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Stingy News: Norman Rothery

Graphing Dividends 2023
02/08/23 Dividends Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
Here's an update to my Graphing Dividends feature that corrects calculation errors that impacted the 2022 returns. My apologies for missing the bug the first time around. [pdf]

Be wary of extreme yields
01/29/23 Dividends Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Overall, returns tend to fall dramatically when yields reach extremely high levels."

The smaller stable dividend portfolio
01/17/23 Dividends Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"I used a combined injection of low-volatility and dividends on large stocks to form the Stable Dividend portfolio. This time around I'm using a similar approach to inoculate smaller stocks to form the, imaginatively named, Smaller Stable Dividend portfolio."

Asset Mixer Update
01/17/23 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our Asset Mixer to include real data for 2022.

Periodic Table Update
01/17/23 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our periodic table of annual returns for Canadians to include real data for 2022.

Asset Mixer Update
01/03/23 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our Asset Mixer to include nominal data for 2022.

Periodic Table Update
01/03/23 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our periodic table of annual returns for Canadians to include nominal data for 2022.

The Globe 250 Method
12/18/22 Value Investing Momentum Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Our star system combines two schools of investing with pedigrees that stretch back decades and that have been quite profitable in recent times. It starts with value investing principles, which favour profitable companies that trade at low prices relative to their fundamentals. Our system also employs techniques used by momentum investors, who like to buy recent winners."

The Globe 250 Megastars
12/18/22 Value Investing Momentum Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Our new Megastar ranking of Canada's largest publicly-traded companies evaluates each major stock on the TSX and awards two star ratings - one for its appeal to value investors and the other for its allure to momentum investors. We then focused on the 20 stocks with the best blend of value and momentum characteristics, which form our Megastar team."

The Screaming Value portfolio
11/28/22 Value Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"But the second graph puts the screaming into the Screaming Value portfolio because it shows how far it fell in down periods."

The Blended Momentum portfolio
11/14/22 Momentum Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Momentum shines when it comes to returns. It has outperformed over the very long term in nearly all major markets, across many asset classes and using a variety of different approaches."

The Dividend Monster portfolio
10/31/22 Dividends Momentum Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"I was working in the lab late one night, when I brewed up the frightfully profitable Dividend Monster portfolio, which mixes momentum with dividend investing."

The Frugal Dividend portfolio
10/23/22 Dividends Value Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The Frugal Dividend portfolio offers a crop of stable dividend payers trading at bargain prices. It's the value investing variant of the Stable Dividend portfolio"

The Stable Dividend portfolio
10/11/22 Dividends Value Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The recent tumble inspired me to check in on the Stable Dividend strategy to see how it's holding up in these uncertain times. It offers a conservative approach to picking stocks that focuses on Canadian dividend payers that are steady performers."

Spreads and recessions
09/25/22 Markets Bonds Economy Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"While the linkage between negative spreads and recessions appears to be strong in the U.S., it has been weaker in our home and native land."

TSX 60 for value investors
09/25/22 Value Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The low-P/E portfolio fared the best of the bunch with average annual gains of 10.8 per cent from the end of January, 2002, through to the end of last month. It handily beat the index by an average of about three percentage points a year."

Looking at 10-year returns
08/14/22 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"U.S. politicians should be singing Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees as the weight of 1970s-style inflation threatens to send them to the unemployment line."

Watching for a bottom
08/07/22 Bonds Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The economy is starting to fall. Its descent is promising to be like that of the space capsule in the movie Apollo 13. As it plunges, everyone is waiting with bated breath, hoping to see the parachutes deploy before it crashes."

Another bear. Oh, bother!
07/17/22 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Oh, bother! We've fallen into a mess of a bear market. But Pooh Bear is really concerned about the price of honey because his last visit to the supermarket was distressing."

Graphing Dividends 2022
02/25/22 Dividends Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"I've written many articles highlighting the big returns generated by Canadian dividend stocks. They usually include only one or two graphs due to space limitations. But I've given the extra graphs a home here for the enjoyment of dividend aficionados." [pdf]

Asset Mixer Update
01/03/22 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our Asset Mixer to include nominal data for 2021.

Periodic Table Update
01/03/22 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our periodic table of annual returns for Canadians to include nominal data for 2021.

Graphing Dividends
03/07/21 Dividends Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"I've written many articles highlighting the big returns generated by Canadian dividend stocks. They usually include only one or two graphs due to space limitations. But I've given the extra graphs a home here for the enjoyment of dividend aficionados." [pdf]

Where things stand in Canadian dividend land
02/28/21 Dividends Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The long-term results dramatically favour the high-yield portfolio, which climbed by an average of 13.5 per cent from the start of 1977 through to the end of 2020. The market portfolio gained an average of 10.1 per cent annually over the same period while the low-yield portfolio fared nearly as well with a 9.8-per-cent annual gain." [$]

Chou follows Buffett and Watsa
02/08/21 Value Investing Buffett Watsa Chou Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"I wish Mr. Chou well on his new venture and hope it proves to be a great success, much like Fairfax Financial or Berkshire Hathaway. But I admit that I'm not a disinterested observer. I own a stake in all three value-oriented companies. With a little luck they'll float higher over the long term." [$]

Book value bargains in the TSX
01/30/21 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"A portfolio of large stocks with the lowest 30 per cent of P/Bs gained an average of 12.9 per cent annually from the end of June, 1926, to the end of November, 2020. By way of comparison, the U.S. market gained an average of 10 per cent annually over the same period. Unfortunately, the low-P/B value portfolio disappointed in recent years. It gained just 9.4 per cent annually over the 10 years through to the end of November, 2020, while the market advanced by 14.6 per cent annually."

