5 Canadian Companies Rewarding Investors With Dividends And Buybacks

Apple is out with Q2 results which are hardly inspiring. Revenue and sales beat, but margins missed and guidance is weak:

By Tim Plaehn: Last year - 2011 - I was writing short overview articles on stocks, covering the type of business with a light dose of analysis. I was doing the research and writing about up to 100 companies per month.

By Stephen Rosenman:Dividends are better than buybacks. The perfect example: two teen retailers, The Buckle (BKE) and Aeropostale (ARO).

By Robert Broens: Shares of Cummins (CMI) have risen some 4% so far this trading week. The diesel engine manufacturer announced a new $1 billion share repurchase plan on Tuesday. Good News Show Cummins announced the new program after completing its current $1 billion share repurchase program, approved in February of 2011.

CALGARY — Suncor Energy Inc. on Monday announced a 54% dividend hike, a $2-billion share buyback and better first-quarter operating earnings that were boosted by strong oil sands production and refining margins. Canada’s largest energy company says its quarterly dividend will rise to 20 cents per share from 13 cents. The dividend is payable June 25 to shareholders of record at the close of business June 4.

The future of Tim Hortons, one of this country’s most iconic brands, apparently rests on such Canadian classics as grilled panini and espresso-based specialty beverages. And the company that built its empire on convenience and ushering customers out the door quickly, is now hoping they’ll linger longer. To that end, big money is earmarked this year to refurbish 300 stores and a thousand drive through outlets. The baked goods and coffee giant has tinkered with its menu before.

By Robert Broens: This week, I will run you through the most important buyback announcements for the week of July 2nd till July 6th of 2012, which turned out to be a very quiet week in terms of buyback activity.

By A Bit of Value:Over the last year, it seems like more companies are opting for share buybacks or repurchases as the preferred mechanism to return capital to shareholders.Share buybacks are a surprisingly controversial way of returning capital to existing shareholders. Generally, though, an announcement of a share buyback is greeted with cheers among investors and market participants. It is not uncommon for the share price to increase in response to a buyback announcement.