I bought this stock in 1997 (TSX-ORI) and it did not do too badly at first. The reason I bought this stock was because I had read an article about buying small cap stock. The theory in the article being that you should buy a basket of small caps of at least 5 stocks. If you had 2 winners and 3 losers, you could do well. Stocks can only lose the money you pay for them, but their gains can be, theoretically, unlimited.
Well, I bought a number of small caps, and I have just 2 left. I have not sold them, as they are not worth much. This one is worth $136. It is not worth selling. What seemed to have killed them all was the last bear market. For this particular stock, I paid $4,300. I have lost, on average, 27% per year that I have had it. Most of the other stocks I paid only $1,000 or $2,000 for, but this one looked good and at first, it was. However, it hit a peak in 1999 and it has never recovered.
In November 2007, it did a reverse split on a 20 to 1 basis. That means that I went from having 3,000 to having 150 shares. Reverse splits are never a good sign. They also did a significant restructuring of the company at that time. However, we are in another bear market so it is much too early to tell if the company will now go anywhere.
The only positive things to say about this company are that it is solvent (Asset/Liability Ratio is 1.98) and the Accrual Ratio is a very good -10%. This Accrual Ratio is also very positive because there is a big difference between the Net Income and the Operation Cash Flow, with the Operation Cash Flow a positive figure.
The Company’s core business is the regularly scheduled collection of non-hazardous liquid organic residuals. It collects, processes and recycles these wastes. Its site is at www.ormi.com/ormi/. See my spreadsheet at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/ori.htm.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Research In Motion 2
I bought some Research In Motion (TSX-RIM) at end of 1999 and in the first part of 2000. I paid some $12,800 for this stock. I have since sold off about $30,000 (when it has split), and I still have some left. With the current decline in price, it is not worth that much anymore. However, according to Quicken, I have still made an average annual return of some 22.8% on this stock.
Since I had already sold stock with more than 2 times what I paid for RIM, I have made good money on this stock. Even if RIM goes to zero, which I very much doubt, I will still have made good money on this stock. RIM is still my favorite tech stock. It is the only one I still have. (Because we went into a rough (or volatile) market, I made sure that I was mostly invested in good solid dividend paying stock.)
This stock has been good for my overall portfolio. However, RIM is not, has never been, a buy and hold type of stock. If it does really well again, I will sell more. If it does not, I would not have lost anything. At the moment, I have updated my spreadsheet, and I am just waiting for the market to sort itself out again.
The P/E on this stock was quite high, but this ratio has come down a lot with the price crash. Also, the Earnings per Share (EPS) estimates have come down since the May 2008 quarterly report. The Accrual Ratio has gone even higher as the Operation Cash Flow is a lot lower than the net income. This stock crashed in the last bear market, and now it has crashed again. However, it is still a lot higher than in the last bull market.
Debt for this company is very much under control. The Return on Equity (ROE) is still very good. The cash flow, revenue and earnings are not as strong as they were. However, this is a Tech stock, and technology can change very rapidly. Some analyst have put a Hold rating on this stock, but most are still in the Buy to Strong Buy rating range.
RIM designs, Manufactures and markets wireless solutions for the mobile communications market. The company is famous for the Blackberry. It is an international company with offices in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Its site is at www.rim.net. See my spreadsheet at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/rim.htm. I have reloaded it with the data from May 2008 quarterly report. The stock reports in US$.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Since I had already sold stock with more than 2 times what I paid for RIM, I have made good money on this stock. Even if RIM goes to zero, which I very much doubt, I will still have made good money on this stock. RIM is still my favorite tech stock. It is the only one I still have. (Because we went into a rough (or volatile) market, I made sure that I was mostly invested in good solid dividend paying stock.)
This stock has been good for my overall portfolio. However, RIM is not, has never been, a buy and hold type of stock. If it does really well again, I will sell more. If it does not, I would not have lost anything. At the moment, I have updated my spreadsheet, and I am just waiting for the market to sort itself out again.
The P/E on this stock was quite high, but this ratio has come down a lot with the price crash. Also, the Earnings per Share (EPS) estimates have come down since the May 2008 quarterly report. The Accrual Ratio has gone even higher as the Operation Cash Flow is a lot lower than the net income. This stock crashed in the last bear market, and now it has crashed again. However, it is still a lot higher than in the last bull market.
Debt for this company is very much under control. The Return on Equity (ROE) is still very good. The cash flow, revenue and earnings are not as strong as they were. However, this is a Tech stock, and technology can change very rapidly. Some analyst have put a Hold rating on this stock, but most are still in the Buy to Strong Buy rating range.
RIM designs, Manufactures and markets wireless solutions for the mobile communications market. The company is famous for the Blackberry. It is an international company with offices in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Its site is at www.rim.net. See my spreadsheet at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/rim.htm. I have reloaded it with the data from May 2008 quarterly report. The stock reports in US$.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Loblaws, How Is It Doing 2
As I said yesterday, this is a stock (TSX-L) that was on the Dividend Achievers and the Dividend Aristocrats lists until recently and also on Mike Higgs’ list at http://www.dividendgrowth.org/Report.htm. Mike still has this stock on his list, but after 3 years of no dividend increases, it was taken from the Dividend Achiever’s and the Canadian Dividend Aristocrats lists. I used to own this stock, but sold it in 2007 because I felt my money was better invested elsewhere.
The positive on this stock are that there is insider buying going on, the current P/E of 16 is lower than the 5 year average of 23, the dividend yield of 2.9% is higher than the 5 year average of 1.5%, the leverage is still not bad at 2.45 and the Asset/Liability Ratio is still good at 1.69.
The negatives on this stock is that the Cash Flow from Operations was negative for June 2008 quarter, although they did have positive Earnings per Share; a number of analysts have lowered their EPS for the year ending in 2008; the Return on Equity (ROE) for the first half of the year is only 7.2% which is even lower than the 5 year average of 9.9%. This 9.9% is the lowest 5 year average ROE for this stock. Also, the Accrual Ratio has increased to 8%.
This stock was doing as well as the Consumer Staple Index and better than the TSX until the sharp stock decline starting from April 2005. Most analysts have a Hold rating on this stock. I think that there are Hold ratings on this stock because it still has a way to go to recovery. It may not yet be time to start re-buying this stock.
Loblaw, a subsidiary of George Weston Limited, is Canada’s largest food distributor and a leading provider of general merchandise, drugstore and financial products and services. Corporate owned store banners include Atlantic Superstore, Dominion(1) (in Newfoundland and Labrador only), Extra Foods, Loblaw, Maxi, Maxi & Cie, Provigo, the Real Canadian Superstore and Zehrs and wholesale outlets operating as Cash & Carry, Presto and The Real Canadian Wholesale Club. The Company’s franchised and associated stores operate under the trade names Atlantic SaveEasy, Fortinos, no frills, SuperValu, Valu-mart and Your Independent Grocer. Its web site is www.loblaw.com See my spreadsheet at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/lob.htm. I have re-uploaded by spreadsheet for the June 2008 quarterly report.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
The positive on this stock are that there is insider buying going on, the current P/E of 16 is lower than the 5 year average of 23, the dividend yield of 2.9% is higher than the 5 year average of 1.5%, the leverage is still not bad at 2.45 and the Asset/Liability Ratio is still good at 1.69.
The negatives on this stock is that the Cash Flow from Operations was negative for June 2008 quarter, although they did have positive Earnings per Share; a number of analysts have lowered their EPS for the year ending in 2008; the Return on Equity (ROE) for the first half of the year is only 7.2% which is even lower than the 5 year average of 9.9%. This 9.9% is the lowest 5 year average ROE for this stock. Also, the Accrual Ratio has increased to 8%.
