The sub-title of this book is “Adventures in a New World”. This is a surprisingly readable book. I highly recommend it. Considering some of the past statements made by Alan Greenspan, I found it rather shocking that he can write an interesting and readable book. You should read this book as you might learn, in an entertaining and enjoyable way, something about economic matters. You will certainly learn a bit more about a man, no matter what you may think about him, that has had a big impact on the US economy and therefore on our Canadian economy.
Reading about Alan and reading reviews on this book, there seems to be too groups of people, those who love him and those who hate him. Those who hate him blame him for the current asset bubble crisis in the US and anything else wrong with the US economy.
So there are huge arguments on what he may or may have done for the US economy. You can take sides, or do as I do and just believe that no one knows what they are talking about when it comes to the economy. What I can see is that, whatever else you might think of Bush, he has certainly been bad for the US economy. The Social Security is still not properly funded. The federal debt is way out of control and it was only made worse by Bush.
We in Canada are in a much better position. We have the CPP under control. Our federal debt is under control. I never like Jean Chretien, however, you have to admit that between him and Paul Martin, our economy was put into great shape. I was so disappointed in Paul Martin as he made an awful Prime Minister. I was looking forward to him being Prime Minister, but it did not turn out as I had imagined. I guess he spent so much time and effort into getting the job, he did not know what to do when he got it.
Wikipedia, of course, has a section on Alan Greenspan. See book review in the NY Times at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/books/18leonhardt.html?_r=1&oref=slogin. There is some discussion of him at The Nation at http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?pid=233482. You can see the book on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Age-Turbulence-Adventures-New-World/dp/1594201315. For some of the book being read, go to http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/openplayer.jsp?popUp=false&productID=BK_PENG_000754&title=The+Age+of+Turbulence:+Adventures+in+a+New+World+(Unabridged).
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.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
EnCana Corp 2
As I said yesterday, I have done well by this stock. However, I do not have much of it, and I will keep an eye on it as Oil and Gas stocks can be volatile. Also, my spreadsheet shows the values from Alberta Energy Company prior to 2002. The reality of when stocks amalgamate is that you have to look at how well they are doing from the perspective of where you came from and in this case, I originally had the Alberta Energy stock.
The first thing to remark on this stock today is the increase in Dividends. The dividends have gone up, in 2007 and in 2008 by 100% each year. Because of the price of oil, they are probably making money. This has also put the dividend payout ratio to almost 27%. In my spreadsheet, I have included figures from the last quarterly report of June 2008. These figures have brought the Accrual Ratio down quite a bit to 4.5%, which is good.
This stock has done somewhat better than the TSX over the last year and last 5 years. It has come down quite a bit, as has the TSX, has since June 2008. The TSX Energy Index and the TSX has done about the same over the last 5 years and this stock has done better. The TSX Energy Index and this stock have done better than the TSX over the past year. A number of people have a buy rating on this stock, especially because of the recent decline in price. A split of the stock into two entities is still expected.
The reason I buy any resource stock is because a lot of Canadian companies are in resource field. I find I pay more attention to Canadian resources if I have some stock in this sector. I think that it is necessary to pay attention, as they are so much of our market. However, I never buy enough for them to have any sort of an affect on my portfolio as I keep all my resource stock under 2% of my portfolio. This stock is a good Canadian Oil stock and buying it is a good way of paying attention to the Canadian Oil resources.
This company is involved in the acquisition, exploration and development of natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids. It is a merger of Alberta Energy Company Ltd. (AEC) and PanCanadian Energy Corporation (PanCanadian) companies. It is a world-class independent oil and gas company.
Its web site is http://www.encana.com.
See my spreadsheets on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/eca.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 first thing to remark on this stock today is the increase in Dividends. The dividends have gone up, in 2007 and in 2008 by 100% each year. Because of the price of oil, they are probably making money. This has also put the dividend payout ratio to almost 27%. In my spreadsheet, I have included figures from the last quarterly report of June 2008. These figures have brought the Accrual Ratio down quite a bit to 4.5%, which is good.