Asset Mixer Update
01/20/21 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our Asset Mixer to include real data for 2020.

Periodic Table Update
01/20/21 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our periodic table of annual returns for Canadians to include real data for 2020.

The value recovery
01/10/21 value investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The economic turmoil of the past year caused many companies to pause their share repurchase programs to conserve cash. But those with the ability, and guts, to continue buying their shares in hard times deserve a second look from investors because such firms have generally fared well over the long term." [$]

Asset Mixer Update
01/01/21 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our Asset Mixer to include nominal data for 2020.

Periodic Table Update
01/01/21 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our periodic table of annual returns for Canadians to include nominal data for 2020.

Selling in January
12/19/20 Marekts Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"This year's winners now face a dilemma. The lucky Scrooges with piles of capital gains fuelled by the manic market might want to lighten up on their high flyers before the eggnog runs out. But taxes can make the timing tricky. They can sell now and pay taxes this year, or wait and defer their taxes into the new year." [$]

Reversal stocks
12/05/20 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Pickings are slim in the bargain bin after the recent runup. Only 24 stocks in the S&P/TSX Composite Index suffered from declines of more than 25 per cent since the start of 2020 through to Nov. 30, while the other 198 stocks fared better with 122 of them gaining ground." [$]

Don't count out value
11/15/20 Value Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The announcement buoyed the market and value stocks in particular. I've been investing for almost three decades and don't remember a time when several of my stocks gained more than 20 per cent in a single day. But it happened on Nov. 9, when advances north of 5 per cent seemed to be the norm for value stocks." [$]

Moving average momentum
08/01/20 Momentum Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The moving-average portfolio gained an average of 10.4 per cent annually from the end of 1994 through to the end of June, 2020. It beat a buy-and-hold investment in the stock index, which climbed 7.8 per cent annually over the same period. The bond index fared reasonably well but lagged both with annual returns of 6.3 per cent." [$]

Asset Mixer Update
01/24/20 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our Asset Mixer to include real data for 2019.

Periodic Table Update
01/24/20 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our periodic table of annual returns for Canadians to include real data for 2019.

The power of reinvesting dividends
01/03/20 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The relative gains highlight the potential benefits of dividend reinvestment. The boost is so compelling that most investors like to use total returns rather than capital gains when studying the market." [$]

Asset Mixer Update
01/03/20 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our Asset Mixer to include nominal data for 2019.

Periodic Table Update
01/03/20 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our periodic table of annual returns for Canadians to include nominal data for 2019.

Sludgy advice
08/12/19 Behaviour Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Investors should be mindful that the application of behavioural technology can be used for both good and ill. Conscientious advisers will use it to help their clients, while others will use it on their clients to their detriment." [$]

The Frugal Dividend portfolio
06/26/19 Dividends Value Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Mixing a gin and tonic yields a satisfying summer drink. Combining investment ingredients can provide sunny returns. In that spirit, I'd like to introduce the Frugal Dividend portfolio. It adds a value investing twist to the Stable Dividend portfolio. The idea is to seek out low-volatility dividend stocks that trade at reasonable prices because the combination has worked well over the past 25 years." [$]

Dividends plus low vol
05/20/19 Dividends Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"the Stable Dividend portfolio, goes a step further. It starts with the dividend payers from the 300 stock portfolio and buys an equal amount of the 20 stocks with the lowest volatility (over the prior 260 days) each year. It fared even better with an average annual return of 13.7 per cent over the 25 year period." [$]

A bin of bargains
04/21/19 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The Canadian stock market is up 20 per cent from its Christmas Eve low. Despite the gain, it appears to be reasonably valued. Looking at the exchange sector by sector reveals a bin of bargains." [$]

Trying to time the market
02/12/19 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Trying to time the market might be tempting but it's failure-prone. Most investors should focus on the fundamentals instead." [$]

Solace for those retiring at a peak
01/28/19 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Investing in retirement can be nerve-racking. Take the wrong step and you might walk into the poor house. But a sensible approach can help you make it through the bad times." [$]

Buffett's wide-moat theory works
01/22/19 Buffett Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"While the no-moat portfolio won when it came to raw returns, it got those returns at the cost of a huge amount of volatility. It's a pattern that's fairly common when it comes to different stock picking (and market timing) strategies." [$]

Asset Mixer Update
01/18/19 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our Asset Mixer to include nominal and real data for 2018.

Periodic Table Update
01/18/19 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our periodic table of annual returns for Canadians to include nominal and real data for 2018.