This stock was doing as well as the Consumer Staple Index and better than the TSX until the sharp stock decline starting from April 2005. Most analysts have a Hold rating on this stock. I think that there are Hold ratings on this stock because it still has a way to go to recovery. It may not yet be time to start re-buying this stock.
Loblaw, a subsidiary of George Weston Limited, is Canada’s largest food distributor and a leading provider of general merchandise, drugstore and financial products and services. Corporate owned store banners include Atlantic Superstore, Dominion(1) (in Newfoundland and Labrador only), Extra Foods, Loblaw, Maxi, Maxi & Cie, Provigo, the Real Canadian Superstore and Zehrs and wholesale outlets operating as Cash & Carry, Presto and The Real Canadian Wholesale Club. The Company’s franchised and associated stores operate under the trade names Atlantic SaveEasy, Fortinos, no frills, SuperValu, Valu-mart and Your Independent Grocer. Its web site is www.loblaw.com See my spreadsheet at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/lob.htm. I have re-uploaded by spreadsheet for the June 2008 quarterly report.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Loblaws, How Is It Doing
This is a stock (TSX-L) that was on the Dividend Achievers and the Dividend Aristocrats lists until recently and also on Mike Higgs’ list at http://www.dividendgrowth.org/Report.htm. Mike still has this stock on his list, but after 3 years of no dividend increases, it was taken from the Dividend Achiever’s and the Canadian Dividend Aristocrats lists.
I used to own this stock, but sold it because I felt my money was better invested elsewhere. I purchased the stock in 1996 and sold in December 2007. I made an average rate of return, including dividends, of some 10% over this period of time.
The following figures are to the December 2007 annual statement. The 10 year annual increase in revenues is not bad at 10%, but the 5 year annual increase at 5% is not very good at all. The Earnings per Share (EPS) was 4% annually over 10 years and -14.6% annually over 5 years. The annual dividend increase for 10 years is good at 18%, but not very good over 5 years at 11.8% annually. The 5 year annual increase is, at least, better than inflation. The annual increase in closing price over 10 years was poor at 4.5% and awful over 5 years at -7% annually. The “Cash Flow from Operations” is not good over the last 5 years at 4.7% annually, but the 10 year annual rate of 10% is not bad .
The Current Asset/Current Liability and Asset/Liability ratios are solid at 1.09 and 1.68. The Return on Equity has been dropping steadily and the December 2007 5 year average of 9.9% is the lowest I have seen for this company. The accrual ratio for December 2007 is at least negative at -1.8%. It would be nice to see it lower, but it is negative, which is good. I will look at the stock again tomorrow to see if it is a good stock once again.
Loblaw, a subsidiary of George Weston Limited, is Canada’s largest food distributor and a leading provider of general merchandise, drugstore and financial products and services. Corporate owned store banners include Atlantic Superstore, Dominion(1) (in Newfoundland and Labrador only), Extra Foods, Loblaw, Maxi, Maxi & Cie, Provigo, the Real Canadian Superstore and Zehrs and wholesale outlets operating as Cash & Carry, Presto and The Real Canadian Wholesale Club. The Company’s franchised and associated stores operate under the trade names Atlantic SaveEasy, Fortinos, no frills, SuperValu, Valu-mart and Your Independent Grocer. Its web site is www.loblaw.com. See my spreadsheet at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/lob.htm.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
I used to own this stock, but sold it because I felt my money was better invested elsewhere. I purchased the stock in 1996 and sold in December 2007. I made an average rate of return, including dividends, of some 10% over this period of time.
The following figures are to the December 2007 annual statement. The 10 year annual increase in revenues is not bad at 10%, but the 5 year annual increase at 5% is not very good at all. The Earnings per Share (EPS) was 4% annually over 10 years and -14.6% annually over 5 years. The annual dividend increase for 10 years is good at 18%, but not very good over 5 years at 11.8% annually. The 5 year annual increase is, at least, better than inflation. The annual increase in closing price over 10 years was poor at 4.5% and awful over 5 years at -7% annually. The “Cash Flow from Operations” is not good over the last 5 years at 4.7% annually, but the 10 year annual rate of 10% is not bad .
The Current Asset/Current Liability and Asset/Liability ratios are solid at 1.09 and 1.68. The Return on Equity has been dropping steadily and the December 2007 5 year average of 9.9% is the lowest I have seen for this company. The accrual ratio for December 2007 is at least negative at -1.8%. It would be nice to see it lower, but it is negative, which is good. I will look at the stock again tomorrow to see if it is a good stock once again.
Loblaw, a subsidiary of George Weston Limited, is Canada’s largest food distributor and a leading provider of general merchandise, drugstore and financial products and services. Corporate owned store banners include Atlantic Superstore, Dominion(1) (in Newfoundland and Labrador only), Extra Foods, Loblaw, Maxi, Maxi & Cie, Provigo, the Real Canadian Superstore and Zehrs and wholesale outlets operating as Cash & Carry, Presto and The Real Canadian Wholesale Club. The Company’s franchised and associated stores operate under the trade names Atlantic SaveEasy, Fortinos, no frills, SuperValu, Valu-mart and Your Independent Grocer. Its web site is www.loblaw.com. See my spreadsheet at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/lob.htm.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Melcor Dev 2
As I said yesterday, this is another stock (TSX-MRD) that I have gotten from Mike Higgs’ list at http://www.dividendgrowth.org/Report.htm. I note that several people have a Strong Buy rating on this stock. However, there is a saying that you can be right about a stock longer than you can remain solvent. In other words, do not bet against the market. I think that this is a good stock, but it has been going down for over a year. It is not the time to buy.
However, having said that, I understand why people have a Buy rating on this stock. No one expects that this stock will have Earnings per Share (EPS) at $2.00 as this stock did in 2007, this year. However, it is expected that by the fiscal year end of 2009, this company will be again earning $2.00 or more in EPS. You can see that the people running the company have some faith in it as they have already raised the dividend by 25% this year, from $.40 to $.50.
The company was cautious in their outlook for 2008, but feels they have the assets, resources and experience to weather the current real estate market and do better in the future. Looking at charts, this company has down far worse than the TSX index or the Real Estate index over the past year. However, it has down as well as these indexes over the past 3 years and better than these indexes over the past 5 and 10 years. However, you cannot help but notice the sharp decline from mid 2007 to present. It might be wise to see some market confidence in this stock before buying.
Note that with the June 2008 quarterly report the Accrual Ratio is much better at 1.5% and even with the Financial Cash Flow included it is still less than 5%. However, I have to admit the Accrual Ratio seems to have no affect on this stocks price.
This company is primarily engaged in the acquisition of land for development and sale of residential communities, multi- family sites and commercial sites. The company also develops, owns and manages commercial income properties, as well as two golf courses. Its web site is www.melcor.ca/. See my spreadsheet at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/mrd.htm. I have reloaded my spreadsheet as I have updated it with the values from the June 2008 quarterly report.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
However, having said that, I understand why people have a Buy rating on this stock. No one expects that this stock will have Earnings per Share (EPS) at $2.00 as this stock did in 2007, this year. However, it is expected that by the fiscal year end of 2009, this company will be again earning $2.00 or more in EPS. You can see that the people running the company have some faith in it as they have already raised the dividend by 25% this year, from $.40 to $.50.
The company was cautious in their outlook for 2008, but feels they have the assets, resources and experience to weather the current real estate market and do better in the future. Looking at charts, this company has down far worse than the TSX index or the Real Estate index over the past year. However, it has down as well as these indexes over the past 3 years and better than these indexes over the past 5 and 10 years. However, you cannot help but notice the sharp decline from mid 2007 to present. It might be wise to see some market confidence in this stock before buying.
