The Radio Girl

Bank of Canada Rate Unchanged

Haven't been posting much while we're gearing up for Mexico.

Lots of travel details to take care of plus we're both still working full-time. 

But I'm on top of the morning biz news/my portfolios and the non-reg account is humming along nicely.  Current holdings in order of weighting:

• Student Transportation
• Crescent Point Energy
• Altagas
• Armtec Infrastructure
• Superior Plus
• Bonavista Energy
• Inter Pipeline
• Pembina Pipeline
• First Capital Realty
• Killam Properties
• Artis REIT
• Davis + Henderson
• Colabor Group
• New Flyer Industries
• Morneau Sobeco
• Alaris Royalty
• Westcoast Energy preferreds
• Futuremed Healthcare
• Power Financial preferreds
• Sun Life Financial preferreds
• Cash

No big changes, but I have been slowly selling down my preferreds after nice 30% gains.

And big news this morning, the Bank of Canada has left the benchmark lending rate unchanged at 0.25%.  They've basically said they are leaving the rate the same until June 2010. 

Great news if you hold a variable rate mortgage or a personal line of credit.

And here's my daily random Mex pic  :)

Double Your Money

Bad news for US financial stocks.

 
Century old commercial lender, CIT Group, filed for bankruptcy tonight.  This isn't overly surprising but it IS a real kick in the pants to American citizens, since the US Government gave CIT $2.33 billion of TARP money (taxpayer money) in December 2008.  What a joke. 

US financials may be hit hard tomorrow.  Then again maybe not.  Who the heck knows what's driving market sentiment these days.  In the words of very smart money dude, David Rosenberg, "the stock market is divorced from economic reality".

On a totally different topic, I've been trying to remember the basic principles of compound interest, and how long it would take to double your money.  (Yes, this type of thing is fun for me  :)

After a bit of googling, I came up with this chart, which is based on a fixed annual rate of return:

• 5%: 14.4 years
• 6%: 12 years
• 7%: 10.3 years
• 8%: 9 years
• 9%: 8 years
• 10%: 7.2 years
• 11%: 6.5 years
• 12%: 6 years
• 15%: 4.8 years
• 20%: 3.6 years

So if you're earning 5% per year on your investments it will take 14.4 years to double your money, at 6% it would take 12 years, etc. etc.  Just thought you might like to know...

*And I made another $120 sale on Craigslist today.  Our house is emptying out really fast and My Fella has threatened to start duct-taping down everything he wants to keep. 

Silly Fella.  As if duct tape could stop me. 

Best Canadian Trusts

 
Rob Carrick wrote a great article in the Globe and Mail over the weekend.

I have a slab of income trusts in my non-reg account and most investors know that the trust structure in Canada is disappearing as of 2011, when all trusts convert to a corporation. 

In Carrick's article, veteran independent analyst, Harry Levant of IncomeTrustResearch.com (who has analyzed close to 200 trusts) offers a list of the 'best of the bunch'.  The list is based on being 'strong, steady businesses that generate lots of cash'.

I am happy to say that of the 32 trusts listed, all 8 in my non-reg portfolio are considered 'best of the bunch':

• Armtec
• Altagas
• Inter Pipeline
• Pembina Pipeline
• Bonavista Energy
• Davis + Henderson
• Morneau Sobeco
• FutureMed

I'm confident in my ability to evaluate good companies/investments, but it's reassuring to get the green light from an expert like Levant.

Here's the complete Globe and Mail article including the entire list of 'best of the bunch' trusts.

Prime Lending Rate Remains Unchanged

 
If you have a personal line of credit or variable rate mortgage, you should be celebrating.

This morning the Bank of Canada announced they were leaving the prime lending rate unchanged at 0.25%. 

The B of C also implied once again that the overnight rate would remain the same until the second quarter of next year.  Great news for homeowners :)

Here's the full story from the Financial Post.

Prime Rate Remains at .25%

If you have a personal line of credit or variable rate mortgage, you should be celebrating.

This morning the Bank of Canada announced they were leaving the prime lending rate unchanged at 0.25%.  The quarterly monetary policy statement was pretty upbeat, suggesting that Canada's economy was starting a slow uptrend.

