2014

Element Financial is updated and rated Highly Speculative Weak Buy at $14.14. This company may do very well. Management is expanding it very aggressively. I spent a full say looking at its reports. I just could not get comfortable with what I feel is...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.2%.
I will have a few more updates before the start of trading for the new year.
Bombardier Inc. is updated and rated Speculative Buy at CAN $4.11. It reports in U.S. dollars and does mo...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.4% despite another decline in the price of oil.
Most of the stocks on my list were up. Liquors Stores N.A. was up 3.3% to $15.46. Maybe some of their stores are doing well. But in my area th...

Alimentation Couche-Tard is updated and rated Sell at $47.50. I feel I am going out on a limb by rating this great company "Sell" but it just seems too expensive at this time. We had rated it only a (lower) Buy at the start of this year and it is now...

FirstService is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $US. 49.95 or CAN $58.49. Due to both its cyclical nature and to a number of accounting complexities it has a been a difficult company to value or predict. I have always thought that it was well ma...

Fedex is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold. This company has been difficult to rate over the years due to its profits being quite volatile with the state of the economy in recent years.
eBay is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $57.01. This is a d...

On the short trading day of Wednesday the 24th the Canadian and U.S. markets were about flat overall.
Melcor was up 4.0% but as always it can jump around more than other stocks due to its thin trading.
The thinly traded Canadian Tire voting shares (C...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 and The DOW again hit record highs.
The S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 1.1%
Most of the stocks I monitor were up. Canadian Western Bank was up 3.3%. Melcor was down 2.2% which I would attribute more to randomnes...

On Monday, the Dow and the S&P 500 hit record highs....
The S&P 500 was up 0.4% while Toronto was down 0.3%.
Melcor was up 3.2% at $19.56...
I note the very (very) thinly traded Canadian Tire voting shares have dropped from recent highs of $2...

Costco is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $141.77. Based on the P/E at 29.5 we could have rated it a Weak Sell. But one has to respect the fact that it is the one of the very lowest cost and most efficient retailers in the world. It will continu...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.8%. The oil sands ETF, CLO was a notable gainer, up 5.0%.
American Express is updated and rated Buy at $92.90. We first added American Express to the site last February 8 rated Buy at $87. W...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 2.4% and Toronto was up 0.9%.
Almost all the stocks on our list were up.
As always I don't spend much time trying to predict where the market is headed. Basically no one can because it is subject to many random eve...

Wednesday was a strong day in the markets and today, Thursday is strong as well.
Canadian Western Bank and Melcor have risen somewhat.
Couche-Tard (note, our analysis is out of date due to the large price increase) is up 7.6% after announcing a large...

On Tuesday the price of oil did not drop - which was news. The S&P 500 fell 0.9% while Toronto rose 1.1%.
The oils sands ETF, trading under the symbol CLO rose 4.5%. A number of stocks on our list rose but none by exciting amounts especially give...

On Monday the S&P 500 fell 0.6% and Toronto fell 0.2%
Melcor was down another 2.2% to $17.80, Canadian Western Bank was down 1.8% to $29.41.
A few stocks on our list rose - Couche-Tard up 4.1%, and Element Financial up 2.7%.
My long-time and larg...

Toll Brothers is updated and rated Buy at $31.56. This stock was added to the site in mid 2011, rated Speculative Buy at $21.03 at a time when it was suffering heavy losses. I added it to the site as a way to benefit from the expected recovery in U.S...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4% and Toronto was also up 0.4%.
Most of the stocks on my list were up somewhat.
A notable decliner was Melcor, down 7.0% to $18.35. This is a thinly traded stock and can be volatile partly for that reason. But a...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell 1.6% and Toronto fell 2.4%.
Almost all of the stocks on my list were down.
The biggest decline was for Toll Brothers, down 7.9%.
Toll Brothers released earnings this morning. Earnings were up 25% compared to the sam...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 ended the day about flat while Toronto gained 0.4%.
Canadian Western Bank fell another 1.5% and I added to my position in it. Most of the stocks I track were up somewhat today.
As I drove to work this morning I heard on th...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.7% and Toronto was down 2.3%.
Once again lower oil prices were causing investors to bid down the price of many stocks.
Many reports will say that investors "pulled money out of stocks". It's true that some investors ...

Canadian Western Bank is updated and now rated (lower) Strong Buy. Its share price has recently fallen from the $40 to $42 range of this past Summer. Nothing it its achieved earnings explains the decline. Rather, the decline is based on fears of a sl...

I have updated the composition of my own portfolio. For this update I included an explanation of why I like to track the P/E ratio and earnings of my overall portfolio. I had started doing that years ago based on some advice I read from Warren Buffet...

Thursday was a nasty day in the Canadian markets with Toronto down 1.9% while the S&P 500 was down 0.1%
Our Alberta stock picks were hard hit with Melcor down 6.2%, Stantec down 2.1% and Canadian Western bank down 4.6%.
I was surprised to see Can...

Wednesday was a better day for the Canadian stock market with Toronto up 0.9%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 was up 0.4%.
Canadian winners today included Canadian Western Bank up 2.0%, Stantec up 1.9%, and FirstService up 3.6%.
After the close of tradin...

Tuesday was yet another interesting day in the markets.
The S&P 500 was up 0.6% whole Toronto was about flat.
Most of the stocks on our list were up. But three Edmonton-headquartered companies that I like were down. Melcor was down another 2.8% t...