This stock has done somewhat better than the TSX over the last year and last 5 years. It has come down quite a bit, as has the TSX, has since June 2008. The TSX Energy Index and the TSX has done about the same over the last 5 years and this stock has done better. The TSX Energy Index and this stock have done better than the TSX over the past year. A number of people have a buy rating on this stock, especially because of the recent decline in price. A split of the stock into two entities is still expected.
The reason I buy any resource stock is because a lot of Canadian companies are in resource field. I find I pay more attention to Canadian resources if I have some stock in this sector. I think that it is necessary to pay attention, as they are so much of our market. However, I never buy enough for them to have any sort of an affect on my portfolio as I keep all my resource stock under 2% of my portfolio. This stock is a good Canadian Oil stock and buying it is a good way of paying attention to the Canadian Oil resources.
This company is involved in the acquisition, exploration and development of natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids. It is a merger of Alberta Energy Company Ltd. (AEC) and PanCanadian Energy Corporation (PanCanadian) companies. It is a world-class independent oil and gas company.
Its web site is http://www.encana.com.
See my spreadsheets on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/eca.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, August 13, 2008
EnCana Corp
I have had EnCana Corp since February 2006 and to date I have had an average annual return of 21%. In the last 12 months, I have had a return of 15%. This is the second time I have held this stock. I had held it previous as Alberta Energy Company from April 2000 until August 2002 and made some 18% return per annum. As you can see I do not look on oil companies as a long term buy. Although, I must admit, that we are probably in a long term bull market for all resources because India and China. However, I will still keep an eye on this stock; I might sell if I feel that there are no further gains available in the future.
Since this stock is an amalgamation of two stocks, I have charted it from the Alberta Energy Company into EnCana at present. The other problem with charting this stock is that since 2002, the annual statements have been in US Dollars, not Canadian Dollars. What you need to ensure that when comparing figures you are comparing with using only one currency.
As you can see from my spreadsheet, the revenues have been increasing well at some 20.7% a year over the last 5 years. The Earnings per Share (EPS) has not done as well at 5.2% (but has done better in US$ than CDN$). While this EPS is not awful, it is great either. The Dividends have been increasing at 38% per year over the last 5 years. As you can see from the spreadsheet, they were level at $.14 a share between 1996 and 2000. Oil stocks only really do well when the price of oil is high.
At December 2007, the Graham price at $56.04 and the Closing Price of $67.50 are not that far off for an oil company. The Current Asset/Current Liability ratio at .70 is low, but the Asset/Liability ratio of 1.79 is very good. For 2007, the Return on Equity (ROE) at 19.3% is not bad, but not quite up to the 5 year average of 23%. Also, the Accrual Ratio is a bit high at 7.9%.
However, this has been a good stock for me lately and at the moment I will continue to hold it. Tomorrow, I will look more closely at how it is doing currently.
This company is involved in the acquisition, exploration and development of natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids. It is a merger of Alberta Energy Company Ltd. (AEC) and PanCanadian Energy Corporation (PanCanadian) companies. It is a world-class independent oil and gas company.
Its web site is www.encana.com.
See my spreadsheets on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/eca.htm.
This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on web site.
Since this stock is an amalgamation of two stocks, I have charted it from the Alberta Energy Company into EnCana at present. The other problem with charting this stock is that since 2002, the annual statements have been in US Dollars, not Canadian Dollars. What you need to ensure that when comparing figures you are comparing with using only one currency.
As you can see from my spreadsheet, the revenues have been increasing well at some 20.7% a year over the last 5 years. The Earnings per Share (EPS) has not done as well at 5.2% (but has done better in US$ than CDN$). While this EPS is not awful, it is great either. The Dividends have been increasing at 38% per year over the last 5 years. As you can see from the spreadsheet, they were level at $.14 a share between 1996 and 2000. Oil stocks only really do well when the price of oil is high.
