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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Markets are strong this morning with oil up another 3% to $33.26.
Q4 earnings reports continue to come in. The bigger news this week may be the unemployment numbers due out Friday morning.
...

With a late in the day rally, the S&P 500 finished Wednesday up 0.5% and Toronto finished up 1.2% as oil rose 9.6% and the Canadian dollar rose  1.32 U.S. cents or 1.9%.
Regarding the RioCan preferred A share that will be deemed at $25 on March 3...

In the news this morning:
Rona Inc. is up about 100% after agreeing to a takeover deal from Lowes. this deal raises a few interesting points:
The stock jumped in a step fashion from the close yesterday at $11.77 to the opening price today at about $2...

Tuesday was a weak day in the markets with the S&P 500 down 1.9% and Toronto down 1.8%. And oil was down to $29.55.
Notable decliners includes AutoCanada down 10.3% to $17.18, possibly due to reports showing that vehicle sales in the U.S. have sl...

Last night it became clear that Bernie Sanders has a very legitimate chance of being the Democratic Nominee. And whoever gets the democratic nomination will likely be the favorite in the run for the Presidency against the fractured republican party. ...

On Monday the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was down 1.2%. And oil was down about 6%.
TransForce rose 6.2% after completing the sale of its waste management division.
The Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund rose 3.1%.
I don't follow Amay...

The TSX is down 1.6% on lower as oil is down about 4.0%. The S&P 500 is down 0.4% as manufacturing is down due to the higher dollar and weakness in export markets.
...

 
On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 2.5% and Toronto was up 1.8%.
Visa Inc. was up 7.4% on better-than-expected revenues and earnings.
On Friday, Statistics Canada reported November GDP figures indicating a 0.3% gain in Canadian GDP from the pri...

Thursday was a positive day for stocks. The S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 1.7%. Oil was up 4.4% to $33.72.
CN rail was up 3.4% on strong earnings driven by lower fuel costs and cost control. Canadian Western Bank was up 3.8%.
Bombardier ...

Statistics Canada reports food and restaurant sales in Alberta down 0.2%. So just a tiny decline despite the economy. I continue to see Boston Pizza as strong investment with a good yield around 8% and the distribution unlikely to be cut or if cut du...

 
 
 
 
 
A down day on the markets.
I would add to Toll brothers at recent prices.
Bombardier slipped under $1.00, a shameful display of incompetence.
I am in Phoenix this week and due to a new but crappy computer its a hard...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.4% and Toronto was up 1.5%.
 
...

Markets are up today. Probably due to some combination of news including earnings reports, higher oil and China "injecting liquidity into its banks".
OPEC apparently wants a world-wide agreement for oil producers to cut supply. I believe nationally c...

Monday was a down day in the markets with the S&P 500 down 1.6% and Toronto down 2.0%.
Accordingly, almost all the stocks on our list were down.
A couple of stocks of note:
Toll Brothers is down to $26.95. That makes it more attractive than at an...

TD Direct Investing has a new issue out, a 5.75% rate reset preferred share from Empire Life Insurance Company.
The other large bank discounts brokers are also likely offering this. These deals tend to sell out fairly quickly. If you want in on them ...

American Express is updated and rated Speculative Buy. This company is down 37% since it was first added to this site rated Buy two years ago. Its earnings per share have grown slightly since then but the P/E multiple came down significantly due to a...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 2.0% and Toronto was up 2.9% as oil had a very strong rise of 9.7%. Most of the stocks on our list were up 2, 3 or 4%.
America express however was down 12.1% after reporting earnings which included a lower near-term ...

Statistics Canada has reported the December inflation numbers.
The Canadian CPI was up 1.6% from the prior year held down by lower gasoline prices.
Core inflation which strips out the volatile food and energy sectors was up 1.9%. (For years core infl...

Thursday was a welcome positive day in the markets.
The S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 1.6%
Bombardier bucked the trend and was down 9% on news that United Airlines had chosen Boeing for a large plane order that Bombardier was hoping to s...

Statistics Canada reports tthat residential construction in Canada was up 2.2% in November compared to the prior year. But single family construction was down 9.6%.
In Alberta, residential construction was down 15.7% but there was no break-down betwe...

Wednesday was another memorable day in the Stock markets.
The S&P 500 closed down 1.2% and Toronto was down 1.3%. And the lows of the day were far lower than that. Oil was down as well.
My strategy has always been to continue to buy what appear t...

