Current Yields of Top Canadian Dividend Stocks

Posted by on

Last August I wrote an article about the Top Canadian Dividend stocks trading in the US markets.These stocks are part of the S&P TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index.

Since dividends account for 1/3rd of the total returns of the TSX Composite Index, it pays to keep an eye on the current yields.This is especially in times like this where many companies are suspending or reducing dividend payments. Fortunately not many Canadian companies have slashed dividends.

The following is the list of the 11 Canadian dividend stocks with the current yields:

1. Bank of Montreal – BMO
Dividend Yield – 10.80%

2. Bank of Nova Scotia Halifax – BNS
Dividend Yield -7.69%

3. Brookfield Properties Corp – BPO
Dividend Yield – 10.16%

4. Canadian National Railways – CNI
Dividend Yield – 2.41%

5.Canadian Natural Resources Limited – CNQ
Dividend Yield – 0.99%

6.Enbrdige Inc – ENB
Dividend Yield – 3.88%

7.Imperial Oil Ltd – IMO
Dividend Yield – 1.04%

8.Manulife Financial Corp – MFC
Dividend Yield – 7.66%

9.Royal Bank of Canada – RY
Dividend Yield – 7.01%

10.Sun Life Financial Serv Canada – SLF
Dividend Yield – 7.29%

11.Toronto-Dominion Bank – TD
Dividend Yield – 7.12%

Note: The above yield info. is as of Feb 25, 2009.

Disclosure: Long all four banks listed above and CNI.

A Look At The GlobalX Funds’ Colombia ETF

Posted by on

Last year investors welcomed a few frontier markets ETFs such as the MENA Frontier Countries (PMNA) by PowerShares, the Africa ETF (AFK) and the Gulf States ETF (MES) from Market Vectors and the Frontier Markets (FRN) from Claymore/BNY Mellon.These frontier market ETFs can be extremely volatile and are suitable for investors who can take high risks. Frontier markets can be defined as the ultimate wild west of the modern times.

One of the frontier markets is Colombia.Until recently there was no way to invest in Colombia via ETFs. Since only two Colombian ADRs trade in the US one could not get exposure to the major Colombian stocks easily. GlobalX Funds, a new ETF provider has launched the first ETF for Colombia.

The Global X/InterBolsa FTSE Colombia 20 ETF (GXG) seeks to track the performance of the FTSE Colombia 20 Index. The annual expense ratio is 0.86%.

The two ADRs – Ecopetrol(EC) and Bancolombia(CIB) comprise about 39% of the 2portfolio. Ecopetrol is the major petroleum company in Colombia and Bancolombia is a bank. Ecopetrol is the largest stock in the main stock market index called the ICBC index. It is also the most widely held stock and can be considered the Petrobras (PBR) of Colombia.

As the ETF started trading on Feb 5, there is not much information about the ETF such as the total asset held, yield information, etc. The factsheet for this ETF can be found here.

GlobalX has also filed for Argentina, Egypt, Peru, and Philippines ETFs. We will review those when they start trading.

Utility Stocks of the S&P ADR Index

Posted by on

The following are the utility components of the S&P; ADR Index:

1.Cemig-PN (Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais SA) – CIG
Current Yield: 4.38%

2.Copel -PNB (Companhia Paranaense de Energia SA) – ELP
Current Yield: 1.89%

3.Endesa-Chile – EOC
Current Yield: 0.71%

4.Enersis SA – ENI
Current Yield: 1.71%

5. National Grid plc – NGG
Current Yield: 4.26%

6. Transalta Corp. – TAC
Current Yield: 6.18%

7.Veolia Environnement – VE
Current Yield: 9.66%

The World’s Best Developed Market Banks 2009

Posted by on

The Global Finance magazine has announced this year’s winners for the best banks in 24 developed countries. Ireland and Iceland were left out from this contest.

As per the editors of this magazine “The winners of this year’s awards are those banks that attended carefully to their customers’ needs in difficult markets and accomplished better results while laying the foundations for future success. ” These banks were selected based on both objective and subjective factors.

The Objective factors used were:

  • Growth in assets
  • Profitability
  • Geographic reach
  • Strategic relationships
  • New business development
  • Innovation in products

The Subjective factors used were:
The Opinions of-

  • Equity analysts
  • Credit rating analysts
  • Banking consultants
  • Others involved in the industry

The Best Banks in the Developed Markets for 2009 are listed below. If the bank trades in the US, the ticker and current yield is shown.

A) North America
Bermuda – Butterfield Bank

Canada – Scotiabank (BNS)
Current Yield: 8.06%

United States – J.P. Morgan Chase(JPM)
Current Yield: 7.64%

B) Europe
Austria – Bank Austria

Belgium – KBC Group

Denmark – Danske Bank(OTC: DNSKY)
Current Yield: 26.14%

Finland – Pohjola Bank

France – BNP Paribas(OTC: BNPQY)
Current Yield: 17.57%

Germany – Commerzbank (OTC: CRZBY)
Current Yield: 42.09%

Greece – Eurobank EFG

Italy – Intesa Sanpaolo (OTC: ISNPY)
Current Yield: 25.54%

Luxembourg – Banque et Caisse dargne de lEtat

Netherlands – Rabobank

Norway – DnB Nor

Portugal – Banco Espirito Santo

Spain – Banco Santander(SAN)
Current Yield: 20.90%

Sweden – Handelsbanken

Switzerland – Credit Suisse (CS)
Current Yield: 9.98%

United Kingdom – HSBC (HBC)
Current Yield: 10.44%

C) Asia/Pacific and Middle East
Australia – Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Hong Kong – HSBC (HBC)
Current Yield: 10.44%

Israel – Mizrahi Tefahot Bank

Japan – Resona Holdings

Singapore – United Overseas Bank (OTC: UOVEY)
Current Yield: 4.26%

The original press release from Global Finance magazine can be found here.

Disclosure: Long BNS, STD, DNSKY

Foreign Bank Stocks: Red All Over

Posted by on

On Friday Feb 20th, US banks Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) fell heavily on huge volume due to nationalization fears. Bank of America fell to $2.53 before ending the day at $3.79 after the White House reassured investors that nationalization was not in the cards. Similarly Citibank closed at $1.95. BAC is down 73.08% so far this year and Citibank is off nearly 71%.

While the banks in the US are getting decimated, foreign banks are not immune either. In fact some of the global bank stocks have performed equally or even more worse than the US banks.

The following table shows the Year-To-Date (YTD) performance of global bank ADRs listed in the US organized exchanges:

[TABLE=137]

Chart:

Foreign Bank ADRs Year to DAte change

Note: All data as of Feb 20, 2008

As seen from the table and chart above, only two Chilean banks – Corpbanca(BCA) and Banco De Chile(BCH) are up this year. The Irish and British banks are the worst performing banks with huge losses.

Today The Times reports that RBS will be split into good bank and bad bank as part of a radical restructuring plan. Last month Ireland nationalized the Anglo Irish Bank but ruled out the nationalization of the other two banks – Bank of Ireland (IRE) and Allied Irish Banks(AIB). Overall banks in the developed world have performed worse than the ones in the emerging markets year to date.