Monday, March 30, 2015

Dividend Payment Dates

Most annual reports show what dividends have been declared in a year, not what dividends they have actually paid. What a company declares in a year and what they pay in a year may or may not be the same. As a shareholder you want to know what you actually get paid and when. It can get confusing.

For dividends, you have a declaration date, ex-dividend date, dividend record date and dividend payment date. The declaration date is the date a company declares it will pay a dividend. The ex-dividend date is 2 business days before the dividend record date. (Most charts that give dividend information use the ex-dividend date.) The dividend record date is date that if you are the shareholder of record you will get the dividend. The dividend payment date is the actual day the dividend is paid.

In the following notice, February 20, 2014 is the declaration date. The ex-dividend date is March 27, 2014. The dividend record date is March 31, 2014 and the date the dividend is paid is April 30, 2014.

"CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - Feb. 20, 2014) - TransCanada Corporation (TSX:TRP) (NYSE:TRP) (TransCanada or the Company) today announced that the Board of Directors (Board) of TransCanada declared a quarterly dividend of $0.48 per common share for the quarter ending March 31, 2014, on the Company's outstanding common shares. This is a four per cent increase over the $0.46 dividend per share paid in each of the previous four quarters. The common share dividend is payable on April 30, 2014, to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 31, 2014."

When you are buying or selling a stock, it is the ex-dividend date that you should look at. This is the date used in determining who actually gets the dividend. When you are collecting dividends, it is the payment date that is important. In my spreadsheets, I use the dividends that get paid in the applicable calendar year.

Some companies give you good information on past and current dividends. One such company is TransCanada and their dividend information is shown here.

On my other blog I am today writing about Enbridge Inc. (TSX-ENB, NYSE-ENB) ... continue...

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Dividend Payment Cycles

There are three cycle for the companies that pay quarterly. They are:

Cycle 1: January, April, July, October
Cycle 2: February, May, August, November
Cycle 3: March, June, September, December

This means that if a company is paying dividends in cycle 1, dividends will be paid in January, April, July and October. Some companies pay monthly, especially the old income trust companies, but there are fewer and fewer of these. However, a few companies have started monthly payments. For example Mullen Group Ltd. (TSX-MTL) switched from a quarterly dividend to a monthly dividend in 2013.

Click here to get the table of payment cycles for the stock I cover. You can use your mouse to high light a line (i.e. the stock, symbol and corresponding Dividend Payment Cycle (DP)). The table lists the stocks by name in the first section and by Cycle in the second section.

When you are getting your income from dividends, a lot of people want to have their income spread out evenly over the months. This is hard to do as most dividends are paid in cycle 1. Also even within cycles some are paid near the first of the cycle, some in the middle and other at the end.

I do record a stocks dividend cycle, but some stocks do not keep to a particular cycle, so this can cause some confusion. The thing is, some companies pick a cycle and stay with it. Others do not. A company may pay some dividends in cycle 1 and some in cycle 2. Some may pay in Cycles 2 or 3. Some may pay in cycle 3 or 1. If a company pays dividends sometimes in Cycle 3 and sometimes in cycle 1, you can get a situation where one year has 3 dividends and the next year has 5 dividends. However, you do get all your dividends in the end.

I personally do not bother with this. Each December I draw up a budget and I figure out how much I will draw each month from dividends for the following year. I put money in an ING account in December each year from my Registered Accounts. Near the end of each month I put that pre-determined monthly amount in my chequing account. The ING account is used when my dividends in my Trading account is not enough for my monthly withdrawal.

On my other blog I am today writing about Richelieu Hardware Ltd (TSX-RCH, OTC-RHUHF) ... continue...

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Beta

When I reviewed Home Capital Group recently, my sound bite was "Risky but price is reasonable." There is some concern about the riskiness of this stock and what might happen if the Real Estate Market fell in Ontario. I got a StockTwits back saying its Beta was 1.28 by someone who probably did not even glance at my report. However, I thought this would be a good time to talk about this subject.

The Beta number only tells you a stocks risk against the stock market. It can also only tell you about the stock's past. It has nothing to say about any special risk might be attached to a stock because of what industry it is in or how or where it does business. Beta cannot reflect specific concerns people may have with a company.

