“You have a pair of pants. In the left pocket, you have $100. You take $1 out of the left pocket and put in the right pocket. You now have $101. There is no diminution of dollars in your left pocket. That is one magic pair of pants.”

Month: March 2026

MP Market Review – March 27, 2026

Last updated by BM on March 31, 2026

Summary

 

This is not a stock-picking newsletter.

It’s a behind-the-scenes look at how a dividend growth portfolio is built, maintained, and improved over time.

Welcome to this week’s MP Market Review. Each week, we track the Canadian dividend growth companies on The List, our curated watchlist of businesses designed to produce rising income. While we also publish a U.S. edition monthly, Canada remains our training ground.

Our objective is simple: grow dividend income by 7–10%+ annually while delivering capital appreciation that matches or exceeds the TSX Composite in Canada and the S&P 500 for our U.S. investors over a full market cycle.

What you’re about to read isn’t theory. It’s the real-time application of a dividend growth strategy using real money, with a clear objective: growing income first and letting capital growth follow.

Markets generate a lot of noise. We ignore most of it.

Instead, we track a small set of metrics that tell us whether our dividend growth strategy is working in real time. No forecasts. No opinions. Just results.

Here they are:

  • Dividend income from The List: +6.4% year-to-date
  • Capital value: -1.6% year-to-date
  • Dividend announcements last week: One
  • Earnings reports last week: One
  • Earnings reports this week: One

DGI Clipboard

 

“The market falls by 10% once about every two years. Every six years, the market’s going to have a 25% decline. The market goes down sometimes. If you’re not ready for that, you shouldn’t own stocks.”

– Peter Lynch

Everyone Has Buffett’s Playbook. Very Few Have His Results.

 

When Warren Buffett was asked why so few investors have been able to replicate his success, despite him openly sharing his methods, his answer may surprise you.

Here is what he said:

“The philosophy either takes immediately or it doesn’t at all. The reason gets down to temperament. People want to make money fast, but it doesn’t happen that way. Graham’s philosophy doesn’t promise enough for many people. You don’t know when it will happen, but you just wait for the fat pitches within your circle of competence. It’s not as exciting as guessing whether the stock price will go up the next day. Most investors in internet companies didn’t know the market cap. They were buying because they thought the stock would move, but if you asked them to write, ‘I would buy XYZ company for 6 billion because,’ they wouldn’t get halfway through the sentence. It’s the classic tortoise versus hare, bound to work over time.”

Why most investors fail and we win

Every investor says they want long-term success.

Very few are willing to behave in a way that produces it.

When Warren Buffett was asked why so few people have been able to replicate his approach, despite him sharing it openly for decades, his answer had nothing to do with intelligence.

It came down to temperament.

That is the part most investors ignore.

And it is exactly why dividend growth investing works so well.

The strategy is simple. The execution is not.

Dividend growth investing is not complicated.

We:

buy high-quality businesses

at sensible prices

that grow their dividends over time

and hold them

That’s it.

No forecasts.
No predictions.
No guessing.

But here is the catch.

You have to stick with it.

And that is where most investors fail.

Most investors want speed. We want durability.

Buffett said it clearly.

People want to make money fast.

That is why they chase:

  • hot sectors
  • trending stocks
  • short-term price moves

They are not thinking like owners.

They are thinking like traders.

In our strategy, we do the opposite.

We focus on:

  • earnings growth
  • income (dividend) growth
  • long-term value

It is slower.

It is quieter.

But it works.

Because real wealth is built through compounding, not excitement.

The real edge is temperament

Let’s be honest.

This strategy can feel uncomfortable at times.

You will:

  • watch prices fall
  • hold positions that go nowhere for months
  • buy when sentiment is negative

We have lived it.

  • buying Toronto-Dominion Bank during weakness
  • adding to Canadian National Railway on pullbacks
  • building a position in TC Energy when sentiment was poor
  • holding Nexterra Energy after a 20% decline right after purchase

None of those decisions felt good in the moment.

But they were correct.

Because they were grounded in process, not emotion.

This is the difference.

Successful investors are not fearless.

They are disciplined.

Waiting is a strategy

Buffett talks about waiting for “fat pitches.”

This is Dividend Yield Theory in action.