At December 2007, the Graham price at $56.04 and the Closing Price of $67.50 are not that far off for an oil company. The Current Asset/Current Liability ratio at .70 is low, but the Asset/Liability ratio of 1.79 is very good. For 2007, the Return on Equity (ROE) at 19.3% is not bad, but not quite up to the 5 year average of 23%. Also, the Accrual Ratio is a bit high at 7.9%.
However, this has been a good stock for me lately and at the moment I will continue to hold it. Tomorrow, I will look more closely at how it is doing currently.
This company is involved in the acquisition, exploration and development of natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids. It is a merger of Alberta Energy Company Ltd. (AEC) and PanCanadian Energy Corporation (PanCanadian) companies. It is a world-class independent oil and gas company.
Its web site is www.encana.com.
See my spreadsheets on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/eca.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.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Canadian Tire Corp 2
As I said yesterday, I bought this stock first in February 2000. There are various calls on this stock, from buy to hold. A lot of analysts feel that the earnings this year will be less than for 2007 and some that it will be slightly higher. There are, of course, fears that Canadian Tire might have problems competing against Wal-Mart. There seems to lots of buying and selling of this stock by insiders, and the buys seem to be greater than the sells, but mostly, there was not much change in insider ownership.
Looking at a chart of Canadian Tire, they tumbled in 2000, before the TSX bear market of 2001. This stock has done as well as the market until December 2007 when it has done much worse. This stock is part of the TSX Consumer’s Discretionary Index. It is done better than this index over the last 5 years, but the pattern of the index and this stock is the same. Over the past year, Canadian Tire has followed the TSX Consumer’s Discretionary Index almost exact, until August. At the time, there was an up tick in the index, but not in this stock. However, in the last week, there has been an uptick in this stock as well.
In June 2008, Canadian Tire increased their dividend by 13.5%. This would seem like a vote of confidence by the company if they raise the dividend. This is higher than the 5 year average of 13%. Also, the 5 year average P/E is 15.5. With the lowest of the estimate EPS, the P/E for 2008 would be 13 and if the EPS is $5.20, the P/E would be 10. This is almost as low as the P/E was in 2000, when it was 9.8.
I also looked at the Accrual Ratio for the quarter ending in June and it is -2.8%, a much better figure that for December 2007 which was 22%. However, I would rather have the accrual negative because the Cash from Operational Activities was higher than the Net Income, rather than have money from Investing Activities making this figure negative. A negative is that the EPS for the first and second quarter is lower than the comparable ones for the year earlier. However, a positive note is that the Revenue for the first and second quarters is higher than the comparables of a year earlier. You first have to grow Revenue, to grow earnings.
I do not have that much of this stock (2% of my holdings), but I am holding on to it. I, unfortunately, do not have money at this time for buying stock, so I will not be increasing my holdings.
Canadian Tire Corporation is engaged in retail sales, financial services and petroleum sales. They own Canadian Tire Store, Gas Outlets, Parts Source Stores and Mark's Work Warehouse. The Canadian Tire stores offer a unique range of automotive, sports and leisure and home products.
Its web site is http://www2.canadiantire.ca/CTenglish/corpidx.html.
See my spreadsheets on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/ctc.htm which I have reloaded with estimates for 2008.
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.
Looking at a chart of Canadian Tire, they tumbled in 2000, before the TSX bear market of 2001. This stock has done as well as the market until December 2007 when it has done much worse. This stock is part of the TSX Consumer’s Discretionary Index. It is done better than this index over the last 5 years, but the pattern of the index and this stock is the same. Over the past year, Canadian Tire has followed the TSX Consumer’s Discretionary Index almost exact, until August. At the time, there was an up tick in the index, but not in this stock. However, in the last week, there has been an uptick in this stock as well.