Top 200 2019
01/08/19 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The Heroes have done well over the long term. They climbed by an average of 12.2% per year since we started way back in 2004 not including the dividends they paid along the way, which would have added a few percentage points to the total (Up until this year, it was published as the MoneySense All-Stars). The return assumes an equal dollar amount was put into each Hero in the first year and rolled into the new Heroes each year thereafter. By way of comparison, the S&P/TSX Composite (as represented by the iShares XIC exchange traded fund) climbed by 4.0% per year over the same period. The Heroes beat the market by an average of 8.2 percentage points per year."

Top 500 2019
01/08/19 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The U.S. Heroes have been on a roll since the crash of 2008. They surged 14.5% per year, on average, over the last 10 years while the market (as represented by the SPDR S&P 500 exchange traded fund) gained 10.2% annually."

Asset Mixer Update
01/02/19 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our Asset Mixer to include nominal data for 2018.

Periodic Table Update
01/02/19 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our periodic table of annual returns for Canadians to include nominal data for 2018.

Zombie stocks on the TSX
12/11/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The accompanying chart presents the picture. It highlights the returns of the S&P/TSX Composite Index, which generated compound annual returns of 6.8 per cent from the end of 1996 to the end of November, 2018. The second line shows the trajectory of what I.ll call the zombie portfolio, which contains stocks with negative EBITDAs. It lost an average of 4.4 per cent annually over the same period. Each dollar invested in the zombie portfolio decayed to just 38 cents whereas each dollar invested in the index grew to $4.26." [$]

Bundle up to escape visible volatility
11/26/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The markets are chilling investors this month. If you're worried about a deep freeze this winter, you might want to bundle up. In this case, bundling allows investors to shield themselves from the emotional pain of losses while still being able to profit from the market's upside. Sort of like having your hot cocoa and drinking it too." [$]

Simple trend following
11/12/18 Momentum Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"If you're like me and are as active a trader as a lazy cat is a mouser, you'll be content to watch the markets scurry to and fro. But those who are more active should perk up because Canadian stocks have underperformed over the past 12 months." [$]

Canada's top dividend stocks 2019
11/05/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The Dividend All-Stars have outperformed the market since we started way back in 2007. If you purchased an equal-dollar amount of each A-graded Dividend All-Star and rolled the proceeds into the new ones each year, you'd have gained a total of 207%, including dividends, since 2007."

Take the long view
11/01/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"the graveyards of the past provide a dose of solace for those who fear that the clammy hand of death will descend on their portfolios." [$]

Monstrous returns
10/15/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Shell out! Shell out! Halloween is fast approaching and income investors want their dividends. They have bowls of candy to fill for the little witches and goblins who are soon to arrive at their doors." [$]

High-yield small-caps
10/09/18 Dividends Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"the middle portfolio of medium-yielding (quintile) stocks grew at a compound annual rate of 14.1 per cent and outperformed the S&P/TSX Composite Index by an average of 6.6 percentage points per year." (Avoid the top and bottom yield quintiles.) [$]

Low-P/E in the DJIA
09/24/18 Value Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"It's easy to find simple stock-picking strategies that have outperformed the market for decades. One of the very simplest was highlighted way back in 1973 and has continued to trounce the market since then." [$]

Picking dividend growers
09/10/18 Dividends Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
Wherein I observe that dividend investors should avoid the intersection of high yield and high dividend growth. [$]

Beating the TSX
08/22/18 Dividends Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
Wherein I observe that dividend payers in the TSX beat the market by an average of 2.7 percentage points annually from 2001 to 2017 while non-payers trailed the market by 5.0 percentage points annually. But avoid the 5% of stocks with the highest yields that trailed the market by an average of 7.0 percentage points annually. [$]

7 strategies that walloped the market
08/07/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"For instance, the portfolio containing the 20 stocks with the lowest price-to-earnings ratios (P/E) in the index generated compound annual returns of 14 per cent over the 15-year period through to the end of 2017. It beat the index, which climbed at a 9-per-cent annual rate over the same period, by an average of five percentage points annually." [$]

Value investing for sunny outcomes
07/09/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"I recently indulged in my passion by focusing on back-testing concentrated value strategies using the S&P 500 index of large U.S. stocks." [$]

Momentum strategies have produced standout results
07/02/18 Stingy Investing Momentum Investing Norman Rothery
"Yet momentum investing works when practised rigorously and systematically. In fact, it has beaten the market over 211 years of U.S. stock market history, from 1801 to 2012, according to AQR Capital Management, which is based in Greenwich, Connecticut. It has also performed well in 40 other countries and for more than a dozen types of assets other than stocks. Heck, some researchers have found that momentum even works when it comes to trading baseball cards." [$]

The missing table
06/04/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"My Globe & Mail piece went out today with a missing table. The online article has been updated and the table itself is shown below."

Low P/E in the TSX 60
06/04/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The low-P/E portfolio would have gained an average of 18.4-per-cent annually over the 16 years through to the end of 2017. It beat the index by a whopping 10.7 percentage points per year on average."