To reduce a stock's risk to one figure is, to put it mildly, rather foolish. Yes, it can be like a rule of thumb that works most of the time. It can give you an idea of a stock's risk to decide whether or not to do further investigations on a stock you are interested. However, you can also get blindsided if you define a stock's risk solely by one figure. Risk is a very complex subject.

To learn more about Beta a good place to start is Investopedia. For an explanation of Beta you can refer to the Investopedia site. Another Investopedia article explains the pros and cons of using Beta.

On my other blog I am today writing about Canadian Tire Corp. (TSX-CTC.A, OTC- CDNAF) ... continue...

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

REIT Investing

There are some good sites that provide information on REIT investing. The Which Mortgage site talks about how REITs are taxed and how to pick out a REIT for your portfolio. They also discuss buying REITs compared to individual investment properties and Private REITs.

This article from the Globe and Mail is from 2012, but tax on REIT distributions have not changed. The article discusses how the different parts of the distributions from REITs are taxed. All the REITs have tax information on their web sites.

The Shareowner site also has a good article on investing in REITs. Among other topics, it discusses common measurements of a REITs performance; include FFO, AFFO and NAV.

KPMG Canada has a very interesting presentation PDF which compares US and Canadian REITs. It is available here. This presentation includes such topics of the REIT history, what REITs can and cannot invest in, distributions and taxes.

The Canadian Institute of Public and Private Real Estate Companies (CIPREC) has a good report on REITs and why Canadians should invest in them. It talks about why you should invest in them and how they are structured for stability. They also discuss the different types of REITs.

On my other blog I am today writing about H & R Real Estate Trust (TSX-HR.UN, OTC- HRUFF) ... continue...

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.

Monday, March 16, 2015

REITs and Interest Rates

Why I am interested in interest rates and REITs is that we have been in a long period of interest rate decline. Since interest rates are at an all-time low, we have to expect at some point they will go up. The problem is I think no one really knows when this will happen. What I want to know is what effect potential future raise in interest rates will have on my REITs.

Unfortunately for us Canadians, a lot of information on REITs is American. However, basic principles in their REITs and ours would have to be the same. There is an article in Investopedia about interest rates and REITs. This paper concludes that there is a strong inverse relationship between REIT prices and Interest Rates.

There is also a paper from Altegris that talks about how REITs have behaved in the past when interest rates have gone up. They looked at REITs since 1972 and conclude an increase in Fed interest rates will not necessarily cause a fall in REIT stock prices. There are a number of other facts involved.

So it would appear that interest rate changes might only affect REIT stock prices. One good thing about REITs is that a lot of money made in REITs is from their Distributions. I have two. In one some 40% of my total return is from Distributions and in the other some 55% of my total return is from distributions.

The last thing to mention is that we have gone from historically high interest rates to historically low interest rates. A few years back people were saying that interest rates have a bottom of 0%. They were saying that negative interest rates could not happen. Yet, here we are with negative interest rates. Here is an Market Watch article about negative interest rates. As far as I know this has never happened before.

On my other blog I am today writing about RioCan Real Estate (TSX-REI.UN, OTC-RIOCF) ... continue...

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

REIT Payout Ratios

A good article on REIT Payout Ratios is this 2011 article from the Globe and Mail by John Heinzl. Basically what this article is saying that if a REIT is not continuing payout more than the AFFO there is generally no problems with the Payout Ratio. This article also talks about the accounting changes done around 2011 which affected how EPS was determined on REITs. Looking at my spreadsheets on REITs, the EPS values increased generally considerably with the new IFRS accounting rules.

There is a more recent article dated 2013 from the Globe and Mail by John Heinzl that suggests that a good payout ratio for REIT is 75% to 95% of the AFFO. I think that this is a reasonable goal for a REIT.

In the second article John Heinzl also talks about some REITs paying more than the AFFO because not all distributions are paid in cash. Sometimes REITs count on Dividend Reinvestment Programs in which shareholders get more shares rather than cash distributions.

On my other blog I am today writing about Allied Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX-AP.UN, OTC-APYRF) ... continue...

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Canadian REITs

In the first paragraph below, I point to bloggers or sites that list all Canadian REITs or ranking of Canadian REITs. In the second paragraph I point to bloggers or sites that talk about where to hold REITs. Most favour TFSA or RRSP accounts. I follow 11 REITs and Real Estate companies as listed below.