In June 2008, Canadian Tire increased their dividend by 13.5%. This would seem like a vote of confidence by the company if they raise the dividend. This is higher than the 5 year average of 13%. Also, the 5 year average P/E is 15.5. With the lowest of the estimate EPS, the P/E for 2008 would be 13 and if the EPS is $5.20, the P/E would be 10. This is almost as low as the P/E was in 2000, when it was 9.8.
I also looked at the Accrual Ratio for the quarter ending in June and it is -2.8%, a much better figure that for December 2007 which was 22%. However, I would rather have the accrual negative because the Cash from Operational Activities was higher than the Net Income, rather than have money from Investing Activities making this figure negative. A negative is that the EPS for the first and second quarter is lower than the comparable ones for the year earlier. However, a positive note is that the Revenue for the first and second quarters is higher than the comparables of a year earlier. You first have to grow Revenue, to grow earnings.
I do not have that much of this stock (2% of my holdings), but I am holding on to it. I, unfortunately, do not have money at this time for buying stock, so I will not be increasing my holdings.
Canadian Tire Corporation is engaged in retail sales, financial services and petroleum sales. They own Canadian Tire Store, Gas Outlets, Parts Source Stores and Mark's Work Warehouse. The Canadian Tire stores offer a unique range of automotive, sports and leisure and home products.
Its web site is http://www2.canadiantire.ca/CTenglish/corpidx.html.
See my spreadsheets on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/ctc.htm which I have reloaded with estimates for 2008.
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.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Canadian Tire Corp
I bought this stock first in February 2000. Since that time, including dividends, I have earned to date an average of 12.6% per year. Over the last 5 years, I have earned some 11.6% per year. However, over the last 12 months this stock has lost 33.5% of its value. This stock has been coming down since November 2007 and no one expects it to earn in 2008 what it earned in 2007.
All my following figures are for the 5 years ending in December 2007. Although revenue only advanced by 7.7% per year, the Earnings per Share (EPS) grew by 14.5% per year and the dividend was increasing at the rate of 13% per year. The closing stock price was increasing at a healthy19% per year. This is different from mine figures above as my figures are to date.
You could see problems to come by the end of December 2007 as the Operational Cash Flow decreased by 34% from the end of 2006, giving an negative average at -17% per year over the last 5 years. Also in December 2007, the Operational Profit Margin at 2% was way below the 5 year average of 6.7 %. Their return on equity at December 2007 was 13.5%. This is because the Cash from Operations was lower than the Net Income. You would want the opposite. This higher Net Income also resulted in a high Accrual Ratio of 22%.
Although they are clearly having problems at the moment, I am still holding onto my stock. Tomorrow I will at this stock to see if it is currently a buy or not.
Canadian Tire Corporation is engaged in retail sales, financial services and petroleum sales. They own Canadian Tire Store, Gas Outlets, Parts Source Stores and Mark's Work Warehouse. The Canadian Tire stores offer a unique range of automotive, sports and leisure and home products.
Its web site is http://www2.canadiantire.ca/CTenglish/corpidx.html.
See my spreadsheets on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/ctc.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.
All my following figures are for the 5 years ending in December 2007. Although revenue only advanced by 7.7% per year, the Earnings per Share (EPS) grew by 14.5% per year and the dividend was increasing at the rate of 13% per year. The closing stock price was increasing at a healthy19% per year. This is different from mine figures above as my figures are to date.
You could see problems to come by the end of December 2007 as the Operational Cash Flow decreased by 34% from the end of 2006, giving an negative average at -17% per year over the last 5 years. Also in December 2007, the Operational Profit Margin at 2% was way below the 5 year average of 6.7 %. Their return on equity at December 2007 was 13.5%. This is because the Cash from Operations was lower than the Net Income. You would want the opposite. This higher Net Income also resulted in a high Accrual Ratio of 22%.
Although they are clearly having problems at the moment, I am still holding onto my stock. Tomorrow I will at this stock to see if it is currently a buy or not.