A megastar mega gain
05/22/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Of the current megastars, Canfor Pulp Products Inc. (CFX) caught my attention owing to its astonishing advance over the past few weeks. Its stock is up 30 per cent since March, when it returned to the megastar team for the second year in a row. The Vancouver-based pulp and paper company is up a whopping 85 per cent since it first became a megastar last year." [$]

Coal contest
05/07/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Westshore's interesting position was put under the microscope in the final round of the Ben Graham Centre's International Stock Picking Competition, which promotes value investing to MBA students." [$]

The Top 1000
04/27/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Below are the 1,000 largest publicly traded Canadian corporations, as measured by assets. You can rank them by revenue, profit, assets or market cap using the drop down menu below. Tap a company name for more data, including a live stock price look-up." [$]

Meet the Top 1000 Megastars
04/26/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Not sure which Top 1000 companies to buy? We analyzed the data for you to arrive at a shortlist of 20 stocks. Last year's picks delivered a stunning 16.2% return" [$]

Value stocks during a soft patch
04/16/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Buying into a strategy like value investing, or a fund like that offered by Mr. Chou, is easy to do after a strong run. It's much harder after a weak period. But buying during a soft patch may lead to generous returns." [$]

The devil in the low-P/E details
03/27/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Value investors love to pick stocks with low price-to-earnings ratios and a wealth of studies back them up. But recent research indicates there might be a devil hiding in the details." [$]

All FAANGed up
03/12/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Drew Barrymore reprises her role as real estate agent turned bloodthirsty zombie in the second season of Netflix Inc.'s Santa Clarita Diet. New episodes of the dark comedy promise toothsome fare for fans of the show this month. While waiting, investors can think about sinking their teeth into Netflix and the other FAANG stocks." [$]

Most newspapers are going to perish
03/05/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Most newspapers are going to perish. It's just a question of when. That's the dour view of one of the smartest investors in the world and it bodes poorly for the purveyors of print." [$]

A better trend-following strategy
02/20/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The dual approach provides benefits, according to Philosophical Economics. It generated average annual returns of 12.7 per cent, from January, 1947, to November, 2015, with a volatility of 12.9 per cent. By way of comparison, the S&P 500 gained 11.2 per cent on average annually over the same period with a volatility of 14.5 per cent." [$]

A simple timing strategy
02/05/18 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"I've been eyeing escape pods - as an investor - for some time now. The U.S. market blasted through valuation levels seen at the 1929 market top in recent weeks. I outlined the dire situation using Prof. Robert Shiller's CAPE ratio (cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio) in early January" [$]

Asset Mixer Update
01/29/18 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our Asset Mixer to include real data for 2017.

Periodic Table Update
01/29/18 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our periodic table of annual returns for Canadians to include real data for 2017.

Market puts investors under the gun
01/08/18 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The U.S. stock market is trading at sky-high levels. So, you've gotta ask yourself one question. Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya? I'll be exploring that question after I briefly apologize for appropriating Clint Eastwood's lines from his 1971 movie Dirty Harry." [$]

Asset Mixer Update
01/04/18 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our Asset Mixer to include nominal data for 2017.

Periodic Table Update
01/04/18 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our periodic table of annual returns for Canadians to include nominal data for 2017.

A Hogtown carol
12/23/17 Christmas Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"You'll find freedom at the end of the line. Just take the train past the grey tenements of Toronto to the airport. Then you're only a ticket away from a tropical paradise where the slush-plagued streets of Hogtown are a distant memory. That is, if you can afford the trip. Get off the train a stop too early and you'll find yourself in one of the poorest parts of the city. There the landscape is littered with dollar stores and payday lenders wedged between vacant storefronts and soon-to-be demolished buildings. It's the home of the city's Cratchits who live among the fumes of the nearby railroads, highways and airplanes that usher the well-to-do to better places."

Top U.S. small caps
12/11/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"We're pleased to present the fourth edition of the Small Cap 500. Join us as we dive into the U.S. market to find the most promising small stocks in the land. Each stock is scrutinized and ranked based on its value and growth characteristics. The firms that score highly on both tests make it into our All Star team."

Microcap vertigo
12/11/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"If volatility makes you woozy or you're prone to panic during downturns, then microcaps should be avoided in much the same way as an acrophobe avoids sitting next to windows in tall buildings." [$]

Two heads might be worse than one
11/20/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Money manager Lou Simpson recently talked about the negative correlation between the number of people making an investment decision and the results. He noted that if a lot of people are involved, the tendency is for the least competent person to effectively make the decision when a consensus is required." [$]

Inspired by valour
11/11/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"You'd have done well to have followed his advice in 2013 when he recommended General Communication Inc. (GNCMA). The Alaska-based integrated telecommunication company benefited from a recent takeover offer and is on track to be acquired by Liberty Interactive. The stock was recommended at $9.76 per share and it recently closed at $40.36. Those who held it over the period gained a whopping 314 per cent, which translates into an annualized return of 43 per cent. It was a big winner for Mr. Smith who recently sold his stake in the firm." [$]

Top 200 Canadian Stocks
11/06/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"We're pleased to say that our track record has been highly profitable over the years. Our All Stars climbed by an average of 14.6% per year since we started in 2004, not including dividends. That assumes an equal dollar amount was put into each All Star stock in the first year and rolled into the new All Stars each year thereafter. By way of comparison, the S&P/TSX Composite (as represented by the iShares XIC exchange traded fund) climbed by 4.8% per year over the same period. The All-Star stocks beat the market by an average of 9.8 percentage points per year."