Monday was another ugly day for the Canadian stock market. Toronto was down 0.8% and the S&P 500 was down 0.7%.
The last I had looked the Canadian dollar was up about three quarters of a cent which reduces the value of American stocks when measur...

Canadian National Railway Company (CNR or CN or CNI) is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at CAN $81.23 and U.S. $71.05. I have now been "tracking" CN for 15 years. Its share price is up a staggering 905% in that time or 17% per year on average. I ha...

Friday was an ugly day in the market for those with exposure to oil and gas stocks or anything related to it.
The S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was down 1.2%.
Lower oil prices hit the Toronto market hard. I have always been clear that I have ...

On Thursday, the American stocks exchanges were closed. But Toronto was open and fell 0.8%.
I got clobbered on my oils sands ETF CLO which was down 8.7% to $10.59. This ETF reached a high of $16.00 in late Spring / early summer this year. That's a de...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.2%.
Liquor Stores N.A. was up 1.6% to $14.91. Looking at the earnings and looking at the low level of business at their stores in my area and looking at the extreme level of competition...

Canadian Tire is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $125.50. The stock is up 26% this year to date. We had rated Buy at $99.49. Normally it might be expected to rate a weak buy / hold after a 26% gain in 11 months. But the earnings per share have risen...

On Monday the S&P 500 was up 0.3% while Toronto was down 0.6%.
Toll Brothers was up 0.8% which put it just above $35. In October it had gotten down under $30 and I reported adding to my position under $30. Stantec was down 2.1% at $34.00 (it rece...

As another year draws to a close our performance figures for 2014 look good. Our two Strong Buys from the start of the year are up 19% (Wells Fargo) and 18% (Melcor). The average for all the 15 stocks rated in the Buy or Strong Buy ranges is a gain o...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Toronto rose 0.6%
Couche-Tard was down 3.8%. I did not see any news top explain why.
...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was about flat.
Bombardier was up 2.0%. The company always seems to have its struggles. I'd certainly like to see it it do well. It seems to have great products but is in a very competitive indus...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 closed up 0.5% for yet another record high. Toronto was up 0.6%.
The biggest gainer for the stocks on my list as Agrium which closed up 2.6% at $115.60. This morning it was as high as $117.56 or up 4.3%. At my recent update...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.3%.
Canadian Tire was up 1.7% to $127.137and set another high. It's up 28% this year. And that's on top of a 43% gain in 2012. It started 2013 at $69.38. I have not yet updated for its excel...

As you may have seen in my email of yesterday if you are on the list for my free newsletter, I am currently working on a series of articles that shows with actual data that people who invested annually in U.S. stocks (the S&P 500 index) over a 30...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto fell 0.5% on lower oil prices.
After the close Melcor announced that it would sell $138 million worth of its rental buildings to its 47% owned REIT. It appears that $45 million will be pa...

Wednesday was a case of another day and another few dollars made. The S&P 500 was down 0.1% but Toronto was up 0.6%
Gainers included Canadian Tire up 1.7% to $126.00. Agrium. up 2.3%.
I noticed an offering today of Melcor REIT convertible debentu...

While many of us had today off the American and the Canadian stock markets were both open.
As happens every day "the market" or at least the consensus opinion of the marginal sellers and the marginal buyers of each stock changed the view of the value...

On Monday the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and Toronto rose 0.1%
The Canadian dollar fell which raises your wealth if you own U.S. assets and measure your wealth in Canadian dollars. But it lowers your wealth if you have Canadian assets and measure in U.S. ...

Melcor is updated and rated (lower) Strong Buy at $23.89. Its just released Q3 earnings report was very strong. There was however a modest market value decline on some of its rental buildings and this could be a sign of more to come. Based on achieve...

Berkshire Hathaway is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $143.61. Berkshire has always been difficult to analyze because its results are a bit volatile by nature due to the impact of catastrophes on insurance results. Also its earnings have been under-...

In Thursdays market the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and Toronto rose 0.1%.
Melcor rose 3.0% to $23.90. Volume at 21,500 shares was a little higher than normal. It's a somewhat thinly traded stock. The value traded today was about $514,000. And lots of days...

On Wednesday stocks rose. In part, this was due to the republican gains in the U.S. elections.
The S&P 500 was up 0.6% and Toronto was up 1.1%.
Some notable gainers included:
VISA Inc. up 2.7% at $250. This is a company that touched under $200 le...

I remember times when the markets seemed boring for weeks and months at a time. But it seems like its been years since that was the case.
Today the S&P 500 fell 0.3% and Toronto fell 1.0% as oil fell about 3% to just over U.S. $77.
I got fairly c...

On Monday the S&P 500 was about unchanged while Toronto fell 0.5%.
Oil fell 2 or 3% to close under U.S. $80. This pushed the Canadian dollar down so that it worth only 88.1 U.S. cents.
I should probably start to get a bit concerned about the pric...

Dolllarama is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $99.02. As I mentioned back on September 27, 2013, this is one of the best managed companies that I know of. They are shockingly profitable. Unfortunately the shares have always traded at a high multiple...

Well, I had to laugh when I checked the markets today and saw Visa up about 10%. Not sure I would want to buy at the new price but its certainly a nice jump in the last couple of weeks. I had noted that I bought some Visa on October 9. As a company i...