Canadian Tire Corporation is engaged in retail sales, financial services and petroleum sales. They own Canadian Tire Store, Gas Outlets, Parts Source Stores and Mark's Work Warehouse. The Canadian Tire stores offer a unique range of automotive, sports and leisure and home products.
Its web site is http://www2.canadiantire.ca/CTenglish/corpidx.html.
See my spreadsheets on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/ctc.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.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan
If you want to know how our food gets to us, and how animals are treated, this is the book to read. It is American, so I do not know how relevant it is for Canadians, but it is interesting none the less. I am sure a lot of what sells in Canada is the same as in the US. Our food is the result of an industrial system. It is interesting how much corn plays a part in the food we get at our grocery stores.
Although, I must admit that I always tended to get only fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy in my weekly shopping. About the only prepackaged stuff I got was some cereal, and this was usually things like a package of oatmeal. I had a kid, so I had to also get some boxed cereal and some pop.
It is interesting how such books as thus one come out just when thinks are changing. This summer, in my local area, we have a farmer’s market opening one day a week. Also, just in the past year, we have a small bakery opened. The bread is wonderful. They list the ingredients for the bread, and it is only 5 items and I understand what all are. Unlike the awful bread, we were subjects to just 10 years ago (and still in the shops) which have a list of ingredients as long as your arm. I had no idea what most of the ingredients were.
When I had a cottage, I got local meat, and the local cattle were grass fed. The steaks were the best I have ever had. I do not know how the pigs and chickens were fed, but the chops and chickens I got were great also. The local place I went for meat was called an abattoir. This is just a French word for slaughterhouse and I do not know why it was called that. It would seem that such small local slaughterhouses are illegal in the US. That is too bad. I heard nothing locally about anyone having any problems with this slaughterhouse. This was a small community, and everyone knows everything that happens. If there had ever been a problem, I would have heard. I guess that sometimes it helps to be behind the US in things as having the privilege of a local slaughterhouse.
Michael Pollan has his own site at http://www.michaelpollan.com/. He also has a blog at http://pollan.blogs.nytimes.com/ and is on the Berkeley web site at http://journalism.berkeley.edu/faculty/pollan/. You can find his books at Amazon.com if you go to http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Michael%20Pollan&page=1. There is also an review of his commandments of eating at http://www.seriouseats.com/required_eating/2008/01/michael-pollans-twelve-commandments-for-serio.html.
Although, I must admit that I always tended to get only fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy in my weekly shopping. About the only prepackaged stuff I got was some cereal, and this was usually things like a package of oatmeal. I had a kid, so I had to also get some boxed cereal and some pop.
It is interesting how such books as thus one come out just when thinks are changing. This summer, in my local area, we have a farmer’s market opening one day a week. Also, just in the past year, we have a small bakery opened. The bread is wonderful. They list the ingredients for the bread, and it is only 5 items and I understand what all are. Unlike the awful bread, we were subjects to just 10 years ago (and still in the shops) which have a list of ingredients as long as your arm. I had no idea what most of the ingredients were.
When I had a cottage, I got local meat, and the local cattle were grass fed. The steaks were the best I have ever had. I do not know how the pigs and chickens were fed, but the chops and chickens I got were great also. The local place I went for meat was called an abattoir. This is just a French word for slaughterhouse and I do not know why it was called that. It would seem that such small local slaughterhouses are illegal in the US. That is too bad. I heard nothing locally about anyone having any problems with this slaughterhouse. This was a small community, and everyone knows everything that happens. If there had ever been a problem, I would have heard. I guess that sometimes it helps to be behind the US in things as having the privilege of a local slaughterhouse.