Note that with the June 2008 quarterly report the Accrual Ratio is much better at 1.5% and even with the Financial Cash Flow included it is still less than 5%. However, I have to admit the Accrual Ratio seems to have no affect on this stocks price.
This company is primarily engaged in the acquisition of land for development and sale of residential communities, multi- family sites and commercial sites. The company also develops, owns and manages commercial income properties, as well as two golf courses. Its web site is www.melcor.ca/. See my spreadsheet at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/mrd.htm. I have reloaded my spreadsheet as I have updated it with the values from the June 2008 quarterly report.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Melcor Dev
This is another stock (TSX-MRD) that I have gotten from Mike Higgs’ list at http://www.dividendgrowth.org/Report.htm. I only bought this stock this year and so far, I have lost some 24% on this stock. Since I have not committed much money, I have not lost much. Usually, when I decide to invest in a brand new stock, I buy 100 or 200 shares. I then see what it is like to own the stock before committing more money.
Over the 5 year period to December 2007, which is the last annual report, this stock has done well. Over this period, the revenues have increase by 13.4%, the Earnings per Share (EPS) by 22%, the dividends by 32% and the closing price by 43%. The Graham Price at 31 December 2007 was $20.33 while the closing price was $19.89. One of the best times to buy a stock is when the Graham Price is higher than the stock price. Also, the Return on Equity (ROE) is at 22% for the year ending December 2007.
The negatives for this stock is that the Cash Flow from Operations over the last 5 years is a -5%, the stock price is growing much faster than the Book Value and the Accrual Ratio is very high at 18.3%, and even including the Financial Cash Flow, the Accrual Ratio is still a high of 9%. Although I have to admit, the Accrual Ratio on this stock is always high and has seldom been negative.
This company is primarily engaged in the acquisition of land for development and sale of residential communities, multi- family sites and commercial sites. The company also develops, owns and manages commercial income properties, as well as two golf courses. Its web site is www.melcor.ca/. See my spreadsheet at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/mrd.htm.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Over the 5 year period to December 2007, which is the last annual report, this stock has done well. Over this period, the revenues have increase by 13.4%, the Earnings per Share (EPS) by 22%, the dividends by 32% and the closing price by 43%. The Graham Price at 31 December 2007 was $20.33 while the closing price was $19.89. One of the best times to buy a stock is when the Graham Price is higher than the stock price. Also, the Return on Equity (ROE) is at 22% for the year ending December 2007.
The negatives for this stock is that the Cash Flow from Operations over the last 5 years is a -5%, the stock price is growing much faster than the Book Value and the Accrual Ratio is very high at 18.3%, and even including the Financial Cash Flow, the Accrual Ratio is still a high of 9%. Although I have to admit, the Accrual Ratio on this stock is always high and has seldom been negative.
This company is primarily engaged in the acquisition of land for development and sale of residential communities, multi- family sites and commercial sites. The company also develops, owns and manages commercial income properties, as well as two golf courses. Its web site is www.melcor.ca/. See my spreadsheet at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/mrd.htm.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Manitoba Telecom Service 2
This stock has had a lot of ups and downs over the past 5 years. There has been a lot of opportunity to overpay for this stock during that time period. I made money on this stock, as I did not overpay for it. This stock has not done as well as the TSX index or the Utility Index over the past 3 to 5 years. It has only done better when you compare this stock over the last 10 years. Also, note that the indexes do not consider dividend payments, and almost half the return on this stock is dividend payments.
Is it a good buy? Some analyst are giving it a Hold rating and some a Buy rating with the average being a Buy. Most expect that the Earnings per Share (EPS) will be up this year. The current yield at 6.4% is higher than the 5 year average of 4.7%. The P/E at 15.6% is slightly lower than the 5 year average of 16.9%. The Accrual Ratio is not as good as it was in December 2007, but it is still negative. (It is always good to have a negative accrual ratio.)
This stock would be considered a medium risk. It is in the Telecommunication section of our market, which will shortly have little in this section once BCE goes private. If you want to diversify your portfolio in this section, it may not be a bad stock to have.
This company is a full-service communications company. It serves residential and business customers in Manitoba. Their Allstream division serves national business consumers. Its web site is www.mts.ca/. See my spreadsheet at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/mbt.htm. I have reloaded my spreadsheet as I have updated it with the June 2008, 2nd quarter report.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Is it a good buy? Some analyst are giving it a Hold rating and some a Buy rating with the average being a Buy. Most expect that the Earnings per Share (EPS) will be up this year. The current yield at 6.4% is higher than the 5 year average of 4.7%. The P/E at 15.6% is slightly lower than the 5 year average of 16.9%. The Accrual Ratio is not as good as it was in December 2007, but it is still negative. (It is always good to have a negative accrual ratio.)
This stock would be considered a medium risk. It is in the Telecommunication section of our market, which will shortly have little in this section once BCE goes private. If you want to diversify your portfolio in this section, it may not be a bad stock to have.
This company is a full-service communications company. It serves residential and business customers in Manitoba. Their Allstream division serves national business consumers. Its web site is www.mts.ca/. See my spreadsheet at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/mbt.htm. I have reloaded my spreadsheet as I have updated it with the June 2008, 2nd quarter report.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Manitoba Telecom Service
I first bought this stock (TSX-MBT) in 2006 and it has made me 8.4% return since that time. This includes dividends, which has added 4% - 5% to the return on this stock. Do not forget, that we are in a depressed market, so I would expect a slightly better return of 9% to 10% per year on this stock over the long term.
Dividend increases on this stock are inconsistent, but over the past 5 years, dividends have increased an average of 26% per year. Over the last 10 years, they have increased at a rate of 14% per year. Revenue on this stock has increased at a very good rate of 15.5% per year over the past 5 years to the last annual statement of December 2007. During the same period, the closing price of this stock has increased at a rate of 10% per year, and the Operational Cash Flow has increased at the rate of 22% per year.
The Current Asset/Current Liability ratio is low at .60, but the Asset/Liability ratio is good at 2.06. The Asset/Book Value ratio is not bad at 1.9 and the Accrual Ratio is not bad at -3.6. The Earnings per Share has not increased much over the last 5 years, but the Operational Cash Flow is a more important figure for a utility stock, which is what this stock is.
This company is a full-service communications company. It serves residential and business customers in Manitoba. Their Allstream division serves national business consumers. Its web site is www.mts.ca/. See my spreadsheet at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/mbt.htm.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Dividend increases on this stock are inconsistent, but over the past 5 years, dividends have increased an average of 26% per year. Over the last 10 years, they have increased at a rate of 14% per year. Revenue on this stock has increased at a very good rate of 15.5% per year over the past 5 years to the last annual statement of December 2007. During the same period, the closing price of this stock has increased at a rate of 10% per year, and the Operational Cash Flow has increased at the rate of 22% per year.
The Current Asset/Current Liability ratio is low at .60, but the Asset/Liability ratio is good at 2.06. The Asset/Book Value ratio is not bad at 1.9 and the Accrual Ratio is not bad at -3.6. The Earnings per Share has not increased much over the last 5 years, but the Operational Cash Flow is a more important figure for a utility stock, which is what this stock is.
This company is a full-service communications company. It serves residential and business customers in Manitoba. Their Allstream division serves national business consumers. Its web site is www.mts.ca/. See my spreadsheet at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/mbt.htm.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Another look at SNC-Lavalin
I am taking another look at this stock as a friend was thinking of buying it. The market has changed a lot since I last looked at this stock and a June 2008 Quarterly report is now available.
The main thing that has changed is the P/E ratio. This ratio is now a much more reasonable 20.2% based on what this stock is expected to do. One reason for this change is that the expected Earnings per Share (EPS) for 2008 has gone up from about $1.90 to $2.00 and some analyst think that it will be even higher. This other change, of course, is that the stock price has come down.
