Large-cap Buys With a Focus on 2 Sectors

Article Excerpt

BMO DIVIDEND FUND $34.97 (BMO Mutual Funds, 77 King Street West, Suite 4200, Royal Trust Tower, Toronto, Ont., M5K 1J5, 1-800-665-7700; Web site: www.bmo.com. No load — deal directly with the bank) (CWA Rating: Conservative) currently holds about 35.1% of its portfolio in the Financial services industry. Its next-largest holding is Energy at 21.1%. The $3.7 billion BMO Dividend Fund’s largest holdings are Manulife Financial, Bank of Nova Scotia, CIBC, Royal Bank, Shoppers Drug Mart, TD Bank, TransCanada Corp., EnCana, Enbridge and Shaw Communications. The fund’s MER is 1.71%. Over the five years to November 30, 2008, the fund posted a 4.6% annual rate of return. The S&P/TSX gained 5.7% annually, but that was largely due to the big run up in resources prices that lasted until early in 2008. The S&P/TSX index holds a high 40% or so of its holdings in Resources stocks. The fund lost 25.0% over the year to November 30, 2008. Price declines in Resources and Finance shares…