The Brightest Stars, November 2024

 

After the Presidential election in the US ... stocks, Bitcoin and Ethereum along with other crypto coins rose quickly. Trump, waiting in the wings to take over the reigns in the US is looked at as pro crypto but see what happens when he gets bogged down in the work to run the country.

Being an equity dividend investor, with the majority of my stocks in the top twenty in the TSX by yield, it's satisfying to see my portfolio up over 19% year to date. A steady rise since interest rates were cut by the Bank of Canada and the current deflating Trump hype that flowed over into Canada.

Many a stock I own do business with plans to build on that in the US like our Banks.

With ex-dividend dates in the last half of November, 2024 ... my insurance/financial stocks have reported decent quarterly reports like Manulife Financial. MFC, Sun Life, SLF and Great-West Life, GWO (Under the wing of the Power Corporation of Canada, POW). All worthy of further buying with GWO's ex-dividend date being on the 3rd of December. 

Also on the 3rd of December, Suncor Energy, SU has been in the news with CEO, Kruger working the energy company back into the money on higher earnings than expected and a better safety record. Suncor's yield is 4% at this time with a 4.59% dividend increase.

Algoma Central Corporation, ALC ... The Great Lakes shipping company is celebrating it's 125th year and below is one of the pictures entitled, The Darkest Nights Produce the Brightest Stars. in their recent newsletter.

Taken by Captain Buckmaster while sailing the American Narrows channel, NY aboard the Algoberta

Yesterday, I read a question and answer article from the Globe and Mail's, John Heinzl where I look forward to his monthly updates on his Yield Hog Dividend Growth Portfolio. 

Although, I've been following the Bitcoin scene since it started and like the game of buying low and selling high when I can, I'm not serious about it as I am my stock portfolio and seeking steady growth with income over time. Here is a snippet from that article. 

My portfolio is doing just fine without crypto, thanks

In the past year, most of the stocks in my model Yield Hog Dividend Growth Portfolio have posted double-digit gains, with several rising by more than half when dividends are factored in. These include Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC-T -0.39%), with a one-year total return of about 87 per cent through Nov. 14, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM-T -0.38%), up 78 per cent, TC Energy Corp. (TRP-T +0.58%), 62 per cent, Capital Power Corp. (CPX-T -2.96%), 60 per cent, and Royal Bank (RY-T -0.53%), 50 per cent. Sure, these returns trail the 135-per-cent gain in bitcoin over the past year. But, unlike bitcoin, these companies provide products and services that everyone uses, and they send me a chunk of cash every month out of the profits they make. I’m not worried that any of them will see their value cut in half. I can’t say the same about bitcoin. Nobody can.

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November, 2024 Earnings and Yield

 

The quarterly earnings reports for the stocks I own are decent so far with more to come for November, 2024. I can see how a company is doing compared to the quarter last year and this year. The introductory write-up has an overview of what's happening and plans for the future before the number crunching.

Enbridge, ENB has moved up in price since June of this year and besides expanding into the US with natural gas acquisitions, the company has plans to build pipelines from it's Main Line to service Western Canada where natural gas is at near storage capacity and oil is pumping as usual.

With an ex-dividend date of November 15th and a current yield of 6.49%, the latest news about Enbridge.

On Friday, Enbridge reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of $1.29-billion, up from $532-million a year earlier.

The company said the profit amounted to 59 cents a share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 26 cents a share in the same quarter last year.

Manulife Financial, MFC ... is on a pace to reach it's past record high so far this year gaining over 40%, yielding 3.89% at this time and remembering that yields go opposite to stock price. The ex-dividend date is not declared yet but I expect it to land on the 21st of November. 

Investors will probably scrutinise MFC's quarterly report to be released on November 6th to look for more good news hopefully and the ability to maintain it's dividend with growth.

In books and articles, some like to give the stock market a more human personal appeal calling it Mr. Market who will reward you and then turn on you like a Grinch, where greed and fear comes in with the stocks for some investors. Mr. Market will probably be cloned in the future, becoming a microchip driven AI learning and data machine, running 24/7.

That brings me to the Telecoms, which has been lumped in with Utilities in some ETFs. Both BCE and Telus, T, being large market cap companies, are slumping this year in price but so far ... maintaining their dividends with ex-dividend dates in December. With high debt loads due to infrastructure builds, the talk is these companies may be selling off some of their assets to get back to a sort of an even keel, which BCE has already started.

Interesting to see how their quarterly reports look like later this week and their forecast for the months ahead but I expect dividend growth with these 2 stocks to slow in the future or hold at current rates unless they can right their ships over the long term. Mr. Market is giving me a thumbs down and clawing back gains for now with these stocks so I'll hold on further buying but wondering what they will look like 3 to 5 years from now for long term holders. 

By the look of the charts, many investors are not waiting around to find out and look to move those funds into more promising stocks or ETFs. Not always an easy choice to make but some keen investors already have this mapped out before selling.

October was a good month for my stocks overall and see what effect the US Presidential election on Tuesday the 5th of November has on the US markets, which usually spills over into the Canadian market for the short term.   

Mid November, I'll be looking at the financial/insurance sector once again with Sun Life Financial, SLF and Great-West Lifeco in focus and further funding.