The report for Bank of America is updated with a rating of Speculative Strong Buy at $13.69.
Bank of America reported Q4 earnings per share which were 9% higher than the year ago quarter but which earnings remain affected by various items related to ...

On Wednesday morning the Bank of Canada left interest rates unchanged. I believe this was good news. But it was over-shadowed by a significant drop in stock markets tied to world events and outlooks.
In regards to the overall stock market declines, I...

Tuesday ended with the S&P 500 about unchanged and Toronto up 0.5% - despite a drop in oil prices.
Most stocks on our list were up today.
Rate reset preferred shares did well. A Husky preferred share that I own a tiny amount of was up 5.25% (albe...

The biggest or virtually only reason for the Canadian 69 cent dollar is said to be lower oil prices.
But other factors affect it to.
Every Canadian person, company or government that wants to spend money in U.S. dollars such as for imports, vacations...

On Monday, the U.S. stock markets were closed while Toronto fell 1.1%.
Some of the big questions facing investors are how low will oil go?, how long will it stay down?, to what price might it recover? and how will low oil prices affect other aspects ...

New vehicle sales for November were reported today by Statistics Canada.
For Canada overall, the number of new cars and trucks sold was up 4.45% versus the same month  year ago and in dollar terms were up 6.95%. For Alberta unit sales were down 15.9%...

Wells Fargo is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $48.82.
The recent markets declines are surely a distraction. But given that overall market declines are unpredictable there is really nothing to be done about the market decline. Investors are suppose...

We are just two weeks into the new year but it feels longer.
On Friday, the S&P 500 was down 2.2% for a total decline this new year of 8.0%. And, Toronto was down 2.1% bringing its decline for the new year to 7.2%.
Many stocks continue to decline...

On Thursday, the market had its first significantly positive day of the new year. The S&P 500 was up 1.7% and Toronto was up 1.4%.
J.P. Morgan's earnings were better than expected which may bode well for Wells Fargo's numbers due out on Friday mo...

The 2016 market slump continued on Wednesday. The S&P 500 was down 2.5% and Toronto was down 1.6%.
Almost all the stocks on our list were down today.
So far this month, the S&P 500 is down 7.5% and Toronto is down 6.5%.
Rate reset preferred s...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 ended the day up 0.8% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
Oil dipped under $30 and is currently at $30.75. The Canadian dollar dipped under 70 U.S. cents and is now at 70.23.
Winning stocks today included Dollarama, up 3.5% and Wells...

On Monday the S&P ended the day up 0.1% while Toronto was down 1.0%.
Oil was down 6% to about U.S. $31 for West Texas Intermediate.
The Canadian dollar is at 70.3 cents U.S.
Most stocks with an oil or Alberta connection fell today including Melco...

According to Standard and Poors, Q4 earnings for the 500 S&P 500 companies are expected to rise some 21% on average on a GAAP basis and 8% on an adjusted or operating basis compared to Q4 2014. That would be very welcome news especially since Q3 ...

Friday marked the end of an ugly week in the markets.
The S&P was down another 1.1% while Toronto was about flat for the day.
Dollarama was down 3.8% to $73.69.
I am starting to see a lot of stories about price increases in Canada. The low Canadi...

Thursday was another negative day for stocks with the S&P 500 down 2.4% and Toronto down 2.2%.
Walmart remained one of the few stocks on the rise and was up 2.3% to $65.03.
Melcor was up 4.7% to $13.99 but that was based on just 200 shares tradin...

On Wednesday, the markets took a hit from North Korea's test of a nuclear bomb.
The S&P 500 was down 1.4% and Toronto was down 1.5%. Oil was down 5.5% and the Canadian dollar was down 0.7%.
A few stocks on our list managed to rise including Walma...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 rose 0.2% while Toronto fell 0.1%.
Stocks on the move included Walmart, up 2.4%.
However most stocks fell including AutoCanada down 4.0%.
I added to my position in the Canadian Western Bank preferred share and also bought 1...

Stock markets in 2016 have started off on a negative footing. On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 1.5% while Toronto was down 0.6%.
One bright spot on our list was AutoCanada which was up 3.5%. Also two of our four Strong Buys were up slightly as TransFo...