On Wednesday the FED, as expected, confirmed it would end its bond buying program. There was no indication of imminent interest rate increases.
The market fell only modestly. The S&P 500 was down 0.1% but Toronto was down 0.7%.
Visa was down 1.0%...

Tuesday was a strong day in the markets, with the S&P 500 up 1.2% and Toronto up 1.1%
Almost all of the stocks on our list were up. FirstService however was a notable decliner, down 6.9% after releasing earnings before the start of today's tradin...

On Monday the S&P 500 fell 0.23% and Toronto fell 0.5%.
Constellation Software rose 1.9% to close just over $300. Agrium rose an additional 2.1% for the same reason noted on Friday. While energy stocks were down, most of the stocks on our list we...

Bank of America is updated and rated Speculative (higher) Buy at $16.72. This bank is difficult to analyze because it earnings have been affected by numerous litigation settlements related to the financial crisis and other unusual items. It's balance...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was up 0.7% and Toronto was up 0.4%
Agrium was up 7.5% on news that an activist investor now owned a stake around 6%. I am not sure that this is a good reason for the stock to go up. But the market seems to believe that the...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was up 1.2% and Toronto was also up 1.2%
The strength of the recovery, particularly in U.S. stocks, seems surprising. It illustrates how hard it is to guess the direction of the market in the short term. I basically avoid...

Terrible news from Ottawa today. It was impressive the way the Seargeant at arms apparently shot and killed the terrorist. No surprise really that these ISIS-linked attacked have reached Canada. But Canada will not be cowed by this. Security will be ...

Wells Fargo is updated and rated Buy at $50.45. Possibly it should be rated higher than that but I will be a bit conservative due to its leveraged nature as a Bank and due to the still slow U.S. economic recovery.
Tuesday was a strong day in the mark...

On Monday the S&P was up 0.9% and Toronto was up 0.8%. The S&P rose despite IBM reporting a big loss.
I read the Wells Fargo Q3 report (from last week) and this bank is still growing strongly in almost all of its business lines. Its net inter...

On Friday the S&P 500 was up 1.3% and Toronto was up 1.2%.
As of Sunday night the Dow futures were up 84 points. It's anyone's guess whether the market remains volatile. But in the end owning high quality companies tends to work out unless one re...

On Thursday, the markets again had people guessing where they will head next. Markets opened down quite noticeably but in the end the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was up 1.3%.
Some of the earnings reports coming out were strong and tha...

It probably did not escape anyone's notice that markets got hammered down on Wednesday. Even after a partial recovery from steeper declines, the S&P 500 was down 0.8% and Toronto was down 1.2%
Bank of America reported approximate break-even resul...

Wells Fargo is out with Q3 earnings this morning. Earnings per share growth was only 3% but overall the report seemed strong. Deposit growth was very strong and loan growth was good. The shares were down 1.5% adding to recent declines. I grabbed a fe...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was up 0.2%, while Toronto, playing catch-up (or catch-down) for yesterday's holiday was down 1.3%.
Wells Fargo ended the day down 2.7% at $48.83. I was surprised they got their earnings out so fast. Seems to be a competiti...

On Monday the S&P 500 fell 1.7%. Toronto was closed.
It seems that the declines will test the resolve of those of us who invest based on fundamental analysis. Stocks can always get cheaper and for that reason it is probably best to nibble at posi...

On Friday, Stocks also got cheaper. The S&P 500 was down 1.2% and Toronto was down 1.6%.
For the year to date Toronto remains up 4.4% and the S&P remains up 3.1% while the DOW is down 0.2%.
Our two Strong Buys from January 1, 2014 remain up 1...

On Thursday ... stocks got cheaper.
The S&P 500 was down 2.1% and Toronto was down 1.4%.
One of the few gainers was Canadian Tire up an impressive 3.1% as its new or incoming CEO predicted profit growth an at investor day conference. Those holdin...

On Wednesday the markets were down for a time but then ended very strong to the upside as the FED signaled that an interest rate hike was not likely imminent.
The S&P 500 was up 1.7% and Toronto was up 0.6%.
Fedex was up 2.7%. Costco reported str...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 1.5% and Toronto was down 1.1%.
Most of the stocks I monitor were down. A notable gainer was Canadian Tire up 1.0% to a hew high of $117.37. That is impressive on a down day. I did not see any special reason for that....

Walmart is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $77.32 (That was Friday's close it closed today at about the same price $77.35). It's not an exciting investment and it is not very likely to deliver double digit returns over the next five to ten years. Bu...

On Friday the S&P 500 gained 1.2% while Toronto was up 0.2%. Almost all of the stocks on my list were up.
Wal-Mart will be updated shortly and most likely rated (lower) Buy. Not an exciting investment but probably a fairly safe one.
Walmart has b...

Visa Inc. is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $212. It was last updated on December 29, 2013 and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $220. It traded above $220 for the first tree months of 2014 and then dipped very briefly under $200 in April and has since been...

On Thursday markets were at one point down more noticeably but ended the day with the S&P 500 unchanged and Toronto down 0.3%.
Agrium was down 2.5% on a warning of lower profits. That does not seem too surprising given that profits had declined i...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down 1.3% and Toronto was down 1.0%. But the S&P is still up 7.3% year to date and Toronto is up 10.3% year to date, so really there is not much to complain about.
Melcor managed a 1.2% gain today although on very...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Toronto was down 0.1%.
The Canadian dollar is worth 89.15 U.S. cents in the U.S. It remains, as always, worth precisely $1.00 in Canada. A lower dollar benefits Canadian exporters and makes imported things...