The B of C also implied that the overnight rate would remain the same until the second quarter of next year.  Great news for homeowners :)

August Stocks

The big six Canadian banks reported earnings last week.

With the exception of CIBC, the banks all beat analyst estimates.  That means they did a little better than bank "experts" thought they would. 

Trading revenues gave the banks a boost this quarter but they'll probably fall in Q4.   I don't care either way since I sold all my common shares last quarter and took my profits.  The only banks I own now are preferred shares. 

Also trimmed some Russel Metals this month - bought in around $13 and sold half at $16.20 after the ex-div date. 

My two new holdings are:  

• Morneau Sobeco Income Fund, which I bought last week on a stink bid.  Morneau Sobeco is one of the biggest benefits/pension consulting firms in Canada.  Both the company and the monthly distibution keep growing - at todays price it's yielding almost 11%.

• Colabor Group - a food service distributor in Quebec and Ontario that supplies universities, hospitals, restaurants, independent grocery stores, etc.  Colabor just converted to a corporation last week and kept their high yield intact.  At todays price of $10.75, they pay out a 10% yield.  This is a great stock for a taxable account because the dividend now qualifies for the div tax credit.

Here's my non-reg August holdings in order of weighting:  Cash, Manitoba Telecom, Student Transportation, Crescent Point Energy, First Capital Realty, Killam Properties, Sun Life preferreds, Pembina Pipeline, Inter Pipeline, ArmTec Infrastructure, National Bank preferred, Alaris Royalty Corp, Power Financial preferreds, WestCoast Energy preferreds, BCE, another National Bank preferred, Russel Metals, Mosaid Technologies, Colabor Group, Morneau Sobeco Income Fund.

Totally off topic, I want to share a quote I read last week on one of my regular biz forums.

"Don't do a deal like it's the last deal you're ever going to do. You need to leave a little in it for the next guy. Everyone has to make a dollar.  The rationale for this is quite simple; when you want to sell something there has to be reasonable expectation for the person buying from you to make a profit. If there is no such expectation, no one will be willing to buy and the opportunity for profit on your part will be gone. It's a little bit like the musical chairs analogy in that you don't want to be the last participant standing. Hence the need to take profits, or losses for that matter, at reasonable intervals that are predetermined in some mechanical way. Once you realise that for the system to work the next person must have a reasonable expectation for profit too, you won't feel nearly so bad about taking profits even though the investment continues to go up in value. It's all part of playing the game successfully over the long haul."

The moral of the story?  Don't be a Stock Hog :)

Top 100 on Gainers on the TSX

Here's an interesting list.

It's the 100 biggest gainers on the TSX year-to-date, excluding preferred shares.  The top 20 are all resource/mining stocks.   

I've highlighted positions I've owned in the past in lime green and current holdings in blue.

Ranking  |   Company (Ticker)  |  Year-to-Date Performance

1 Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. (TSE:PRE) 492.2%
2 Teck Resources Limited (TSE:TCK.B) 371.6%
3 Quadra Mining Ltd. (TSE:QUA) 316.5%
4 First Quantum Minerals Limited (TSE:FM) 313.2%
5 Aura Minerals Inc. (TSE:ORA) 290.0%

6 Thompson Creek Metals Company, Inc. (TSE:TCM) 222.5%
7 Lundin Mining Corporation (TSE:LUN) 220.2%
8 FNX Mining Company Inc. (TSE:FNX) 220.1%
9 Ivanhoe Mines, Ltd. (TSE:IVN) 189.9%
10 HudBay Minerals Inc. (TSE:HBM) 184.0%

11 Inmet Mining Corporation (TSE:IMN) 141.1%
12 Sherritt International Corporation (TSE:S) 113.6%
13 New Gold Inc. (TSE:NGD) 110.7%
14 SXC Health Solutions, Corp. (TSE:SXC) 107.1%
15 The Forzani Group Ltd. (TSE:FGL) 104.2%
16 Equinox Minerals Limited (TSE:EQN) 100.7%
17 Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd. (TSE:PBG) 96.6%
18 Home Capital Group Inc. (TSE:HCG) 93.7%
19 Osisko Mining Corp. (TSE:OSK) 93.7%
20 UTS Energy Corporation (TSE:UTS) 91.3%