Top 500 U.S. Stocks
11/06/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The U.S. All Stars have been on a roll since the crash of 2008. They surged 16.6% per year, on average, over the last nine years while the market (as represented by the SPDR S&P 500 exchange traded fund) gained 10.9% annually. Over the last five years the All Stars advanced by an average of 16.3% per year and beat the market which climbed 12.6% per year."

The monster portfolio
10/30/17 Momentum Investing Dividends Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"But if investing in solid stocks bores you to tears and you're willing to take on more risk for the slim possibility of gigantic rewards then I might have the just thing for you." [$]

A succulent value strategy
10/07/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
Summary: Picking low multiple stocks (book value, earnings, cash flow, sales) from the S&P/TSX Composite worked over the last 15 years. Book value provided marginal gains vs the market while the others fared much better. Low-P/CF fared the best. [$]

Top dividend stocks
09/25/17 Dividends Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"We're pleased to present you with the eleventh edition of the MoneySense Dividend All-Stars. It serves up a new crop of the best blue-chip dividend stocks in Canada while harvesting a decade's worth of gains."

Strategy Lab ends
09/23/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"What our four successful investors shared was a dedication to not doing stupid things: They didn't bet everything on one or two stocks; they didn't chase hot performers; they didn't trade frequently." [$]

Not a single loser
09/23/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"I'm pleased to say that my crop of value stocks has gained 95 per cent since the portfolio was planted five years ago. It raked in a 14.2-per-cent compound annual return over the period." [$]

Low-P/E value
09/17/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The low-P/E method sported an average annual gain of 18.59 per cent and outperformed the index by a stunning 11.1 percentage points on average annually." [$]

Small value stocks
07/23/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"I recently cast my line into the pool of small company stocks in an effort to land a few generous dividend payers that trade at modest earnings multiples." [$]

Deep value
07/16/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The portfolio of 30 low-multiple stocks sported a compound annual growth rate of 19.1 per cent from the start of 1999 through to June 16, 2017. By way of comparison the S&P/TSX composite total return index climbed by just 4.7 per cent annually over the same period." [$]

Top 1000 Preview
06/29/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Think about how you'd go about ranking all of Canada's largest stocks for their investment appeal. It's a daunting task. I've been doing it, in various publications, for more than a decade. While there have been a few bumps along the way, the overall results have been more than satisfactory."

Top 1000
06/29/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"This year, in addition to presenting all of the raw data, we're introducing a new stock rating system that does a lot of the number crunching for you, narrowing down the field to the stocks that offer the most promising opportunities." [$]

Top 1000 list
06/29/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The companies listed here are the 1,000 largest publicly traded Canadian corporations, as measured by assets. You can rank them by revenue, profit, assets or market cap using the drop down menu below. Tap a company name for more data, including a live stock price look-up." [$]

Not dead yet
06/26/17 Value Inveting Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Dead, or just pining for the fjords? That's the debate at the heart of Monty Python's parrot sketch. In it, hilarity ensues when a pet-shop keeper tries to convince a customer that the parrot they purchased was, in fact, not an 'ex-parrot'. A similar debate is currently being held among investors when it comes to value investing. After a decade of poor, relative returns, many people figure that value investing is pushing up the daisies while others cling to the belief that it's just resting." [$]

Branching out in search of value
05/28/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Investors should also look up from their portfolios, from time to time, to gauge the state of the market. To do so it is useful to break down the market by sector to see which ones are faring the best and where there are bargains to be found." [$]

Chasing dividend growth
05/21/17 Dividends Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Income-oriented investors love stocks that have a habit of growing their dividends. I confess to being one of them because I've done extraordinarily well by buying such stocks when the market gets a little panicky." [$]

Ben Graham MBA contest for 2017
05/07/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"In a narrow victory, the team from Saint Mary's - and my personal favourite - got the top prize of $10,000. A big congratulation goes to Bill MacGregor, Morris MacLeod and Dev Jyoty Nath who earned the first-place award. Unfortunately for the bulls, they rated Sabre as a strong 'no-buy.'" [$]

The market timing myth
04/23/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"I found myself pondering bad behaviour after being drafted as a possible juror for a murder trial. To escape from the drudgery of waiting for the judge to make his way through the pool of prospective jurors, my mind turned to the accusation that investors are poor market timers." [$]

The permanent portfolio
04/02/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Investors rushed to rediscover the permanent portfolio after suffering from painful losses caused by the crash of 2008. It promises a soothing combination of relative safety and reasonably good returns." [$]

