are rated Buy at $16.70. They are a bit more attractive at $16.44 as I post this. My last update on these units was early 2021 when the distribution was 6.5 cents having been suspended wi...

Markets eked out small gains today with the S&P 500 up 0.2% and Toronto up 0.4%.  There were no individual moves of any note on the stocks I monitor. I mentioned the Boston pizza units on August 9 when they were $15.25 to $15.50. I indicated they...

Wednesday was a down day in the markets as the S&P 500 fell 0.7% and Toronto fell 0.4%. Most stocks were down.  Nothing on my list was up by any noteworthy amount. What about interest rates? The five year Canada bond yield is sitting at 3.0% down...

Obviously, Melcor Developments has been a big disappointment as an investor. Yet it has potential. Its assets are solid and yet it trades at 38% of book value for the equity shares. I've been increasingly pressuring their investor relations, their CE...

Markets are starting out lower this morning. Not surprising to get a dip given recent strong days.  I notice that the Convertible debenture that I mentioned yesterday has closed sales on the TD site. That means the market agreed with me that it was a...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.4%. Canadian Tire was up 3.5%. AutoCanada was up a hefty 7.4% to $29.86. It released the results of its "substantial issuer bid" reporting that it bought back 1.16 million shares at $28 for ...

Markets on Monday ended the day moderately higher with the S&P 500 up 0.4% and Toronto unchanged. Dollarama and Visa were each up 2.4%.  lululemon was up 2.7%. Oil is down to U.S. $87.85 - still a very profitable level....

On Friday, markets were strong again as with the S&P 500 up 1.7 percent and Toronto up 0.9 percent. Stantec was particulary strong with a 4.3 percent gain. Markets are set to open lower today on reports that the Chinese economy is weaker than exp...

Thursday was another positive day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 0.6% and Toronto up 0.9%. Linamar was a standout with a 9.2% gain after releasing earnings. It has been a very well managed and ambitious company and continues to have a  bright...

Wednesday was another strong day in the markets with the S&P 500 up a hefty 2.1% and Toronto up 1.6%. Some will argue this shows the benefit of staying invested while others will claim it's a dead cat bounce. For most people a balanced approach i...

On Tuesday, markets were modestly lower as the S&P 500 fell 0.4% and Toronto fell 0.5%. lululemon was down 3.1%.  Canadian Tire was down 2.3% and will release earnings on Thursday morning. I suspect it had quite a strong Q2 but the focus may be o...

Upon further checking I am even more certain that the Boston Pizza Royalties units are a Buy at the current price ($15.46 at the moment). Note that the distributions do not qualify for the dividend tax credit in Canada and so are best suited to the R...

As restaurant sales have roared back I have been surprised that the Boston Pizza Royalty units have not risen more than they have. I have to admit I sold those units in the pandemic panic of Spring 2020 when it looked like many BP restaurants might h...

On Monday, markets were little changed as the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.25%.  There were no big moves in the stocks on my list except the Boston Pizza Royalty units were down 2.7% and had been down about 4% earlier in the day. (S...

On Thursday Restaurant Brands was up about 7% as people flocked to Tim Hortons, Burger King and Popeyes. On Friday the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while Toronto was up 0.2%. West Texas Oil is down to U.S. $88.50 but that's still a highly profitable lev...

Markets were strong on Wednesday. One headline attributed this to Nancy Pelosi leaving Taiwan without incident. Obviously if China does act to take Taiwan at some point that would be ugly for markets. Starbucks has a huge operation in China and it co...

Tuesday saw the S&P 500 down 0.7% and Toronto down 0.95%. AutoCanada was up 3.9% and then after the close announced the acquisition of a dealership in Manitoba. This shows that management has confidence in the business. Recall that top management...

Friday's market capped a strong week and a strong July. The debate now is weather July was just a bear market rally bounce or the start of a market recovery or at least plateau. I don't know which. Markets are always subject to a possible big decline...

Markets rose on Thursday with the S&P 500 up 1.2% and Toronto up 1.05%. TFI International was strong with a 4.2% gain. It then released earnings after the close. Adjusted net earnings per share were up a massive 81%. I'm not sure what the expecta...

Markets were fairly sharply higher Wednesday after the FED raised interest rates 0.75% rather than the feared 1.0%. Long term bond yields declined somewhat. Longer term bond investors do not appear to think that interest rates will go up much more if...

Tuesday featured some market declines with the S&P 500 down 1.15% and Toronto down 0.7%. Some retailer including Canadian Tire (down 5.7%) got pulled down by Walmart announcing a lower profit outlook. But Canadian Tire is a far different thing th...

Monday was a moderately positive day in the markets with the S&P 500 ending the day up 0.1% and Toronto up 0.6%. Most stocks I follow were up but Toll Brothers was down 3.3%. After the close, Walmart revised its profit outlook down for it next re...

I've been looking further at these two rate reset pref shares that i have mentioned recently and which look like good potential for a capital gain. BPO.PR.A at $16.50 paying $1.177 to yield 7.1% and will rest in about 2.5 years at Canada bond plus 3....

Markets are quiet this morning... We are just getting into the Q2 earnings reports for Canadian companies. This could move markets this week. I expect most have done well. Main stream grocers like Sobeys and Metro may have lost ground to Costco and h...

Friday's session saw the S&P 500 down 0.9% and Toronto down 0.4%. Shopify bounced down 7.3%. Penny stock Ceapro was up 8.5% but has yet to make progress on monetizing most of the R&D it has been doing for years. On the other hand as noted in ...

West Fraser Timber is updated and rated Speculative Buy at U.S. $102 or Canadian $132. The analysis is in U.S. dollars becasue it now reports in U.S. dollars. The price is already down a bit since my analysis price as the recent bump from a (probably...

Markets continued higher on Thursday with the S&P 500 up 0.7% and Toronto up 0.1%. Toll Brothers was up 4.1%. Shopify was up 4.6%. I looked closely at West Fraser Timbers results and it would be a definite buy based on past results. Although lumb...

Markets were modestly higher on Wednesday with the S&P 500 up 0.6% and Toronto up 0.4%. Shopify bounced up 12.3%.  Amazon was up 3.9% and Constellation Software was up 3.4%. West Fraser Timber was up 5.5% to about $131 despite the fact that the c...

Markets staged a big bounce on Tuesday. The S&P 500 was up 2.8% and Toronto was up 1.8%. West Fraser Timber (discussed in last post) ended the day up 15% even after saying it was not in any active talks to be taken over.  TFI International was up...

West Fraser Timber is up about 20% this morning on rumors it has received a take over offer or is about to. I decided to sell  75% of the  shares I own. That gave me a 55% gain in an RRSP account and allows me to build back some cash. I suppose if th...

U.S markets today were earlier up but then ended the day with the S&P 500 down 0.8%. But Toronto was up 1.1% as oil prices were higher. Oil flows to the U.S. were interrupted today by a power outage on the existing Keystone pipeline (not to be co...

Posting today and for the next month from Nova Scotia and the Atlantic provinces and time zone. Markets are set to open higher this morning. CMHC released the June  housing starts data this morning and they remain strong. Single family starts in Albe...

Markets staged a little rally on Friday with the S&P 500 up 1.9% and Toronto up 0.4%. Starbucks was up 1.8% and has been doing fairly well for the past two months. Recall founder Howard Schultz is back as temporary CEO. It's possible people will ...

Markets finished lower on Thursday although not as low as they had been earlier in the day. The S&P 500 was down just 0.3% but Toronto was down 1.5%. Bank stocks were down. Royal Bank was down 5.6% and Canadian Western Bank was down 4.9%. I've al...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down 0.45% as U.S. inflation came in higher-than-expected at 9.1% year-over-year in June. In Canada the Bank of Canada increased is target overnight lending rate by 1.0% which was 0.35% higher than the expected 0.75% ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.9% and Toronto was down 0.7%. West Texas Oil is down to $94.28. That pushed the Canadian energy ETF XEG down 3.3% to $13.42.  Tomorrow, the Bank of Canada is expected increase interest rates by 0.75%. Neverthele...

Monday's action saw the S&P 500 end the day down 1.15% and Toronto was very similar down 1.1%. Almost all the stocks I follow closely were down on the day. Shopify was notable with an 8.9% decline. Aecon Group ( a construction company) was down 5...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.2%. In Canada, the big event this week will be the Bank of Canada rate hike on Wednesday. It's expected to be a hike of 0.75% or possibly 1.0%.   It's hard to know if all of the expected...

The report on Ceapro is updated and rated Speculative Buy at $0.56. This has been a volatile and disappointing stock over the years. But now its earnings have improved. It's worth the $0.56 just based on its existing products and if its research and ...

Thursday was an up day in the markets. The S&P 500 was up 1,4% and Toronto was up 1.8%. Shopify was notable bouncing up 6.2%. Linamar was up 5.7%. I believe that was prior to them releasing a comment on their markets after the close. It was not r...

