Perhaps no other sector epitomizes the global hunt for yield as much as Australian real estate investment trusts (A-REIT). During the year ended February 12, the S&P/Australian Securities Exchange 200 Property Index posted a 37.1% total return in local currency terms.Even accounting for the 14% slide in the value of… Read More

Buying and holding high-quality companies—wherever they’re located on the map—is a tried-and-tested method of building wealth over the long term. Read More

When we put together the AE Portfolio in September 2011, we focused on top-quality dividend-paying stocks you could use to build long-term wealth.We started with eight companies, including both of this month’s Sector Spotlight subjects, Aggressive Holding GrainCorp Ltd. and Conservative Holding AGL Energy Ltd. (ASX: AGL, OTC: AGLNF, ADR:… Read More

GrainCorp Ltd. (ASX: GNC, OTC: GRCLF), Australia’s largest publicly traded agriculture firm, was a steady grower in the year after it debuted as a founding member of the AE Aggressive Portfolio in 2011.From September 26 of that year until late 2012, the stock posted slow but steady gains, capped by… Read More

The Reserve Bank of Australia has gone into crisis mode now that the country’s commodities boom appears to be over, but that shouldn’t affect investors looking to mine the rich dividends from many of the country’s premium companies. Yes, the overnight cash rate is now at 2.25% after the central bank… Read More

It’s going to be a tough year for Canada’s Big Six banks.The sharp decline in the price of oil has already led to significant reductions in capital spending plans in the exploration and production space, and that will likely lead to a slowdown in western Canada.It remains an open question… Read More

our New Aggressive Holding posted strong fourth-quarter and full-year earnings, and announced a double-digit dividend increase. Read More

We have another six dividend cuts in the Oil & Gas segment to report this month, including three repeat offenders, Canadian Oil Sands Ltd., Lightstream Resources Ltd. and Parallel Energy Trust.Canadian Oil Sands (TSX: COS, OTC: COSWF) actually updated its dividend cut. Management had previously announced a 42.9% reduction to… Read More

This month’s Best Buys are making big moves south of the border as the weaker Canadian dollar boosts the value of their U.S. sales.We expect these factors to drive both stocks—new Aggressive holding New Flyer Industries and new Conservative holding Algonquin Power & Utilities—to further outperformance in 2015. And both… Read More

The price of crude oil enjoyed a 20% spike from Jan. 28 to Feb. 3 and resumed a mini-uptrend over the past couple days. The Canadian dollar has bounced along with it, rising from a six-year low of 78.5 U.S. cents on Jan. 30 to 80.5 on Feb. 3.Is this… Read More