Purchase adds to uncertain outlook

MCKESSON CORP. $111 (New York symbol MCK; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 195.4 million; Market cap: $21.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.1; Dividend yield 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.mckesson.com) is the largest wholesale drug distributor in the U.S. and Canada. It also operates drugstores in… Read More

Cloud focus fuels Microsoft

Microsoft recently surpassed Apple as the world’s most valuable company (based on market cap). That’s because it continues to expand in the fast-growing field of cloud-computing, which lets users run computer programs over the Internet.
That strategy relies on a subscription model and has cut the… Read More

Q: Hi, Pat. I am a longtime Inner Circle member and I would like your opinion on two Vanguard consumer ETFs—VDC and VCR. Thanks.

A: Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF, $159.56, symbol VCR on New York, aims to track the MSCI US IMI Consumer Discretionary 25/50 Index. That index follows U.S. consumer discretionary companies. Those firms, in the manufacturing and service industries, are highly sensitive to economic cycles. The manufacturing… Read More

Diversify outside Canada with these ETFs

Pennsylvania-based Vanguard Group is one of the world’s largest investment management companies. In all, it administers over $6 trillion U.S., spread across 400 mutual funds and ETFs.
Generally speaking, Canadians are blocked from buying mutual funds that are registered in the U.S. unless those funds are… Read More

Amazon move spurs H&R

H&R REIT $21.00 (Toronto symbol HR.UN; Units outstanding: 285.7 million; Market cap: $6.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 6.6%; www.hr-reit.com) should get a boost from Amazon.com’s decision to choose Long Island City as the location for one of its two new headquarters. This Amazon… Read More