On Monday the S&P 500 ended the day down 0.25% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
I added a new short article about Buffett just to document the total return achieved since he took over Berkshire in 1965.
...

Most subscribers will be aware that this web site is something I work at on a part-time or side-business basis. Starting around next May I expect to devote closer to full time hours to this site and to my investment work in general.
Stantec is update...

My personal portfolio composition is updated. My own portfolio is highly concentrated and not diversified. Somewhat offsetting this is the fact that I have a 23% allocation to cash.
Our Buys and Strong Buys have averaged a gain of 5.9% this year to d...

A down day on Thursday as the S&P 500 fell 1.6% and Toronto fell 1.5%.
It's anyone's guess where the market will head next. My tactic has always been to react to overall market moves rather than predict them. I have an order in to get a bit more ...

Wednesday was a good day for U.S. stocks with the S&P up 0.8%. But Toronto was basically flat.
Toll Brothers did not participate in the rise and instead fell 0.4% even as a report came out that new home sales (deliveries) in August were well abov...

Tuesday saw the S&P 500 down 0.6% while Toronto was flat.
Most stocks fell today. Among the rare winners were Couche-Tard, up 3.3% and Agrium up 2.7% on news that some other fertilizer company was being taken over.
Canadian Western Bank is down t...

On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.8% and Toronto was down 0.9%.
Stocks on our list that declined included Stantec and Canadian Tire each down 1.9%. Toll Brothers down 3.1% and Liquor Stores N.A. down 3.4%. Toll Brothers shorter term stock price will ...

I have updated my article on the valuation of the S&P 500. The index does appear to be over-valued using conservative (but not pessimistic) assumptions. That is not a prediction of an imminent decline but it does offer reason to be cautious.
...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was flat but at one point during the day set another record high at 2019. Toronto fell 1.3%.
Wells Fargo hit a new high of $53.80 and closed at $53.36. My figures show that the P/E is 14.2, the price to book value is 1.8, t...

Thursday was a strong day in the U.S. markets with the S&P 500 up 0.5%. Toronto however was up less than 0.1%.
Gainers of particular interest included Bank of America up 1.6% and Berkshire Hathaway up 1.2% and Wells Fargo up 1.4%.
Liquor Stores N...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Toronto fell 0.3%. U.S. markets were slightly buoyed be the FED statement which was basically a stay-the-course statement.
Housing stocks were buoyed by news that homebuilder sentiment was up and by a strong...

Markets rose on Tuesday after reports indicated that the U.S. inflation rate remains subdued which was interpreted as meaning that the FED will not be in a hurry to raise interest rates.
The S&P 500 rose 0.75% and Toronto rose 0.2%.
Canadian Tire...

Monday was not a particularly exciting day in the market, at least not for the stocks I follow.
The S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
...

On Friday the S&P 500 was down 0.6% while Toronto was about unchanged.
Toll Brothers was down 1.8% to $33.07. Melcor was down 1.1% to $23.74. That drops the price to book value to 1.0. It is a cyclic company that would suffer if there happens to ...

Canadian Tire is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $115.51. We rated this company a Buy at the start of this year at $99.49 and it is up 16% this year. At the start of 2013 we had rated it (lower) strong Buy at $69.38 and it rose 43%. At the start of ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.4%
Bank of America rose again today, up 1.3% to $16.57.
The Canadian dollar was down close to a cent and that pushes up the value of American stocks when valued in Canadian dollars. Fo...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and Toronto fell 0.4%.
As long-time subscribers know, my approach when the prices of stocks that I own and like fall is usually to add to positions.
Most investors would not do that. And a major reason for that...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.7% while Toronto rose 0.2%.
I picked up some more Melcor shares based on an order I had placed at $24.10. There was a report today that the pace of Canadian home building was down slightly but that the pace in Alber...

Stocks fell on Monday with the S&P 500 down 0.3% and Toronto down 0.4%.
Bank of America was up 2.1%. It should rise in price as it finally puts the the problems of the financial crisis and the resulting litigation behind it (or at least mostly be...

Canadian Western Bank is updated and rated Buy at $40.54. This has been a very well managed bank and been an excellent investment over the years. I made the mistake of selling my shares last August (as detailed at that time) due to concerns about the...

Toll Brothers is updated and is rated Buy at $33.78. It's P/E is still high at about 23 and the ROE is too low at 7.9%. But it is set to continue to increase earnings strongly in the next six to nine months. However with new contracts to sell houses ...

On Thursday stocks were mostly down slightly with the S&P 500 down 0.15% and Toronto down 0.5%.
Costco was up 3.1%to $125 on a strong earnings report (and very strong same-store sales in August). It's another example of a strong and very well man...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down less than 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.25%
Toll Brothers was down 4.7% to $33.95 after it reported earnings this morning. This was a case where a year over year earnings increase of 110% and revenue increase of 53% ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto both ended the day down very slightly less than 0.1%.
FirstService was up 3.8% to $62.00. I had apparently under-rated it at my last look at it in May. I have long said that I really like the management. It has...

Liquor Stores N.A. is updated and rated Sell at $13.37. I mentioned in recent posts that I had pretty much given up on this entity and had sold my shares. With a strong gain in the price in the past two weeks (which gains did not seem based on any ne...