Allied Properties (TSX-AP.UN)
Artis REIT (TSX-AX.UN)
Brookfield Asset Mgt. (TSX-BAM.A)
Calloway Real Estate Inv. Trust (TSX-CWT.UN)

Canadian Real Estate (TSX-REF.UN)
First Capital Realty (TSX-FCR)
FirstService Corp (TSX-FSV)
Granite Real Estate (TSX-GRT.UN)

H & R Real Estate Inv. Trust (TSX-HR.UN)
Melcor Developments Inc. (TSX-MRD)
RIOCAN REIT (TSX-REI.UN)

The blogger Passive Income Earner has a list of all Canadian REITs on his site. Another blogger has Avrex Money has ranked Canadian REITs. This Globe and Mail article by Peter Ashton under Number Cruncher talks about searching for the Outstanding Canadian REITs.

The blogger of Canadian Finance Blog talks about adding REITs to your portfolio. He thinks that it might be best to hold REITs in your TFSA. The Blogger My Own Advisor talks about what sort dividend stock he keeps in each of his accounts and includes REITs.

On my other blog I am today writing about Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX-REF.UN, OTC-CRXIF) ... continue...

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Something to Buy March 2015

There is always something to buy in the stock market. On Monday, I put out a list of the stocks that I covered and showed what stock might be a good deal based on dividend yield. Now I am trying to categorize what sorts of stocks may be a good deal based on dividend yield.

The advantages to using dividend yield to judge how cheap or expensive a stock is, is that you are not using estimates or old data (like last reported quarter's data). You are using today's stock price and today's dividend yield.

For other testing, like using P/E Ratios and Price/Graham Price Ratios, you use EPS estimates or from the last reported financial quarter. When using P/S Ratios, P/CF Ratios or P/BV Ratios you are using data from the last reported financial quarter.

However, no system is perfect. But if you are interested in buy a stock a list of stocks cheap or reasonable using dividend yield data might be a good place to start.

Categorizing stocks is not as simple as it might seem. Every site you go to has categorized stocks a bit differently. I try to keep this as simple as possible. See my spreadsheet at here. As in other spreadsheets, you can highlight a line or a number of lines for better viewing.

Of the consumer discretionary stocks, Newfoundland Capital Corp (TSX-NCC.A) is showing as relatively cheap by the historical average dividend yield as well as cheap by historical median and 5 year median dividend yields.

Another consumer discretionary stock is showing as cheap by the historical median and 5 year median dividend yields is Goodfellow Inc. (TSX-GDL). Also Leon's Furniture (TSX-LNF) is showing as cheap by the historical median dividend yield.

Some Consumer Staple stocks are showing as relatively cheap. Jean Coutu Group Inc. (TSX-PJC.A) and Loblaw Companies (TSX-L) are showing as cheap only by the historical median dividend yield. Rogers' Sugar (TSX-RSI) is cheap using the 5 year median dividend yield.

Of the US Health Care stocks I follow Johnson and Johnson (NYSE-JNJ) and Medtronic Inc. (NYSE-MDT) are both relatively cheap by the historical average and historical median dividend yields.

Of the Real Estate Stocks, Granite Real Estate (TSX-GRT.UN) and Melcor Developments Inc. (TSX-MRD) are showing relatively cheap by the historical average and the historical median dividend yields. Melcor Developments Inc. (TSX-MRD) is also showing as relatively cheap by the 5 year median dividend yield as is a new stock that I have begun following of Allied Properties (TSX-AP.UN)

The Canadian banks of Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX-BNS) National Bank of Canada (TSX-NA), Royal Bank (TSX-RY) and Toronto Dominion Bank (TSX-TD) are showing as relatively cheap by the historical median and the 5 year median dividend yields. Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX-BNS) and Toronto Dominion Bank (TSX-TD) are also showing as cheap by the historical average dividend yield.

Of the Financial Services stocks, AGF Management (TSX-AGF), CI Financial (TSX-CIX), DirectCash Payments Inc. (TSX-DCI), Gluskin Sheff & Associates Inc. (TSX-GS), Home Capital Group (TSX-HCG), IGM Financial (TSX-IGM) and Power Corp (TSX-POW) are showing as relatively cheap by the historical median dividend yield. Of these, only CI Financial (TSX-CIX), Home Capital Group (TSX-HCG), IGM Financial (TSX-IGM) and Power Corp (TSX-POW) are showing as cheap by the historical average dividend yield.