Simple asset allocation
03/26/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Providing good advice to investors that have relatively little money has always been a tricky affair. After all, the price of a good adviser can be too high for those of modest means. In practice, small investors find themselves left to their own devices or paying through the nose for the little advice they can get." [$]

Valeant's rise and fall
03/19/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Bill Ackman recently dumped his fund's stake in Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., which ended a distressing period for his investors. While it might be tempting to use the opportunity to wallow in an ocean of schadenfreude, it's more useful to step back and to try to learn from his misfortune." [$]

A hard pill for savers to swallow
02/19/17 Taxes Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"There are no sure things in this world except death and taxes but, with a little luck, medical advances will allow death to take a long sabbatical. News on the tax front isn't as encouraging because rumours are rife that the upcoming federal budget will punch savers right in their portfolios." [$]

The brain-bending world
02/05/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"A new performance measurement is beginning to appear on brokerage statements in Canada. It's called a money-weighted return and it has the potential to cause a great deal of confusion." [$]

Value by sector
01/22/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"When it comes to fishing for stocks, value investors are skating on thin ice because the bargains they desire are disappearing as the markets warm. To find the few bargains that remain it is useful to take a step back, consider the market as a whole, and drill down into different sectors." [$]

Speculating on 2017
01/06/17 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"As we head into the new year, it.s only natural to speculate about what it has in store for us. 2017 is shaping up to be an interesting one on many fronts, but my task today is to focus on the markets from the value investing point of view." [$]

Asset Mixer Update
01/06/17 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our Asset Mixer to include nominal data for 2016.

Periodic Table Update
01/06/17 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our periodic table of annual returns for Canadians to include nominal data for 2016.

Long-term losers
12/17/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Racing to the bottom is something investors don't like to do when it comes to the markets. They tend to avoid stocks that have fallen over the course of many years. Last December, I highlighted 10 Canadian stocks that had shrivelled to less than one-tenth of their 10-year highs." [$]

Slice and dice
11/27/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Last week, our American cousins celebrated Thanksgiving. A great many turkeys were sliced up for the occasion and each gobbler consumed their favourite bit. Similarly, stock pickers slice up the market and invest in companies they expect to provide the most succulent returns." [$]

Top 200 Canadian Stocks for 2017
11/17/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"We created the MoneySense All-Star Stocks guide 12 years ago to help point you to some of the best Canadian stocks on offer. This year we have once again crammed it full the information investors love, including All-Star teams from both Canada and the U.S. We weigh up the merits of each of the largest stocks in both countries and our All-Star teams contain those with the best growth and value characteristics."

Top 500 U.S. Stocks for 2017
11/17/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The 12th annual MoneySense U.S. All-Star Stocks guides investors to the best U.S. equities on offer. It compiles a buffet of facts and figures on the 500 largest stocks in the U.S. and boils everything down into easy-to-use letter grades. As with their Canadian counterparts, the stocks with the most growth potential and value appeal are promoted to the All-Star team."

The value of momentum
11/13/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"A great chasm exists between value investors and momentum investors. The former like to hide behind huge corporate walls and deep moats while the latter take direction from the mob and go along for the ride. As a result, they inhabit very different corners of the market." [$]

2 Graham Stocks for 2017
11/01/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"If you had purchased an equal dollar amount of each Graham stock in the first year and replaced them with the new crop of stocks each year thereafter, you would have turned $1,000 into $10,140. In comparison, $1,000 invested in an S&P 500 exchange traded fund (NYSE:SPY) would have grown to just $2,090. Translated into percentage terms, the Graham stocks gained 914% (16% annualized) over the full period while the S&P 500 ETF moved up 109% (5% annualized)."

The salary class
10/29/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"A few years ago he gave investors a second choice that proved to be even more popular. Investors in the ROMC Fund 'salary series,' pay Mr. McLean a flat annual salary for his services. As a result, the fractional fee they pay declines as the fund's assets rise, which is highly unusual. Indeed, it is - as far as I can tell - unique for a Canadian hedge fund." [$]

Dividend All-Stars 2016
10/29/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"We're pleased to say that our efforts have also been highly profitable over the long term. If you had purchased an equal dollar amount of each A-graded stock in your RRSP and rolled the proceeds into the new ones each year, you'd have gained a total of 148% since we started back in 2007. Similarly, a portfolio of A and B stocks would have climbed 88%. By way of comparison, the S&P/TSX Composite ETF (XIC) logged a return of 39% over the same period while the Select Dividend ETF (XDV) advanced 50%."

The trouble with 4 per cent
10/16/16 Retirement Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"while simple asset allocations proved to be strong relative performers, the study found the 4-per-cent rule wanting when tested in international markets. Even worse, it did not include the corrosive impact of taxes, fees and other frictions investors face." [$]

Buyback yield
10/09/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Canadian investors love dividend stocks. But income seekers should look beyond a company's dividend yield to other factors that can enrich - or impoverish - shareholders." [$]

Top dividend stocks of 2016
10/09/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"We're hard at work on this year's Dividend All-Stars, which grades the largest 100 dividend stocks in Canada. As a preview, I thought you might be interested in a few highlights and some behind the scenes data to whet your appetite for the next issue of the magazine."