On Thursday the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Melcor was down 3.4% to $25.11. But most of the decline was based on one small trade at the end of the day.
...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was flat and and Toronto was down 0.1%.
Stantec was up 1.4%. Melcor was down 1.25% to $25.98 as the interest that had been generated this Summer by the RBC analysis that it was really worth more like $35 has waned. I will...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 rose 0.1% to finish at an even 2000. Toronto also rose 0.1%.
Liquor Stores N.A. rose 5.9%. I did not see any news to justify the recent gain. Presumably some investors have taken a sudden interest.
Tim Hortons rose 8.1% aft...

There is in fact mostly cash involved with the Tim Hortons deal, so it appears selling yesterday would have been pre mature. Still there is a long ways to go before this deal closes. As I speculated in my first post yesterday, Buffett is involved. Th...

There was interesting news yesterday about a proposed Tim Hortons / Burger King merger.
This is far from done and may never happen. It may not be a good deal for Tim Hortons shareholders who will apparently trade a majority stake in Tim Hortons (a wo...

Monday provided an interesting start to the week. The proposed Burger King / Tim Hortons merger is big news taht send both companies stocks up about 20%.
In other trading, the S&P 500 rose 0.5% to 1998. It also briefly rose above 2000 which excit...

On Thursday, Bank of America was up 4.1% as it reached a huge settlement of fines and penalties associated with mortgages from the financial crisis era. I had noted previously that it appears that Bank of America is about finished with these past tro...

FedEx is updated and rated Weak Buy at $149.47. It is an interesting company. It's profit margin is surprisingly low but may mean there is an opportunity for improvement. It could be more aggressive in the use of debt to boost profits. It is projecti...

Markets were positive in Wednesday as the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Toronto rose 0.5%. CN Rail was up 1.6%. Liquor Stores N.A. rose 2.2%
Melcor was down slightly but still remains close to its recent highs and is up about 30% this year.
...

Tuesday was another good day for our stock picks. The S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.9%.
We had Toll Brothers up 2.2% on news of higher housing starts in the U.S. Liquor Stores N.A. was up 2.2% though that is one I gave up on. FirstServ...

On Monday, the markets got off to a strong start for the week. The S&P 500 was up 0.8% and Toronto was up 0.2%. Toll Brothers was up 1.7%, Visa was up 2.0%. All in all it was a good day for our stock picks.
...

On Friday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was up 0.1%
I am working now on an update for Fedex. It's a great company but is probably not much of a bargain. But I have not crunched the numbers yet.
Owning equities is always risky or at...

eBay is updated and rated Weak Buy / Hold at $52.64. It's a powerful and relatively fast growing and profitable company. The share price is not cheap at about 22 times earnings. Still, it may be a good investment. I am tempted to buy just a modest am...

On Wednesday the markets were relatively flat.
The next update will be for eBay, it continues to show strong growth.
Much has been made of Stats Canada's error in the July job numbers. I have never believed that things like jobs added or certainly th...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and Toronto rosé 0.2%.
Notable gainers included Berkshire up 1.7% and Toll Brothers up 2.1%.
Melcor was up 1.3% on decent volume.
Element Financial was up 4.2% and that was on top of a good gain yesterday as it ...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 fell 0.2% and Toronto rose 0.1%
Melcor fell 1.5% to $25.61 after being up slightly for much of the day. I am comfortable holding Melcor and I think it will be a good long term investment and that it will be worthwhile buyin...

On Monday the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and Toronto rose 0.4%.
Almost all of our stock picks were up.
I sold most of the rest of my Liquor Stores N.A. shares. I retail a small amount in a tax free savings account. It has been a disappointment. They will ...

Melcor is updated and rated Buy at $25.88.
On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 1.1% and Toronto rose 0.5%.
Toll Brothers was a notable gainer, up 2.7%.
...

On Thursday, Canadian Tire was up 2.6% as it released strong earnings. Melcor released earnings after the close that were relatively good. Melcor was set to open up slightly this morning. If RBC updates its report on Melcor that could generate some e...

On Wednesday. the S&P 500 and Toronto both closed at approximately the same level as the day before.
Bank of America received permission and raised its dividend from one cent per share to five cents. That is still almost nothing but it is a sign ...

On Tuesday the S&P 500 fell 1.0% and Toronto fell 0.2%
Agrium was up 2.0% which was the highest of the stocks on our list.
This week I am looking forward to Melcor's earnings release on Thursday (probably after the close)
...

On Monday, the Canadian markets were closed. New York was open and the S&P 500 rose 0.7%.
Berkshire Hathaway rose 3.1% due to its earnings release. It hit a new all-time high. The A shares traded as high as $195,000. 50 years of compounding growt...

On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% and Toronto fell 0.8%. Constellation software was up 7.3%.
Berkshire Hathaway is updated and rated Buy at $125.83. On Friday I increased my position in Berkshire because the shares were down a bit and I figured th...

On Thursday the S&P 500 was down 2.0% and Toronto was down 1.3%.
For those with an allocation in cash it now may be time to consider if one should begin buying on this dip. And if so how aggressively. Or should one wait for a larger dip. Logicall...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was flat today while Toronto gained 0.5% and rose to a new all-time record.
Canadian Tire was up 1.5%, Canadian Western Bank was up 1.8%, FirstService was up 2.3%. Bank of America was up 1.6%.
I added to my Toll Brothers...