The 5 year average P/E on this stock is 33.4%, so the current at 20.2% it is lower than this average. The Yield is also better than the 5 year average of .89%. It is now at 1.19%. The yield has been higher in the past, but the higher yields were all prior to 2000.
Another positive sign is that the Asset/Liability ratio is up to 1.20 from 1.17, although this is not where I would like it at 1.50 it is better. The Asset/Book Value has also come down from 6.8 to 6.3. This is better, but not great. The thing that has changed for the worse is the Accrual Ratio is now at 6.59%. Although this is less accurate between annual reports, it is not a good sign.
The calls on this stock are all over the place; some say buy, some hold and some sell. One thing that concerns me is the insider selling. Insider selling is not as accurate guide of what insiders think about a stock as insider buying. You never know why the selling is taking place. It could have nothing to do with the stock. There is also some insider buying, but this is over shadowed by the selling.
I will not be buying any more of this stock as a sold some because I had too much of it. The reason I had too much is because the stock grow a lot faster than my portfolio in general. I have done very well with this stock. I think that currently there is risk attached to buying this stock, but you might do very well if you can stand taking this risk.
See my spreadsheet at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/snc.htm. I have reloaded by spreadsheet with the figures from the June 2008 Quarterly Report.
This company is involved with engineering and construction work around the world, this includes infrastructure and buildings; infrastructure and construction; power (nuclear, thermal, hydro etc); chemicals and petroleum; environmental projects; and mining and metallurgy projects. They have offices and Canada and around the world, from Algeria to Vietnam, including Australia, Europe, Russia, Africa, Middle East, Asia, South America, USA. Its web site is www.snc-lavalin.com.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
The main thing that has changed is the P/E ratio. This ratio is now a much more reasonable 20.2% based on what this stock is expected to do. One reason for this change is that the expected Earnings per Share (EPS) for 2008 has gone up from about $1.90 to $2.00 and some analyst think that it will be even higher. This other change, of course, is that the stock price has come down.
The 5 year average P/E on this stock is 33.4%, so the current at 20.2% it is lower than this average. The Yield is also better than the 5 year average of .89%. It is now at 1.19%. The yield has been higher in the past, but the higher yields were all prior to 2000.
Another positive sign is that the Asset/Liability ratio is up to 1.20 from 1.17, although this is not where I would like it at 1.50 it is better. The Asset/Book Value has also come down from 6.8 to 6.3. This is better, but not great. The thing that has changed for the worse is the Accrual Ratio is now at 6.59%. Although this is less accurate between annual reports, it is not a good sign.
The calls on this stock are all over the place; some say buy, some hold and some sell. One thing that concerns me is the insider selling. Insider selling is not as accurate guide of what insiders think about a stock as insider buying. You never know why the selling is taking place. It could have nothing to do with the stock. There is also some insider buying, but this is over shadowed by the selling.
I will not be buying any more of this stock as a sold some because I had too much of it. The reason I had too much is because the stock grow a lot faster than my portfolio in general. I have done very well with this stock. I think that currently there is risk attached to buying this stock, but you might do very well if you can stand taking this risk.
See my spreadsheet at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/snc.htm. I have reloaded by spreadsheet with the figures from the June 2008 Quarterly Report.
This company is involved with engineering and construction work around the world, this includes infrastructure and buildings; infrastructure and construction; power (nuclear, thermal, hydro etc); chemicals and petroleum; environmental projects; and mining and metallurgy projects. They have offices and Canada and around the world, from Algeria to Vietnam, including Australia, Europe, Russia, Africa, Middle East, Asia, South America, USA. Its web site is www.snc-lavalin.com.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Dividend Paying Companies 2
When using Mike Higgs list, review the ones that have above average historical dividend yields. Check into what stock analysts’ say about the stock. There could be a lot of reasons why a stock dividend’s yield is high by historical levels. If the stock is in financial trouble, forget about it. However, the stock could just be a good buy. Remember, that you only really lose on a stock if it goes bankrupt or into a long term decline. Otherwise, buying a stock when it is at a low point can make you great long term gains.
For you to make good money on a stock, you must not overpay for it. It doesn’t matte what sort of list you get your stocks from, you should not overpay. One way of deciding if you are overpaying is to compare the company’s dividend yield to its long term dividend yield. This is not the only method, but it is a good one. This is what Mike’s list is all about.
Before purchasing a stock, you need to get some sort of stock analyst report. Just looking at the stock calls of Buy, Hold or Sell does not tell you all you need to know. You need also to know why these calls are being made and you can find this out only by looking at someone analysis of the stock. I get reports from my broker. If you cannot do this, if may be wise to pay for a report.
You can purchase research reports from MPL Communications Ltd at http://www.adviceforinvestors.com/. Since stocks cost a lot of money, it might be wise to see an analysis a stock you want to buy before you do your purchase. See Mike Higgs’ site at http://www.dividendgrowth.org/Report.htm.
Always get independent advice on investing from at least 2 sources.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
For you to make good money on a stock, you must not overpay for it. It doesn’t matte what sort of list you get your stocks from, you should not overpay. One way of deciding if you are overpaying is to compare the company’s dividend yield to its long term dividend yield. This is not the only method, but it is a good one. This is what Mike’s list is all about.
Before purchasing a stock, you need to get some sort of stock analyst report. Just looking at the stock calls of Buy, Hold or Sell does not tell you all you need to know. You need also to know why these calls are being made and you can find this out only by looking at someone analysis of the stock. I get reports from my broker. If you cannot do this, if may be wise to pay for a report.
You can purchase research reports from MPL Communications Ltd at http://www.adviceforinvestors.com/. Since stocks cost a lot of money, it might be wise to see an analysis a stock you want to buy before you do your purchase. See Mike Higgs’ site at http://www.dividendgrowth.org/Report.htm.
Always get independent advice on investing from at least 2 sources.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
I Feel I Must Address The Current Market Situation
Yes, this is the fall and yes, we are in a bear market. Is this is a great time to buy stock? Yes, it is. However, do not bottom-feed for stocks, change and your mind and sell. This is how you lose money. If you buy anything, buy something that you can live with for at least 3 years.
There can still be a lot of volatility. You can buy a good stock and the stock can still go lower. Be prepared for this. After all, this is only mid-September. The selling off season is not yet over. Is it the bottom? Who knows? The only thing you can know is if the market is relatively low or relatively high or somewhere in between. You do not know anything else. No one does. So at the moment, it is relatively low.
What happens in bear markets is that everything goes lower. Some stocks go much lower than others do. What you want to buy is something relatively good at a relatively low price. Where are we currently? We are about the same place we were in January of this year. This is about the same place we were in November 2006. Do I regret holding stocks when the market is low? No. I have collected a lot of dividends in the mean time. My dividend income has gone up.
If you are investing in stocks, you have to learn to ignore this time of the year. If anything bad is going to happen, it will be in the fall. And just to put it all in perspective, we are back to where we were in November 2006. Not all has been lost. Buy in the fall and sell in the spring. This will work 9 out of 10 years. Have some fun and buy some stocks.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
There can still be a lot of volatility. You can buy a good stock and the stock can still go lower. Be prepared for this. After all, this is only mid-September. The selling off season is not yet over. Is it the bottom? Who knows? The only thing you can know is if the market is relatively low or relatively high or somewhere in between. You do not know anything else. No one does. So at the moment, it is relatively low.
What happens in bear markets is that everything goes lower. Some stocks go much lower than others do. What you want to buy is something relatively good at a relatively low price. Where are we currently? We are about the same place we were in January of this year. This is about the same place we were in November 2006. Do I regret holding stocks when the market is low? No. I have collected a lot of dividends in the mean time. My dividend income has gone up.