Our stock ratings as of today along with the closing 2015 prices will be used to track our performance in 2016. While we rate stocks all through the year we have always tracked performance on  calendar year basis. For that reason, a special effort ha...

Alimentation Couche-Tard is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $60.91. This is one of Canada's very best managed companies. The only problem has been that the stock has often looked over-valued. At this time the valuation appears to be more reasonable ...

I will have a few more updates before the Markets open on Monday and the fun begins again for another year.
 
 
...

2015 was a poor year for the Canadian Stock market, with the TSX down 11.1%. Our own stock picks were down 10.5% on average although the two Strong Buy picks were down 27%. While it is not directly comparable because it includes dividends and currenc...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.7% and Toronto fell o.8%.
Preferred shares mostly rose, for example the Canadian Western Bank preferred share was up 3.8%.
Oil prices fell as oil inventories rose. Apparently, the North American oil producers are ...

The report for ReoCan REIT is updated and rated Buy at $24.24.
When I first added RioCan to the site on July 9, 2011 rated Weak Buy (essentially a Hold) it was trading at 1.53 times book value. Now it is trading at a much more attractive 0.98 times b...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 2.3% while Toronto fell 0.5%.
Toronto's decline was caused in part by Valeant's decline of 11.1% which was due to news that its CEO is in hospital with pneumonia. Valeant is down 60% in U.S. dollars (which it reports in) ...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% while Toronto was closed in lieu of Boxing Day.
Our next update will likely be for RioCan Reit as well as the RioCan preferred share series A. The preferred shares are set to reset to a materially lower dividend o...

Onex Corporation is updated and rated Speculative (lower) Buy at $85.68. This entity is not a normal operating corporation but is a combination of a conglomerate holding company that invests mostly in private companies (the value of which is difficul...

On Christmas Eve, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% while Toronto rose 0.2%.
Boston Pizza Royalties was up 2.4% to $17.70. Last week, co-founder Jim Treliving bought 5000 units at $16.97. Combined with other recent insider buying, it seems clear that managem...

The Wells Fargo preferred shares (series O) report is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $25.04. These shares had been added to the list in 2014 because I had bought some at what seemed to be a bargain price of under $20 in late 2013. At $25 they a...

Wells Fargo is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $54.82. Despite being the world's most valuable bank Wells Fargo's operations are mostly concerned with the traditional lending out of depositor money. It does not engage in the large-scale investment ...

Wednesday was a positive day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 1.2% and Toronto was up 1.5%.
Oil (West Texas) was up 4.8% to $37.89. This was apparently due to a surprise decease in oil inventories.
AutoCanada was up 4.7% although it had not rel...

The report for Berkshire Hathaway is updated and the company is rated (higher) Buy at $134.15.
...

The S&P 500 was up 0.9% on Tuesday and Toronto was up 0.4%.
The five-year government of Canada bond yield was down to 0.72% on Monday and edged up to 0.75% on Tuesday. This very low yield continues to keep rate reset preferred shares trading at l...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.8% and Toronto was up 0.1%.
Canadian Western Bank was up 1.6% after announcing an acquisition of an commercial and equipment finance company that it believes will be quite accretive although not for several years. ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 1.8% while Toronto was up 0.1%.
Bombardier was up 16% after announcing that it received the expected certification for the smaller version of its new C-Series plane and also announcing a significant rail car contract. ...

FedEx is updated and rated Buy at $147.15. It's an excellent company the stock price has declined about 15% in 2015 despite higher earnings.
...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 1.5% and Toronto was down 1.2%.
The Canadian dollar is down under 72 U.S. cents. This seems bizarrely low. It certainly seems to be driven by low oil prices. I don't know why low oil prices have quite so much imp...

The Federal Reserve Bank in the U.S. finally raised its overnight inter-bank target rate by 25 basis points.
The S&P 500 rose 1.4% and Toronto rose 1.9% despite about a 4% drop in the oil price.
The Canadian dollar fell but only moderately.
Canad...

Constellation Software is updated and rated Speculative (lower) Buy at CAN $581 and U.S. $423 (this was based on yesterday's closing price and it is at CAN $585.43 as I post this as stocks rose on the FED news).
Constellation is one of Canada's very ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 1.1% and Toronto was up 1.7%.
Preferred shares were particularly strong.
Melcor bucked the trend and was down 4.8% to $12.36. And the trading volume was a bit higher today at 31,329 shares. It is now at just 44% of ...