We are not swinging every day.

We wait for:

  • higher-than-normal historical yields
  • price weakness in quality companies
  • valuation to return to sensible levels

That is how we use:

  • The List
  • The Timely Ten
  • the three-dot rule

Patience is not passive. It is selective.

Know what you own or don’t own it

Buffett made another critical point.

Most investors cannot explain why they own what they own.

They buy because:

  • the price is moving
  • someone recommended it
  • it “feels” like a good idea

That is speculation.

We stay in areas we understand:

  • banks
  • railroads
  • pipelines
  • utilities
  • essential service businesses

These are not exciting.

They are predictable.

Predictability is what allows dividends to grow.

And dividend growth is what drives:
earnings → income → price

The tortoise wins

This is not a race to the next trade.

It is a process.

We are building:

  • a growing income stream
  • that increases every year
  • regardless of what the market is doing

While others:

  • panic
  • chase
  • react

We collect.

And reinvest.

And repeat.

That is how the income snowball forms.

Slow at first.

Then unstoppable.

This is why it works

Buffett’s message is simple.

The strategy is available to everyone.

The results are not.

Because most investors:

  • lack patience
  • chase excitement
  • abandon discipline

Dividend growth investing removes those variables.

It replaces them with:

  • process
  • consistency
  • time

And over a full market cycle, that is what wins.

Takeaway

 

Buffett is not giving you a stock tip.

He is warning you.

Most people will fail at investing for one reason:

They don’t have the temperament to stick with it.

So the real question is not:

“What should I buy?”

It is:

“Can I stay disciplined long enough for this to work?”

Because if you can…

You don’t need to be smarter than the market.

You just need to be more patient than the average investor.

Build income first.
Let capital follow.

Looking for a helping hand in the market? Members of Magic Pants Dividend Growth Investing get exclusive ideas and guidance to navigate any climate.

The Magic Pants model portfolios (Canadian and American) are real-money dividend growth portfolios funded with actual capital and executed in live accounts. Every position shown is owned, sized, and tracked in real time using our disciplined DGI process.

Become a paid subscriber, and I’ll show you exactly how I do it. In addition, gain full access to this post and exclusive, subscriber-only content. We do the work; you stay in control.

DGI Scorecard

 

The Magic Pants 2026 list (The List) includes 26 Canadian dividend growth stocks and our new American watchlist (The List-USA) contains 28 companies. Here are the criteria to be considered a candidate on our watchlists:

  1. Dividend growth streak: 10 years or more.
  2. Market cap: Minimum one billion dollars.
  3. Diversification: Limit of five companies per sector, preferably two per industry.
  4. 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 Canadian 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.

Performance of ‘The List’

 

The dividend growth of The List was up last week, with an average YTD increase of 6.4% (income).

The price of The List was up last week and now stands at -1.6% YTD (capital).

Top Performers Last Week: 

  • Stella-Jones Inc. (SJ-T), up +6.21%.
  • TFI International (TFII-N), up +5.63%.
  • Franco Nevada (FNV-N), up +5.13%.

Worst Performer Last Week: 

  • Dollarama Inc. (DOL-T), down -7.68%.

Note: Stocks ending in “-N or -Q” declare earnings and dividends in US dollars. To achieve currency consistency between dividends and share price for these stocks, we have shown dividends in US dollars and share price in US dollars (these stocks are listed on a US exchange). The dividends for their Canadian counterparts (-T) would be converted into CDN dollars and would fluctuate with the exchange rate.

PAID subscribers enjoy full access to our enhanced weekly newsletter, premium content, and easy-to-follow trade alerts so they can build DGI portfolios alongside ours. This service provides the resources to develop your DGI business plan confidently. We do the work; you stay in control!

It truly is the subscription that pays dividends!

The greatest investment you can make is in yourself. Are you ready to take that step? 

For more articles and the full newsletter, check us out on magicpants.substack.com.

MP Market Review – March 20, 2026

Last updated by BM on March 24, 2026

Summary

 

This is not a stock-picking newsletter.

It’s a behind-the-scenes look at how a dividend growth portfolio is built, maintained, and improved over time.