The S&P 500 fell 0.5% apparently due to global tensions (particularly sanctions against Russia) while Toronto was about flat.
American Express reported (after regular hours) a 13% increase in earnings per share and rose slightly in after-hours tr...

On Monday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were relatively unchanged.
Liquor Stores N.A. was up 1.8% to $11.42. I probably should use the recent gains to reduce my position in this stock. I consider it speculative and my opinion of the company has deteri...

On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% while Toronto rose 0.4%.
Melcor declined 1.9% to $25.14. It will report earnings on August 7. With this company I am certainly more inclined to buy on dips than to sell.
Canadian National Railway is updated and ra...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were each about unchanged.
However Toll Brothers fell 4.1% as some other home builder companies reported heavy use of incentives to sell more houses. Also recent reports indicated some slowing in new home sale...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 crawled a little closer to 2000, up 0.2% at 1987. That right around 200% higher than its March 6, 2009 low of 667.
Toronto was up 0.5% to a new record high.
Toll Brothers was up 1.4% today.
Bombardier announced layoffs a...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.5% and set a within the trading day record. It's very close to 2000. In theory there is absolutely nothing special about 2000. In practice a bunch of traders will take that as either a buy or a sell signal and gener...

On Monday, the S&P 500 was down 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.1%. So far, it seems that the market is only moderately concerned about recent world events.
I added modestly to my Bank of America position today. If the U.S. economy continues its slow...

Bombardier perpetual preferred shares are updated and rated Buy for fixed income at $22.05. The dividend at just over 7% is attractive. But there are risks. The company is relatively weak financially. Perpetual shares will fall precipitously if long ...

Bank of America is updated and rated Speculative (higher) Buy at $15.49. I believe now may be a good time to buy these shares. Its reported earnings are predicted to rise sharply as it puts the settlements related to the mortgage issues of the financ...

I (very) rarely ever call and speak to company executives. I prefer the results to speak for themselves I prefer not to become friendly with management as that can make me less objective. Also executives will almost invariably paint a rosy picture.
T...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 1.0% and Toronto rose 0.4%.
Most of our stock picks rose as well.
Alimentation Couche-Tard is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $29.29. It's a fantastic company. One of the very best managed large companies in Canada. A...

On Thursday the S&P 500 was down 1.2% and Toronto was down 0.1%. This was apparently driven by the downed air plane.
Most of our stocks were down...
My strategy is to ignore events like this.
I am tempted to buy some more Bank of America shares.
...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and Toronto was up 1.0%.
Toll Brothers was up 2.3% as new home builder sentiment improved.
Bank of America fell 2.0% as it released earnings that wer a mixture of good and bad items. Overall it appears that Ban...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2% and Toronto fell 0.6%
In part, the Toronto market has fallen with lower oil prices as oil was down under $100. Thought it is just above $100 at the moment.
Liquor Stores N.A. fell a bit more. It announced after t...

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.5% and Toronto rose 0.3%.
Liquor Stores N.A. was down 1.8%. Of my own investments this is the one I worry about. Historically they had done well. I had thought their size gave them advantages over smaller players. Bu...

My personal portfolio composition is updated. With the rise in Melcor, I am certainly dangerously concentrated in that stock. I have an order in to begin trimming that if it hits $27.95. I expect it to release a good earnings report for Q2 and I susp...

On Friday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were little changed, each up about 0.1%.
Wells Fargo is updated and rated Buy at $51.40. Due partly to its price rise (up 13% this year to date), I am no longer rating this a Strong Buy. It's still considered a ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.7%.
Melcor had a good day and was up 1.6% to a new multi-year high at $27.40. Back in 2007, this stock briefly was around $30. But back then it did not deserve to be that high. Today i...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Toronto each rose 0.5%
Most of our stocks were up. The biggest gainer was Element Financial, up 3.5%.
I plan to dedicate time for updates the full week starting July 19. Until then I won't likely have any updates (po...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.7% and Toronto was down 0.2%.
Almost all of our stock picks were down.
However, Costco was up 1.0% and Walmart rose 0.8%. Costco always seems expensive but is a great company and I would like to buy it at some point...

On Monday the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Most of our stock picks were down. After so many positive days this tiny decline does not seem like anything to complain about.
The market's direction this week will likely depend on ...

On Friday, the U.S. markets were closed. Toronto rose 0.05%.
This week, the S&P 500 companies will start to report Q3 earnings, although most will report closer to the end of July. Canadian results will not start for about two weeks.
Hopefully, t...

On Thursday the S&P 500 as well as the DOW set new records before closing early for tomorrow's holiday. Toronto was about flat.
The Canadian dollar has risen to about 94 cents U.S. from lows of 89 and 90 cents earlier this year. And back in Janua...

Wednesday was a positive day on the markets as the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
Melcor was unchanged at $26.50 but had 124,000 shares traded. This included a 100,000 share traded that was likely a "block trade" between two institu...

On Monday, the TSX was up 0.3%. The S&P 500 was flat.
On Tuesday, the Toronto market was closed and the S& P gained 0.7% and made a new record closing high.
Melcor was up 0.6% to $26.50 on Monday. It had just over 30,000 shares traded which i...