Of the above Financial Services stocks DirectCash Payments Inc. (TSX-DCI), Gluskin Sheff & Associates Inc. (TSX-GS), Home Capital Group (TSX-HCG), IGM Financial (TSX-IGM), are showing as relatively cheap by the 5 year median dividend yield.

Of the Insurance group Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSX-GWO, Manulife Financial Corp (TSX-MFC), Power Financial Corp (TSX-PWF) and Sun Life Financial (TSX-SLF) are showing as relatively cheap by the historical median dividend yield.

Of the industrials, the stocks showing as cheap historically are Hammond Power Solutions Inc. (TSX-HPS), Pason Systems Inc. (TSX-PSI) and SNC-Lavalin (TSX-SNC). Canadian National Railway (TSX-CNR), Canexus Corporation (TSX-CUS), Canyon Services Group (TSX-FRC), Finning International Inc. (TSX-FTT), McCoy Global Inc. (TSX-MCB), Mullen Group (TSX-MTL), PFB Corp (TSX-PFB), Russel Metals (TSX-RUS), Toromont Industries Ltd. (TSX-TIH), Transcontinental Inc. (TSX-TCL) and Wajax Corp (TSX-WJX) are showing as cheap by the historical median dividend yields.

Of the above stocks, only Canexus Corporation (TSX-CUS), Finning International Inc. (TSX-FTT), Mullen Group (TSX-MTL), PFB Corp (TSX-PFB), Russel Metals (TSX-RUS), and Transcontinental Inc. (TSX-TCL) are showing as cheap by the historical average dividend yields. Also, Pulse Seismic Inc. (TSX-PSD) is showing as cheap by historical average, but not historical median dividend yield.

Of the industrials, also Exchange Income Corp (TSX-EIF) is the only one just showing as cheap by 5 year median dividend yield.

There are not many companies in the Tech sector, but Calian Technologies Ltd (TSX-CTY) and Evertz Technologies (TSX-ET) are showing as relatively cheap by the historical median dividend yield, by the historical average dividend yield and by the 5 year median dividend yield.

A number of energy stocks also seem cheap. Canadian Natural Resources (TSX-CNQ), Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX-CVE), Ensign Energy Services (TSX-ESI) and Suncor Energy (TSX-SU) are still showing as relatively cheap historically.

Crescent Point Energy Corp (TXS-CPG), Husky Energy (TSX-HSE) and Penn West Petroleum (TSX-PWT are showing as cheap by the historical median and the historical average dividend yields. Encana Corp (TSX-ECA) is only showing as cheap by the historical median dividend yield.

I have two materials stocks and both are showing up cheap. Teck Resources Ltd (TSX-TCK.B) is showing as relatively cheap historically. Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX-ABX) is showing as relatively cheap by the historical average and the historical median dividend yields.

The infrastructure type utility companies only Enbridge Inc. (TSX-ENB) is showing relatively cheap by the 5 year median. The only utility companies that is showing as cheap, is TransAlta Corp (TSX-TA) which is showing as relatively cheap by the historical average and the historical median dividend yields and ATCO Ltd (TSX-ACO.X) which is showing relatively cheap by the 5 year median.

Of the Telecom Stocks WiLan Inc. (TSX-WIN) is showing as relatively cheap historically. Shaw Communications Inc. (TSX-SJR.B) and Manitoba Telecom (TSX-MBT) are showing as relatively cheap by the historical average and the historical median dividend yields.

On my other blog I am today writing about Mullen Group Ltd. (TSX-MTL, OTC- MLLGF) ... continue...

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.

Monday, March 2, 2015

Dividend Stocks March 2015

The theory is that you should use the dividend yield to see if a dividend stock is selling at a stock price that is relatively cheap. A stock price is considered cheap if it is selling at a dividend yield higher than the historical high yield or higher than the historical average yield or historical median yield. See my spreadsheet at dividend growth stocks that I just updated for March 2015.

