In Canada, newly elected Prime Minister, Mark Carney wants to make the country into a world powerhouse when it comes to energy and resources. I would certainly like to see that but as always, there's a lot of issues to sort out at home and internationally starting his term.
Alberta is the home to several of the oil, natural gas and pipeline stocks I own. Premier Smith is making noise since the election that she wants demands discussed and agreed upon or hinting at separating from Canada with a referendum and slowly getting people riled up about that. Certainly goes against a united Canada pushing back on the US tariff war however initial talks between Alberta and Carney seem to be off to a decent start.
Then there's meets with President Trump this month over tariffs which PM Carney says will take time, which was the main issue heading into the recent Canada Federal election.
Meanwhile, It's May and I have stocks I want to further buy marked in my ex-dividend calendar.
No hesitation here in buying more Enbridge, ENB.TO stock with it's current yield of near 6%, with a 3.01% dividend increase which kicked in on March's payout to stock holders.
Enbridge has a gain of 29.90% over the last year. I'm more into long term results on the stock charts than current.
Fortis, FTS.TO is highlighted in a Globe and Mail subscribed article dated April 24th about Canadian stocks with sustainable dividends that are near record highs.
FTS scores a 10 along with Metro, MRU.TO and Loblaw, L.TO which are Grocers and Pharmas I don't own at this time.
The scoring agenda is by TSI Network
- one point for five years of continuous dividend payments – two points for more than five;
- two points if it has raised the payment in the past five years;
- one point for management’s commitment to dividends;
- one point for operating in non-cyclical industries;
- one point for limited exposure to foreign currency rates and freedom from political interference;
- two points for a strong balance sheet, including manageable debt and adequate cash
- two points for a long-term record of positive earnings and cash flow sufficient to cover; dividend payments;
- one point for an industry leader
Fortis has an ex-dividend date of May 16th with a yield of 3.67% at this time with a 23% gain over the last year.
On that list AltaGas, ALA.TO scored an 8 and I'm seeing a lot of that company in news articles lately. Also hooking up with Keyera, KEY.TO (pipeline) I own to work together on infrastructure projects.
AltaGas gets 50% of its earnings from it's US business with a 3% yield. I added that stock to my Watchlist and decide on buying in June. The 5% dividend increases the past few years, got me interested as I look into the company further.
Near all time highs? Isn't that the worst time to buy? Where I buy monthly, I use dollar cost averaging so over time the highs and lows of stock buys tend to average out in he short term but ideally an investor wants to see a steady climb in price on the charts over the years.
The only other stock I follow and own is Algoma Central Corporation, ALC.TO that I plan to further buy in the first half of May. Algoma's stock yield is 5.2% with a yearly gain of 5.21% and recently increased their dividend by 5% on January 17th, 2025
Algoma is a 125 year old Great Lakes shipping company with a growing fleet of ships delivering a variety of products from oil, steel, cement and grain to name a few. Salt during seasonal times. International and domestic shipping.
With the US tariffs weighing on the company, the first quarter results were impacted according to their report but the company has been through political and economic issues many a time in the past and hopefully decent trade deals will be ironed out in the future.
Saint John, NB, April 28, 2025 – Irving Oil and Algoma Central Corporation (“Algoma”) (TSX: ALC) welcomed the first of two new product tankers into Saint John Harbour today. The vessels will service Canada’s largest refinery with deliveries to ports in Atlantic Canada and the U.S. East Coast. The vessels represent a total investment of $127 million by Algoma in partnership with Irving Oil.
In the second half of May, the financial/insurance companies I hold and highlighted as popular among investors in recent investor articles, have ex-dividend dates such as Manulife Financial, MFC.TO and Great-West Lifco, GWO.TO.
On the US side of my portfolio, JP Morgan Canada's JEPI.TO and JEPQ.TO price dipped with their varying monthly distributions from mid to the high 20's to the low 20's with the impact of President Trump's shake, rattle and roll moves while Tech investors confidence went sideways with tariff and related news but regained with Google and Microsoft reporting good numbers recently to start off US tech earnings for this year. Both ETFs gained in turn but I'm sure there's more turbulent times to come in the US.