The report on Visa Inc. is updated and rated Buy at $202. It's not a screaming buy but I don't think we would go too far wrong owning this company. After all it's "everywhere you want to be". It's also likely "in your wallet". It fits the advice of P...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% while Toronto declined 0.55% as oil prices weakened somewhat. West Fraser Group was up 4.4%. Perhaps the market believes home building and construction will carry on relatively well.  I notice Heineken was up...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down as much as 2.1% earlier in the day but recovered to end the day up 0.2%. Toronto ended the day down 1.0% as oil was down about 9%. Shopify bounced up 9.9%. Toll Brothers was relatively strong with a 2.3% gain. Cen...

U.S. markets were closed for the holiday today. Toronto, left to its own devises rose 0.9% as oil prices rose. DesRosiers reported today that June light vehicle sales in Canada were weak. 144,000 units sold versus 163,000 last year and 200,000 in 201...

WSP Global returns to our list rated (lower) Buy at $144. It is a high quality company with strong recent earnings growth has been strong.  And the company projects and aspires to continued growth. Since last Summer the price has come down and earnin...

My next update will be for WSP Global. It will be rated somewhere in the Buy range. What a difference nearly a year makes. My last update on WSP called it a a (lower) Buy at $162.67 last August.  I concluded that it was a strong company that was more...

Canadian markets were closed for the holiday on Friday. Meanwhile the S&P 500 was up 1.1%. Toll Brothers was strong with a 5.5% gain. Starbucks was also strong rising 3.7%. U.S. markets will be closed tomorrow July 4th and Toronto will have to fi...

The report on Stantec is updated and rated (lower) Buy. It's been a long term winner and continues to grow. The company is forecasting earnings per share growth of about 22% this year. The value looks reasonable. Given the probable recession and the ...

Thursday was the last day of the second quarter of the year and the markets lost a bit more ground. The S&P 500 was down 0.9% and Toronto was down a similar 1.1%. Shopify slipped another 5.6%. Couche-Tard was down 4.6%. Air Canada was in the news...

I was not able to make my usual little comment about Tuesday's market due to a technical issue. On Tuesday, U.S. markets had started out okay but fell through the day with the S&P 500 ending the day down 2.0% while Toronto edged down 0.2% Shopify...

Markets were relatively calm on Monday. The S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto was up 1.0%.  Shopify bounced down 3.3%. Maybe this will be a dull week in the markets. If so, it will be the first dull one in a very long time. Russia technically "...

Markets were strong on Friday as the S&P 500 rebounded 3.1% and Toronto was up 1.85%. FedEx was up 7.2% after it announced higher earnings expectations. Almost every stock that I follow was up on the day. As of Sunday evening, futures markets sug...

The report for wine maker and seller Andrew Peller is updated and rated Sell at $6.o3. I probably should have thrown in the towel at my last update where they had posted poor results in the first half of its fiscal year ended March 31. The back half ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.95% but Toronto was down 1.5%. Shopify was strong, rising 7.6%. Toll Brothers was up 4.8% and Costco was up 3.3%. Melcor Developments got hammered down 9.9% (ouch). There were 47,000 shares traded which is over f...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 1.3% as oil prices have declined somewhat. Andrew Peller was down another 3.1%. Canadian Western Bank was down 2.55% to $26.41. I continue to certainly see that as over-valued. They don...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 2.45% and Toronto was up 0.4%. Apple Inc. was up 3.3%. Costco was up 3.7%. Given my comment about AutoCanada this morning, I bough a few more shares in that company today.  Wine maker Andrew Peller was down 4.3% to ...

As the futures suggested, U.S. markets are rebounding somewhat this morning.  Canadian retail sales for April were reported this morning. I had expected a volume decline versus March and particularly versus April of the prior year. Instead the volume...

U.S markets were closed on Monday for the  "Juneteenth" holiday which celebrates the date that slavery officially ended in Texas in 1865 and is a general celebration of the end of slavery.  Toronto was up 1.3%. Futures markets suggest that U.S. marke...

Friday ended a very negative week in the markets as the the markets belatedly sit up and take notice of the fact of higher interest rates. But markets did stabilise on Friday and most stocks were up on the day. On Friday, the S%P 500 managed again of...

The report on Constellation Software is updated and returned to our list. It always looks expensive but its past record suggests it will likely be a good investment. The recent market declines are an opportunity to buy. A reasonable approach would be...

Thursday was another down day in the markets. Higher interest rates are a strong gravitational force on stock prices and the market is taking more and more notice of that after mostly ignoring it earlier int he year. The S&P 500 was down 3.25% an...

On Wednesday the FED  raised interest rates by 0.75%. Since this had been expected after last Friday's fat inflation number, the markets reacted calmly, even positively. The S&P 500 ended the day up 1.5% and Toronto rose 0.3% as oil was down mode...

Markets were calmer on Tuesday but the S&P 500 still slipped 0.4% and Toronto as down 1.0%. AutoCanada was down 4.8% to $23.59 which is likely an attractive price. FedEx was up a hefty 14% after it agreed to put three activist investors on its bo...

Unless you have been disconnected from all news today until now, you already know that markets took a tumble on Monday due to fears of higher interest rates. The S&P 500 fell a fat 3.9%. I suspect that's the largest drop by far since the pandemic...

Friday was a negative day on the markets as investors take more and more notice of higher interest rates.  Higher interest rates are undeniably a gravitational force on the value of all financial assets including stocks. Some analysts had said that t...

Markets are down again this morning due to U.S. inflation for May coming in higher than expected at 8.6% year over year. It's a fearful time for stock investors. But it can also be an opportunity for those who have new cash to invest or who have cash...

Markets were down on Thursday as the S&P 500 fell 2.4% and Toronto was was down 1.1%. Canadian Wester Bank was down 2.3% to $29.06. I added a little to my position. I believe I mentioned that I think it is good value but at the same time its goin...

On Wednesday, markers were down modestly as the S&P 500 fell 1.1% and Toronto fell 0.65%. Dollarama was strong with a 5.3% gain as it announced a new $5.00 price point and released a strong earnings report. It's been a fantastically well managed ...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was up 0.95% and Toronto was up 0.95% and Toronto was up 0.5%. Shopify was up 5.3% and continues to bounce around. Constellation Software was down 1.1% to $1914 and I suspect is quite worth considering at this price.  ...

Monday's session ended with the S&P 500 up 0.3% and Toronto up 0.1%. Today, I updated my popular reference article that explains graphically the contribution of the various sectors to Canada's GDP. It also shows the relative size of the various c...

On Friday, the S&P 500 bounced down 1.6% and Toronto similarly was down 1.15%. Most stocks were down on the day. The rate reset preferred shares that I follow were up modestly. West Texas Oil is at $120 this evening which bodes well for that sect...

On Thursday, markets were strong as the S&P 500 rose 1.8% and Toronto rose 1.5%. lululemon was up 4.35% Shopify was up 9.6% Starbucks was up 4.1% Costco was up 6.7%. And that was before it reported after hours that U.S. same-store sales were up 1...

On Wednesday the Bank of Canada hiked its interest rate 0.50% to 1.50% and the big banks immediately raised their prime rates by the same amount to 3.7%. The S&P 500 was down 0.75% while Toronto was only down 0.1% WSP Global was up 5.0% on news i...

Tuesday was a modestly down day o the markets as the S&P 500 fell 0.6% and Toronto was down 0.9%. Amazon was notable with a 4.4% gain. Tomorrow, Wednesday, the Bank of Canada is expected to increases its interest rate 0.5%. From 1.0% tp 1.5%. It ...

On Monday the U.S. markets were closed for the Memorial Day holiday. Toronto was up 0.8% and West Texas Oil is at U.S. $117. Melcor Developments was up 7.3% but this was on low volume and so does not mean much. Canadian Tire was up 1.6% to $73. Just ...

Markets continued to rebound on Friday. The S&P 500 was up a very hefty 2.5% and Toronto was up 1.05%. Most stocks were up. That includes RioCan, up 3.1% to $22.75. I mentioned it as attractive on May 9 and 10 and I bought some on May 10 at $20.9...

Thursday was a strong day in the markets as the S&P 500 was up 2.0% and Toronto was up o.7%  West Texas Oil is at $114 U.S. dollars. That's $146 Canadian dollars. Even with Western Canadian Select (a heavy oil) at $96 U.S. dollars (yes it's disco...

Markets bounced up moderately on Wednesday as the S&P 500 rose 0.95% and Toronto rsoe 0.5%. Toll Brothers was up 8.0% after its earnings report yesterday. AutoCanada was up 6.3%. West Fraser Timer was up 3.6%. Tomorrow, after the close, Costco wi...

On Tuesday, U.S. markets retreated from Monday's gains and the S&P 500 ended the day down 0.8% - it had been down quite a bit more earlier in the day. Toronto managed a 0.4% gain.  Shopify was down 11%. Canadian Tire did okay with a 1.0% gain and...

The Canadian stock market is closed for the Victoria Day holiday. The U.S. markets are open and the S&P 500 is currently up 1.75% Canadian Tire was down 3.1% to $161.80 on Friday. This looks like an excellent buying opportunity. I am definitely p...

