Something to Buy August 2017

There is always something to buy in the stock market. On Tuesday, 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.

This system does not work well for old Income Trust companies. These companies had quite high Dividend Yields which will probably never be seen again. So I started a column called VT (for Valid Test) and this applies to checking stock price using dividend yield. If not a valid test I use N to show this. For these stocks, you might be better comparing the current dividend yield to the 5 year median dividend yield.

However, no system is perfect. But if you are interested in buying 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 Something to Buy August 2017 Spreadsheet to see what stocks are 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). As in other spreadsheets, you can highlight a line or a number of lines for better viewing.

In the following notes I am only going to list stocks showing as cheap using the historical high dividend yields (P/Hi) and historical median dividend yields (P/Med).

I follow 22 stocks in the Consumer Discretionary category. None of these stocks are showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield. Nine (or 41%) are showing cheap by historical median dividend yield. They are Canadian Tire Corp (TSX-CTC.A, OTC-CDNAF), DHX Media Ltd. (TSX-DHX.A, OTC-DHXMF), Dorel Industries (TSX-DII.B), Goeasy Ltd. (TSX-GSY, OTC-EHMEF), High Liner Foods (TSX-HLF, OTC-HLNFF), Leon's Furniture (TSX-LNF); Magna International Inc. (TSX-MG), Newfoundland Capital Corp (TSX-NCC.A) and Reitmans (Canada) Ltd. (TSX-RET.A). There is no change from last month

I follow 12 Consumer Staples stocks. One company is showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield and that company is Empire Company Ltd (TSX-EMP.A, OTC-EMLAF). Five stocks (or 42%) are showing cheap by historical median dividend yield. These are Alimentation Couche-Tard (TSX-ATD.B, OTC-ANCUF), Empire Company Ltd (TSX-EMP.A, OTC-EMLAF), Jean Coutu Group Inc. (TSX-PJC.A, OTC-JCOUF), Loblaw Companies (TSX-L, OTC-LBLCF) and Metro Inc. (TSX-MRU, OTC-MTRAF). Empire Company Ltd (TSX-EMP.A, OTC-EMLAF) is now cheap by historically high dividend yield and Alimentation Couche-Tard (TSX-ATD.B, OTC-ANCUF) and Metro Inc. (TSX-MRU, OTC-MTRAF) are now cheap by historical median dividend yield.

I only follow two Health Care stocks and both are US stocks. None of these stocks are showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield. They are both cheap by the historical median dividend yield. The stocks are Johnson and Johnson (NYSE-JNJ) and Medtronic Inc. (NYSE-MDT). This is the same as for last month.

I follow 12 Real Estate stocks. None of these stocks are showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield. Four stocks (or 33%) are showing cheap by historical median dividend yield. They are Artis REIT (TSX-AX.UN); Granite Real Estate (TSX-GRT.UN) H & R Real Estate Inv. Trust (TSX-HR.UN, OTC-HRUFF) and Melcor Developments Inc. (TSX-MRD. H & R Real Estate Inv. Trust (TSX-HR.UN, OTC-HRUFF) has been added to the list.

I follow 8 Bank stocks. None are showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield. Four stocks (or 50%) are showing cheap by the historical median dividend yield. These stocks are Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX-BNS, NYSE-BNS), CIBC (TSX-CM, NYSE-CM), National Bank of Canada (TSX-NA, OTC-NTIOF) and Toronto Dominion Bank (TSX-TD, NYSE-TD). Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX-BNS, NYSE-BNS) is back on this list as cheap by historical median dividend yield.

I follow 12 Financial Service stocks. None are showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield. Eight (or 67%) stocks are showing cheap by the historical median dividend yield. These stocks are Accord Financial Corp (TSX-ACD, OTC-ACCFF), AGF Management Ltd (TSX-AGF.B), Alaris Royalty Corp (TSX-AD, OTC-ALARF), CI Financial (TSX-CIX), Equitable Group Inc. (TSX-EQB, OTC-EQGPF), Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc. (TSX-GS), IGM Financial (TSX-IGM) and Power Corp (TSX-POW). This is the same as last month.

I follow 5 Insurance stocks. None are showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield. Four stocks (or 80%) are showing cheap by historical median dividend yield. These stocks are Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSX-GWO); Manulife Financial Corp (TSX-MFC), Power Financial Corp (TSX-PWF) and Sun Life Financial (TSX-SLF, NYSE-SLF). There is no change from last month.

I follow 31 Industrial stocks. Canam Group Inc. (TSX-CAM, OTC-CNMGA) has gone private and has been removed from the TSX. Because I have so many and Industrial is not very descriptive, I have divided my Industrial stocks into 4 separate categories under Industrial. They are Construction, Industrial, Manufacturing and (Business) Services.

