Building the Canadian stock portfolio on the Sunday Reads.

It is so easy to build a simple but very effective Canadian stock portfolio. Canadian self-directed investors will often hold a few financials, telcos, utilities and pipelines. At times they will also (wisely) add some of the lower yielding stocks, including the railways and grocers. Other favourite picks are Alimentation Couche-Tard, Canadian Tire, Restaurants International and the Brookfield assets. Canada is home to many oligopoly sectors. While that’s not “good” for customers it can be profitable for investors. In this post we’re building the Canadian stock portfolio looking at the wide moat sectors, plus lists from BMO and RBC.

This Sunday Reads, will be short and sweet. We are on the road travelling to the Smoky Mountains, where will be spending a week hiking and then retiring to a hot tub to have a glass of wine as we stare at the mountains. We’ll hit up Nashville too. Yes I brought my guitar 😉

Wide moats and beating the TSX

Readers will know that I’m a fan of the Canadian Wide Moat Portfolio. To be more precise, make that the Wider Moat Portfolio that includes the grocers and railways. There is a very nice history of outperformance with lower volatility. You can check out the assets in that link.

Another popular market-beating route is the Beat The TSX Portfolio. That is a value strategy that simply holds the top ten yielding stocks from the TSX 60. You buy on January 1, and rebalance each year. You will certainly find many of the higher yielding Wide Moat Stocks in the BTSX.

Canadian stocks from BMO and RBC

And here are two interesting lists.

From Brian Belski’s at BMO, here’s the growth at a reasonable price portfolio – GARP. That is a very good selection model. While we want to buy current attractive earnings, the growth history and growth potential certainly factors into the equation.

The stocks on the GARP list are Rogers Communications, Quebecor, Telus Corp., Canadian Tire, BRP Inc., Magna International , Restaurant Brands International, Saputo Inc., Loblaws Co. Ltd., ARC Resources, Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus Energy, Enbridge, Parex Resources, Suncor Energy, Tourmaline Oil, TC Energy, Bank of Montreal, Brookfield Corp., CI Financial Corp., Canadian Western Bank, EQB, Manulife Financial, National Bank, Royal Bank, Sun Life Financial, TD Bank, CAE Inc., Canadian national Railway Co., Finning International, Stantec, TFI International, Evertz Technologies, CGI Inc., Open Text Corp., B2Gold, Equinox Gold, First Quantum Minerals , New Gold Inc., Nutrien Ltd., Teck Resources, Altagas Ltd., Emera Inc. and CT Reit. 

Not surprising to see that you can find many names from the Wide Moat Portfolio within that list. You can also build a basket of dedicated inflation-fighters from the energy and commodities space. You can create your Canadian all-weather portfolio.

The RBC Canadian stock picks

And thanks to Scott Barlow who shared The RBC Top Canadian Stock Portfolio … 

There are five additions to the portfolio this month – IA Financial Corp., TD Bank, Wheaton Precious Metals Corp., TransAlta Corp and Tourmaline Oil Corp. Deleted are Northland Power, Stantec Inc., Waste Connections Inc., Keyera Corp. and Gildan Activewear.

The resulting portfolio as it now stands includes Canadian Natural Resources, Imperial Oil, Pason Systems, Stella Jones Inc., Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corp., CCL Industries, Richelieu Hardware, Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers, Thomson Reuters Corp., TFI International, Toromont Industries, Magna International, Metro Inc., North West Company, Loblaw Companies, Great-West Lifeco, Equitable Group Inc., Intact Financial Corp., TMX Group, National Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Montreal, CI Financial, Fairfax Financial, Open Text Corp., Constellation Software, Enghouse Systems Ltd., CGI Inc. Celestica Inc., Quebecor Inc., Rogers Communications, Cogeco Communications, BCE inc., and Colliers International.

That’s another solid list, with many similarities to the BMO GARP list.

I see many readers with wonderful concentrated portfolios. Most are outperforming the market, but they might consider greater diversification. The above lists provide some nice options – stocks for consideration for further research.

Canadian investors often use core market ETFs for U.S. and international stocks. It is certainly not difficult to build a well-rounded portfolio. It is far superior to paying an advisor to put you in a market portfolio.

The Sunday Reads

It was a fascinating week in the markets as the Fed raised rates by 0.25%, as expected. We had more bank failures. And the stock markets cheered the fact that rate hikes are not working – the U.S economy is still too strong. Of course, that means rates are likely higher for longer.

On MoneySense Kyle did a very good job of Making Sense of the Week.

My two telcos were highlighed.

Canadian blue-chip telecommunication stocks Telus and Bell had predictably solid earnings announcements this week.

• Telus (T/TSX): Earnings per share of $0.27 (versus $0.26 predicted), and revenues of $4.96 billion (versus $4.89 billion predicted).
• Bell (BCE/TSX): Earnings per share of $0.85 (versus $0.77 predicted), and revenues of $6.05 billion (versus $5.99 billion predicted).

With earnings season in full flight, we have to check in with the week in review at Dividend Hawk.

At My Own Advisor, Mark looks at that mortgage decisions are renewal time – fixed or variable?

On Findependence Hub – do you really need an emergency fund?

On the Canadian commodities stock front, Dan at Stocktrades give us the top agricultural stocks to consider.

At FiPhysician, doc suggests that we look beyond instant gratification and find life’s balance.

Here’s what Fritz has learned from his retirement MasterMind Group.

Always a favourite for Cut The Crap Investing readers, Bob at Tawcan looks at his 2023 goals and resolutions.

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to drop a comment, or use that Contact Form to send a personal message.

And follow this blog, it’s free.

Cut fees as you cut out the crap investing …

Earn a break on fees by way of many of these partnership links.

CANADA’S TOP-RANKED DISCOUNT BROKERAGE

Cut the Crap Investing readers can earn a break on fees at Questrade by way of that partnership link. At Questrade, you can buy ETFs for free.

I have partnerships with several of the leading Canadian Robo Advisors such as Justwealth, BMO Smartfolio, Nest Wealth and Questwealth from Questrade.

Here’s Canada’s top-performing Robo Advisor, Justwealth.

Consider Justwealth for RESP accounts. That is THE option in Canada with target date funds that adjust the risk level as the student approaches the College or University start date.

CASHFLOWS & PORTFOLIOS

The self-directed investor might consider the service provided by Mark Seed from My Own Advisor. He runs Cashflows & Portfolios where they will provide options for that optimal retirement funding strategy. That service is provided for a very reasonable fee.

If you do head to Cashflow & Portfolios (as do many Cut The Crap Investing readers), be sure to tell them Cut The Crap Investing sent ya.

OUR SAVINGS ACCOUNTS

Make your cash work a lot harder at EQ Bank. RRSP and TFSA account savings rates are at 2.5% and 3.5%. You’ll find some higher rates on GICs, recently updated and increased to 3-5%. They also offer U.S. dollar accounts. We use EQ Bank, they have been awesome.

OUR CASHBACK CREDIT CARD

We make between $40 to $70 every month! And that’s on everyday spending. There are no fees with …

The Tangerine Cash Back Credit Card

Last month we received $45 in cash. Spending is down, yes! Less on gas, less on restaurants, less on groceries – our 2% cashback categories.

While I do not accept monies for feature blog posts please click here on the mission and ‘how I might get paid’ disclosures. Affiliate partnerships help me (try to) pay the bills for this site. That will allow me to keep this site free of ads and easy to read.