Canadian Tire is updated and rated (higher) Strong Buy at $162. Its earnings have been very strong and its valuation metrics are at the low end of its historic ranges. It has been exceptionally well managed. There are always risks including bad debt ...

Couche-Tard is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $55.69 (a price from yesterday). Based on its recent earnings and growth it could be rated a definite Buy. But there are some risks. It is has been enjoying exceptionally high profit margins on gasoline...

Wednesday was a rough day in the markets as Tuesday's little bounce was short lived. The S&P 500 was down a fat 4.0% and Toronto was down 1.9%. I was surprised to see Costco down 12.5% to $429. It has peaked just last month at $612. I have said f...

Markets had a bounce upwards on Tuesday as the S&P 500 was up 2.0% and Toronto was up 1.4%. Notable gainers included FedEx, up 5.6%. Toll Brothers was up 3.4%. This stock has been pushed down by fears of what higher interest rates will do to thei...

Melcor Developments is updated and rated buy at $13.68. Admittedly this has been a poor investment over the years. But it trades at about 41 cents on the dollar of book value and with high oil prices and the improving Alberta economy it should do wel...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% while Toronto was up 0.5%. Oil is at $115 U.S. dollars. Even with the discount on Canadian heavy oil, money is gushing into the Alberta government treasury via royalties. The Feds are benefiting from income ta...

Markets rebounded a little on Friday with the S&P 500 up 2.4% and Toronto up 2.0%. Shopify was up 12.4% Linamar was up 6.5% Most stocks were up. What's next? Futures markets on Sunday evening suggest that stocks will open modestly higher on Monda...

On Thursday, markets were volatile and ended the day with the S&P 500 down just 0.1% and Toronto down 0.7%. Shopify bounced up 11.5%. Linamar was up 3.7%. Toll Brothers was up 4.0%. Couche-Tard was up 5.15%. Canadian Tire was up 6.2%. This was af...

The report on the Melcor REIT is updated and rated Buy at $6.76 to yield 7.1%. With the improving Alberta economy, this REIT should continue to improve slowly. There is some risk of higher vacancies over time but the vacancy rate could also improve. ...

I am in the process of updating the Melcor REIT again mostly because I am preparing some questions for their annual meeting. They have a debenture out that will yield about 5.2% on your money from now until the end of this year so about 7 and a half ...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down another 1.65% and Toronto was down 0.3%. U.S. inflation came in at 8.3%, a bit higher than expected although slightly lower than the 8.5% of the previous month. The market is more and more worried about interest ...

Tuesday's action saw the S&P 500 up 0.25% while Toronto was down 0.55%. RioCan was down 3.45% to $20.99. Yet they are back to a 97% committed occupancy. I think RioCan is good value at this price and I bought some today. The market may be upset t...

I updated the Aecon report becasue it is an interesting and commendable company. It builds some of the most impressive and large projects in Canada including the Gordie Howe Bridge, other huge bridges and major subway projects and the Kicking Horse P...

Monday was another non-boring day in the stock markets. The S&P 500 was down 3.2% and Toronto was down 3.1%. Among the more notable decliners were: lululemon - down 7.7%.  Shopify down 9.9%  AutoCanada down 6.3% RioCan was down 4.25% to $21.83. A...

Friday's action in the markets saw the S&P 500 down 0.6% and Toronto down 0.3%. Shopify was down 8.2%. lululemon was down 7.7%.  AutoCanada was up 4.0%. Despite already having quite a large position in it, I added to my Canadian Western Bank posi...

The report on Starbucks is updated.  Starbucks is currently facing headwinds in terms of unionization drives in the U.S. where is it is increasing pay and benefits to improve employee relations. The severe lockdowns in China will also have a noticeab...

On Thursday the markets took back all of that strange gain yesterday and a good deal more. The S&P 500 was down 3.6% and Toronto was down 2.3%. Shopify was down 14.3%. Apple was down 5.6%. I bought a few shares in this great company today.  Starb...

Stocks are down fairly sharply this morning. Never a dull moment it seems. The rally yesterday afternoon seemed strange and is now more than reversed. Those looking to nibble on bargains should probably do so but not be any hurry. It's not a bad idea...

On Wednesday, the market waited with baited breath for the FED's interest rate announcement and following press conference. As expected the FED raised interest rates 0.5% and announced it will begin to reduce its balance sheet. Bot of these moves are...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 1.0%. TFI International was up 4.35%. It's going to be interesting to see how the fuel prices are affecting them. They have fuel surcharges but those tend to work on a somewhat lagged basis. ...

Monday's action saw the S&P 500 up 0.6% while Toronto was down 0.3%. Shopify continues to bounce around and was up 6.1% today. RioCan was down 4.2%. The rate reset preferred shares that I follow were mostly up modestly today. Alimentation Couche-...

After rising sharply on Thursday, markets fell even more sharply on Friday. The S&P 500 was down a very hefty 3.6% and Toronto was down 1.7% on the day. Amazon tumbled 14%! Costco was down 5.3%. Rate reset shares were mostly up modestly, proving ...

Our report on Canadian Western Bank is updated and rated (lower) Strong Buy at $32.41.  Quite simply this is a profitable bank earning 11.6% on equity and trading at book value and 8.4 times trailing earnings. On its face, that is quite attractive. T...

Markets staged a big rebound on Thursday with the S&P 500 rising 2.5% and Toronto 1.8%. The gains seemed to be tied to some good earnings reports. U.S. GDP came in at a surprise 1.4% decline for Q1 when a 1.0% gain was expected. The market took t...

Markets had bounced back a little on Wednesday but most of the increase fizzled out by the end of the day as the S&P 500 ended the day up just 0.2% and Toronto ended the day up 0.3%. Visa Inc. was a standout, gaining 6.5% after posting a strong e...

Markets continued to not be boring on Tuesday. The S&P 500 ended the day down a hefty 2.8% while Toronto was down 1.5%. Among the biggest decliners for stocks that I track: Shopify was down 6.0%, Amazon was down 4.6%, Visa was down 4.2% (but then...

So, markets are down again this morning. Again, this is not shocking given the interest rate hikes and fears of what inflation is doing. I am surprised though how the rate reset preferred shares keep dropping. They were always touted as a preferred s...

Monday was another volatile adn non-boring day in the market The S&P 500 had a swing of 2.3% from its low to its high for the day but ended the day up 0.6% after having been down 1.7% at the low of the day. Toronto finished the day down 0.8% as o...

I mentioned the Canadian Western Bank rate reset preferred shares in my comment earlier today. Given that I now find one of those attractive due to its price decline since the start of this year and in part also due to the higher projected yield at r...

On Friday the markets took greater notice of rising interest rates. The S&P 500 was down a hefty 2.8% and Toronto was down 2.1%. This is not a shocking decline. In fact what is more surprising is how the equity markets have help up as high as the...

Markets are moderately weaker this morning. Statistics Canada reported Retail sales for February and a preliminary number for March.  I find this confusing to interpret. Firstly, I see BNN reporting it as a 1.4% gain for March. But they don't say if ...

Thursday was a negative day for the markets with the S&P 500 down 1.5% and Toronto down 1.6%. BHP was down 7.1% Shopify was down 8.1%. It's now at its lowest level since April 2020. It may well still be way over-valued. But it does have lots of c...

The report on Ceapro is updated and rated Speculative Buy at 51 cents. This company has a base business that is profitable and which funds its research efforts which it hopes will payoff in a big way. Its okay for a small investment but is definitely...

Wednesday was a somewhat "mixed" day in teh markets. The S&P 500 and Toronto indexes were both down 0.1%. Shopify was down 13.9%.  But then there was news after the clsoe about it buying another company and the stock was up modestly in U.S. after...

Tuesday was a nice day to be an equity investor. The S&P 500 was up a hefty 1.6% and Toronto was up 0.6%. Some of the notable gainers were: Shopify - up 4.25%, Toll Brothers  - up 3.8%, WSP Global - up 3.0%, AutoCanada - up 4.7%, Amazon - up 3.5%...

U.S. markets gyrated between negative adn positive on Monday but ended the day with the S&P 500 essentially unchanged and Toronto up just 0.1%. Among the bigger moves today:  AutoCanada was up 2.8%.  Stantec was down 3.1%.  I did buy a modest amo...

Markets were closed on Friday for the holiday. On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 1.2% while Toronto was up 0.1%. Shopify was down 3.6%. TFI International was down 2.8%. It's a stock that I am interested in adding to as it has come down from its h...

Starbucks is returned to our list of stocks after a brief hiatus. Without question Starbucks is a great company with a powerful brand and a great long-term profit history. But is has run into some recent problems with unionization drives and employee...

Markets rebounded somewhat on Wednesday as the S&P 500 was up 1.1% and Toronto was up 0.6%. lululemon was notable with a gain of  5.0%. Penny stock Ceapro was up 5.8% after announcing record results for 2021. Amazon was up 3.15%. I did a bit of b...