Michael Pollan has his own site at http://www.michaelpollan.com/. He also has a blog at http://pollan.blogs.nytimes.com/ and is on the Berkeley web site at http://journalism.berkeley.edu/faculty/pollan/. You can find his books at Amazon.com if you go to http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Michael%20Pollan&page=1. There is also an review of his commandments of eating at http://www.seriouseats.com/required_eating/2008/01/michael-pollans-twelve-commandments-for-serio.html.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc 2
Nobody seems to feel that this stock (TSX-ATD.B) will do well for reporting year April 2009, but will recover for April 2010. Unfortunately, many Canadian companies that expand into the US in retail do not do well. The positive side there is insider buying and the company is buying up some of their shares. The other positive is the revenue rise. In terms of earnings, no one seems to feel these will improve until next year and will not show up in the annual statements until April 2010.
Some of the analysts have a Hold rating on this stock and some a Buy rating. I am holding my stock for the present as I think it will again do well in the future, but result might not come until the later part of 2009. The Hold ratings seem to be the disappointing earnings for the year and quarter ending in April 2008.
Over the last 10 years, this stock has done much better than the TSX. However, if you look at this stock in any shorter time period, it is done much worse, although not that badly over the last 5 years. This stock has been dropping since January 2007, but has a slight up tick since mid July 2008, but has gone down over the last two days.
Any purchase of this stock is a risk and the dividend income is not great. Although, if this company’s past history is any guide, this stock might again do very well. It is also close to the Graham price of $12.14.
Alimentation Couche-Tard is Canada’s leading convenience store retailer under brands such as Couche-Tard, Mac’s, Becker’s, Mike’s Mart and has US brand Circle K. The company has alliances with fast-food chains including M & M Meat Shops, Pizza Pizza, Subway and Irving Oil. They just opened up Circle K brand in Vietnam.
Its web site is www.couche-tard.com. See my spreadsheets on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/atd.htm. I have reloaded my spreadsheet with estimate for earnings next year.
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.
Some of the analysts have a Hold rating on this stock and some a Buy rating. I am holding my stock for the present as I think it will again do well in the future, but result might not come until the later part of 2009. The Hold ratings seem to be the disappointing earnings for the year and quarter ending in April 2008.
Over the last 10 years, this stock has done much better than the TSX. However, if you look at this stock in any shorter time period, it is done much worse, although not that badly over the last 5 years. This stock has been dropping since January 2007, but has a slight up tick since mid July 2008, but has gone down over the last two days.
Any purchase of this stock is a risk and the dividend income is not great. Although, if this company’s past history is any guide, this stock might again do very well. It is also close to the Graham price of $12.14.
Alimentation Couche-Tard is Canada’s leading convenience store retailer under brands such as Couche-Tard, Mac’s, Becker’s, Mike’s Mart and has US brand Circle K. The company has alliances with fast-food chains including M & M Meat Shops, Pizza Pizza, Subway and Irving Oil. They just opened up Circle K brand in Vietnam.
Its web site is www.couche-tard.com. See my spreadsheets on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/atd.htm. I have reloaded my spreadsheet with estimate for earnings next year.
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, August 6, 2008
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc
I started buying this stock (TSX-ATD.B) in January 2006 and it has basically just gone down in price. Since then this stock has lost 6% for me. Over the last 5 years, the revenue growth at 45% and the Earnings per Share (EPS) growth at 22% look good. However, if you look closer, neither the Revenue nor EPS have grown much over the last 3 years. I got into this stock in 2006 as it had a good past record and had started to pay a dividend. It has not done much since then.
Dividend growth has not been bad, but yield is very low at less than 1%. Also, the payout ratio at an average of 12% is low.
The stock price has increased over the last 5 years at an average of 16.5%, however, the stock has only gone down over the last 3 years. If you look at the cash flow average over the last 5 years, it is good at 17%, but again, has decreased over the last 3 years. The Current Asset/Current Liability is 1.03 and that is a little low, but the Asset/Liability Ratio at 1.61 is a healthy number. The Accrual Ratio has been awful in the past, but is now not bad at .3%. Last year it was very high at 23%.
In looking at this stock, the 5 year and 10 year figures are good, but the last 3 years had been bad.