If you are investing in stocks, you have to learn to ignore this time of the year. If anything bad is going to happen, it will be in the fall. And just to put it all in perspective, we are back to where we were in November 2006. Not all has been lost. Buy in the fall and sell in the spring. This will work 9 out of 10 years. Have some fun and buy some stocks.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Dividend Paying Companies
Last Wednesday, I talked about a stock I had invested in that was a dividend paying stock that did not make it on such lists as Dividend Achievers. I got this stock from Mike Higgs’ list of dividend paying growth stocks. It is a different approach than the Dividend Achievers list. See Mike Higgs’ site at http://www.dividendgrowth.org/Report.htm.
What is the relative advantage of this stock? A great dividend stocks gives an average long term return of 10%. By long term, I mean 10 years at a minimum. Emera gives a long term dividend return of 4%. The other portion of the return would be capital gain. Capital gain or loss increases or decreases the value of your portfolio. In this case, you would expect an average capital gain of 6% on this stock. However, capital gain is very volatile whereby some years you would earn a lot more capital gain and some years a lot less capital gain. Some capital gain would involve a negative capital gain (or a capital loss).
For the Dividend Achievers, their dividend returns is usually about 2%. So for these stocks you would get 2% dividend return and 8% capital gain. Here again the capital gain would be volatile. So what is better? How do you feel about these scenarios?
What I am suggesting is that investing using Dividend Achievers’ list is not the only way to go. It is a good idea, but it is not the only good idea in investing in Dividend Paying stocks. Maybe a mix of these stocks might be a better approach. You might be well advised to look at Mike’s list.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
What is the relative advantage of this stock? A great dividend stocks gives an average long term return of 10%. By long term, I mean 10 years at a minimum. Emera gives a long term dividend return of 4%. The other portion of the return would be capital gain. Capital gain or loss increases or decreases the value of your portfolio. In this case, you would expect an average capital gain of 6% on this stock. However, capital gain is very volatile whereby some years you would earn a lot more capital gain and some years a lot less capital gain. Some capital gain would involve a negative capital gain (or a capital loss).
For the Dividend Achievers, their dividend returns is usually about 2%. So for these stocks you would get 2% dividend return and 8% capital gain. Here again the capital gain would be volatile. So what is better? How do you feel about these scenarios?
What I am suggesting is that investing using Dividend Achievers’ list is not the only way to go. It is a good idea, but it is not the only good idea in investing in Dividend Paying stocks. Maybe a mix of these stocks might be a better approach. You might be well advised to look at Mike’s list.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Friday, September 12, 2008
CDN Real Estate 2
As I said yesterday, to diversify my portfolio, I have invested in some REITs. These are Real Estate Income Trusts. I have only invested in REITs that have commercial properties. This stock has been going down with the bear market, but has not done as badly as the TSX. Over the past year, 3 year, 5 year and 10 year periods, this stock has done better than both the TSX and the REIT Sub-Index.
There has been some insider buying on this stock. There has been no insider selling. In any event, insider buying is always a stronger clue as to what people think of a stock, as people buy when because they want to own the stock. When insiders sell, it can be for a lot of reasons, such as just needing some money, rather than being a clue to what they think of a stock.
The calls on this stock, from at the various analysts, range from a Strong Buy to a Hold. I must say I side with the Hold calls. The one positive thing is that they have already raised their dividend 3% for this year, which is higher than the 5 year average of 2%. The Accrual Ratio is also lower, at 3.7%, but it would be better if it was negative. The current P/E at 24.4% is higher than the 5 year average of 21.09, but the Trailing P/E (using last years EPS) is lower at 21% than the 5 year average of 22.4%.
It is not so much that I do not think that this stock is Buy, but I feel there are lot better bargains to be had. I would suggest that the stock is probably fairly priced, rather than under or over priced.
This is an equity real estate trust, which acquires and owns a portfolio of income-producing properties. It specializes in the acquisition and ownership of community shopping centres, and industrial and office properties across Canada. This company owns office, industrial, retail properties and some miscellaneous items such as apartment buildings. Its web site is www.creit.ca/. See my spreadsheet on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/ema.htm. I have reloaded by spreadsheet with the figures from the June 2008 Quarterly Report.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
There has been some insider buying on this stock. There has been no insider selling. In any event, insider buying is always a stronger clue as to what people think of a stock, as people buy when because they want to own the stock. When insiders sell, it can be for a lot of reasons, such as just needing some money, rather than being a clue to what they think of a stock.
The calls on this stock, from at the various analysts, range from a Strong Buy to a Hold. I must say I side with the Hold calls. The one positive thing is that they have already raised their dividend 3% for this year, which is higher than the 5 year average of 2%. The Accrual Ratio is also lower, at 3.7%, but it would be better if it was negative. The current P/E at 24.4% is higher than the 5 year average of 21.09, but the Trailing P/E (using last years EPS) is lower at 21% than the 5 year average of 22.4%.
It is not so much that I do not think that this stock is Buy, but I feel there are lot better bargains to be had. I would suggest that the stock is probably fairly priced, rather than under or over priced.
This is an equity real estate trust, which acquires and owns a portfolio of income-producing properties. It specializes in the acquisition and ownership of community shopping centres, and industrial and office properties across Canada. This company owns office, industrial, retail properties and some miscellaneous items such as apartment buildings. Its web site is www.creit.ca/. See my spreadsheet on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/ema.htm. I have reloaded by spreadsheet with the figures from the June 2008 Quarterly Report.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
CDN Real Estate
To diversify my portfolio, I have invested in some REITs. These are Real Estate Income Trusts. I have only invested in REITs that have commercial properties. I bought this stock in September 2006 and since that time I have made some 11.3% return. This includes the dividends I received. Since the beginning of the year, I have made a return of 7.7%. This stock has been going down with the bear market, but has not done as badly as the TSX.
The following values are all for the last 5 years to December 31, 2007, which is the last annual statement date. The positive features of this stock are that the revenues has been increasing at a rate of 12.3%, the Funds from Operations (FFO) has been increasing at the rate of 9.7% and the Closing Price by 24.9%. The FFO is more important than the Earnings per Share (EPS), but the EPS has only been increasing at the rate of 3.7%.
The other positives on this stock are that the Operation Profit Margin is 38% (this is higher than both the 5 year and 10 year average) and the Return on Equity (ROE) is a very good 12.9% for 2007. The negatives that I see are the Asset/Liability Ratio is 1.48 (but this is only slightly lower than the 1.50 I like to see), the Accrual Ratio is 9.8% (and anything over 5% is high) and the Asset/Book Value Ratio is high at 3.08 (but not unusual high for a REIT).
Dividend increases on this stock in the last 5 years has been at 2% per year, which is barely at the rate of inflation. However, the increase for this calendar is a better 3%. This REIT is rated STA-3M by DBRS. DBRS rate Income Trust stocks from STA-1 to STA-7, with the STA-1 rating being the best. REITs usually get a STA-2 or STA-3 rating.
This is an equity real estate trust, which acquires and owns a portfolio of income-producing properties. It specializes in the acquisition and ownership of community shopping centres, and industrial and office properties across Canada. This company owns office, industrial, retail properties and some miscellaneous items such as apartment buildings. Its web site is www.creit.ca/. See my spreadsheet on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/ema.htm.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
The following values are all for the last 5 years to December 31, 2007, which is the last annual statement date. The positive features of this stock are that the revenues has been increasing at a rate of 12.3%, the Funds from Operations (FFO) has been increasing at the rate of 9.7% and the Closing Price by 24.9%. The FFO is more important than the Earnings per Share (EPS), but the EPS has only been increasing at the rate of 3.7%.