I have 6 Construction stocks. None are cheap by the historically high dividend yield. Two stocks or 33% are showing as cheap by historical median dividend yield. They are and SNC-Lavalin (TSX-SNC, OTC-SNCAF) and Stantec Inc. (TSX-STN, NYSE-STN). There is no change from last month.

I have 3 stocks I have left with the sub-index of Industrial. None are cheap by the historically high dividend yield. Two stocks or 67% are showing as cheap by historical median dividend yield. They are Finning International Inc. (TSX-FTT, OTC-FINGF), and Russel Metals (TSX-RUS, OTC-RUSMF). There is no change from last month.

I have 7 Manufacturing stocks. None are showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield. Three stocks or 42% are showing as cheap by historical median dividend yield. They are Exco Technologies Ltd. (TSX-XTC, OTC-EXCOF), Hammond Power Solutions Inc. (TSX-HPS.A, OTC-HMDPF) and PFB Corp (TSX-PFB, OTC-PFBOF). Canam Group Inc. (TSX-CAM, OTC-CNMGA) has been removed from this list.

I have 15 Services stocks. None are showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield. Three stocks or 20% are showing as cheap by historical median dividend yield. These stocks are Canadian National Railway (TSX-CNR, NYSE-CNI), Pason Systems Inc. (TSX-PSI, OTC-PSYTF) and Transcontinental Inc. (TSX-TCL.A, OTC-TCLAF). There is no change from last month.

I follow 8 Material stocks. None are showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield. One stock or 14% is showing as cheap by historical median dividend yield and that stock is Methanex Corp (TSX-MX, NASDAQ-MEOH). This is the same as for last month.

I follow 10 Energy stocks. One Stock or (10%) is showing as cheap by the historical high dividend yield. It is Ensign Energy Services (TSX-ESI, OTC-ESVIF). There are five stocks (or 50%) showing cheap by historical median dividend yield. They are Canadian Natural Resources (TSX-CNQ, NYSE-CNQ), Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX-CVE, NYSE-CVE), Ensign Energy Services (TSX-ESI, OTC-ESVIF); Mullen Group (TSX-MTL, OTC-MLLGF) and Suncor Energy (TSX-SU, NYSE-SU). Last month it was Suncor Energy (TSX-SU, NYSE-SU) showing as cheap by the historical high dividend yield.

I follow 8 Tech stocks. None are showing as cheap by historical high dividend yield. Five stocks (or 63%) are showing cheap by historical median dividend yield. They are Absolute Software Corporation (TSX-ABT, OTC-ALSWF) Computer Modelling Group Ltd. (TSX-CMG, OTC-CMDXF), Evertz Technologies (TSX-ET, OTC-EVTZF), MacDonald Dettwiler & Assoc. (TSX-MDA, OTC-MDDWF), and Sylogist Ltd (TSXV-SYZ, OTC-SYZLF). There is no change from last month.

I follow 8 of the Infrastructure type utility companies. None are showing as cheap by historical high dividend yield. Two stocks (or 25%) are showing cheap by historical median dividend yield. They are AltaGas Ltd (TSX-ALA, OTC-ATGFF) and Enbridge Inc. (TSX-ENB, NYSE-ENB). This is the same as last month.

I follow 12 of the Power type utility companies. None are showing as cheap by the historically high dividend yield. Three stock (or 25%) are showing cheap by historical median dividend yield. Those stocks are Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp (TSX-AQN, NYSE-AQN), ATCO Ltd (TSX-ACO.X, OTC-ACLLF) and Emera Inc. (TSX-EMA, OTC-EMRAF). There is no change from last month.

I follow 4 of the Telecom Service type utility companies. No stock is showing cheap by the historical high dividend yield. Four stocks (or 100%) are showing cheap by historical median dividend yield. These stocks are BCE (TSX-BCE, NYSE-BCE), Quarterhaill Inc. (TSX-QTRH, NASDAQ-QTRH), Shaw Communications Inc. (TSX-SJR.B, NYSE-SJR) and Telus Corp (TSX-T, NYSE-TU). There is no change from last month.

On my other blog I wrote yesterday about TECSYS Inc. (TSX-TCS, OTC-TCYSF)... learn more. Tomorrow, I will write about Savaria Corporation (TSX-SIS, OTC-SISXF)... learn more on Friday, August 4, 2017 around 5 pm.

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. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter. I am on Instagram. Or you can just Google #walktoronto spbrunner8166 to see my pictures.