Alimentation Couche-Tard is Canada’s leading convenience store retailer under brands such as Couche-Tard, Mac’s, Becker’s and Mike’s Mart. Their sales come from fuel, lottery tickets snack food, newspapers and magazines, as well branded products such as Sunshine Joe Coffee. The company has alliances with fast-food chains including M & M Meat Shops, Pizza Pizza and Subway. They are expanding into the U.S., having bought Johnson Oil, a major gas station and convenience store operator.
Its web site is www.couche-tard.com. See my spreadsheets on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/atd.htm. I have loaded my spreadsheet with figures from recent April 2008 Annual 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 web site.
Dividend growth has not been bad, but yield is very low at less than 1%. Also, the payout ratio at an average of 12% is low.
The stock price has increased over the last 5 years at an average of 16.5%, however, the stock has only gone down over the last 3 years. If you look at the cash flow average over the last 5 years, it is good at 17%, but again, has decreased over the last 3 years. The Current Asset/Current Liability is 1.03 and that is a little low, but the Asset/Liability Ratio at 1.61 is a healthy number. The Accrual Ratio has been awful in the past, but is now not bad at .3%. Last year it was very high at 23%.
In looking at this stock, the 5 year and 10 year figures are good, but the last 3 years had been bad.
Alimentation Couche-Tard is Canada’s leading convenience store retailer under brands such as Couche-Tard, Mac’s, Becker’s and Mike’s Mart. Their sales come from fuel, lottery tickets snack food, newspapers and magazines, as well branded products such as Sunshine Joe Coffee. The company has alliances with fast-food chains including M & M Meat Shops, Pizza Pizza and Subway. They are expanding into the U.S., having bought Johnson Oil, a major gas station and convenience store operator.
Its web site is www.couche-tard.com. See my spreadsheets on this company at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/atd.htm. I have loaded my spreadsheet with figures from recent April 2008 Annual 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 web site.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Canadian National Railway 2
A lot of analysts have a buy rating on this stock because of the June 30, 2008 quarterly report. With the June 30, 2008 quarterly report, we can see revenue is up but earnings are down. The current P/E rating of 13.2 is below the 5 year average of 14.6. The dividend yield is higher at 1.6% than the 5 year average of 1.29. The dividend yield is significant as the yield tends to go towards the average and for this to happen, the stock price must rise.
With this June report, the Current Asset/Current Liability ratio has improved to 1.00 from .66. This means that there are sufficient current assets to cover current liability. The Asset/Liability Ratio is still a healthier 1.71, as any ratio above 1.50 is good.
Even though the economy is weak in US and Canada, this company is doing well. I feel that although this stock is not cheap, it is at a reasonable price and therefore might be a buy. The Revenue growth is a good sign, as revenue has not kept pace with earnings growth. The other negative I see is for June 30, 2008 the accrual ratio is high at 5.77. I am sure that this stock will have a reasonable growth going forward.
CNR have railways lines that cross the North American continent and serve ports on the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts. They link customers to all three NAFTA nations. Its web site is http://www.cn.ca/about/en_about.shtml. See my spreadsheets on this company at http://www.spbrunner.com/stocks/cnr.htm. I have reloaded my spreadsheet with figures from June 2008 quarterly report and 2008 estimates.
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 http://www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on web site.
With this June report, the Current Asset/Current Liability ratio has improved to 1.00 from .66. This means that there are sufficient current assets to cover current liability. The Asset/Liability Ratio is still a healthier 1.71, as any ratio above 1.50 is good.
Even though the economy is weak in US and Canada, this company is doing well. I feel that although this stock is not cheap, it is at a reasonable price and therefore might be a buy. The Revenue growth is a good sign, as revenue has not kept pace with earnings growth. The other negative I see is for June 30, 2008 the accrual ratio is high at 5.77. I am sure that this stock will have a reasonable growth going forward.