The other positives on this stock are that the Operation Profit Margin is 38% (this is higher than both the 5 year and 10 year average) and the Return on Equity (ROE) is a very good 12.9% for 2007. The negatives that I see are the Asset/Liability Ratio is 1.48 (but this is only slightly lower than the 1.50 I like to see), the Accrual Ratio is 9.8% (and anything over 5% is high) and the Asset/Book Value Ratio is high at 3.08 (but not unusual high for a REIT).
Dividend increases on this stock in the last 5 years has been at 2% per year, which is barely at the rate of inflation. However, the increase for this calendar is a better 3%. This REIT is rated STA-3M by DBRS. DBRS rate Income Trust stocks from STA-1 to STA-7, with the STA-1 rating being the best. REITs usually get a STA-2 or STA-3 rating.
This is an equity real estate trust, which acquires and owns a portfolio of income-producing properties. It specializes in the acquisition and ownership of community shopping centres, and industrial and office properties across Canada. This company owns office, industrial, retail properties and some miscellaneous items such as apartment buildings. Its web site is www.creit.ca/. See my spreadsheet on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/ema.htm.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Emera 2
As I said yesterday, I found this company through Mike Higg’s site at http://www.dividendgrowth.org/Report.htm. Mike’s site has a spreadsheet showing Dividend Paying Canadian Growth stocks. He recommends that people investigate the stocks on his list for possible purchase when a stock shows that its yield is high compared to the stock’s historical yield. According to his spreadsheet, this stock is no bargain at a current yield of 4.34%. According to my spreadsheet, it is at the 5 year average.
This stock has just raised their annual dividend by 5.5%, which is a health raise considering past raises have usually been at just over 1%. This stock has a payout average of 76% over the past 5 years, so most of the profit made on this stock is dividend income. Dividend income has raised the returns on this stock by about 4% and this is high. The P/E at 16.2% is slightly lower than the 5 year average of 17.2%, which is good. However, this P/E ratio it is not significantly lower than the 5 year average.
Although there are a few Buy calls on this stock, most calls are for a Hold. There has been, of course, a pull back on this stock over the last few days because of the current volatility and the current bear market. It might become a good buy if the stock pulls back some more.
Emera is a holding company in the energy sector. Its principal operating subsidiaries are Nova Scotia Power Inc. and Bangor Hydro-Electric Company. Nova Scotia Power is Nova Scotia's integrated electric utility. Bangor Hydro is an electric distribution utility in Central Maine. Emera has a few smaller operations and investments, such as a minority stake in M & NP pipeline. Its web site is www.emera.com/. See my spreadsheet on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/ema.htm. I have uploaded by spreadsheet with figures from the June 2008 quarterly report.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
This stock has just raised their annual dividend by 5.5%, which is a health raise considering past raises have usually been at just over 1%. This stock has a payout average of 76% over the past 5 years, so most of the profit made on this stock is dividend income. Dividend income has raised the returns on this stock by about 4% and this is high. The P/E at 16.2% is slightly lower than the 5 year average of 17.2%, which is good. However, this P/E ratio it is not significantly lower than the 5 year average.
Although there are a few Buy calls on this stock, most calls are for a Hold. There has been, of course, a pull back on this stock over the last few days because of the current volatility and the current bear market. It might become a good buy if the stock pulls back some more.
Emera is a holding company in the energy sector. Its principal operating subsidiaries are Nova Scotia Power Inc. and Bangor Hydro-Electric Company. Nova Scotia Power is Nova Scotia's integrated electric utility. Bangor Hydro is an electric distribution utility in Central Maine. Emera has a few smaller operations and investments, such as a minority stake in M & NP pipeline. Its web site is www.emera.com/. See my spreadsheet on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/ema.htm. I have uploaded by spreadsheet with figures from the June 2008 quarterly report.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Emera
I found this company (TSX-EMA) through Mike Higg’s site at http://www.dividendgrowth.org/Report.htm. Mike’s site has a spreadsheet showing Dividend Paying Canadian Growth stocks. He recommends that people investigate the stocks on his list for possible purchase when a stock shows that its yield is high compared to the stock’s historical yield. This is a great Site.
I bought this stock first in July 2005 and since then, I have made an annual return, including dividends, of 12.5%. For this calendar year, I have made a return of 16.3%. This is a utility stock. The yield on this stock is quite high, over 4% and the dividends have added 5% to the return over the last 5 years.
The following values are all for the last 5 years to December 31, 2007, which is the last annual statement date. The negatives I find in this stock are that the revenues are increasing at only 1.8% per year and the dividends have increased at less than 1% per year. The Current Asset/Current Liability ratio is low at .97% and the Asset/Liability ratio is also low at 1.47%. However, these ratios are not out of line for a utility stock.
The better qualities of this stock are that the Earnings per Share (EPS) have increased by 9.2% and the Return on Equity (ROE) is not bad at 9.3%. The Graham price at December 2007 is not far from the closing price and the Accrual Ratio is 1.5%. The closing price has increased at the rate of 11.4% per year. This is different from my figures above, as my figures in the first paragraph are from Quicken and they are figures from purchase date to the present date.
Emera is a holding company in the energy sector. Its principal operating subsidiaries are Nova Scotia Power Inc. and Bangor Hydro-Electric Company. Nova Scotia Power is Nova Scotia's integrated electric utility. Bangor Hydro is an electric distribution utility in Central Maine. Emera has a few smaller operations and investments, such as a minority stake in M & NP pipeline. Its web site is www.emera.com/.
See my spreadsheet on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/ema.htm.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
I bought this stock first in July 2005 and since then, I have made an annual return, including dividends, of 12.5%. For this calendar year, I have made a return of 16.3%. This is a utility stock. The yield on this stock is quite high, over 4% and the dividends have added 5% to the return over the last 5 years.
The following values are all for the last 5 years to December 31, 2007, which is the last annual statement date. The negatives I find in this stock are that the revenues are increasing at only 1.8% per year and the dividends have increased at less than 1% per year. The Current Asset/Current Liability ratio is low at .97% and the Asset/Liability ratio is also low at 1.47%. However, these ratios are not out of line for a utility stock.
The better qualities of this stock are that the Earnings per Share (EPS) have increased by 9.2% and the Return on Equity (ROE) is not bad at 9.3%. The Graham price at December 2007 is not far from the closing price and the Accrual Ratio is 1.5%. The closing price has increased at the rate of 11.4% per year. This is different from my figures above, as my figures in the first paragraph are from Quicken and they are figures from purchase date to the present date.
Emera is a holding company in the energy sector. Its principal operating subsidiaries are Nova Scotia Power Inc. and Bangor Hydro-Electric Company. Nova Scotia Power is Nova Scotia's integrated electric utility. Bangor Hydro is an electric distribution utility in Central Maine. Emera has a few smaller operations and investments, such as a minority stake in M & NP pipeline. Its web site is www.emera.com/.
See my spreadsheet on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/ema.htm.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Monday, September 8, 2008
BFI Income Fund
On August 18, 2008 this stock announced the conversion of it stock from an Income Trust to Dividend Paying Corporation. They also announced a decrease in the annual dividend rate of 1.82 per share, to $.50 per share. This decrease in dividend will put the stock yield in the same range as other Dividend Paying stocks, rather than the range of an Income Trust. The next day the stock dropped some 17%. The next week it recovered some 9.9% of its value. It has recently declined in line with the general market.
Part of the problem with stocks going from Income Trusts to a regular corporation is that you would have a different class of investors. Mostly people buy Income Trusts for the income. Dividend paying corporations are bought, not only for their dividends, but also for long term gain.
