Some Good Stocks from my Portfolio

Today I just want to share some good stocks that I have in my portfolio. Under the Heading of Yr., I am showing the year I first purchased the stock. Under the Heading of Held, I show how many years I have held these shares. Under the Heading of M. Share, I show what portion of my portfolio these shares hold. Under the Heading of T. Ret., I am showing the total return per year I have received to March 31, 2014.

Name	Sym	Yr	Held	M Share	T. Ret
Toronto Dominion Bank	TD	2000	14	7%	14.84%
Bank of Montreal	BMO	1983	31	6%	16.01%
Royal Bank	RY	1995	19	6%	18.50%
Transcanada Corp	TRP	2000	14	5%	11.99%
Power Financial Corp	PWF	2001	13	5%	8.53%
Canadian National Railway	CNR	2005	9	5%	18.25%
Pembina Pipelines Corp	PPL	2001	13	5%	19.54%
AltaGas Ltd	ALA	2009	5	4%	31.81%
RIOCAN REIT	REI.UN	2000	14	4%	15.00%
Fortis Inc	FTS	1987	27	4%	12.84%
Canadian Tire A	CTC.A	2000	14	3%	13.61%
Enbridge Inc	ENB	2005	9	3%	19.28%
Metro Inc	MRU	2001	13	3%	13.92%
Sun Life Financial	SLF	2000	14	3%	6.13%
Saputo Inc	SAP	2006	8	3%	18.04%
SNC-Lavalin	SNC	1998	16	3%	26.61%
Toromont Industries Ltd.	TIH	2007	7	2%	8.57%
Manulife Financial Corp	MFC	2005	9	2%	-0.26%
Davis & Henderson Corp	DH	2009	5	2%	26.77%
Leon's Furniture	LNF	2006	8	2%	8.39%
Computer Modelling Group Ltd	CMG	2008	6	2%	40.20%
Canadian Real Estate	REF.UN	2006	8	2%	11.95%
Richelieu Hardware Ltd	RCH	2007	7	1%	20.67%
Emera Inc	EMA	2005	9	1%	11.82%
Canadian Natural Resources	CNQ	2012	2	1%	25.99%

I have a number of Life Insurance stocks that are really the worst performing ones. I feel that this will not last and they will again be great stocks. Power Financial has a respectable performance. It is also more than just Life Insurance.

One of my most recent purchases is Canadian Natural Resources. I have liked this stock for a long time, but whenever I looked at it I thought the price was too high. It has recently been very cheap so I have bought it. I hope it continues to cheap for a while longer so I can buy more.

On my other blog I am today writing about Pembina Pipelines Corp. (TSX-PPL, NYSE-PBA) ...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.

Stock Price Targets

Often analysts will give a 12 month target price when they have their stock recommendations. You can pick up the average 12 month Price Target at a number of sites. Some sites also give the high and low 12 month target price as well. I generally get mine from TD Waterhouse.

The site 4-Traders generally will give you the 12 month target stock price for most Canadian stocks. Search for the stock you want using the stock symbol (for example, the symbol for Toromont Industries Ltd. is TIH). When you get the stock, you need to look under the "consensus" tab for the 12 months stock price.

You can use the 12 month stock price target to get what analysts expect the total return to be over the next 12 month. For example, if the current price is $25.85 and the 12 month target price is $27.30 that gives you a 12 month capital gain of 5.61%. If the current dividend yield is 2.32%, you add together 5.61% and 2.32% to get a total return over the next 12 months of 7.93%.

On my other blog I am today writing about Manulife Financial Corp. (TSX-MFC, NYSE-MFC) ...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.

Oil Sands and Coal

If people were not so concerned about being in celebrates and actually knew something about global warming there would be protesting about coal and coal mining. If anything will tip our planet into a greenhouse effect, it will be coal not our oil sands.

Canada produces less than 2% of the global warming gases. From the oil sands you get something like 0.15% of the global warming gases. The big problem is coal. Ever see pictures of smog in Chinese's cities? This is cause by coal burning. See pictures or heard of the famous London smog? That was coal burning also.

From anything I had read the US still produces some 50% of their electricity from burning coal. If they really wanted to do something about global warming, they would attack burning coal for electricity.

Aw, but you say that the oil sands development causes cancer. But if you look at cancer rates by province then Alberta is below the median level with an incident rate of 440.3 per 100,000. Nova Scotia is higher at 497.1 per 100,000. See table. In table I used "All Cancers", "All Ages", "Both Sexes" and "Latest Multi-year Averages". Even David Suzuki's site, which discusses this very topic, says that we cannot demonstrate that the oil sands development causes an increase in cancer rates. Review his information here.

Of course this is a very complex subject and we have the problem that lots of things cause cancer and lots of people get cancer. Also, what about all the health problems caused by mining coal? It is not that any of this is great, but we need to put things into perspective.

Maybe, just maybe, the people who want to develop the oil sands in Alberta are not the monsters that some make them out to be.

On my other blog I am today writing about Russel Metals Inc. (TSX-RUS, OTC-RUSMF)...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.