Learning to live with low returns
09/25/16 Bonds Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The bond market has been on a multidecade bender. But the party is close to an end and the hangover could last for years." [$]

The pleasures of the bargain bin
09/04/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Strategy Lab celebrates its fourth anniversary this month. The lab features four fundamental investment strategies and it has been my pleasure to head up the value investing effort, which is devoted to stocks in the market's bargain bin." [$]

Tips for novice investors
07/03/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"MoneySense's Invest for Success event brings people together with investing experts to hear their hard-worn advice. Here's advice from presenter Norm Rothery, founder of StingyInvestor.com, on how to avoid first-time investing mistakes." [video]

Equally weighted
06/11/16 Indexing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The idea of heading to the beach has some of us indulging in a little last-minute dieting in an effort to shave off a few pounds before hitting the water. Weight also matters to investors when it comes to how they divvy up their portfolios." [$]

The Top 200 Canadian Stocks for 2016
06/03/16 Value Investing Growth Investing Dividend Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"In other words, the All-Star Stocks beat the market by an average of 11.4 percentage points per year."

The Top 500 U.S. Stocks for 2016
06/03/16 Value Investing Growth Investing Dividend Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"We're very pleased to be able to say that the U.S. All-Stars have outperformed over the last decade - despite getting off to a rocky start. Indeed, they bested the market over the last one, three, five, seven and 10 years, with particularly strong relative gains more recently."

Retirement 100: Fall 2015
05/27/16 Dividends Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"We're pleased to say that our efforts have been highly rewarding since we started way back in 2007. Our A-graded stocks have gained 117% on average since then, including dividends reinvested annually. Similarly, the A- and B-graded stocks have climbed 67%. By way of comparison, the S&P/TSX Composite Index ETF (XIC), which tracks the broad Canadian stock market, logged a return of 25% over the same period and the dividend-oriented iShares Canadian Select Dividend ETF (XDV) advanced 35%."

3 Stingy Stocks for 2016
05/27/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"I'm pleased to say that the Stingy Stocks have gained an average of 13.9% per year since 2001. By way of comparison, the S&P500 (as represented by the SPY ETF) climbed 6.4% per year over the same period. The Stingy Stocks beat the index by an average of 7.5 percentage points annually."

5 Graham Stocks for 2016
05/27/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"If you had purchased an equal dollar amount of each stock in the first year and replaced them with the new crop of stocks each year thereafter, your portfolio would be up a whopping 898% (17% annualized) over the full period. On the other hand, index investors who bought and held the S&P 500 exchange traded fund (NYSE:SPY) gained 86% (4% annualized) over the same time frame."

Springtime for value?
05/22/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Gardeners are busy planting seeds in the hopes that, with a little luck and more than a little effort, they'll enjoy a bountiful harvest this fall. But, when it comes to the markets, value stocks are still locked in the deep freeze" [$]

Sell in August
05/14/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The stock market has its seasons. Bears come out in the summer and party in the fall while bulls start their run in the winter and plow on into the spring. It's an ebb and flow that can impact index investors and value investors alike." [$]

Are you ready for the Hot Potato?
04/24/16 Momentum Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The Global Hot Potato portfolio, rebalanced monthly, gained an average of 16.7% per year from the start of 1981 to the end of 2015. It beat the classic Couch Potato by a whopping 6.7 percentage points annually."

Hot Potato Q&A
04/24/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"I highlighted an active approach to index investing in 'Are you ready for the Hot Potato?', which appeared in the April 2016 edition of MoneySense. The article generated a lot of discussion and I'm going to address a few questions about it from readers today."

Publicis put to the value test
04/24/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Publicis Groupe was put under the microscope during the final round of the Ben Graham Centre's International Stock Picking Competition. Three teams of students dissected the advertising company and weighed its suitability as a value investment." [$]

A flock of value investors
04/10/16 Chou Watsa Value Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"A flock of value investors from across North America will land in Toronto this week to hear what Prem Watsa, the CEO of Fairfax Financial, has to say at his firm's annual meeting. But they should think about one of the company's investments on their way there." [$]

Worth a second read
03/28/16 Books Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"It's time to re-examine the notion that bookstores are dead and to give Indigo Books & Music Inc. a second look." [$]

Dividend cut hangover
03/13/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Shareholders can be excused for reaching for a drink after consuming the latest report from Liquor Stores N.A. Ltd. The alcohol retailer delivered a giant quarterly loss this week and followed it up by cutting its dividend to one-third of its former level." [$]

A value catch
02/28/16 Value Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Bargain hunters have profited handsomely by buying Canadian dividend stocks at low price-to-sales and price-to-earnings ratios. It's a big reason why I went fishing for such stocks this week." [$]

Stock cannibals
02/21/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Cannibals can be found beyond the silver screen and a few lurk in the stock market, where self-cannibalism goes down well with investors. These aren't a bunch of modern-day Sweeney Todds who grind up redundant employees and stuff them into pies. Stock cannibals simply eat their own shares."

Embrace your inner ostrich
02/14/16 Behaviour Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"take two deep breaths, save a little more, and stick to your long term plan."