There is seldom a dull day in the markets. Today's excitement started with an inflation reading of 8.5% in the U.S. The highest in 40 years! That should add to the fear/ expectations of higher interest rates. But apparently the market liked the fact ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down a hefty 1.7% and Toronto as down 0.4%. It looks like being cautious on the markets has been wise. AutoCanada was down 5.5%. I sold my shares in BHP today. I was up about 40% on those shares and it can be a volatile...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto was up 0.2%. Shopify was down 6.5%. As of this evening, futures suggest that markets will open moderately down on Monday morning. In my own investing, I am continuing to be cautious, still raisin...

Yesterday (April 7, 2022) I saw news that Walmart was increasing the STARTING pay of its long-haul truckers to $95,000 to $110,000. This may sound too high to be believable. And apparently this is up to double the industry average for long haul truck...

Markets were initially down on Thursday but finished the day with the S&P 500 up 0.4% and Toronto up 0.2%. Costco cruised past the $600 mark and ended the day up 4.0% at $608. About 49 times trailing earnings is very expensive. On the other hand ...

Markets are down modestly today. Costco is a standout. It's up 2.9% to $602 after releasing its March sales results. I decided to sell my small position in Costco. This may be a mistake given that Costco is certainly an absolute powerhouse. People ar...

Markets were negative once again on Wednesday as the war and higher interest rates were in focus. The S&P 500 was down 1.0% and Toronto was down 0.65%. Infrastructure builder Aecon group was down 4.8% to $16.20. This seems to be a laudable compan...

Markets were down on Tuesday apparently becasue investors focused on the war and the potential for the FED to begin selling off its vast  amounts of U.S. federal treasury bonds. The S&P 500 was down 1.3% and Toronto was down 0.7%. AutoCanada was ...

On Monday, stocks were mostly up as the S&P 500 rose 0.8% and Toronto rose 0.6%. Shopify was up 4.9% to $908 in Toronto.  lululemon was up 4.6% Going the other way, TFI International was down 4.3%.  I did end up selling most of my small position ...

Berkshire Hathaway is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $352. It's up a whopping 40% since it was rated a (lower) Buy just over a year ago at $251. Certainly its improved results , stock portfolio gains and the improved economy justify some of tha...

On Friday, the S&P 500 and Toronto each ended the day up 0.3% CN Rail was notable with a 4.6% decline to just under $160. My recent rating was (lower) But at $158. It's a very high quality company, one to add to on dips.   FedEx was down 4.4%. Th...

Thursday marked the end of the first quarter of the year and was a negative day in the markets. The S&P 500 was down 1.6% while Toronto was down 0.8%. Toll Brothers got hammered down another 4.9%. At last word company management was very upbeat a...

On Wednesday, markets took a bit of a breather partly becasue Russia has not backed off in the Ukraine despite whatever peace talks occurred. The S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 0.3%. lululemon however was up 10.2% due to a rosy outloo...

It seems my comment from Monday did not get uploaded, here it is: Markets had been moderately lower on Monday but at the end of the day the S&P 500 was up 0.7% although Toronto as down 0.1% as oil was lower. Couche-Tard was notable with a 2.0% ga...

Tuesday was another positive and optimistic day in the markets. The S&P 500 was up 1.2% and Toronto was up 0.5%. Notable gainers included: AutoCanada, up a hefty 10.4% Shopify, up 5.8%. Toll Brothers, up 4.4% Starbucks up 3.2% Linamar, up 3.0% Fe...

TD Direct is out this afternoon with a new convertible bond issue. This one paying 5.2% and maturing December 31, 2027. The company is AG Growth which closed today at $44.05. The conversion price is far higher at $70.50. It may or not sell out fairly...

Toll Brothers is updated and rated Strong Buy at $49.11. I had rated it a Strong Buy back on December 26 at $70.08. Since then it reported another very strong quarter and yet the stock is down 30%. I did say some caution was warranted due to its cycl...

On Friday the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.3%. Stocks markets have been rising in spite of higher interest rates. The rise in Toronto is more understandable due to the heavy exposure to energy and material. There is definitely a risk ...

On Thursday the S&P 500 was up 1.4%. That seems surprising on a day when President Biden appeared to be ramping up the reaction against Russia.  So far the market is certainly taking the trend to higher interest rates in stride. As well as the po...

Wednesday's action saw the S&P 500 down 1.2% and Toronto down 0.6% as concern about interest rate hikes came into focus. Most stocks, other than oil and materials sector, were down. Melcor Developments managed a 0.7% gain and has poked its head a...

Yesterday stocks were up in spite of the FED's indications that they will likely raise interest rates 0.50% in the next couple of months and with more to come after that. Today the headline says that markets are down on that news. Today's action make...

On Tuesday, I saw financial headlines that said the markets were higher despite "hawkish" talk from the Fed chair. The Federal Reserve chair has signaled that it could raise interest rates by another 0.50% in the next few months. All else equal this ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto set a new record high and finished the day up 0.9%. BHP was up 4.1%. Toll Brothers was down 4.9% $50.92. The market seems to really fear that interest rate hikes will significantly cool the...

On Friday, markets moved higher for the fourth straight day as the S&P 500 rose 1.2%. Toronto rose only 0.2% but it is at a record high. Apparently investors do not think that the Ukraine situation poses much risk for stock prices. That ultimatel...

Melcor Developments is updated and rated Buy at $16.40. The Buy rating is based primarily on the continued low price to book value ratio of 0.49 and the attractive P/E of 8.2 plus the fact that the Alberta economy and demand for new homes is on the u...

Thursday was the third day of this market rebound. The S&P 500 was up 1.2% and Toronto was up 1.4% Shopify was up another 5.0%. American Express was up 3.5%. Couche-Tard was up 3.7%. Melcor barely noticed its earnings release and dividend increas...

Markets were decidedly higher on Wednesday as the latest rebound was buoyed by comments from the FED Chair and the fact that the interest rate increase was only 0.25% rather than 0.50%. The S&P 500 was up 2.2% and Toronto was up 1.3%. Notable gai...

This morning I was thinking about the risks of holding too much in equities. It's usually a mistake to think that we can see a major market decline coming and get out of the way. On the other hand having also a good exposure to fixed income and cash ...

Tuesday was a bounce back day for the markets as the S&P 500 rose a hefty 2.1%. Toronto, with its heavy exposure to oil was about unchanged. Notable gainers included: West Fraser Timber up 4.6%, Shopify up 7.6%, Starbucks up 4.8%, AutoCanada up 5...

On Monday the S&P 500 was down 0.7% while Toronto was down 1.3% as the price of oil slipped somewhat. Shopify was down 5.3%. Starbucks was down 4.2% Toll Brothers was down 4.1% to $48.53. This company predicts very strong earnings this year and t...

The report on TFI International is updated and rated Buy at $118.45. This is an extremely well managed trucking company that has been compounding wealth at a good rate for many years. I had sold my shares in early 2020 when they rocketed higher after...

Friday's session saw the S&P 500 down 1.3% and Toronto down 0.6%. There are some potential bargain to choose from. Starbucks was down 5.1% on Friday to $82.73. That's a big decline from its high of $126. My next update will be for TFI Internation...

Thursday's action saw the S&P 500 down 0.4% while Toronto rose 0.4%. I notice Amazon was up 5.4% as it announced a 20 for 1 stock split. But Shopify was down 6.2%. Canadian Tire announced huge spending plans and ambitious profit growth targets ov...

Wednesday was a bounce back day for markets and a bounced down day for oil The S&P 500 rose 2.6% and Toronto rose 1.2%. Shopify has a huge bounce, rising 14%. see the updated report. AutoCanada bounced up 9.4%.  Many stocks on our list has quite ...

Shopify is updated and rated Speculative Buy at $747 Canadian dollars or $583 U.S. dollars. Be cautious given that it is still very expensive in relation to earnings and revenue. But it has fallen a withering two-thirds from a peak of $2,229 Canadian...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 ended the day down 0.7% while Toronto was down 0.3%. Shopify was down another 7.6% in Toronto. I will update the report on Shopify tomorrow. It's still very expensive at about 15 times revenue and 83 times adjusted trailin...

On Monday the market reacted negatively to the situation in the Ukraine. The S&P 500 was down a hefty 2.95%. Toronto was down only 0.5% since oil stocks were up. The only surprise here is that the market has taken this long to react to this exten...

The report on the Melcor REIT is updated and rated Buy at $6.99....

On Friday (which in some ways was ages ago) the S&P 500 was down 0.8% while Toronto was up 0.7%. Shopify was down another 6% to $765 on Toronto. It's high was $2,229. Ouch.  Linamar was down 5.1%.  With AutoCanada down 4.9% I bought a few shares....

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was about unchanged. Melcor Developments managed a 4.2% gain.  They will report earnings next week. After the close today, the Melcor REIT released Q4 earnings. It looked pretty good but this is ...

On Wednesday markets were higher apparently based on the market liking comments from the Fed Chair. The S&P 500 was up 1.9% and Toronto was up 1.2% BHP was up another 5.1%. CN Rail was up 4.0%. lululemon was up 4.7%. West Texas Oil soared as high...