Welcome to this week’s MP Market Review. Each week, we track the Canadian dividend growth companies on The List, our curated watchlist of businesses designed to produce rising income. While we also publish a U.S. edition monthly, Canada remains our training ground.

Our objective is simple: grow dividend income by 7–10%+ annually while delivering capital appreciation that matches or exceeds the TSX Composite in Canada and the S&P 500 for our U.S. investors over a full market cycle.

What you’re about to read isn’t theory. It’s the real-time application of a dividend growth strategy using real money, with a clear objective: growing income first and letting capital growth follow.

Markets generate a lot of noise. We ignore most of it.

Instead, we track a small set of metrics that tell us whether our dividend growth strategy is working in real time. No forecasts. No opinions. Just results.

Here they are:

  • Dividend income from The List: +6.0% year-to-date
  • Capital value: -2.7% year-to-date
  • Dividend announcements last week: None
  • Earnings reports last week: One
  • Earnings reports this week: Two

DGI Clipboard

 

“A true investor buys for the dividend return. The dividend return is the sum of yield plus growth. If one is not thinking of dividends, they must be speculating/hoping. Hoping that they can profit by selling the stock at a higher price.”

-Steve Hanke

All-Canadian DGI Portfolio: Built to Survive Anything the Market Throws at It

 

It has been a volatile month in the markets. Prices are down. The S&P 500 and TSX Composite have both dropped more than 6%.

For many investors, that creates pressure.

If your strategy depends on selling shares to fund your life, this is where things get uncomfortable. You are forced to sell into weakness. Losses become real.

Dividend growth investors operate differently.

Our income keeps showing up. More importantly, it keeps growing.

That is the quiet advantage of this strategy.

When prices fall, yields rise.
When yields rise, future income improves.
And nothing has changed with the underlying businesses.

Same companies. Same cash flow. Better prices.

Introducing The All-Canadian DGI Portfolio

We do not build portfolios based on where oil, gold, or interest rates might go next month.

We build portfolios around one thing: growing cash flow.

At all times, we hold quality businesses purchased at sensible prices. The common thread is simple. These companies have paid and increased dividends for decades.

No forecasting. No guessing. No micro-managing.

Just ownership.

On this blog, I have shown every trade in our model portfolios since May 2022. Real money. Real decisions. Full transparency. It has taken us four years to build out our portfolio and invest our initial capital.

If you are new to our strategy, the All-Canadian DGI Portfolio is your starting point.

Start with quality, invest slowly with proper position sizing. Then build over time as opportunities appear.

That is the process.

Here is the portfolio. Fourteen companies across six sectors with decades of dividend growth.

What Should Stand Out

First, the dividend streaks.

On average, these companies have increased their dividends every year for nearly 30 years.

Think about that.

Dot-com crash.
Financial crisis.
Pandemic.
Rate cycles.
Wars.

Through all of it, the dividends kept rising.

That is not luck. That is quality.

Second, the alignment between dividend growth and price growth.

Dividends have grown at 8.7% annually.
Prices have grown at 9.9% annually.
Total return: ~11.7% annually.

This is the formula:

Earnings up → Dividends up → Prices up

Not always in a straight line. But over time, it is highly predictable.

Where We Go Further

Most investors stop there.

We do not.

Those returns assume an equal-weight portfolio. Same money in every stock. No thought to valuation. No thought to quality differences.

We add a second layer: position sizing.

We allocate more capital to higher-quality businesses.
We scale in based on valuation.
We build positions over time, not all at once.

That is where the edge comes from.

Not stock picking.
Not timing the market.
Process.

How to Use This

You can deploy roughly 56% of your initial capital today across the quality names in the All-Canadian DGI Portfolio at sensible weights.

Then you let the process take over.

Follow the DGI alerts as PAID subscribers. Add on weakness. Reinvest dividends and let them compound.

Simple. Repeatable. Proven. 

The Real Difference

I left the rat race a long time ago.

I do not rely on selling shares.

I buy businesses that pay me.

That cash shows up every month or quarter. I decide what to do with it.

Reinvest it. Spend it. Hold it.

My choice.

Selling is optional. Not required.

That changes everything.

Takeaway

 

Most investors watch prices.

We track income.

When cash keeps hitting your account, it becomes much easier to stay the course.

