Great-West Lifeco Inc. $32 – Toronto symbol GWO

GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $32 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 892.5 million; Market cap: $28.6 billion; SI Rating: Above average) is Canada’s largest insurance company, with over $400 billion in assets under administration. Power Corp. controls 70% of Great-West’s shares.

Great-West sells… Read More

Diversify With These Two Leaders

Many Canadians tend to stick with the five big banks when it comes to the Finance segment of their portfolios. While we do recommend that most investors hold two or more bank stocks, you should also diversify your holdings with high-quality non-bank stocks such as… Read More

Here are Our Three Best Buys in REITs

High quality Real Estate Investment Trusts, or REITs, are among the most stable of the royalty and investment trusts. That’s because they own nondepleting assets, and can lock in lease rates and

financing costs for long terms. Investors are also aware of the takeover prospects for… Read More

Ameriprise Financial Inc. $44 – New York symbol AMP

AMERIPRISE FINANCIAL INC. $44 (New York symbol AMP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; WSSF Rating: Average) provides financial planning, brokerage and insurance services to over 2.7 million clients through a network of roughly 12,370 advisors. It currently owns, administers or manages assets worth $428 billion.

The… Read More

Events Rattle Markets and Managers

Uncertainty over interest rates, oil prices and the Mideast situation has hurt world equity markets in the past few months. However, we feel that this is a temporary setback, and not the start of a protracted bear market.

These three investment firms earn much of their… Read More

New plants will help meet high demand

HONDA MOTOR COMPANY ADRs $33 (New York symbol HMC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; WSSF Rating: Above average) plans to spend $1.2 billion as part of its strategy to expand annual vehicle sales by a third by 2010.

Most of the money will go… Read More

Here Are Our Four Favourite REITs

RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $23.07 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; SI Rating: Average) is Canada’s largest REIT. RioCan has total assets of $4.2 billion consisting of ownership interests in a portfolio of 201 retail properties across Canada, including 14 under development. These properties contain over 50… Read More