On Friday the S&P 500 rose 0.2%and Toronto rose 0.4%. Most stocks on our list were up including Constellation Software, up 3.2%.
Agrium is added to the list above as a new stock pick rated Speculative Buy at CAN $98.05 and U.S. $91.89. I call it ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% while Toronto was up 0.4%.
Melcor was down 2.6% to $26.22 on good volume (by the standards of this thinly traded stock).
I finally entered an order tonight to sell about 10% of my Melcor shares if they shoul...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was up 0.1%.
It was a strong day for Melcor, which rose 2.0% to $26.93 on higher-than-normal volume. Melcor announced today that it would redeem some convertible bonds that it has outstanding whic...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and Toronto was down 1.0%.
However, some of our stocks did well, Canadian Western bank up 1.5%, Toll Brothers up 1.2%.
I neglected to mention that on Friday my order to buy back some of the Canadian Tire shar...

On Monday, the S&P 500 and Toronto were both about flat.
There was nothing too exciting happening with our Stock Picks today.
Currently I am reading a book that traces the history of commerce back about 5000 years. According to this book trading ...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Toronto was about flat.
Wells Fargo rose 1.7%. Wells Fargo has been a great investment. It was first added to this site very near the bottom of the stock market in February 2009. It was rated highly speculativ...

On Thursday the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Toronto was about unchanged.
Constellation Software was up 2.5% and Element Financial was up 3.4%
Melcor was down 0.9% and its volume was closer to its old normal. Almost everyone owning this has made exvelle...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was up 0.8% and Toronto was up 0.3%. Both gains wee after statements from the FED about interest rates rising relatively modestly were taken as positive.
Melcor edged up another 1.4%. Obviously it can't rise everyday and ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.1%
Those who don't own it may tire of hearing about Melcor but it managed another 1.2 % today. Volume was 25,000 shares. At that level it would trade 6.25 million shares a year. It has 33 m...

On Monday the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and Toronto was up 0.3%
Melcor rose 4.0% on the continued effect (or affect?) of the RBC report on Friday. But really the volume, although a good bit higher than normal, is still quite low and for that reason the...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and Toronto rose 0.6%.
Similarly, most of our stock picks were up.
There was an interesting development for Melcor on Friday. RBC Capital markets has initiated overage with a rating of outperform and a $35.00 pric...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 0.7% and Toronto rose 0.1%.
Fedex fell 2.5%, possibly because oil prices rose.
I am pretty much holding tight, not buying and not selling though I do have an order in for some Canadian Tire at $101.50 and it got down...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and Toronto was down 0.1%.
Alimentation Couche-Tard was up 2.8%. Canadian Tire was down 1.6% to $103.55. I still own some in a taxable account but had sold most of what I owned (all in registered accounts) a...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was up 0.2%
There were no particularly notable moves in our stock picks.
I am cognizant that there have been few updates lately or new companies added to the list. I plan to work to change t...

Monday was a positive day in the markets as the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and Toronto rose 0.2%
My own portfolio took a hit due to Melcor being down 2.3%. But that is not something that bothers me given the recent gains in that company. I suspect it will...

On Friday the S&P 500 rose 0.5% and Toronto rose 0.3%
Canadian Western Bank was up 3.1% and American Express was up 2.3%
Last week I purchased data from the TMX group (data that used to be free) so that I could check the P//E ratios and yields of...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.6% and Toronto was about unchanged.
I did not note any dramatic moves in our stock picks.
The European central bank will charge banks 0.1% to keep money on deposit at the central back. I don't pretend to have a gre...

Toll Brothers is updated and rated Buy at $36.01. As the report indicates its earnings are still too low but they are recovering very rapidly. This still seems to be a reasonable play on the long-term recovery of the U.S. housing market. I first adde...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was up 0/2% and Toronto was up 0.4%.
I added to my Toll Brothers position today based on the update posted earlier today.
The reference article on the valuation of the Toronto stock index is updated. I had to purchase th...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was up 0.4%
There as a new issue of "split shares" stocks and debt today form a company called. NewGrowth Corp. That's interesting, a company with a name that contains absolutely no clue abo...

On Monday , the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was up 0.1%
FirstService was up 3.1% on news of an acquisition it is making.
Element Financial was down 2.6% on news it is making a large acquisition. It also has a new issue out for subscription re...

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Toronto rose 0.1%
Melcor closed up 0.6% at $25.00 and is up 25% this year.
The next update will be for Toll Bothers. My preliminary analysis indicates it will be rated Buy at its recent price of $36.22. As its...

On Thursday the S&P 500 was up 0.5% and Toronto was down 0.2%.
None of our stocks moved much. Today may have been my chance to buy back some Canadian Tire as it hit a low of $102.26 before ending the day up 0.7% at $103.97. I have now placed an o...

This morning it is Bank of Montreal out with an offering of five year rate reset non-cumulative preferred shares at 3.9%. It is probably a decent alternative to cash but you have to be willing to hold for five years. You could sell any time but it wo...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.3%.
Toll Brothers rose 2.1% after releasing strong second quarter earnings.
Onex (which we had rated only a Speculative Weak Buy at $62.00 rose 4.3% to $67.70 after releasing earnings....

On Tuesday the S&P 500 rose 0.6% to a new closing record high. Toronto fell 0.4%.
American Express rose 2.9% to $91.39. Constellation Software rose 3.1%. and Bank of America rose 3.4%.
Wells Fargo continues to rise and was up 0.8% to $50.55.
This...

On Monday the U.S. markets were closed for the Memorial Day holiday. Toronto rose marginally (0.05%).
...