You stop thinking like a trader.
You start thinking like an owner.

That is the shift.

You can ride the market rollercoaster.
Or you can build a machine that pays you regardless.

Pick the one that lets you sleep at night.

For me, it is simple.

Build the income. Let the rest follow.

One dividend at a time.

Looking for a helping hand in the market? Members of Magic Pants Dividend Growth Investing get exclusive ideas and guidance to navigate any climate.

The Magic Pants model portfolios (Canadian and American) are real-money dividend growth portfolios funded with actual capital and executed in live accounts. Every position shown is owned, sized, and tracked in real time using our disciplined DGI process.

Become a paid subscriber, and I’ll show you exactly how I do it. In addition, gain full access to this post and exclusive, subscriber-only content. We do the work; you stay in control.

DGI Scorecard

 

The Magic Pants 2026 list (The List) includes 26 Canadian dividend growth stocks and our new American watchlist (The List-USA) contains 28 companies. Here are the criteria to be considered a candidate on our watchlists:

  1. Dividend growth streak: 10 years or more.
  2. Market cap: Minimum one billion dollars.
  3. Diversification: Limit of five companies per sector, preferably two per industry.
  4. 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 Canadian 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.

Performance of ‘The List’

 

The dividend growth of The List stayed the same last week, with an average YTD increase of 6.0% (income).

The price of The List went down last week and now stands at -2.7% YTD (capital).

Top Performers Last Week: 

  • Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ-T), up +1.32%.
  • Manulife Financial (MFC-T), up +1.20%.
  • goeasy Ltd. (GSY-T), up +0.64%.

Worst Performer Last Week: 

  • Franco Nevada (FNV-N), down -11.64%.

Note: Stocks ending in “-N or -Q” declare earnings and dividends in US dollars. To achieve currency consistency between dividends and share price for these stocks, we have shown dividends in US dollars and share price in US dollars (these stocks are listed on a US exchange). The dividends for their Canadian counterparts (-T) would be converted into CDN dollars and would fluctuate with the exchange rate.

PAID subscribers enjoy full access to our enhanced weekly newsletter, premium content, and easy-to-follow trade alerts so they can build DGI portfolios alongside ours. This service provides the resources to develop your DGI business plan confidently. We do the work; you stay in control!

It truly is the subscription that pays dividends!

The greatest investment you can make is in yourself. Are you ready to take that step? 

For more articles and the full newsletter, check us out on magicpants.substack.com.

MP Market Review – March 13, 2026

Last updated by BM on March 17, 2026

Summary

 

This is not a stock-picking newsletter.

It’s a behind-the-scenes look at how a dividend growth portfolio is built, maintained, and improved over time.

Welcome to this week’s MP Market Review. Each week, we track the Canadian dividend growth companies on The List, our curated watchlist of businesses designed to produce rising income. While we also publish a U.S. edition monthly, Canada remains our training ground.

Our objective is simple: grow dividend income by 7–10%+ annually while delivering capital appreciation that matches or exceeds the TSX Composite in Canada and the S&P 500 for our U.S. investors over a full market cycle.

What you’re about to read isn’t theory. It’s the real-time application of a dividend growth strategy using real money, with a clear objective: growing income first and letting capital growth follow.

Markets generate a lot of noise. We ignore most of it.

Instead, we track a small set of metrics that tell us whether our dividend growth strategy is working in real time. No forecasts. No opinions. Just results.

Here they are:

  • Dividend income from The List: +6.0% year-to-date
  • Capital value: +0.9% year-to-date
  • Dividend announcements last week: None
  • Earnings reports last week: One
  • Earnings reports this week: One

DGI Clipboard

 

“Current yield, using its own historic yield as a guide, is, in my view, a fine valuation measure.”

— Tom Connolly

Timely Ten: Your Monthly Valuation Compass for Dividend Growth Stocks

 

Our Timely Ten lists remain the fastest way to spot potential value opportunities, which explains why they continue to be the most-read articles every month.

Timely Ten – Canada

Last month was a typical month in terms of movement within our Timely Ten (CDN). Two companies moved off the list, and two new companies moved on. All four changes occurred near the bottom of the ranking, where most of the smaller shifts tend to occur.

