GM expects pretax profit improvement in 2013 and this year despite restructuring costs + MORE Jan 15th

DETROIT – General Motors expects pretax earnings to improve modestly this year, offset by $1.1 billion in European restructuring costs.
The Detroit-based company also said pretax earnings and revenue were up in 2013 thanks to the launch of new vehicles like the Cadillac ATS.
The automaker earned $8.4 billion before taxes on $152 billion in revenue in 2012. The company releases 2013 earnings next month.
GM’s new president, Dan Ammann, and new chief financial officer, Chuck Stevens, discussed the outlook Wednesday at a Deutsche Bank conference in Detroit.
GM says it expects global industry sales to grow by about 2 per cent this year, to more than 85 million vehicles. It’s opening four new plants in China through 2015 to keep up with that growth.
GM shares fell 39 cents to $39.63 in premarket trading about an hour before the market open.
The post GM expects pretax profit improvement in 2013 and this year despite restructuring costs appeared first on Canadian Business.

MONTREAL – Osisko Mining Corp. (TSX:OSK) says a hostile takeover bid for the company by Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) is “very low” and opportunistic.
Osisko says its board is committed “to delivering superior value for shareholders and all stakeholders” and will pursue all initiatives to that end.
The company urged shareholders to hold off from accepting the $2.6-billion offer until the board makes a recommendation on the proposal.
The board has formed a special committee including five independent members to review the offer.
Osisko shares have traded well above the $5.95 implied value of the Goldcorp offer since the stock-and-cash proposal was first announced.
Analysts have suggested that Goldcorp will have to raise its offer if it wants to close the deal.
The post Osisko says Goldcorp takeover offer is very low, directors will seek better deal appeared first on Canadian Business.

I wish this was a post where I could give you an exact answer, but it’s not. Increasingly, I’m struggling to get a strong opinion about Google’s (GOOG) stock. I do know that I LOVE what they’re doing. They have incredible products that I use all the time and are working on moonshots (self-driving cars, balloons, top ISP, etc) that could transform our way of living. I have no doubt that Google will be a major tech company for decades longer. I also think that from that perspective, the return of Larry Page as CEO was the best thing that could have happened.
There is a big difference between a great company and a fast rising stock price though.  In the end, for Google to be worth its current investment, the revenues and profits will need to increase significantly over the next few years. Let’s start off by looking at Google’s numbers:

TickerNamePriceEPSPE RatioPE Next YearReturn YTDSales GrowthAnalyst ratingBook ValueBetaRevenue/ShareSales 5Y Avg GrowthEPS 5Y Avg Growth

GOOGGoogle Inc1122…

In September 2011, I did some in-depth research to find long term sustainable dividend stocks and have been doing updates on this Ultimate Sustainable dividend portfolio since then in the attempt to show how well such a portfolio can perform over the long term. I would personally say that things have been going very well and will certainly continue to evolve. I do have a few more things planned which I will discuss in the near future.
The USDP is obviously a critical part of my now very public quest to replace my job income with passive income. you can see my most recent update here.
Things continue to go very well for the USDP which I’m thrilled to see. The months of December and January are always slow in terms of news but as long as things continue to go well, I can’t complain. If ever you would like to receive those types of updates, please join, it’s free:

Keep in mind that this portfolio was built by selecting 20 stocks out of thousands. The goal is not to pick the best dividend stocks but rather to pick a diversified, high quality portfolio that will keep dividends increasing over time…

Financial PostAverage Canadian house price up 10% to $389119CBC.caThe average price of a Canadian home increased 10.4 per cent to $389,119 in December, compared to the same month in 2012. The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) released data Wednesday showing that a total of 457,893 homes changed …Calgary house price gain again best in CanadaCalgary HeraldHome sales in Canada down in December: CREACTV NewsCanadian Home Sales Moderate in December: CREAWall Street Journalbnn.ca -Reutersall 19 news articles »