Each week, our team publishes a blog and webcast.
Is it just me or did the glory days of Apple seem to die with Steve Jobs? Apple’s iMac (1998), iPod (2001), iPhone (2007), and iPad (2010) were revolutionary products when first introduced. Each were unique, customer-friendly, and attached a superior graphical interface compared to the alternative devices at the time. Jobs died in October […]
While less dramatic than a corporate raider from the 1980’s waltzing into a shareholder meeting, proclaiming that “greed is good”, and hurling threats to sell an underperforming company for a quick profit, many activist investors work quietly to change companies. Activism is on the rise. In 2022, there were just about fifty activist campaigns in […]
Initiating a dividend introduces a stock to a much larger investor base. This is because some institutional fund managers have restrictions on the kinds of stocks they can and cannot buy. Without a steady stream of income, some investment mandates will simply pass. In most sectors, declaring a dividend offers assurance that the board of […]
During the fall, over 90 high-ranking business executives expressed concern in an open letter that Canada’s largest pension funds should bulk up their investment positions here at home. The eight largest pension funds – also known as the “Maple 8” – manage 38% of Canada’s savings. Yet, that collective group has reduced their holdings of […]
Manulife Financial’s stock has had its ups and downs since the initial public offering (“IPO”) in 1999. Everything was going well during its first decade as a public company. After acquiring Confederation Life and North American Life in the mid-1990s, Manulife then bought Boston-based John Hancock Financial Services for $15 billion in 2004. At the […]
Anyone with a diversified portfolio will tell you that a handful of stocks perform far better than your wildest dreams; a good chunk do better than the market; some underperform; and a select few have such awful performance that you’re afraid to look at the price each day. Estee Lauder falls into the very latter […]
Earlier this week, Rogers v. Rogers by the Globe & Mail’s Alexandra Posadzki was released. It chronicles all the drama you would expect to find in a family business. Rogers Communications (“Rogers”) is dual listed. In other words, it has Class A voting shares and Class B non-voting shares. Prior to his death in 2008, Ted […]
Wow, Schneider & Pollock Wealth Management Inc. (“SPWMI”) just turned 2 years old! February 1, 2022, was the day our principal regular (the Ontario Securities Commission) approved SPWMI’s application. That same day, so too did the provincial regulators in Alberta and Nova Scotia. Since then, British Columbia has done the same. Most don’t realize it, […]
Late last year, we added shares of Pizza Pizza to client accounts wherever suitable. Once the calendar rolled over into 2024, we planned to take profits on Restaurant Brands after watching the stock climb over 60% since adding it the year before. Both companies are structured as a royalty, which means the head office receives […]
While it’s called the Retirement Savings Plan (“RSP”), the government eventually gets their money. Earlier this week, we had two back-to-back client conversations. Both are very similar in age. Each have the same number of kids. They even live not too far from each other in the same neighbourhood. However, each person has opposite views […]