Asset Mixer Portfolios
02/07/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
The Asset Mixer portfolios of index funds and ETFs have been updated to reflect recent annual fee data (MER)

Asset Mixer Update
02/07/16 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our Asset Mixer to include inflation-adjusted data for 2015.

Periodic Table Update
02/07/16 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our periodic table of annual returns for Canadians to include inflation-adjusted data for 2015.

The simplest way to select stocks
01/31/16 Graham Value Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The stock market can act like a demented Rube Goldberg machine designed to confound investors. But clear away the complexity and it offers some simple methods that perform surprisingly well over the long run. One was revealed by the late Benjamin Graham in a 1976 article called The Simplest Way to Select Bargain Stocks. The famous money manager calculated that his method would have generated 15-per-cent average annual returns over the prior 50 years." [$]

2016 bank stock-picking contest
01/17/16 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"As uncertainty abounds it's time to test your stock-picking prowess in my third annual big bank stock contest. All you have to do is figure out the best, and the worst, of the Big Six Canadian banks to invest in this year." [$]

Asset Mixer Update
01/09/16 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our Asset Mixer to include nominal data for 2015.

Periodic Table Update
01/09/16 Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
We've updated our periodic table of annual returns for Canadians to include nominal data for 2015.

A value investor's view on 2016
01/01/16 Value Investing Indexing Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"While it might be easy to think that the end is nigh during a soft patch, odds are good that the markets - and value investing in particular - will fare well over the long term. After a dry spell, it's important for value investors to stick to their guns in the new year." [$]

These sliders might get a grip
12/13/15 Value Investing Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"It's almost time to pull the toboggan out of storage and head to the hills for a little winter fun. After all, there's something special about speeding downhill on a crisp winter day. But going downhill is something stock investors fear and they've been taken on an infernal toboggan ride this year." [$]

The season for tax-loss selling
11/29/15 Taxes Value Investing Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"We're quickly approaching the season for feasting on figgy pudding and watching Ebenezer Scrooge have a change of heart. It's also a charitable time of year for value investors who lend a helping hand to people who desperately want to sell their shares for tax reasons." [$]

Top 200
11/15/15 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"We're pleased to say our approach has weathered both good times and bad over the past 11 years. Our All-Star Stocks, which combine the best growth and value prospects, gained 15.8% per year on average since we started in 2004. That assumes an equal dollar amount was put into each All-Star Stock in the first year and rolled into the new All-Stars each year thereafter. By way of comparison, the S&P/TSX Composite (as represented by the XIC exchange-traded fund) climbed 4.4% per year over the same period." [$]

Reassurance for dividend investors
11/15/15 Dividends Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The spectre of rising interest rates hangs like a miasma over the Canadian economy. They're currently being warded off by an accommodative monetary policy from the Bank of Canada. But it is only a matter of time before inflation picks up and rates start to climb. If they shoot up too fast, the real estate bubble might pop and take down a large part of the financial system with it. It's a thought that's causing some dividend investors to toss and turn at night." [$]

Take advantage of the market
10/30/15 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
The slides from my talk at the The World MoneyShow in Toronto

It's time to reap the season's dividend treats
10/30/15 Dividends Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The high-yield group outperformed the market by an average of 2.2 percentage points annually, which represents a considerable bonus for a very simple strategy. On the other hand, the no-dividend group suffered mightily and lagged the market by an average of 7.3 percentage points annually. As a result, investors should think twice before buying stocks that don't pay dividends."

The ability to suffer
10/18/15 Value Investing Funds Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"The capacity to suffer for a good cause is admired in heroes. But it also happens to be a quality that money manager Thomas Russo, of Gardner Russo & Gardner, looks for when selecting stocks. He's a devotee of Warren Buffett and seeks out high-quality businesses - that can withstand a few sword fights - with the view to holding them for the long term." [$]

Style swapping
10/04/15 Value Investing Growth Investing Indexing Markets Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"It's been a hard year for Canadian value investors. Those who wisely steered clear of the resource sector might be down only a little bit. But others will have to do some belt tightening this Thanksgiving." [$]

What's in it for your adviser?
09/20/15 Brokers Bonds Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"If you stick to a fairly conservative mix of Canadian bonds - like that offered by the Vanguard Aggregate Bond ETF - you'll likely get similar yields on a before-fee basis. Thing is, the average annual fee for the portfolio I was looking at was 2.1 per cent. Subtract the fee from the expected yield of 1.9 per cent and the investor might expect to lose about 0.6 per cent annually on the bonds. That's not much of an investment." [$]

Three years of Strategy Lab
09/13/15 Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Pundits and analysts like to give the impression there's only one sure path to investing Nirvana. In fact, many techniques can result in bliss, as evidenced by the healthy gains achieved by all the Lab portfolios."

Keep calm
09/05/15 Markets Behvaiour Stingy Investing Norman Rothery
"Smart investors stay on course even when the going gets tough. They fully expect to encounter hardship on occasion and can stick with their time-tested strategies over a complete market cycle. In other words, they stay calm and carry on." [$]

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