Wajax Income Trust

Today I purchased shares of Wajax Income Trust (WJX.UN) which meets one of my value screens.

Wajax Income Fund is a leading Canadian distributor and service support provider of mobile equipment, industrial components and power systems. The Fund was created to indirectly invest, on June 15, 2005, in substantially all of the assets and business formerly conducted by Wajax Limited.

Wajax has three core distribution businesses engaged in the sale and after-sales parts and service support of mobile equipment, power systems and industrial components, through a network of over 100 branches across Canada. Its customer base spans natural resources, construction, transportation, manufacturing, industrial processing and utilities.

My average cost per share was $34.06. Wajax has had increasing return on equity (ROE) for the past three years, has had increasing revenue for the past three years, is reasonably priced and increased its monthly payout to $0.33 ($3.96 annualized) for a yield of 11.6%. Today's closing price of $34.03 is 9.1% below its July high of $37.45.

The weakness of the stock price is the result of overall market decline plus news that earnings in the past quarter were a little weak. Had one-time items not been included, Wajax's earnings per share would have been marginally better than the same quarter in 2006.

Canadian Western Bank

Canadian Western Bank has passed my value screen and I decided to increase my holdings. As I focus on small and mid-cap stocks, I chose not to purchase any of the larger banks even though there seems to be a consensus that now is a great time to buy them.

Given the strength of the economy in western Canada, I believe that shares of CWB will outperform the big banks in the coming year.

Canadian Western Bank has 33 branch locations and is the only Schedule I chartered bank headquartered in and regionally focused on Western Canada. The Bank, which has total assets of $7.3 billion, specializes in mid-market commercial lending and offers a full range of retail services. Trust services to independent financial advisors, corporations, income trusts and individuals are also provided through the Bank's wholly owned subsidiaries, Canadian Western Trust Company and Valiant Trust Company. Canadian Direct Insurance Incorporated is a wholly owned subsidiary providing personal automobile and home insurance directly to customers in British Columbia and Alberta.

North West Company Fund

The North West Company is a leading retailer of food and everyday products and services to rural communities and urban neighborhoods across Canada and Alaska. The Company operates 203 stores under a number of trading names, including Northern, NorthMart, Giant Tiger and AC Value Center, and provides catalogue shopping services through its Selections catalogue in northern Canada.

While the TSX shed 222 points today, shares of North West Company Fund (NWF.UN) gained 0.78%. Shares of NWF.UN are currently yielding 4.2%, interim revenue is up 9.7%, interim ea/sh is up 15% and the P/S is 1.04.

From yesterday's press release: The North West Company Fund (TSX:NWF.UN) and Cost-U-Less, Inc. (NASDAQ:CULS) jointly announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which The North West Company will acquire Cost-U-Less, a leading operator of mid-size warehouse stores in remote island communities in Hawaii, the South Pacific and the Caribbean, for US $52.2 million, or US $11.75 per share in cash. Based on how well NWF.UN shares held up today, it appears that the market has reacted favourably to the announcement.

Late today, I added to my holdings of North West Company Fund.

Covestor

I recently learned about a new site called Covestor. The following information is taken from the Covestor site.

What is Covestor?
Covestor is:

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A real-trade sharing service for proven self-investors. To share your real investment decisions, gain recognition and earn fees by helping others
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Where all data is private, normalized and anonymous, and membership is free.

With Covestor, you can:

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Build a track record. Professional grade tools measure and display your normalized results. These validate your performance and build you a track record comparable to professional hedge funds. Our secure broker link makes it effortless to upload and update your holdings.
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Choose how widely to share your activity. You choose whether to share your track record publicly or just with other Covestor members. Covestor 'widgets' also let you export your verified performance and rankings to your personal blog. Members get free access to all Covestor profiles, transactions, and commentary.
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Get feedback and ideas from other Members. See what other members are investing in and why, in near real time. In addition you can benchmark your own performance, and see where you rank.
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Earn financial rewards. Covestor will be adding a regulated investment service. If you choose to be compensated you will receive an annual data fee for every follower you have. Find out more.


I have an account at Marketocracy.com but I can never earn a cent from it unless an investment firm offers me a position. With Covestor, the participants can earn money if their stock selections prove to beat the market and they acquire followers. I am considering joining.

Increasing Dividend Stocks

Following is a list of Canadian stocks which have had increased dividends for each of the past three years, have TTM earnings/share greater than the dividend/share, have enterprise multiples less than 9 and have positive interim revenue growth. The dividend yield is based on the closing price on August 17, 2007.

RiskGrade Update

I neglected to enter my cash holdings in RiskGrades earlier. Now that my cash holdings have been entered my RiskGrade is 62 which puts my holdings in the "Balanced Plan" category.

RiskGrades

I just became aware of the RiskGrades site which you will find here. After registering on the free site, you can enter your stock holdings and view a risk analysis of same. You can enter both Canadian and US stocks. As well as analyzing the risk of your assets, the site will also perform "What If" analysis. For example, it will calculate the theoretical loss your assets would incur if we experience another Black Monday.

I entered my stock holdings and learned that my portfolio has a RiskGrade of 82 and is 1.01 times as volatile as the S&P 500.