FirstService is updated but remains rated Weak Sell / Hold at U.S. $48.77 or Canadian $52.91.
In many ways I like the company and its management. But it has a number of accounting complexities. Also even on an adjusted earnings basis the trailing P/E...

On Thursday the S&P 500 rose 0.2% and Toronto rose 0.4%.
Toll Brothers rose 2.0%. It will release its Q2 earnings next week.
I am considering adding to my Wells Fargo position and Boston Pizza. But I may wait and see what else turns up.
...

On Wednesday the S&P 500 rose 0.8% and Toronto rose 0.9%.
Element Financial rose 5.3% on some news it would make an acquisition.
Crombie REIT was raising money today by selling additional shares. It's rather baffling to me why the market rewards ...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.7% and Toronto fell 0.8%
Most of our stock picks were down although none were down sharply other than Element Financial which was down 2.8%. Liquor Stores N. A. was up 4.8%. It seems someone must think the decline w...

On Monday, the Canadian stock market was closed but U.S. markets were trading. The S&P 500 rose 0.4%. Our U.S. stocks picks were mostly up slightly.
AT&T is buying Direct TV for $48.5 billion. I have no idea if that is a good idea for AT&...

The composition of my own portfolio has been updated. I am running an extremely concentrated portfolio. Not everyone has the risk capacity or the risk tolerance to do that.
Melcor is updated and rated (higher) Buy at $23.52. I decided to update this ...

On Thursday, the S&P 500 was down 0.9% and Toronto was down 0.6%.
Most of our stock picks were down. Walmart was down 2.4%. Bombardier was down 7.4% after Air Canada announced it would not be replacing certain jets which "the market" was thinking...

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and Toronto was about unchanged.
Liquor Stores N.A. was down 2.7% to $11.16, Toll Brothers was down 1.5% to $34.35, Canadian Tire was down 1.3% to $107.94. Meanwhile Element Financial was up 5.2% to $14.00....

On Tuesday the S&P 500 was about unchanged and Toronto was up 0.2%.
The S&P 500 briefly went above 1900 for the first time.
The only particularly noticeable move for our stock picks was Liquor Stores N.A. which was down 3.5% to $11.47. This c...

Enbridge just announced (I saw it on TD Direct Investing) a new issue of 4.4% five year rate reset preferred shares. I tried to grab some as they may be more attractive than the preferred I sold last week. The TD site was broken and I was unable to b...

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 1.0% and Toronto rose 0.8%.
Notable gainers included Toll Brothers up 2.0%, Bank of America up 2.2%.
The Enbridge preferred shares that I hold were down 1.2% to $25.35. This would appear to be because Enbridge issued n...

Melcor Developments released earnings after the close on Friday. Earnings were down but that does not mean much because Melcor's earnings tend to be relatively lumpy. They did increase the dividend. It's my biggest position and I am relatively confid...

Canadian Tire is updated and rated (lower) Buy at $111.29. Our last rating before this was Buy at $99.85, and before that it was (higher) Buy at $83.78 and it was (lower) Strong Buy at $68.65 back on February 24, 2013. On August 11, 2011 we had calle...

There is relatively big news at Canadian Tire this morning about partnering with Scotia Bank and a higher dividend and share buy backs. Offsetting this is a lower earnings per share. As of now shares are set to open at $109.50. I would not tend to bu...

On Thursday the S&P 500 was down 0.1% and Toronto was down 0.8%.
Nothing on our list was down more than about 1%. However the oils sands ETF that I have in my own portfolio and which is on our list of Canadian ETFs was down 3.5%. That ETF has bee...

Stocks were up on Wednesday as the S&P 500 rose 0.6% and Toronto rose 0.3%.
The biggest gainers on our list were Fedex and Berkshire each up 2.2% and American Express up 2.1%.
Melcor should be out with earnings in the next few days.
...

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down 0.9% and Toronto was down 0.6%. That hardly seems noteworthy given all the recent gains.
Constellation Software was down 3.8%. Toll Brothers was down 2.6%.
Recently I mentioned that I had placed orders to sell som...

On Monday the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and Toronto was down 0.5%
Melcor was up 3.4% to $24.05. But we REALLY need to remember that this is VERY thinly traded. Just a few people keen to buy or sell can really push the price around. I believe they will ...

The latest version of our free newsletter was sent out yesterday. You should have received it but note that it is a separate email mailing list.
On Friday the S&P 500 fell 0.1% while Toronto rose 0.7%.
Notable gainers included Constellation Softw...

Thursday was another decent day for our Stocks. The S&P 500 was flat and Toronto was up 0.1%.
Melcor was up 1.5% to $23.25 (on thin volume). Canadian Tire was up 1.3% to a new high at $109.02.
Constellation software was up 4.6% after posting anot...

Wednesday was another positive day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 0.3% and Toronto up 0.5% and with the DOW closing at a new record high.
Bombardier was up 5.5% to $4.41. Stantec was up 2.5%, Couche-Tard was up 2.3%. eBay was down 5.5%.
Melco...

Tuesday was a strong day in the markets with the S&P 500 up 0.5% and Toronto up 0.4%.
Looking at my favorite stocks, returns seemed to be bustin' out all over.
Melcor was up 1.2%. (It's thinly traded and so it's gains must be taken with a grain o...

On Monday, the S&P 500 bounced around considerably but when the bell rang it was up 0.3% and Toronto finished about unchanged.
Bank of America was down 6.3% to $14.95 after it had to admit to an embarrassing calculation error involving submission...