Steady as She Grows: 13 Reliable Dividend Hikes This Quarter
MP Market Review - May 2, 2025
Summary
Welcome to this week’s MP Market Review – your go-to source for insights and updates on the Canadian dividend growth companies we track on ‘The List’! While we’ve expanded our watchlists to include U.S. companies (The List-USA), our Canadian lineup remains the cornerstone of our coaching approach.
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Your journey to dividend growth mastery starts here – let’s dive in!
Check out our monthly update on ‘The List-USA’ after ‘The List’ below.
Last week, dividend growth was up, with an average return of +7.8% YTD (income).
Last week, the price of 'The List' was up from the previous week with an average return of +3.32% YTD (capital).
Last week, there was one dividend announcement from a company on 'The List'.
Last week, there were seven earnings reports from companies on 'The List'.
This week, thirteen companies on 'The List' will report on earnings.
DGI Clipboard
“The big money is not in the buying or selling but in the waiting. What are we waiting for? The growing yield. The growing income from companies is wealth. It takes a while to get your portfolio yield up there, but once it’s producing, WOW! Hang in. Be patient. Dividends are powerful, eventually. Can you wait? You must wait. Control your behaviour.”
- Tom Connolly
Steady as She Grows: 13 Reliable Dividend Hikes This Quarter
Intro
I'm currently preparing the quarterly review of our model portfolios as of April 30, 2025, with the full report set to be released to paid subscribers in the coming weeks. Our fiscal year runs from May 1 to April 30. Just completing its third year, the Canadian model portfolio is beginning to show the compounding effects of wealth building. While the U.S. portfolio is only two years old, it benefited from a well-timed launch during a market upswing, resulting in stronger capital appreciation. More details on the overall performance will be shared soon.
One of the most meaningful highlights in each review is the list of companies that raised their dividends during the quarter—a testament to the steady and dependable income growth that anchors our investment strategy. Here's a sneak peek at the latest dividend growth activity in our Canadian portfolio:
Thirteen companies in the portfolio announced dividend increases this quarter:
Thomson Reuters (TRI-N) .54 to .595 up 10.2% payable March 10, 2025
Magna (MGA-N) .475 to .485 up 2.1% payable March 14, 2025
Manulife Financial (MFC-T) .40 to .44 up 10% payable March 19, 2025
Intact Financial (IFC-T) 1.21 to 1.33 up 9.9% payable March 31, 2025
CCL Industries Inc. (CCL-B-T) .29 to .32 up 10.3% payable March 31, 2025
Toromont Industries (TIH-T) .48 to .52 up 8.3% payable April 4, 2025
goeasy Ltd. (GSY-T) 1.17 to 1.46 up 24.8% payable April 11, 2025
Stantec Inc. (STN-T) .21 to .225 up 7.1% payable April 15, 2025
Stella-Jones Inc. (SJ-T) .28 to .31 up 10.7% payable April 18, 2025
TC Energy (TRP-T) .8225 to .85 up 3.3% payable April 30, 2025
Dollarama Inc. (DOL-T) .092 to .1058 up 15.0% payable May 9, 2025
Enghouse Systems (ENGH-T) .26 to .30 up 15.4% payable May 30, 2025
Loblaw Companies Limited (L-T) .513 to .5643 up 10.0% payable July 1, 2025
Dividend growth itself is a magical thing—it puts more money directly into your pocket, letting you spend more on the things you love. But the true magic happens when dividend growth drives the stock price higher. As dividends rise consistently, stock prices tend to follow suit over time.
Wrap Up
The first quarter of the calendar year is one of the most rewarding times for dividend growth investors—it’s raise season. While most people wait years for a 7–10% salary increase, we get one annually just for staying invested in quality companies that consistently grow their dividends.
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DGI Scorecard
The List (2025)
The Magic Pants 2025 list includes 29 Canadian dividend growth stocks. Here are the criteria to be considered a candidate on ‘The List’:
Dividend growth streak: 10 years or more.
Market cap: Minimum one billion dollars.
Diversification: Limit of five companies per sector, preferably two per industry.
Cyclicality: Exclude REITs and pure-play energy companies due to high cyclicality.
Based on these criteria, companies are added or removed from ‘The List’ annually on January 1. Prices and dividends are updated weekly.
‘The List’ is not a portfolio but a coaching tool that helps us think about ideas and risk manage our model portfolio. We own some but not all the companies on ‘The List’. In other words, we might want to buy these companies when valuation looks attractive.
Our newsletter provides readers with a comprehensive insight into the implementation and advantages of our dividend growth investing strategy. This evidence-based, unbiased approach empowers DIY investors to outperform both actively managed dividend funds and passively managed indexes and dividend ETFs over longer-term horizons.
Note: In the last week of every month, I will show the updated watchlist for our American dividend growers (‘The List-USA’). The watchlist will be shown after the Canadian watchlist below.
Performance of 'The List'
Last week, dividend growth was up, with an average return of +7.8% YTD (income).
The price of 'The List' was up from the previous week, with an average YTD return of +3.32% (capital).
Even though prices may fluctuate, the dependable growth in our income does not. Stay the course. You will be happy you did.
Last week's best performers on 'The List' were Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP-N), up +7.16%; Stantec Inc. (STN-T), up +4.91%; and Canadian National Railway (CNR-T), up +3.98%.
Franco Nevada (FNV-N) was the worst performer last week, down -3.04%.
Earnings season is winding down, but thirteen companies are still set to report this week. Check out our news and updates sections for last week's highlights, including how one money manager is navigating market volatility and how Canadian grocers have been holding up during turbulent times.