On Tuesday, as the market continued to react to the war in Ukraine, the S&P 500 was down 1.55% and Toronto was down 0.6%. American Express was down a hefty 8.5% as it severed ties with Russian banks. Linamar was down 4.0%. AutoCanada was down 5.1...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 2.2% and Toronto was up 1.7%. That could be called a heartless and embarrassing response to the war situation in Ukraine. But stock markets are by nature driven by self interest including the ebb and flow of fear and...

Nothing to see here? On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 1.5% and Toronto was up 0.1%. Those figures don't suggest an extraordinary day. But of course with the Ukraine invasion the S&P was down 2.6% at one point and so there was a huge recovery a...

On Wednesday, markets started out to the positive but declined throughout the day and the S&P 500 ended the day down 1.8% while Toronto was down 0.7%. As of this evening the futures data suggests the markets will open just a little lower. But a l...

Markets were nervous on Tuesday. Futures markets has suggested a decline at the open but then turned around and the open was flat. But markets fell moderately during the day (Yes a 1% decline is moderate). The S%P 500 was down 1.0% and Toronto was do...

On Monday, North American stock markets were closed for a holiday. Futures markets are open and there was some indication that markets will open lower on Tuesday due to the Russia / Ukraine situation. You can check futures markets at the following li...

On Friday, markets were somewhat weak as the S&P 500 fell 0.7% and Toronto declined 0.8%. WSP Global was one of the weakest stocks on my list with a 3.8% decline. Canadian Tire was up 2.0% adding to its gains from Thursday when it had released Q4...

Fear was the dominant emotion on Thursday as the S&P 500 declined 2.1% and Toronto was down 1.0%. Shopify was down another 11% as analysts reacted to slower growth projections. These analysts might be quite right to suggest the stock is over-valu...

Markets are definitely skittish and I think rightly so with the Spector of higher interest rates as well as world political events including the Russian / Ukraine situation. This morning the S&P 500 is down 1.4% and Toronto is down 0.5%.  Shopify...

It seems that markets remain nervous about the impact of higher interest rates and other risk factors. Markets were down modestly most of the day but then rallied somewhat after the FED minutes contained no surprises. The S&P 500 was up 0.1% and ...

RioCan is updated and rated Buy at $24.52. It has staged a huge recovery since plummeting to under $15 at the height of the pandemic panic in 2020. There was a lot of fear about the future of retail. But RioCan really hardly missed a beat although th...

On Tuesday markets rebounded on news of easing tensions in the Ukraine situation.  The S&P 500 rose 1.6% and Toronto rose 0.7%. Oil fell modestly to U.S. $92. There are always reasons to fear a sizable decline in stock prices. But that rarely hap...

Markets were moderately negative on Monday with the S&P 500 down 0.4% and Toronto down 0.9%. Accordingly, most of the stocks I monitor were down but nothing of much note although Enbridge was down 3.5%. Oil was strong with West Texas Intermediate...

On Friday the markets were mostly negative which was blamed on fears that Russia might invade Ukraine. The S&P 500 was down a hefty 1.9%. But Toronto was up 0.1% as West Texas Oil rose to about $94 due to the Russia situation. Notable decliners i...

Stocks were mostly lower on Thursday with the S&P 500 down 1.8% and Toronto down 0.3%. In the U.S. inflation was measured and reported as 7.5% year over year in January. That's an epic increase. The highest in 40 years. The market is somewhat wor...

Our report on Canadian National Railway Company is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $158.55 or US $125. (It closed today slightly lower than that). This is an extremely high quality company in that it consistently makes a high profit level on the boo...

Wednesday was another positive day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 1.45% and Toronto up 1.1%. Shopify bounced up another 4.9% in Toronto. TFI International was up another 5.5%. CN Rail was up 1.3%. I will post an update for CN tomorrow and it ...

Equities moved higher on Monday with the S&P 500 up 0.8% and Toronto up 0.7%. TFI International was up 8.1% after it's strong earnings. I really like the long-time CEO there (Alain Bedard). Interestingly he said that vaccination status has not be...

Our report on lululemon is updated. It's a great company but is expensive and therefore remains rated at only a Speculative (lower) Buy. I think its worth taking a small position in this company especially if you are a customer and fan. It reached a ...

Markets were relatively calm on Monday with the S&P 500 down 0.4% and Toronto down 0.2%. AutoCanada was down 3.2%. BHP was up 3.5%. It's up 13% this new year to date. It has long has two classes of shares but that has now been unified and the BBL...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.8%. Shopify bounced up 8.8% in Toronto. Amazon was up 13.5% after posting strong earnings and a strong outlook. As of Sunday evening at 9 pm eastern future markets suggest stocks will open m...

The report on Andrew Peller is updated. Although the stock seems cheap, I have rated it only a Speculative (lower) Buy due to quite poor earnings in the latest two quarters reported.   Wine production is a tough industry because there are so many com...

Thursday was another interesting day in the markets. Facebook / Meta set the tone with a massive 26% decline. The S&P 500 ended the day down 2.4% and Toronto was down 1.3%.  Shopify was down 8.6%. Although it remains very expensive in relation to...

Wednesday's action saw the S&P 500 up 0.9%. Toronto was up only 0.2% weighted down by Shopify which was down 10%. Costco was up 2.7% and is back to $522. After the close, Costco reported yet another month of strong sales growth. 11% same-store sa...

Tuesday ended with the S&P 500 up 0.7% and Toronto up 1.05%. lululemon was up 3.3%. Couche Tard was up 3.6%. TFI International was up 3.9%. Starbucks reported earnings after the close that were apparently disappointing. Inflation and higher wages...

After a strong day on Monday, U.S markets are about unchanged at this moment on Tuesday while Toronto is up 0.65% Some recent strong performers are on the rise again today. Visa is up 2.2% to $231. Not back to its $250 level of August but probably on...

On Friday, markets finished strongly into the close and the S&P 500 was up 2.4% on the day. Toronto was up 1.0%. West Texas oil is at U.S. $87 or Canadian $110. This is highly profitable for the oil companies and as mentioned is leading to gushin...

Markets are strong as of early afternoon on Friday. Visa is up 8.6% after posting earnings. Apple is up 5.8% after posting earnings. Oil is at US $87. Money is gushing into the Alberta treasury. And oil investors are doing extremely well. Drivers, no...

At end of day, Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.25%. Shopify was down 6.1% in the U.S to $816. Down over 50% since November.  Futures market at the moment suggest markets will open higher on Friday. It seems clear that m...

Markets were moderately positive  this morning  apparently based on better economic news. But have turned negative this afternoon and the S&P 500 is currently down 0.7% and Toronto is down 0.3%. The grocer / pharmacy Metro Inc is up 3.2%. Dollara...

Markets gyrated on Wednesday first rising but then falling after FED comments.  The S&P 500 ended down 0.15% and Toronto was about unchanged. Most of the stocks I follow were somewhat higher on the day. CN Rail initially rose after reporting very...

Markets are fearful again on Tuesday mid-day with the S&P 500 down 2.0% and Toronto down 0.8%. Shopify is down 7.2% in Toronto to $1103. The highest flyer stocks are the most volatile at this time. Amazon is down 3.9% to $2779 - and down 26% from...

On Monday, the markets erased big losses from earlier in the day and the S&P 500 closed up 0.3% while Toronto was down 0.2%. Shopify had been down about 10% to $990 before finishing the day up 7% at $1188. The turnaround was partly the general ma...

Markets are solidly down on Monday as of mid-day. The S&P 500 is down a hefty 3.2% and Toronto is down 2.9%. Almost every stock that I follow is down. Shopify is down another 9.9%! The likes of VBAL proves its worth today as it is down a more mod...

Markets were negative on Friday with the S&P 500 down 1.9% and Toronto down 2.1%. Shopify was down a huge 13.4%. This was blamed on a report that Shopify is canceling some fulfillment contracts. Apparently there was  fear that this meant that sal...

I'm in Maui (Kapalua which is near Lahaina for those familiar with Maui) until the end of this month which is why I am posting at a different time of day than usual. The weather here has been consistently great day after day. The property values here...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 is down 0.3% although it was up earlier in the day. Toronto is down 0.2%. Shopify had been up slightly but is now about unchanged. Although very expensive in relation to earnings and sales, those who like to buy dips on ...

Markets are down this Tuesday afternoon with the S&P 500 down 1.8% and Toronto down 1.5%  West Texas Oil is at $85 and that has pushed the Canadian dollar up to 79.6 U.S. cents. Good news for the Alberta budget certainly. Shopify is down 6.7% to ...

U.S. markets are closed today for the Martin Luther King jr. holiday and rose 0.1% on Friday. Toronto is up 0.8% today.  Canadian Western Bank is up 2.0% today. West Texas oil is now at $84.35. This is highly profitable. Oil companies are doin very w...

NOTE the date, this post was meant to be seen yesterday but failed to load due to a connection problem. My apologies. I'm liking seeing Canadian Wester Bank back over $40. Looks like 2022 should be a great year for Alberta companies.  The Zara founde...