21 Transforce Inc. (TSE:TFI) 91.1%
22 Major Drilling Group Int'l Inc. (TSE:MDI) 85.1%
23 National Bank of Canada (TSE:NA) 81.7%  (I own the preferreds)
24 H&R Real Estate Investment Trust (TSE:HR.UN) 81.2%
25 Absolute Software (TSE:ABT) 74.6%
26 Canadian Hydro Developers, Inc. (TSE:KHD) 73.8%
27 Niko Resources Ltd. (TSE:NKO) 73.2%
28 Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Income Fund (TSE:LIF.UN) 70.6%
29 Baytex Energy Trust (TSE:BTE.UN) 69.1%

30 IAMGOLD Corporation (TSE:IMG) 66.2%

 

31 Dundee Corp. (TSE:DC.A) 66.1%
32 Research In Motion Limited (TSE:RIM) 66.0%
33 Gildan Activewear Inc. (TSE:GIL) 63.7%
34 Celestica Inc. (TSE:CLS) 63.0%
35 Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) 56.8%
36 Freehold Royalty Trust (TSE:FRU.UN) 53.1%
37 Minefinders Corp. Ltd. (TSE:MFL) 53.0%
38 Sino-Forest Corporation (TSE:TRE) 52.0%
39 AGF Management Limited (TSE:AGF.B) 51.8%
40 Crescent Point Energy Trust (TSE:CPG) 49.4% (has since converted)

 

41 Suncor Energy Inc. (TSE:SU) 48.7%
42 Cameco Corporation (TSE:CCO) 48.4%
43 Calloway Real Estate Investment Trust (TSE:CWT.UN) 48.3%
44 Talisman Energy Inc. (TSE:TLM) 47.8%
45 Canadian Western Bank (TSE:CWB) 46.9%
46 Uranium One, Inc. (TSE:UUU) 46.9%
47 Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE:TD) 46.4%
48 Macdonald Dettwiler & Associates Ltd (TSE:MDA) 45.4%
49 Just Energy Income Fund (TSE:JE.UN) 45.3%
50 Silvercorp Metals Inc. (TSE:SVM) 43.7%

 

51 ShawCor Ltd. (TSE:SCL.A) 41.7%
52 Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY) 40.4%
53 Boardwalk REIT (TSE:BEI.UN) 38.9%
54 Canadian Oil Sands Trust (TSE:COS.UN) 37.4%
55 IESI-BFC Ltd. (TSE:BIN) 37.1%
56 Silver Wheaton Corp. (TSE:SLW) 35.4%
57 Canadian Natural Resources Limited (TSE:CNQ) 35.1%
58 Westshore Terminals Income Fund (TSE:WTE.UN) 35.1%
59 Trican Well Service Ltd. (TSE:TCW) 34.7%
60 Inter Pipeline Fund (TSE:IPL.UN) 34.6%

 

61 The Bank of Nova Scotia (TSE:BNS) 34.3%
62 Methanex Corporation (TSE:MX) 34.3%
63 CI Financial Corp. (TSE:CIX) 33.7%
64 TMX Group, Inc. (TSE:X) 33.7%
65 NAL Oil & Gas Trust (TSE:NAE.UN) 33.4%
66 Canadian Tire Corporation Limited (TSE:CTC.A) 33.2%
67 Magna International Inc. (TSE:MG.A) 33.2%
68 Tristar Oil & Gas Limited (TSE:TOG) 32.3%
69 Brookfield Properties Corporation (TSE:BPO) 31.1%
70 Extendicare Real Estate Investment Trust (TSE:EXE.UN) 29.9%

 

71 Primaris Retail REIT (TSE:PMZ.UN) 29.9%
72 Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSE:CM) 28.7%
73 Birchcliff Energy Ltd. (TSE:BIR) 28.5%
74 Biovail Corporation (TSE:BVF) 28.3%
75 Franco-Nevada Corporation (TSE:FNV) 27.2%
76 Agrium Inc. (TSE:AGU) 27.1%
77 Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (TSE:CP) 26.9%
78 Transat A.T. Inc. (TSE:TRZ.B) 25.9%
79 ONEX Corporation (TSE:OCX) 25.9%
80 RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust (TSE:REI.UN) 25.8%

