Dear Pat: I have been a subscriber for almost 20 years and have done well on your recommendations, but I missed out on Alimentation Couche-Tard. I never bought it because I thought its business model was too close to that of Loewen Group, in that it relies heavily on acquisitions. Loewen Group was one of my largest losses. Why do you think Alimentation Couche-Tard will not suffer the same fate as Loewen Group?

In June 1999, the Loewen Group, North America’s second-largest funeral company, filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and Canada. At the time, it operated 1,116 funeral homes and 429 cemeteries in North America and 32 funeral homes in the U.K.
Loewen Group grew rapidly by… Read More

POTASH CORP. OF SASKATCHEWAN $34 – Toronto symbol POT

POTASH CORP. OF SASKATCHEWAN $34 (Toronto symbol POT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 834.7 million; Market cap: $28.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.5; Dividend yield: 5.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.potashcorp.com) has offered to buy leading German fertilizer producer K+S AG for around $8.6 billion… Read More

Updating Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. and RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust

POTASH CORP. OF SASKATCHEWAN $34 (Toronto symbol POT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 834.7 million; Market cap: $28.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.5; Dividend yield: 5.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.potashcorp.com) has offered to buy leading German fertilizer producer K+S AG for around $8.6 billion… Read More

Sharp eye for value

ALIMENTATION COUCHETARD $29.50 (Toronto symbol ATD.B: TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (1-800-361-2612; www.couchetard.com; Shares outstanding: 565.8 million; Market cap: $16.6 billion; Dividend yield: 0.5%) plans to keep looking for big acquisitions like its $2.7-billion purchase of Norway’s Statoil Fuel & Retail gas station chain in June… Read More