The Canadian Dividend Hunt

North of the border, Canadian stocks are quietly continuing to return healthy profits to investors of that land. And for those who enjoy hunting dividends as much as they do moose and caribou, the pickings in the Great White North are as good as they've ever been. Below, we highlight a few Canadian companies with long and sound dividend histories that are, at present, offering healthy yields.

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Great Canadian Stock Picks
First Capital Realty (TSE:FCR) develops and operates supermarket and drugstore-anchored neighborhood and community shopping centers and currently pays investors an annual dividend of 7.4%. Dividends have been increased on the stock annually for 15 straight years.

The company's shares are up almost 20% since bottoming on March 10, making for a current market cap of $1.6 billion. Until last month, the company maintained an interest in 327 properties across Canada and the United States, but chose formally to spin off its American holdings in a deal that seeks to maximize shareholder value for both operations. FCR is Canada's fourth-largest real estate operating company by revenue, with annual receipts of nearly C$420 million.

Streaming Profits
Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. (TSE:MBT) is one of Canada's largest providers of telecommunications services, by revenue. It achieved this by averaging a 21% growth rate annually over the last five years, and has passed it on to investors in the form of a 22.57% dividend growth rate over the same period - twice the rate of the S&P 500.

Sales of the company's MTS Allstream technology have been strong recently, as more businesses become aware of the cost savings available from its unique IP trunking system. Essentially, the technology allows businesses to consolidate all their communications into one internet protocol "backbone", thereby reducing the number of systems required and their costs. Manitoba Telecom stock currently pays a robust 7.5% annual dividend.

Tell Us All About It
Telus Corporation (NYSE:TU) is one higher on the Canadian telecom pecking order than Manitoba Telecom, with annual revenues of C$9.6 billion. The company's stock trades with a trailing, one-year earnings multiple of 8.4 times and a dividend yield of 6.2%. Investors in Telus stock have earned an average total return of 8.28% over the last five years.

And for those wondering if the stock is still a buy, two important metrics of value would indicate in the affirmative: price to book is a reasonable 1.33 and price to sales is 1.

The Wrap
Canada is offering investors some strong stocks with healthy dividends and solid fundamentals; the above three names are a great starting point for income hunters to begin their search. (To learn more about what moves the markets in Canada, check out Canada's Commodity Currency: Oil And The Loonie.)


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