On Thursday the S&P 500 was down 1.4% and Toronto was down 0.5%. Shopify was down 8.8% as mentioned in my last comment. Linamar was up 4.0% and CWB was up 2.3% Today, Friday, the S&P 500 is down another 0.7% and Toronto is down 0.5%. American...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.6%. BHP was up 4.4% Canadian Western Bank was up 2.1%. U.S. inflation in 2021 was an epic 7.0%. It's amazing that this has not spooked markets which are implicitly betting that inflation ...

Markets were initially down noticeably on Monday but recovered almost all the ground as the S&P 500 and Toronto each finished down 0.1%. Costco was down 3.2%. According to TD Direct analysts still rate it mostly Strong Buy. No analyst in their li...

Markets are down today with the S&P 500 down 1.65% and Toronto down 0.9%. Shopify is down 5,8% and getting close to where it bottomed out last time it swooned Which was about $1275 in Toronto last May, very briefly it $1250).  Costco is down 4.9%...

Greetings from Maui (Kapalua)  On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% while Toronto was up 0.1%.  Shopify was down 2.8% $1446 Canadian.  Possibly it will soon turn around. But with a forward P/E of 278 according to Yahoo it's just not the kind of c...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.15%. Canadian Western Bank was up 4.6%. Nice to see but I'm not sure why it went up today in particular. But oil is up and the Alberta economic indicators are up so perhaps the market ...

Wednesday was a rate down day in the markets. The S&P 500 fell 1.9% and Toronto fell 0.9%. This came after the FED released minutes that alluded to earlier rate hikes and earlier tapering of the FED's bond buying. Bond yields rose and stock price...

Preferred shares can be attractive for yield especially in taxable accounts given the dividend tax credit. But my experience has been that buying them near (much less above) the normal issue price of $25 has not worked out well. Rate reset pref share...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was down 0.1%. Toronto was up 0.1%. Shopify was down a huge 10.9%. One article I saw blamed this on simply " a rotation out of high flyers and into value stocks".  Berkshire Hathaway was up 2.6%. Never count Buffett out... ...

January 3, 2022 – The US markets were open today and the S&P 500 rose 0.6% to set another all-time high. Apple was up 2.5%, Visa was up 2.1% Toll Brothers was down 3.0%. I understand this was due to higher yields on U.S. bonds that caused th...

Wow, 2021 turned out to a surprisingly stellar year in the markets. The S&P 500 gained 2.9% and the Toronto index gained 21.7%. The 25 stocks that were rated (lower) Buy or higher on this site rose an average of 29.5%. ...

CWB RATE RESET PREFERRED SHARES UPDATED The Canadian Western Bank rate reset shares CWB.PR.B is updated and rated Sell at $24.72. And the higher yielding CWB.PR.D is rated Weak Sell / Hold at $26.74. Rate reset preferred shares are meant to be better...

Markets were modestly weak on this second last trading day of the year. The S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.2%. There were no particularly notable individual moves among the stocks I follow.    ...

The S&P 500 edged up 0.1% on Wednesday. Toronto played catch-up and was up 0.5%. West Fraser Timber was up 5.15%.  ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged with just a 0.1% decline. And Toronto was totally unchanged since it was still closed. Hopefully, Toronto will be higher on Wednesday as it catches up to the two days off and to Monday's big gain on the...

On Monday, the United States was back to work and the S&P 500 rose 1.4% to a new high just a hair short of reaching 4,800. Compare that to the 666 it touched at the low point in 2009! The S&P 500 is up 28% this year. It's crazy really. So far...

On Friday, U.S. markets were closed in lieu of Christmas. Toronto was open for a shorted day and rose a modest 0.05%. New York markets will be open tomorrow Monday while Canada slumbers for two more days. I will likely buy some Toll Brothers shares t...

Toll Brothers is updated and rated Strong Buy at 70.48. I was going to be conservative and rate is a bit lower at (higher) Buy given its volatile history. But it's trading a t 10 times earnings and the company forecasts a 50% gain in earnings in the ...

American Express is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $165. It's a solid company. Far smaller than VISA or Mastercard and it operates differently. It will likely continue to grow. A good long-term investment....

Thursday was another positive day on the markets. The S&P 500 was up 0.6% and set a new high. Toronto was up 0.7%. Shopify surged 3.6%.  Couch Tard and Linamar were each up 2.1%. 2021 is set to go into the record books as a banner year for invest...

Markets were positive once again on Wednesday. The S&P 500 was up 1.0% and Toronto was up 0.7%. There still seems to be more optimism than fear in the markets despite Omicron and possible higher interest rates. AutoCanada and Toll Brothers were e...

Tuesday was the shortest and therefore on average the darkest day of the year but on the markets it was a bright day as the S&P 500 roared up 1.8% and Toronto outdid itself with a 1.9% gain. One reason may have been that some life was apparently ...

Markets ended the day Monday with the S&P 500 down 1.1% and Toronto down 1.0%. Accordingly, most stocks on our list were down.  CN Rail was down 5.9% due to the general market decline as well as specifically due to an announcement that once candi...

Markets are down this morning (S&P 500 down 1.7% and Toronto down 1.3%) This is not exactly a shock given Omicron and probable higher interest rates and also given the fact that President Biden's planned fiscal stimulus bill has apparently died w...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 1.0% while Toronto was unchanged. Starbucks was down 4.4%. AutoCanada was up 8.8% after announcing an aggressive looking share buyback program. FedEx was up 5.0% on a good earnings report. Over the weekend the Omic...

Shopify is updated and rated Speculative Sell at U.S $1323 or Canadian $1705. I hesitated to rate this a Sell given the extremely high quality of the company and its growth and the fact that buying it at what appeared to be elevated valuations in the...

Yet another interesting day in the markets. Markets started the day with a noticeable gain but in the end the S&P 500 was down 0.9% and Toronto was down 0.1%. It's interesting to note that will all the projections of central bank interest rate in...

Markets started out hot with another gain this morning but have now cooled with the S&P 500 down 0.4%. I will post the update for grocer Metro Inc today. It's a (lower) Buy or Buy. Not an overly exciting company but should continue to be a steady...

Markets surged higher on Wednesday and the FED Chair indicated that while the Fed would stop purchasing bonds by mid March, they would not raise interest rates until some time after that. He also indicated that there would be no sudden moves. Things ...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was down 0.75% and Toronto was down 0.5%. Markets had been down more than that earlier in the day but rallied somewhat. Shopify was down 2.9%. Toll Brothers was down 2.7%. The Producer Price Index in the United Sates was up...

Markets were down on Monday with the S&P 500 falling 0.9% and Toronto down 0.5%. Accordingly, most stocks were down. Interest rates were also down despite all the predictions of higher interest rates and all the news of high inflation.  In the U....

Costco is updated and rated Sell at $559. It's a fantastic company and will will continue to grow its earnings at a strong rate for the foreseeable future. But the P/E ratio at 47 is, I believe, its highest ever. And this comes at a time when its ear...

Ceapro Inc. Report is updated and rated Speculative Buy at $0.54. This is a risky penny stock.  In retrospect it is regrettable that I ever happened to look at it and add it to the site back in 2017. But it is profitable and I will continue to update...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.95% setting a new record closing high while Toronto was down 0.2%. Costco was up a hefty 6.6% to a new closing high of $559. This came after its Q1 fiscal 2022 earnings beat expectations although apparently revenue...

On Thursday the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.7%. There were not particularly notable moves in the individual stocks on my list. This Friday morning the S&P 500 is currently up 0.6% and Toronto is about unchanged. Costco reported stron...

Markets were mixed on Wednesday as the S&P 500 rose 0.3% while Toronto fell 0.4%. WSP Global was down 3.0%. Couche-Tard was up 3.7% to $51.50 and the old ATD.A and ATD.B shares have been consolidated and now trade as ATD. Today was the first day ...

Markets moved higher on Tuesday as the S&P 500 rose a hefty 2.1% and Toronto rose 1.45%. Shopify was up 5.5%. TFI International was up 4.2%. AutoCanada was up 3.5%. After the close, Toll Brothers reported its fiscal Q4 results and which appeared ...

Markets bounced higher on Monday as concern about the Omicron variant ebbed somewhat.  The S&P 500 was up 1.2% and Toronto was up 1.1%. Toll Brothers was notable with a 3.8% gain. I noticed that ChemTrade logistics Income Fund  is out with a 6.25...

On Friday, the markets were moderately down as the S&P 500 fell 0.8% and Toronto was down 0.6%. Canadian Western Bank was down 4.4% after releasing Q4 earnings that were positive but fell short of expectations. This bank trades at not much over b...

The report for AutoCanada Inc. is updated and rated *higher) Buy at $33.92....

Markets bounced up today as they continue to oscillate on changing views of how serious the Omicron variant is as a threat to markets. And as the market digests comments from the FED chair. The S&P 500 was up 1.4% and Toronto was up 1.45%. Toll B...

Markets were initially higher on Wednesday but then turned around to close lower on virus fears as Omicron was found in the U.S.A. The S&P 500 was down 1.2% and Toronto was down 0.95%. As of this evening futures markets suggest that the markets w...