Monday was another non-boring day in the markets.
The S&P 500 was up 0.5% while Toronto was down 0.78%
Oil is at $36.26. The Canadian dollar is worth just under 73 U.S. cents.
Natural Gas is at a low last seen in 2002 at U.S. $1.89 in New York
No...

On Friday, the S&P 500 declined a hefty 1.9% and Toronto was down 1.7%.
Overall, 2015 has not been a good year for stock investors, especially for investors in Canadian stocks. The Toronto index is down 12.6%. The average Buy (or higher) rated st...

On Thursday the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.6%
Dollarama was down 5.3% to $77.37. That is down from a high of almost $94. I read that latest quarterly press release and the company continues to grow very strongly. But it was a very e...

Wednesday's action had the S&P 500 down 0.8% while Toronto was up 0.1%.
Dollarama fell 7.3%. I will update that report soon and definitely before the end of this year.
Costco was down 5.4%. I would want a bigger retreat than that before I would b...

Toll Brothers is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $33.84. Sales for a homebuilder are hard to predict. However, in this case the revenue is relatively predictable because it is driven by signed home sale contracts about one year earlier. Based on th...

Here is the latest on Canadian Crude Oil production from Stats Canada figures released this Wednesday morning, December 9th.
Canada produced 17.2 million cubic metres of crude oil and equivalent products in September, down 3.5% compared with the same...

Tuesday was another down day for the markets. The S&P 500 fell 0.7% and Toronto fell 0.9%.
Among the more notable decliners were certainly some that I have rated as Strong Buys or Buys and which I have a heavy allocation to in my own portfolio.
M...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.7% and Toronto was down 2.4%.
A decline in the price of oil in the oder of 6% to $37.65 was the main driver for the decline.
OPEC met on Friday. My understanding is that most OPEC members wanted Saudi Arabia to c...

Canadian Western Bank is updated and rated Strong Buy at $23.66. This bank's earnings remain strong despite lower oil prices. Q4 profit did decline about 8% versus the previous year. But the bank is not expecting any unmanageable level of loan losses...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up a hefty 2.0% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
Notable gainers included Berkshire Hathaway, up 2.9%; Bank of America up 2.9%; Visa, up 2.7%; Toll Brothers up 2.3% and Valeant up 2.3%. Also, the Canadian Western Bank rate rese...

Thursday was another negative day in the markets with the S&P 500 down 1.4% and Toronto down 1.0%.
The biggest loser on our list was the Bombardier preferred shares down 5.5%.
Among the rare gainers on our list were three retail stocks, Canadian ...

Visa Inc. is updated and rated Weak Buy at $79.04 (it closed today at $78.29 but my analysis was done earlier at $79.04). Visa is clearly an excellent company and is exceptionally profitable. And it sits at the center of the conversion of monetary tr...

Wednesday was a down day for the markets with the S&P 500 down 1.1% and Toronto down 1.3%.
Almost all the stocks on our list were down.
Meanwhile Royal Bank became the first Canadian company to report an annual profit over $10 billion. I think it...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 1.1% and Toronto rose 1.2%.
Notable gainers included Valeant Pharmaceuticals up 9.6%; Stantec, up 2.0%; Couche-Tard up 2.7%, Toll Brothers up 2.4%; Bank of America  up 2.2%,  Constellation Software up 2.2%; Liquor Sto...

The report on Amazon.com Inc. is updated and rated Sell at $680. I had added this company to the site only five months ago and rated it a Sell. It's up an amazing 55% since then. I added it to the site because I was curious how its financials looked....

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% while Toronto rose 0.8%.
Agrium was up 2.8% and Melcor was up 4.7%.
FedEx was down 3.4% but that comes after two months in which it gained about 14%.
Walmart was down 1.8%
The Canadian Western Bank rate reset pref...

Bank of America is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $17.48. This bank has finally put (hopefully) virtually all of the large financial crisis related litigation settlements behind it. If earnings in these next two quarters can match the performance ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% while Toronto fell 0.4%.
I am now planning to make use of my margin account to buy some additional Boston Pizza shares. The distributions will easily pay the monthly interest on the margin borrowing leaving about ...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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On Thursday, the S&P 500 ended the day down 0.1% while Toronto was down 0.7%.
West Texas Intermediate oil is now at U.S. $42.95.
Auto...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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