My Own Advisor

The blogger, My Own Advisor has just written a blog entry on a very interesting subject. It was on what he would tell his younger self. You will also get a chance to say what you would tell your younger self if you want to.

My Own Advisor's blog starts off "Dear Mark:

• There is no point saving for your financial future if you don't take care of your health. Your health will be your most important asset.
• Investing is for the long-term. Trading is for the short-term. You're going to have minimal success at timing the market so forget trading. Make sure you buy and hold indexed products and established companies that pay dividends instead.
• Avoid tinkering with your portfolio...."

To see the rest, click here.

On my other blog I am today writing about Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX-ABX, NYSE-ABX) ...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.

OAS and Immigrants

There is a rather sympathetic article at the CBC about immigrants having to prove that they actually have lived the necessary time in Canada to get OAS. I do not like to see governments give its citizen a hard time, but you also have to be realistic.

Canada is already known as a soft-touch money wise. We cannot just give everyone that applies OAS. This is coming from our taxes and I think that it is realistic that people who apply have to prove that they have fulfilled the residency requirements. Surely if they lived and worked in Canada, there would be tax records. Also companies keep records of employees for a surprising long time.

On my other blog I am today writing about Davis & Henderson Corp. (TSX-DH, OTC-DHIFF) ...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.

What's in Your Portfolio

Even though the TSX is quite full of resource stock, I have very little in this category. This is because you cannot just tuck this sort of stock away in your portfolio for the long term. If you have these stocks you have to always be keeping an eye on them.

For most other sorts of stock, if you look at them once a year, I think that is basically fine. Of course, all sorts of stocks can cause you problems. Examples are Insurance Companies in Financial Services, Reitman's in Consumers, TransAlta in Utilities, and SNC-Lavelin in Industrials.

Below is a chart of what I have in each sector. I have always had a lot of my portfolio in Financial Services and Utilities. For resources, I generally have had between 1 and 2% in this sector.

Sector	Percentage
Financial Service	28.19%
Utilities	25.32
Industrial	19.18%
Consumer	13.78%
Real Estate	6.79%
Cash	3.76%
Resources	1.67%
Other	1.31%

On my other blog I am today writing about Toromont Industries Ltd. (TSX-TIH, OTC-TMTNF) ...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.

March 2014 Dividends

I have noticed that March 2014 was a very good month for dividend increases on my stocks. Lately I have noticed there have been months when I have had no dividend increases or just 1 or 2. In March 2014, of the 49 stocks I own, 27 or 55% gave me a dividend in March 2014. Of the 27 stocks that gave me a dividend, some 11 or 40% gave me an increased dividend.

March 2014 was a very good month indeed. My dividend income is up by 3.45% this year. This is good considering I have taken a big hit to my dividends because of my investment in TransAlta (TSAX-TA) which have recently decreased their dividends by some 38%. My spreadsheet showing this result and the stocks giving dividends is located here.

On my other blog I am today writing about Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSX-SLF, NYSE-SLF) ...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.

Something to Buy

There is always something to buy in the stock market. On Wednesday of last week, 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. Thing generally change very slowly and nothing much has changed since last month.

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.

A number of Consumer Staple stocks seem to be cheap. Examples would be Dorel Industries (TSX-DII.B A) and Metro Inc. (TSX-MRU). This has not changed from last month. (Please note that Canada Bread (TSX-CBY) is being bought out.) A number of energy stocks also seem cheap. Examples are Canadian Natural Resources (TSX-CNQ); Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX-CVE) and Suncor Energy (TSX-SU) and this has not changed from February.

There are not that many cheap companies in Finance, but the banks mostly seem on the cheaper side. Of the banks that I follow, TD Bank (TSX-TD), Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX-BNS), Royal Bank (TSX-RY) and National Bank (TYSX-NA) since seem to be priced rather reasonably. However, I note that Bank of Montreal (TSX-BMO) is no longer cheap.

There are not many companies cheap in the Tech sector except for small companies like Calian Technologies Ltd (TSX-CTY) and Evertz Technologies (TSX-ET) and this is the same as for February 2014.

The infrastructure type utility companies are still not cheap. Examples of these sorts of companies are TransCanada (TSX-TRP) and Enbridge Inc. (TSX-ENB). What utility companies that are cheap, seem to be cheap for a good reason. A current example is Atlantic Power Corp (TSX-ATP). TransAlta Corp (TSX-TA) is not only cheap looking at the 5 year median dividend yield. This company has just cut their dividend.

On my other blog I am today writing about Melcor Developments Inc. (TSX-MRD, OTC-MODVF)...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. See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.

Dividend Stocks April 2014

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. See my spreadsheet at dividend growth stocks that I just updated for April 2014.

I am showing whether a stock is relatively cheap based on historical high dividend yields (P/Hi), historical average dividend yields (P/Ave) 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. Also, not all the stock I follow do I consider good stocks to have in a portfolio.

Looking at stock this way is equivalent to a stock filter. A main problem I know of is for the old income trusts. They are 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. You might want to look at my original entry on Dividend Growth Stocks.

On my other blog I am today writing about BCE Inc. (TSX-BCE, NYSE-BCE) ...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. See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. Follow me on Twitter.