 

81 Red Back Mining Inc. (TSE:RBI) 25.5%
82 Trinidad Drilling Ltd. (TSE:TDG) 25.3%
83 Reitmans (Canada) Limited (TSE:RET.A) 23.6%
84 Quebecor, Inc. (TSE:QBR.B) 23.2%
85 Power Corporation of Canada (TSE:POW) 23.1%
86 The Jean Coutu Group (PJC) Inc. (TSE:PJC.A) 22.5%
87 Saputo Inc. (TSE:SAP) 22.5%
88 Ensign Energy Services Inc. (TSE:ESI) 22.2%
89 Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) 22.1%
90 SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. (TSE:SNC) 22.1%

 

91 Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (TSE:ATD.B) 21.8%
92 Aurizon Mines Ltd. (TSE:ARZ) 21.6%
93 Power Financial Corporation (TSE:PWF) 21.3%  (I own the preferreds)
94 Astral Media, Inc. (TSE:ACM.A) 21.3%
95 Industrial Alliance Insur. & Fin. Ser. (TSE:IAG) 21.0%
96 Vermilion Energy Trust (TSE:VET.UN) 20.9%
97 Eldorado Gold Corporation (TSE:ELD) 20.7%
98 Connacher Oil and Gas Limited (TSE:CLL) 20.3%
99 Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (TSE:BAM.A) 19.9%
100 Fort Chicago Energy Partners L.P. (TSE:FCE.UN) 19.8%

 

Too bad we can't just buy equities based on past performance - we'd all be gazillionaires :)

Peter Schiff Can't Get a Word In

Just heading off to my part-time radio gig, but I wanted to post this.

Here's how NOT to do an interview.  This tool is interviewing Peter Schiff on MSNBC and he makes a fool out of both himself and the network. 

Weekly Earnings Calendar

Four of my Canadian companies report second quarter earnings this week. 

Wednesday, August 5th:

• Altagas

• Killam Properties

• Russel Metals

Friday, August 7th:

• Manitoba Telecom

Looking forward to the numbers and hopefully some volatility, so I can top up my holdings. 

On a totally unrelated note, here's my new fave Spanish phrase:  "con la cruda (croo - da)".  It means "with a hangover".  It sounds so much prettier in Spanish.  :) 

Bank of Canada Rate

The Bank of Canada is leaving the overnight rate steady at 0.25%.

That means the prime lending rate stays at 2.25%.  If you have a variable rate mortgage or personal line of credit, your interest rate remains low as well.  (Yay for you :)

As a result of this, the Canadian dollar shot to its highest level in nearly six weeks. 

The Canadian dollar rose as high at C$1.0965 to the U.S dollar (91.19 U.S. cents) shortly after the  decision was issued.  That's the loonie's highest level since June 11.

In other biz news, one of my fave Canadian stocks was upgraded this morning.  Analyst upgrades don't excite me that much because if I've bought into a company, there's already a reason I like it - I don't need an analyst to tell me why.  But the investing sheeple (sheep + people) can usually be counted on buying into upgraded stocks.  And THAT drives the price up.

Scotia Capital upgraded Russel Metals Inc to "sector outperform" from "sector perform," saying the Canadian metals distributor's shares may get a boost from rising steel prices.

"We believe Russel's higher profitability, lower debt levels, and higher dividend yield, should support a higher multiple relative to its industry comparables," analyst Anthony Zicha said in a note dated July 20.  Zicha said further steel prices should be supported by "inventory restocking and industry shipments bouncing off the bottom."  He raised his price target on the company's stock to C$18 from C$14.50.

I sold off my Russel Metals for a small profit earlier this year, hoping to buy in lower because I really like this company long term.  A couple weeks ago I restarted a position around $13.10 and now it's trading in the high $15's.  The dividend rate is $1/share, so at the current price RUS is yielding almost 6.5%.