There is no doubt that this stock is going to see some turbulence in its price. Looking at analyst ratings, they are moving from a buy to a hold rating although some are retaining the buy rating. Personally, I do not have much of this stock as I had just started to invest in it and I usually invest slowly in a new stock. This is the first Income Trust that I have that wants to convert to a Dividend paying Corporation. There has been a bit of insider buying on this stock.
At the moment, I am going to hold on to my stock and see what happens. It might still be a good long term buy.
BFI is a full-service waste management company providing non-hazardous solid waste collection and landfill disposal services for municipal, commercial, industrial and residential customers in five provinces and ten U.S. States. Note that two-thirds of their business in US. Its web site is http://www.bficanada.com. See my spreadsheet on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/bfc.htm. I have reloaded by spreadsheet with June 2008 Quarterly report figures.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Part of the problem with stocks going from Income Trusts to a regular corporation is that you would have a different class of investors. Mostly people buy Income Trusts for the income. Dividend paying corporations are bought, not only for their dividends, but also for long term gain.
There is no doubt that this stock is going to see some turbulence in its price. Looking at analyst ratings, they are moving from a buy to a hold rating although some are retaining the buy rating. Personally, I do not have much of this stock as I had just started to invest in it and I usually invest slowly in a new stock. This is the first Income Trust that I have that wants to convert to a Dividend paying Corporation. There has been a bit of insider buying on this stock.
At the moment, I am going to hold on to my stock and see what happens. It might still be a good long term buy.
BFI is a full-service waste management company providing non-hazardous solid waste collection and landfill disposal services for municipal, commercial, industrial and residential customers in five provinces and ten U.S. States. Note that two-thirds of their business in US. Its web site is http://www.bficanada.com. See my spreadsheet on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/bfc.htm. I have reloaded by spreadsheet with June 2008 Quarterly report figures.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
I Have Re-uploaded All My Spreadsheets
I have re-uploaded all my spreadsheets as most of them had some jumbled columns. I was saving excel spreadsheets as htm documents in order to put them on-line. I do not have much control over how excel does the htm documents, as far as I can see. However, I have made sure that the documents only covers the last 10 years of values, and this seems to help in not having some of the columns of the spreadsheets jumbled.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Leon’s Furniture 2
As I said yesterday, I have not made much on this stock (TSX-LNF), but I still have high hopes for it. There are few analysts following this stock, as it is not a very big company. However, I feel that it is a worthy investment. As far as I can see, there seems to be only one analyst following this stock, although this is hard to tell. The one analyst I found has a hold rating on this stock. I do not know why. Perhaps waiting to see sentiment if towards this stock will change. The stock peaked in the early part of this year and has only gone down since.
This stock is under the Consumer Staple Index. This index has not done as well as the TSX Index over the past year or even past 5 years. You have to go back to the last 10 years to find the Consumer Staple Sub-Index doing as well or better than the TSX Index. Leon’s over the past 1, 3 and 5 years has done about as well as the TSX Index. Over the past 10 years, this stock has done better than both the TSX Index and the TSX Consumer Staple Sub-Index.
I invest for the long term and I think this stock is fine. The one thing I think is very positive is there is insider buying on this stock. The buying is by the Leon family. This stock is a small one, with the Leon family owing some 68% of the outstanding stock. I do not necessarily find a family owned stock a negative, but I know that others do. If like family owned stock that pass on reasonable returns to minority shareholders and I think Leon’s does this.
Other positives are the yield at 2.28% is higher than the 5 year average of 2.05%, the P/E at 13.8% is lower than the 5 year average of 15.3%, and the increase in EPS is expect to be above the 5 year average of 10%. A negative is that although there is a special dividend declared for this year, the company has not raised the regular dividend rate. Also, the Accrual Ratio is too high with the June 2008 Quarterly Report. Any Accrual Ratio above 5% is high.
This company sells home furnishings, appliances and electronics through a chain of retail facilities and franchises located in Canada. Its web site is http://www.leons.ca. See my spreadsheets on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/lnf.htm. I have reloaded my spreadsheet with figures from the June 2008 Quarterly Report.
I have updated it with the figures from the June 08 quarterly report.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
This stock is under the Consumer Staple Index. This index has not done as well as the TSX Index over the past year or even past 5 years. You have to go back to the last 10 years to find the Consumer Staple Sub-Index doing as well or better than the TSX Index. Leon’s over the past 1, 3 and 5 years has done about as well as the TSX Index. Over the past 10 years, this stock has done better than both the TSX Index and the TSX Consumer Staple Sub-Index.
I invest for the long term and I think this stock is fine. The one thing I think is very positive is there is insider buying on this stock. The buying is by the Leon family. This stock is a small one, with the Leon family owing some 68% of the outstanding stock. I do not necessarily find a family owned stock a negative, but I know that others do. If like family owned stock that pass on reasonable returns to minority shareholders and I think Leon’s does this.
Other positives are the yield at 2.28% is higher than the 5 year average of 2.05%, the P/E at 13.8% is lower than the 5 year average of 15.3%, and the increase in EPS is expect to be above the 5 year average of 10%. A negative is that although there is a special dividend declared for this year, the company has not raised the regular dividend rate. Also, the Accrual Ratio is too high with the June 2008 Quarterly Report. Any Accrual Ratio above 5% is high.
This company sells home furnishings, appliances and electronics through a chain of retail facilities and franchises located in Canada. Its web site is http://www.leons.ca. See my spreadsheets on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/lnf.htm. I have reloaded my spreadsheet with figures from the June 2008 Quarterly Report.
I have updated it with the figures from the June 08 quarterly report.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on my web site.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Now for something Good and Cheap in Price, Leon’s Furniture
This stock is cheap in that that price per share is low. If you do not have much money to spend buying shares, consider Leon’s where the current share price is $12.17 (TSX-LNF). This stock is not on anyone’s list of best dividend paying stocks for TSX; however, I think it is a good stock. I first bought this stock in June of 2006 and since then I have made some 6.2% per year, including dividends. This is, of course, not great, but considering we are currently in a bear market, this is not bad.
The following values are all for the last 5 years to December 31, 2007, which is the last annual statement date. The Revenues have increased at 7.2% per year, and this is not bad. The increase in Earnings per Share (EPS) has not been bad at 10.6% per year. The increase in dividends has been a very good number at 18.7% per year for the regular dividend. The closing price has increased at the rate of 13.1% per year. This is different from my figures above, as my figures in the first paragraph are from Quicken and they are figures from purchase date to the present date.
The Current Asset/ Current Liability Ratio at 1.9 is very good. The leverage (Asset/Book Value) is also good 1.47. The Return on Equity (ROE) is good at 18.2% for 2007 and this is slightly higher than the 5 year average of 18.1%. The Accrual Ratio is not good at 7.1%, but when the financial cash flow is included, it is at a better, neutral figure of 1.7%. Dividends have raised the 5 year average return by over 2% per year.
I still expect to do well in this stock over the long term. I will therefore, not be selling it because of the current decline in price. Leon has a habit of every few years of declaring a special dividend. They have already declared a special dividend of $.12 per share in May of this year. I know that some people have been confused by their special dividend, thinking that Leon is being inconsistent in the dividend declaration.
This company sells home furnishings, appliances and electronics through a chain of retail facilities and franchises located in Canada. Its web site is http://www.leons.ca. See my spreadsheets on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/lnf.htm.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on web site.
The following values are all for the last 5 years to December 31, 2007, which is the last annual statement date. The Revenues have increased at 7.2% per year, and this is not bad. The increase in Earnings per Share (EPS) has not been bad at 10.6% per year. The increase in dividends has been a very good number at 18.7% per year for the regular dividend. The closing price has increased at the rate of 13.1% per year. This is different from my figures above, as my figures in the first paragraph are from Quicken and they are figures from purchase date to the present date.