On this list,
  • I have 9 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical high dividend yield,
  • I have 35 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical average dividend yield
  • I have 54 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical median dividend yield and
  • 44 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the 5 year average dividend yield.
When I did my list last month,
  • I have 11 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical high dividend yield,
  • I have 41 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical average dividend yield
  • I have 62 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical median dividend yield and
  • 45 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the 5 year average dividend yield.
When I did my list in January 2014,
  • I had 9 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical high dividend yield,
  • I had 45 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the historical average dividend yield and
  • 39 stocks with a dividend yield higher than the 5 year average dividend yield.
First of all I made a mistake on AGF Management Ltd (TSX-AGF.B) when I said it increased their dividend. In fact they decreased their dividends by just over 70% for the dividend due in March 2015. Recently I had been worried by the lack of dividend increases, but this month there are more than usual.

Of the stock that I follow 19 stocks have raised their dividends since last month. Dividends raises are denoted in green. They are:

Absolute Software Corporation (TSX-ABT)
BCE (TSX-BCE)
Brookfield Asset Mgt. (TSX-BAM.A)
CCL Industries (TSX-CCL.B)
DHX Media Ltd. (TSX-DHX.A)

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSX-GWO)
Home Capital Group 9TSX-HCG)
Innergex Renewable Energy (TSX-INE)
Intact Financial Corp (TSX-IFC)
Keg Royalties Income Fund (TSX-KEG.UN)

MacDonald Dettwiler & Assoc. (TSXMDA)
Molson Coors Canada (TSX-TPX.B)
Royal Bank (TSX-RY)
Shaw Communications Inc. (TSX-SJR.B)
Stantec Inc. (TSX-STN)

Toromont Industries Ltd. (TSX-TIH)
Toronto Dominion Bank (TSX-TD)
TransCanada Corp (TSXTRP)
Valener Inc. (TSX-VNR)

Of the stock that I follow 3 stocks have decreased their dividends since last month. Dividends decreased are denoted in red. They are:

AGF Management Ltd. (TSX-AGF.B)
Bombardier Inc. (TSX-BBD.B)
Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. (TSX-COS)

Also Metro Inc. (TSX-MRU) did a stock split of 3 to 1.

I am showing whether a stock is relatively cheap based on historical high dividend yields (P/Hi), historical average dividend yields (P/Ave), historical median dividend yields (P/Med) or on 5 year median dividend yields (P/5Yr). See these fields on the right side of the file. You can highlight a particular stock using your cursor to highlight the appropriate line.

There are always some stocks to buy because they are priced reasonably. There are always stocks to currently avoid because they are overpriced. Looking at dividend growth stocks that are selling at stock prices that give them a dividend yield above the historical average dividend yield are probably the best bet.

The stocks that are selling at prices that give them a dividend yield above the historical high yield could be good stocks to buy. However, these stocks may be selling so cheap because of current troubles, especially financial troubles and should be treated with caution. Do not forget that I have all the stocks I follow on this spreadsheet and some are much better investments than others.

However, you should always investigate a stock before you buy. Sometimes different stocks in certain sectors are just out of favour or the stock market is just in one of its declines. However, a stock may be relatively cheap because it has problems. That is why you should always investigate a stock before buying.

Looking at stock this way is equivalent to a stock filter. A main problem I know of is for the old income trusts. These companies have generally lowered their dividend yields forever and they will probably never get back to the old dividend yield highs they made as an income trust company. For these stocks, you might be better comparing the current dividend yield to the 5 year median dividend yield.

Also, on some stocks I have a lot more information years in my spreadsheets than for other stocks. So, finding a stock on the list as "cheap" is only the first step in finding a stock to buy. This is the same with any other sort of stock filters that you can use.

The last thing to remember is that I have entering figures into a spreadsheet. I could put them in incorrectly, I can transpose figures and I can misread figures. This is another great reason why you should check a stock out before investing. As this is just a filter, it works better on some stocks than on others.

See my entry on my methodology in establishing the historical dividend yield highs and lows for the stocks that I cover. I have an entry on my introduction to Dividend Growth. You might want to look at my original entry on Dividend Growth Stocks. I have also written about why I like Dividend Growth companies.

On my other blog I am today writing about ARC Resources Ltd. (TSX-ARX, OTC-AETUF) ... continue...

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.