What Did You Buy Today?

[Roadmap2Retire]

Added to my position in Amgen Inc (AMGN) this morning

[The Falcon]

CVX and DEO

[Forward Dividends]

Added more O this morning. This is now our largest position with 75 shares at an average cost of $47.89 including commissions.

[rayray]

It's not one of my divi stocks but I added to my INVN position today.

[Forward Dividends]

Added 10 more shares of UNP this morning at $100.94, doubling our stake to 20 shares.

[800peace]

Bought MSFT today. One of my companies was acquired, which gave me some capital.

MSFT yield is above the 10-year T-note yield, and they have plently of room to increase their dividend. According to my financial statement analysis as well as the "Chowder Score," MSFT is a screaming buy for dividend growth investors. As a last comfort of safety, MSFT is amongst the best in the market on a risk premium/beta basis. I'm hoping for pemanent ownership, so I don't have any sell criteria, other than to sell if there's a dividend cut.

There's a few companies that have better prospects, but I already own them and I want to diversify into new names and new industries... So, I bought MSFT.

[earthtodan]

Added 30 shares of TD.

[crimsonghost747]

(06-01-2015, 09:50 AM)earthtodan Wrote: Added 30 shares of TD.

Can you give us a quick summary as to why TD instead of the other 4 big ones in Canada?

I'll be doing some research on the Big Five Canadian banks next week, and will probably be buying one or two of them in the near future. Just interested in hearing why you chose TD over the others.

[Forward Dividends]

Added 12 more shares of PG last Friday @ $78.35. Here's hoping for prices to continue falling.

[earthtodan]

(06-01-2015, 10:28 AM)crimsonghost747 Wrote: Can you give us a quick summary as to why TD instead of the other 4 big ones in Canada?

I'll be doing some research on the Big Five Canadian banks next week, and will probably be buying one or two of them in the near future. Just interested in hearing why you chose TD over the others.

This wasn't easy for me, since I don't really know how to analyze banks, but I wanted to pick one. Originally I bought TD and BNS. TD has a high DGR among the group and also has a lot of exposure to the US, where they have an extensive local branch network that stays open late and has a reputation for great customer service. So I get the Canadian banking institutional moat with the US economy. Also, opinions from certain writers like Roadmap2Retire helped me narrow them down.

I liked BNS for the emerging market exposure, but I decided MA was a more universal and faster growing way to play that theme. I sold my BNS for a tax loss and moved it into TD.

Also added 50 shares of CSIQ.

[Roadmap2Retire]

(06-02-2015, 09:44 AM)earthtodan Wrote:

(06-01-2015, 10:28 AM)crimsonghost747 Wrote: Can you give us a quick summary as to why TD instead of the other 4 big ones in Canada?

I'll be doing some research on the Big Five Canadian banks next week, and will probably be buying one or two of them in the near future. Just interested in hearing why you chose TD over the others.

This wasn't easy for me, since I don't really know how to analyze banks, but I wanted to pick one. Originally I bought TD and BNS. TD has a high DGR among the group and also has a lot of exposure to the US, where they have an extensive local branch network that stays open late and has a reputation for great customer service. So I get the Canadian banking institutional moat with the US economy. Also, opinions from certain writers like Roadmap2Retire helped me narrow them down.

I liked BNS for the emerging market exposure, but I decided MA was a more universal and faster growing way to play that theme. I sold my BNS for a tax loss and moved it into TD.

Also added 50 shares of CSIQ.

Thanks for the mention, earthtodan.

crimsonghost747, here are some articles that I wrote about the Canadian banks.

• Royal Bank of Canada (RY) Dividend Stock Analysis
  
• Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) Dividend Stock Analysis
  
• Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) Dividend Stock Analysis
  
• Bank of Montreal (BMO) Dividend Stock Analysis
  

The articles above are from last fall. I also wrote this article in Feb summarizing the overall banking sector outlook and the risks facing the Canadian economy.

More recent developments:

• RY bought CNY earlier this year - lots of high net worth clients in Hollywood/LA area.
  
• TD bought Nordstrom's credit card unit last week. TD has been expanding a lot in the credit markets. In Canada, a couple of years ago they bought MBNA and rights for Aeroplan (the most popular airmiles card in Canada). As earthtodan mentioned, huge US presence
  
• BNS - most international Canadian bank. They saw some layoffs recently and cut back some operations in some Latin American countries. But now, they are buying Mexican operations from Citi and HSBC.
  
• BMO - oldest Canadian bank and longest dividend payment history. Lots of international operations as well. Larger percentage of revenue comes from US than other banks.
  
• CM - the baby of the Big 5. But still a well run bank.
  

The second tier/regional banks are also great investments if you want to look into them. Great dividend plays (and dividend growers) and very well managed. Banks include:

• National Bank of Canada (NA.TO)
  
• Laurentian Bank of Canada (LB.TO)
  
• Canadian Western Bank (CWB.TO)
  

Let me know if you have specific questions, and I can try and answer them if I can.

Disclosure: I own TD and BNS.

[crimsonghost747]

I actually stumbled into the february article a couple of days ago while looking up comparisons between the banks. Don't know how I managed to miss the fact that it was written by you! I will definitely take a look at the other articles soon, I've pretty much decided to pick up one of the bigger Canadian banks as my first financial investment. Now I just need to choose which one.


earthtodan, congratulations on the CSIQ buy. Great looking company with a bright future (see what I did there? :p ) and the price seems to be dropping back to a range where I am also considering pulling the trigger. Currently I own TSL which is still my favourite among the solar companies but CSIQ does look very attractive too at the current prices.