The Current Asset/ Current Liability Ratio at 1.9 is very good. The leverage (Asset/Book Value) is also good 1.47. The Return on Equity (ROE) is good at 18.2% for 2007 and this is slightly higher than the 5 year average of 18.1%. The Accrual Ratio is not good at 7.1%, but when the financial cash flow is included, it is at a better, neutral figure of 1.7%. Dividends have raised the 5 year average return by over 2% per year.
I still expect to do well in this stock over the long term. I will therefore, not be selling it because of the current decline in price. Leon has a habit of every few years of declaring a special dividend. They have already declared a special dividend of $.12 per share in May of this year. I know that some people have been confused by their special dividend, thinking that Leon is being inconsistent in the dividend declaration.
This company sells home furnishings, appliances and electronics through a chain of retail facilities and franchises located in Canada. Its web site is http://www.leons.ca. See my spreadsheets on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/lnf.htm.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on web site.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Easy Method to Buy Good Stocks
Stocks can be underpriced and they can be overpriced. The purchase price of a stock makes a big difference to how much you make on a stock, even when buying for the long term. So it is important you pay a reasonable price for a stock
What I am going to talk about is a good method for deciding on when to buy a stock. You will use a list of good stocks and then check each stock against what stock analysts say about it before buying any stock. This is not, however, foolproof system.
What you want to do is go to the Mergent's Dividend Achiever’s list of the best Canadian dividend paying companies. Their list is at
http://www.dividendachievers.com/Site/others/constituents.php?id=733&preview. To determine what stock analysts feel about each stock, check the stocks at the Globe & Mail Investor’s site at http://www.globeinvestor.com/. Enter each stock code in the “search” box, indicating it is a stock. Follow each code with a T. For Example, for AGF Management Ltd, use “AGF.B-T”. Another place to find out what stock analyst think, is to go to Daily Buy and Sell Adviser’s list at http://www.dailybuyselladviser.com/special_reports/index.html and click to download the “Morning Call” report.
You will notice that the stock analysts will vary on their recommendations. Some will say Buy, and others Hold or Sell. They all have a 5 point system, and they will make a call based on what the majority of the stock analysts think.
The Globe & Mail rates stocks as Strong Buy (1), Buy (2), Hold (3), Underperform (4) and Sell (5). Morning Call rates stocks as Buy (1), Buy/Hold (2), Hold (3), Hold/Sell (4) and Sell (5). Other sites talk about Buy (1), Overweight (2), Hold (3), Underweight (4) and Sell (5).
For example, if according to Morning Call a stock has 9 analysts with 5 saying the stock is a buy, 3 saying it is a buy/hold and 1 saying it is hold. To get a collective rating, you would give the buys 1 point for each analyst (or 5 points) and buy/hold 2 points for each analyst (or 6 points) and the hold 3 points for each analyst (or 3 points) for a total of 19 points. Divide by 9 to get 1.5, which is a buy. You should consider this a buy. (Any rating over 2.5 is a buy.)
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on web site.
What I am going to talk about is a good method for deciding on when to buy a stock. You will use a list of good stocks and then check each stock against what stock analysts say about it before buying any stock. This is not, however, foolproof system.
What you want to do is go to the Mergent's Dividend Achiever’s list of the best Canadian dividend paying companies. Their list is at
http://www.dividendachievers.com/Site/others/constituents.php?id=733&preview. To determine what stock analysts feel about each stock, check the stocks at the Globe & Mail Investor’s site at http://www.globeinvestor.com/. Enter each stock code in the “search” box, indicating it is a stock. Follow each code with a T. For Example, for AGF Management Ltd, use “AGF.B-T”. Another place to find out what stock analyst think, is to go to Daily Buy and Sell Adviser’s list at http://www.dailybuyselladviser.com/special_reports/index.html and click to download the “Morning Call” report.
You will notice that the stock analysts will vary on their recommendations. Some will say Buy, and others Hold or Sell. They all have a 5 point system, and they will make a call based on what the majority of the stock analysts think.
The Globe & Mail rates stocks as Strong Buy (1), Buy (2), Hold (3), Underperform (4) and Sell (5). Morning Call rates stocks as Buy (1), Buy/Hold (2), Hold (3), Hold/Sell (4) and Sell (5). Other sites talk about Buy (1), Overweight (2), Hold (3), Underweight (4) and Sell (5).
For example, if according to Morning Call a stock has 9 analysts with 5 saying the stock is a buy, 3 saying it is a buy/hold and 1 saying it is hold. To get a collective rating, you would give the buys 1 point for each analyst (or 5 points) and buy/hold 2 points for each analyst (or 6 points) and the hold 3 points for each analyst (or 3 points) for a total of 19 points. Divide by 9 to get 1.5, which is a buy. You should consider this a buy. (Any rating over 2.5 is a buy.)
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on web site.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
If You Are Just Starting Out, Index Funds Maybe The Way To Go
If you do not have much money, start with something like the TD Canadian Index fund or the TD Canadian Index-e Fund. They both have a MER under 1%. The Index-e must be bought online. The minimum payment is $100.00. The minimum payment amount is important if you are dealing with small sums. When you open a trading account, make sure that you know the rules. My son has a Bank of Montreal Investor Line trading account and minimum purchase for any mutual fund is $1,000. This can make a big difference.
Say you have saved a few thousand dollars for a stock purchase. When you make the stock purchase, you have a few hundred dollars left over. For me, I can just throw the money into a MMF or Index fund as I have a TD Waterhouse Trading Account. For my son, he can leave the extra in his trading account, earning no interest or move it to his chequing account earning some interest. The problem with moving it to his chequing account is that he is likely to spend it. If it were left in his trading account, in a mutual fund, it would be left alone.
If you can afford to make a purchase, you can purchase the iShares CDN Dividend Index Fund (TSX-XDV) or the Claymore CDN Dividend & Income Achievers ETF (TSX-CDZ). The iShares fund is 30 of the largest Canadian dividend paying companies, (see http://ca.ishares.com). The Claymore Dividend & Income Achievers fund reflects the Mergent’s Dividend Achievers list, (see http://www.claymoreinvestments.ca/about.aspx). The Mergent’s list is a list of the best Canadian dividend paying companies that have a history of increasing their dividends. This list is at http://www.dividendachievers.com/.
The value of going with either of these funds is that the purchase price is low, just over $20 a shares. Since you have to buy 100 shares, you can save just over $2,000 to make your first purchase. Most good stocks nowadays are in the $30, $40 and $50 range.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on web site.
Say you have saved a few thousand dollars for a stock purchase. When you make the stock purchase, you have a few hundred dollars left over. For me, I can just throw the money into a MMF or Index fund as I have a TD Waterhouse Trading Account. For my son, he can leave the extra in his trading account, earning no interest or move it to his chequing account earning some interest. The problem with moving it to his chequing account is that he is likely to spend it. If it were left in his trading account, in a mutual fund, it would be left alone.
If you can afford to make a purchase, you can purchase the iShares CDN Dividend Index Fund (TSX-XDV) or the Claymore CDN Dividend & Income Achievers ETF (TSX-CDZ). The iShares fund is 30 of the largest Canadian dividend paying companies, (see http://ca.ishares.com). The Claymore Dividend & Income Achievers fund reflects the Mergent’s Dividend Achievers list, (see http://www.claymoreinvestments.ca/about.aspx). The Mergent’s list is a list of the best Canadian dividend paying companies that have a history of increasing their dividends. This list is at http://www.dividendachievers.com/.
The value of going with either of these funds is that the purchase price is low, just over $20 a shares. Since you have to buy 100 shares, you can save just over $2,000 to make your first purchase. Most good stocks nowadays are in the $30, $40 and $50 range.
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 website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on web site.
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