On Tuesday, markets focused on remarks by the FED chair that he now appears to view inflation as not being so transient and therefore indicates he wants to taper and end bond buying somewhat sooner. The Omicron virus also weighed on markets. The S&am...

On Monday, the markets basically voted that the Omicron virus is not a big threat to North American stock prices. The S&P 500 was up 1.3%  while Toronto was only up 0.1%. Enbridge was only down 2.1% after getting an unfavorable regulatory ruling ...

As most everyone will have heard, markets were down noticeable on Friday in reaction to fears about the new virus variant, now named Omicron. Almost all stocks were down. American Express was hard hit with an 8.6%drop. Amex is more travel oriented th...

The report on Canadian Tire is updated and rated Strong Buy at $170. The stock had soared after stellar sales and earnings growth in Q2 but has now fallen because Q3 sales growth was somewhat disappointing and earning per share were down versus the p...

On Thursday, the U.S. markets were closed for Thanksgiving. Toronto was up 0.3%. Futures markets indicate a lower opening for stocks on Friday morning. I expect to have an update for Canadian Tire by Sunday.  I spoke today to the Investor Relations p...

The recent issue with this web site not loading due to a security certificate issue has been fixed. More about that below. On Wednesday the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.4%. Couche-Tard was down 4.6% after releasing earnings. Costco wa...

November 23, 2021 The investorsfriend.com web site is down. This is due to the expiration of a security certificate. The new certificate may take a few days to get installed. Meanwhile, I will send a daily comment by email. The install of the new cer...

The investorsfriend.com web site is down. This is due to the expiration of a security certificate. The new certificate may take a few days to get installed. Meanwhile, I will send a daily comment by email. I've renewed the certificate for 5 years and...

U.S markets are higher this morning on news that President Biden has chosen Jerome Powell to remain as FED chair for another term. This brings stability. This decision still has to go through congress however. (A colossal waste of time as it seems su...

Markets were weaker on Friday as the S&P 500 was down 0.1 and Toronto was down 0.4%. The DOW which is often more volatile was down 0.75%. Penny stock RIWI was down another 6% to $1.36 and continues it volatile ways. Hopefully now near the bottom ...

Markets are a bit weak this morning reportedly on concerns of the virus situation in Europe. Meanwhile Cost is up again now to $535. It seems to have no top. As always expensive but a powerhouse. Shopify is also up again. Oil is down about 3%....

Posting this week from Palm Springs, California... On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down 0.3%. Visa ended the day down 4.7% for the reason I mentioned this morning. TD had yet another convertible debenture offering today this time ...

The report on VISA Inc. is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $203. This is a cautious rating and I would have rated it somewhat higher except for the news that Amazon is battling it over fees and will stop accepting U.K Visa cards as of January 22...

I wanted to mention an internet scam to watch out for. I got a fake notice that my MicroSoft365 password needed to be updated. It sounded plausible and they said I could update or use the same password and asked me to enter my password. I almost did ...

On Monday the S&P 500 was unchanged and Toronto was down 0.4%.  Restaurant Brands was up 1.9% after announcing a planned acquisition. The Boston Pizza Royalty units were up 3.3%.  Melcor Developments bounced up 4.4%. Given the low volume of this ...

TD Direct has just now (3:50 pm eastern) sent out an alert that NFI Group has a new issue of a 5 year convertible debenture at 5.0% as well as a stock issue. I have not yet seen if the reason is for an acquisition.This is the bus manufacturer, former...

On Friday, the markets returned to winning ways with the S&P 500 up 0.7% and Toronto up 0.9%. Shopify was up a huge 11.8%. Alcanna was up 15.6% after releasing Q3 earnings. That was surprising to me given that it has agreed to be sold to Sundial ...

On Thursday, we rightfully paused to remember. But the stock markets carried on. The S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.6%. WSP Global was up 5.0% after reporting earnings. It never seems to put a foot wrong. BHP was up 5.2% Penny stock Cea...

Markets had a down day on Wednesday with the S&P 500 down 0.8% and Toronto down 0.6% U.S inflation was reported this morning at 6.2% year-over-year. That was the highest level since 1990. This would be very serious if it continues. The market fin...

On Monday, U.S markets took a breather with the S&P 500 down 0.35% while Toronto was up 0.2%. Toll Brothers was up 2.8%. Amazon was up 2.5%. After the close, AutoCanada reported strong results. RioCan also reported strong results. Melcor Developm...

I notice that the province of Ontario is out with a new offer of a 10 year bond that pays 2.25%. That's not exactly exciting or attractive. $1000 compounded at 2.25% grows to $1280 in ten years.  But with inflation that might well purchase less (poss...

Markets rose once again on Monday with the S&P 500 edging up 0.1% and Toronto rising 0.5%. FedEx was up 2.4%. BHP Group was up 2.4% after announcing it has a deal to divest a metallurgical cola operation. I'm starting some work on the valuation o...

Friday was yet another positive day for stocks with the S&P 500 index rising 0.4% and Toronto up 0.5%. Enbridge was strong with a 3.0% gain. Starbucks was even better with a 4.2% gain. VISA was up 3.8%, Toll Brothers gained 2.7%. It's been very g...

Yes, stocks rose once again on this Thursday November 4th. The S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.4%. Shopify was up 3.7% TFI International was up 3.5%. Costco was up another 2.65% to $516  after its strong same-store sales gain reported for Octo...

Wednesday was another strong day in the markets after the FED chair announced that the FED would be tapering its bond buying starting this month but left interest rates unchanged and after the market found his words to be soothing. The S&P 500 wa...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% while Toronto was down 0.4%. Cost took a peek at $500 today reaching $499.49 and closed at $497. I had an order in to sell some of what I held at $499 and so that got sold. Within a few days it will report Octo...

The Enbridge rate reset preferred share on our list ENB.PF.A is updated rated Weak Buy / Hold. At 4.8% the yield is reasonably attractive and it may benefit from rising interest rates. However , this particular rate reset share has a rather poor hist...

The report on Aecon Group Ltd is updated but rated only Weak Buy / Hold at $17.98. (The stock is a bit lower at $17.62 as I post this comment) Aecon is an admirable company in that it constructs many of the most significant projects in Canada includi...

On Monday, stocks edged yet higher. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto rose a full 1.0%. Shopify rose 4.6%. Starbucks was up 3.5%. Couche-Tard was up 3.4% Canadian Tire was up 2.1%. My impression is that Canadian Tire is doing very well with i...

This is a comment on Friday's markets plus some thoughts on convertible debentures. Friday saw the S&P 500 up 0.2% but Toronto down 0.8%. lulu lemon was up 5.1% after reporting earnings. This has been a wonderful Canadian success story.  The big ...

(This post was drafted October 14 but failed to upload at that time) On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up a hefty 1.7% and Toronto was up 1.0%. (It seems I neglected to make my daily comment yesterday, my apologies.) CN Rail was up 1.8% today.  Toll B...

Markets returned to winning ways on Thursday as the S&P 500 was up 1.0% and Tronto was up 1.2%. But after the close, Amazon and Apple reported disappointing results which pushed their shares down in "after-hours" (= oxymoron) trading. The Canadia...

BHP the giant Australia-based mining company is updated and rates Speculative Strong Buy. The best way to buy it is to buy the BBL shares(technically American Depository Receipts)  in New York that (weirdly) give you two shares for each BBL at $54.52...

Wednesday was a rare down day for stocks. (That's not to say that down days will always be rare but they have been rare for the past 18 months.) The S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down a full 1.0%. This was an eventful day in the Canadian ...

Markets were "mixed" on Tuesday with the S&P 500 up 0.2% but Toronto down 0.5%. Shopify was down 4.4%. AutoCanada was down 3.85% and was down yesterday as well. It continues to be surprisingly volatile from day to day.  Couche-Tard was down 2.6%....

So, let's see what markets did on Monday... They went up again. 2021 has seen the market rise seemingly about 9 days out of 10. The S&P 500 was up another 0.5% and Toronto was up another 0.3%. Costco was up $8.11. That's "only" a 1.8% gain but th...

Friday was a flat day on the markets as the S&P 500 was down just 0.1% and Toronto was about unchanged. Costco was up another 1% to $482. Earlier today I saw it was at $484 and decided to sell what amounted to 1/6th of my shares. I still have a r...

Stocks managed another positive day on Thursday as the S&P 500 closed 0.3% higher and Toronto edged up 0.1%. Stantec was up 9.4% after announcing a moderately large acquisition. It's a $500 million acquisition which is not huge compared to Stante...

Wednesday was yet anther strong day in the markets. The S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was up 0.5%. It's easy to get complacent but I'd like to be prepared for any pull back with some cash on hand as well as an allocation to dixed income includi...

Tuesday saw the S&P 500 rise another 0.7%. Toronto was up 0.5% to 21,087 as it pushed over the 21,000 level for the first time.  West Fraser Timber was down 3.4%. Possibly this was linked to lower home starts in the U.S.  After the close, CN Rail...

It's very tough to get a good rate on U.S. dollars for a vacation.  For example most Canadian dollar credit cards will tack on around 1.5 cents as the bank's exchange fee and then add another 2.5% to that. For a total around 4.0%. And they will hide ...

