Leon's purchase

Today I purchased a chunk of Canadian furniture chain Leon's (LNF). The stock is so illiquid that I could see my 170 share purchase add to the running total for the day and I saw a chart blip with my name on it on Google Finance. I bought the shares at $9.88 and I will get the $0.20 per share special dividend that Leon's is paying out in December. I have to admit that I have been looking at the stock for a few years and I was surprised to see the valuation it has changed hands at in the last few months. The special dividend did catch my attention but I do think the shares are good value at 12.5x depressed earnings. Several retail stocks with inferior balance sheets to Leon's have much higher multiples in hopes of recovery. I think Leon's stock has room to run and management has navigated through tough times before.

I will be holding for the long term, with these as my primary reasons for purchase:

• 'Go to' name in Canadian furniture & appliances with large, well located, and well laid out new stores
• Always generate return on equity north of 15% and very low debt level
• Yielding 2.8% and have a solid history of dividend growth
• Conservative, family run, shareholder friendly business with room to grow with potential expansion in under-serviced markets in Western Canada

This now makes up 2.2% of my portfolio.

Sysco, Intel, Leon's dividend news

Food distribution powerhouse SYSCO (SYY) has raised it's dividend by 4% to $0.25 per share. This marks SYSCO's 160th quarterly dividend. As far as I can see SYSCO has raised their regular dividend every year since I was born in 1979.

I recently bolstered my position in SYSCO on June 15 of this year when the stock traded at $22.82. The stock now trades at $27.35 and yields 3.7%.

Another notable dividend raise came from chip maker Intel (INTC) who raised their dividend by 12.5% on November 16. That stock now yields 3.1%.

Leon's Furniture (LNF) issued a special dividend of $0.20 per share to celebrate their 100th year of business. Congrats to Leon's shareholders. I wish I had purchased Leon's during the downturn when it traded at $8.00, as I believe that it is a great Canadian business. The stock is trading at $10 per share with a yield of 2.80, a P/E of 12.5 and a debt/equity ratio of only 0.36. Sales and earnings have been down pretty significantly lately due to their sensitivity to the downturn.

net worth update, Nov 09

It's time to report my bimonthly net worth. I report my net worth on the moneygardener or around the 15th of May, July, September, November, January, and March.

Net worth results for the 2 Months Ended November 15, 2009:

• Debt/Asset ratio dropped to 0.47 from 0.48 (record low)

This is a measure of our financial health. Total debts divided by total assets. So currently for every $1 of assets that we have, we have $0.47 of debt. Back in May of 2006 our debt/asset ratio was a whopping 0.77. What is your debt/asset ratio?

• Net Worth gained 3.3% (record high)

Net worth is probably the best barometer of one's financial health. The recent financial crisis caused our net worth to drop by about 14% at one point. Since then our net worth has rebounded 37%. How has your net worth fared in 2009?

• Total Assets rose 1.3% (record high)
• Total Liabilities shrunk by 0.9%
• House Value/Total Assets fell to 62.8% (record low)

I like tracking this because it shows us how diversified we are. Our asset base is made up 62.8% by the value of our humble abode.

• Non-Registered Portfolio grew 3.4% (record high)
• Net Worth Calendar Year to Date Gain/Loss: +27%

2009 is shaping up to be a great year for our net worth. The year began amid the credit crisis and our net worth has grown leaps and bounds since then as the market has risen.

ADP dividend up 3%

Automatic Data Processing (ADP) reported better than expected fiscal first quarter earnings and hiked their dividend 3% to $0.34/share per quarter. This is the 35th year in a row that ADP has raised their dividend. Mounting unemployment in the U.S. continues to have an impact on ADP's revenues, as fewer workers for their clients means less fees to ADP.

ADP has forecasted EPS for fiscal 2010 to come in at about $2.37 per share. The stock is currently trading at 18.3x that forward earnings number and yielding 3%. The current dividend pay out indicates a pay out ratio of 57% on estimated 2010 earnings.

The stock is up 8% since I started a position in ADP inside my wife's RRSP. An interesting thing to note is that this stock seems to have really taken off despite the fact that US unemployment is at best flattening out. Could this be an indicator of the next 6 months to one year? Time will tell. If the job market turns up slower than expected, or stays at depressed levels, ADP could suffer.


* My wife owns shares of ADP in her RRSP.

Telus fails to raise dividend

Canadian telecommunications firm Telus (T.A) has failed to raise it's dividend for the first time in several years. Telus left it's quarterly dividend at $0.475/share for payment on January 4, 2010, the fifth straight quarter of this payment amount.

Some analysts believe that Telus is viewing 2009 as a year of investment in their business and they will resume dividend growth in 2010. Telus is striving to get ahead of the competition as they compete with Bell (BCE) and Rogers (RCI.B) among others including new potential entrants in Canada.

Telus announced earnings today that beat analysts estimates but were still virtually flat from last year at $0.88/share. They also lowered their full year sales and earnings outlook. The best analysts can say is that things don't seem to be getting any worse in the wireless area.