CNR have railways lines that cross the North American continent and serve ports on the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts. They link customers to all three NAFTA nations. Its web site is http://www.cn.ca/about/en_about.shtml. See my spreadsheets on this company at http://www.spbrunner.com/stocks/cnr.htm. I have reloaded my spreadsheet with figures from June 2008 quarterly report and 2008 estimates.
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 http://www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on web site.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Canadian National Railway
I bought this stock (TSX-CNR) in July 2005, and since that date, I have made, including dividends, a return of 12.3% per annum. This stock is of medium risk and it is on both the Mergent’s Dividend Achievers’ list and the S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats List. I also sometimes look at a web site of Mike Higgs at http://www.dividendgrowth.org/Report.htm. Mike gives a quarterly report showing Canadian Dividend Paying Growth Stocks and if they are cheap based on the dividend yield. This stock is on his list and he shows it cheap in respect to its current dividend yield.
I also have a spreadsheet on this stock. It shows that the Earnings per Share (EPS) have been increasing over the last 5 years at the rate of 24% per annum. Over the last 10 years, the EPS has increased at just 7.8%. As you can see, it has done much better over the last 5 years. This company was also, a crown corporation until 1995.
The dividends have been increasing very well at 24% over the last 5 years per annum and 18.5% over the last 10 years per annum. However, the yield is low as it is averages only 1.3%. You can see this also in the total return on this stock, where for the last 5 years the stock has increased at 17% per annum and the total return (price plus dividends) has increased by 18.9% per annum. The Graham price on this stock at December 31, 2007 is $44.79 and is not far from the closing stock price of $46.65.
The other good things about this stock are that the Operational Cash Flow has been increasing, over the last 5 years at almost 13% per year and the Book Value at a not bad 8%. Also, the Accrual Ratio is not bad at 2.4%.
The negatives are that the Revenues have only increased in the last 5 years by 5% per year and the Current Asset/Current Liability Ratio is only .66. (However, the Asset/Liability Ratio is a much healthier 1.77.) The last negative thing is the Book Value is decreasing in connection with the stock price. However, its value is still higher at 2.22 that the 10 year average of 1.88.
CNR have railways lines that cross the North American continent and serve ports on the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts. They link customers to all three NAFTA nations. Its web site is http://www.cn.ca/about/en_about.shtml. See my spreadsheet on this company at http://www.spbrunner.com/stocks/cnr.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 http://www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on web site.
I also have a spreadsheet on this stock. It shows that the Earnings per Share (EPS) have been increasing over the last 5 years at the rate of 24% per annum. Over the last 10 years, the EPS has increased at just 7.8%. As you can see, it has done much better over the last 5 years. This company was also, a crown corporation until 1995.
The dividends have been increasing very well at 24% over the last 5 years per annum and 18.5% over the last 10 years per annum. However, the yield is low as it is averages only 1.3%. You can see this also in the total return on this stock, where for the last 5 years the stock has increased at 17% per annum and the total return (price plus dividends) has increased by 18.9% per annum. The Graham price on this stock at December 31, 2007 is $44.79 and is not far from the closing stock price of $46.65.
The other good things about this stock are that the Operational Cash Flow has been increasing, over the last 5 years at almost 13% per year and the Book Value at a not bad 8%. Also, the Accrual Ratio is not bad at 2.4%.
The negatives are that the Revenues have only increased in the last 5 years by 5% per year and the Current Asset/Current Liability Ratio is only .66. (However, the Asset/Liability Ratio is a much healthier 1.77.) The last negative thing is the Book Value is decreasing in connection with the stock price. However, its value is still higher at 2.22 that the 10 year average of 1.88.
CNR have railways lines that cross the North American continent and serve ports on the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts. They link customers to all three NAFTA nations. Its web site is http://www.cn.ca/about/en_about.shtml. See my spreadsheet on this company at http://www.spbrunner.com/stocks/cnr.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 http://www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets on web site.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)