TD Direct is out with an offering of a 6.0% non-convertible five year debenture from ECN Capital.  I'd prefer a convertible debenture both for the potential upside and because it would trade. Strangely, in this case TD has it under the category "conv...

Stocks rose on Monday with the S&P 500 and Toronto each up 0.3%. Costco was up 2.1% to $462. It's a fantastic company. It always seems expensive on a P?E basis and is even more expensive than usual at this time. I'm somewhat tempted to reduce my ...

Friday was a positive day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 0.75% and Toronto up 0.50%. Amazon was notable with a 3.3% gain. West Texas Oil is at U.S. $82.66 The Canadian dollar is at 80.9 cents or $1236 to buy a U.S. dollar at the wholesale rat...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was down 0.2% while Toronto was up 0.1%. West Fraser Timber was up 3.3%. This was prior to an announcement after the close that it will acquire a mill in the U.S. for $300 million. The Boston Pizza Royalty units were up 9.9...

Canadian National Railway is updated as Weak Buy / Hold at $144.24. It is moderately expensive but is a high quality and stable company that has done very well over the years.  I added a little to my position this morning even though it does look som...

The report on CWB is updated and rated (higher) buy at $38.78. I was quite bullish on this one when it was last updated at $32.39 on March 31 and it has done well. Earnings have increased and so it is just as attractive now as it was then. I am tempt...

The analysis of Costco is updated and rated Weak Buy / hold. I would put emphasis on the Hold. It is a fantastic company but it is expensive at 40 times trailing earnings.  And after a long string of same-store earnings growth it could always experie...

Friday's action saw the S&P 500 finish down 0.2% and Toronto unchanged. AutoCanada bounced down 3.0% Linamar was up 2.6%. It is holding up very well in the face of the continuing chip shortages that are lowering auto production and that will like...

Yesterday I added Enbridge Inc. to the list with a rating of Buy at $50.70. That was my analysis price from Wednesday and in fairness I will note that it closed Friday at $51.59.  I've been aware of Enbridge since about 1990 when it was a far smaller...

On Thursday markets were higher as fears of a sort of debt-ceiling crisis in the U.S. abated. (There was not a great deal of fear but some...) The S&P 500 was up 0.8% and Toronto was up 1.1%. Most stocks were higher. Shopify was notable with a 3....

Markets were volatile on Wednesday. There were down much of the day but rallied in the afternoon with the S&P 500 closing up 0.4% and Toronto closing just slightly up (less than 0.1% up)  Oil exports to the U.S. from Canada are at record levels a...

A perpetual preferred share offering at 4.5% At this moment TD Direct has on offer a new issue of Power Financial preferred shares paying 4.5% annually.  It's unfortunate that they do not label these as perpetual which is certainly what they appear t...

On Tuesday markets partially rebounded as the S&P 500 rose 1.05% and Toronto rose 0.65%. FedEx was strong with a 2.9% gain. There has been a number of new IPOs coming out on TD Direct which is probably indicative of continued strength in the mark...

Markets were somewhat weak on Monday as the S&P 500 was down 1.3% and Toronto down 0.5%. West Texas Oil is at U.S. $78 and the Canadian dollar is at 79 cents U.S. I'm not sure if anyone (such as BNN Bloomberg) noticed that West Texas in Canadian ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 1.2% and Toronto was down 0.4% It's possible that a somewhat persistent negative sentiment has come over the market as fears of interest rate increases grow. Those with cash can consider nibbling on bargains but ...

On Wednesday markets were relatively flat as the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.1%. West Fraser Timber was up 3.6%. Melcor is hanging on to its recent gains and was up another 0.5%. The Enbridge rate reset preferred share on our list wa...

Tuesday's markets featured a 2.0% drop in the S&P 500 and a 1.4% drop in Toronto. After all the gains this year, such a drop is not necessarily any big concern. It's possible a bigger decline will ensue but for the past 18 months it seems that ev...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% while Toronto as up 0.3%. Oil is strong at U.S. $75.36. This bodes well for Alberta. Perhaps not coincidentally, Canadian Western Bank was up 2.6%. The oil and gas ETF XEG was up 3.0%.  Melcor Developments was...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was uo 0.15% and Toronto was down 0.3%. AutoCanada bounced down 4.1%. Melcor was up 2.4% and has shown some recent strength. Costco was up 3.3%....

U.S. markets were strong on Thursday as the S&P 500 was up 1.2% Toronto was only up 0.3% despite oil gaining ground today. American Express was up 3.5% although it apparently did not yet release earnings but will do so tomorrow morning. Visa was ...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.95% and Toronto was up 0.8%. AutoCanada was up 6.3%. For the last six months it has had a number of dips and then recoveries.  Melcor Developments was up 3.1%. But as is virtually always the case that was on a t...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was down0.1% while Toronto was up 0.45%. Alcanna was up 5.0%. Couche-Tard bounced back up 2.3%. TD Direct alerted me today to a new bond issue. A 10 year City of Montreal bond paying 2.0%. There is no way I would even think...

Markets were down noticeably on Monday. By most accounts it is just a healthy breather of sorts for the markets. It will not necessarily signal the start of a bigger decline. The S&P 500 was down 1.7% nd Toronto was down 1.6%. Accordingly, almost...

On Friday the S&P 500 was down 0.9% and Toronto was down 0.5%. CN Rail was up 2.4% after announcing some new plans to boost profits. They also indicated that they will actually come out ahead by about 600 million dollars in deal0break fees when t...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.4%. Alcanna was up 3.8% Linamar was down 3.2%. It may continue to suffer due to the microchip shortage that is lowering vehicle production. But ultimately it remains a very good compan...

Wednesday's session saw the S&P 500 up 0.85% and Toronto up 0.7%. Starbucks was down 3.55%. Oil was higher and is at U.S $72.45 this evening. Alberta is introducing a Vaccine Passport and a partial lockdown. Not good news for the restaurant and b...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 and Toronto were both down about 0.6%. Melcor Developments was up 4.9%. But this was on thin volume and so is pretty meaningless. I look forward to seeing the housing start report for August which will be released tomorrow ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each up 0.2%. Readers may notice a couple of ads now appearing on this site.  I am not endorsing the products sold in the ads. I will see how this goes and if the ads are not causing harm I will leave them....

Alimentation Couche-Tard is updated and rated Buy at $49.85 It has a fantastic history and trades at an attractive price. There are some concerns regarding the eventual impact of electric vehicles and there is also a concern that profits could dip te...

Friday's session saw the S&P 500 down 0.8% and Toronto down 0.35%. Apple was notable with a 3.3% decline. Today (Sunday) Kansas City Southern announced that it now accepts and prefers Canadian Pacific's bid rather than CN's. Since CN shareholders...

Markets were modestly weaker on Thursday with the S&P 500 down 0.5% and Toronto down 0.2%. lululemon was up 10.5% after reporting strong earnings. Dollarama was down 3.1% after reporting a rare drop in same-store sales. This was blamed on lockdow...

As of mid-day Friday markets are about unchanged. Thursday they were down modestly. Penny stock RIWI was up yesterday and is up another 12% today although on low volume of trading. lululemon is up 11% today after releasing a strong earnings report. Y...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.1%. There were no particularly big moves in the stocks on our list. The CN Rail saga is rather perplexing. Last week they got the ostensibly BAD news that the regulator was not going to ...

On Monday markets were closed for the holiday. On Friday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto edged up 0.1%. West Fraser Timber was up 3.6% to go back over $100. As of Monday evening, markets appear set to open slightly higher on Tuesday ...

Thursday was yet another positive and record day in the markets. The S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was up 0.5%. The Energy ETF, XEG was up 3.5% as oil touched $70.  This likely has room to keep going up. The opening of Enbridge's line 3 capacit...

I took a look at Andrew Peller's latest earnings release. The stock is down and so I thought it might look more attractive. Also they just announced that they just sold a piece of land in B.C. for $9.0 million that had a book value of $1.3 million. T...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was about unchanged adn Toronto was up 0.5%. Dental Corporation (not on our list but which I have mentioned a few times) was up 5.0%.  CN Rail was up another 3.8%. TFI International was up 2.0%. After the close, Costco re...

Our report on Ceapro Inc. is updated and continues to be rated Speculative Buy. Earnings are down in the first half of 2021 but this is due to increased spending on its Phase 1 (safety) trial of its Beta Glucan pills. The company is generating ample ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each down about 0.1%. CN Rail was a big story with a 7.4% gain. That's a lot when we are talking about a $100 billion in market value. Initially the stock was up on news that a large investor had a 5% posi...

I was quite surprised to see that CN Rail gained today when the Surface Transportation Board rejected its proposal for a voting trust for Kansas City Southern. Given that gain and an earlier gain today I decided to sell my CN shares. Perhaps I am bei...

The report on RIWI is updated and rated Weak Sell / Hold.  The results of the past three quarters have been disappointing. Revenue growth has slowed but is still positive. Earnings have declined to near zero although the company explains that this is...