For newer investors, it is helpful to remember what the Timely Ten represents. The list ranks companies from The List based on valuation using Dividend Yield Theory. When prices rise, yields fall and companies tend to move down or off the list. When prices decline, yields rise and companies often move up the list. In other words, price strength can move a stock off the list, while price weakness can move a stock onto it.

Last month, Thomson Reuters and Canadian Natural Resources moved out of the Timely Ten due to price strength. Their share prices rose enough to make their valuations less attractive relative to other companies on our watchlist. Coincidentally, or perhaps simply the result of following a disciplined process, we had already either added to or increased our positions in both companies before those price increases occurred.

Meanwhile, Intact Financial and Magna moved onto the Timely Ten as their share prices weakened. Lower prices can sometimes create opportunity if the underlying business remains strong. Both companies are worth a closer look based on the recent pullback. In our case, we still have room within our position sizing guidelines to add to both if the valuation becomes compelling.

For dividend growth investors, these monthly movements are not signals to trade frequently. Instead, they serve as a valuation compass, highlighting where prices may be creating opportunities to accumulate quality companies at sensible prices.

Over time, consistently acting on these opportunities is what allows the income snowball to grow.

Note: goeasy Ltd.’s dividend has been suspended.

Timely Ten – United States

The ten most undervalued dividend growth stocks on this month’s Timely Ten (USA) remain unchanged. That does not happen often and usually tells us something important. Several of these quality dividend growers appear to be stabilizing after recent price declines and may be forming a bottom.

Predicting which stock will move higher first is never easy. Even the best investors cannot consistently pick the exact turning point. What we can do is increase our probability of success by remaining disciplined and purchasing quality dividend growth companies when they are sensibly priced relative to their historical fundamentals.

For newer investors, two high quality companies that continue to look reasonably valued this month are Automatic Data Processing and Visa. Both operate exceptional businesses with durable competitive advantages and long histories of dividend growth. If I did not already hold a full position size in these companies, I would be taking a closer look at them at current prices.

There were also two notable movements just below the line this month. Home Depot and NextEra Energy moved closer to inclusion on the Timely Ten due to recent price weakness.

Home Depot is approaching what we consider a sensible price based on its historical valuation range. However, the current environment for the business is somewhat challenging. Consumer uncertainty and higher building material costs are creating headwinds for the home improvement sector. Many of these pressures can be traced back to tariff-related effects in the broader economy. Because of this macro backdrop, we will remain patient before adding to our position.

NextEra Energy provides a different example of how valuation evolves over time. The stock has risen approximately 60 percent since we initiated our position in late 2023, when it appeared significantly undervalued based on historical fundamentals. Since then, the company has continued to deliver double digit dividend growth, which steadily raises the price level that we consider a sensible entry point. While valuation remains reasonable today, we currently see more compelling opportunities elsewhere on the Timely Ten, so patience remains the right approach here as well.

For new investors, the key lesson is this: a watchlist is not a trading list. It is a tool that helps you identify where valuation and opportunity may be developing. Over time, patiently allocating capital to quality companies when they become undervalued is what allows the dividend income snowball to grow.

Background

Step three in our process involves monitoring our quality dividend growers regularly, which can become quite challenging depending on the number of companies we track. Fortunately, we rely on ‘The List’ instead of the vast array of stocks in the index, which streamlines our task. Nevertheless, we continually seek methods to enhance our efficiency. Through dividend yield theory, we’ve discovered an approach that has proven remarkably effective in aiding us with our efforts over the years.

Dividend yield theory is a simple and intuitive approach to valuing dividend growth stocks. It suggests that the dividend yield of quality dividend growth stocks tends to revert to the mean over time, assuming that the underlying business model remains stable. In practical terms, if a stock pays a dividend yield above its ten-year average annual yield, its price will likely increase to return the yield to its historical average. Knowing that price and yield go in opposite directions, this theory helps us find stocks poised for a favourable price correction.

We have pre-screened our candidates using the criteria we initially laid out in building our watchlists. This helps us considerably narrow the universe of investable stocks.

  1. Dividend growth streak: 10 years or more.
  2. Market cap: Minimum one billion dollars.
  3. Diversification: Limit of five companies per sector, preferably two per industry.
  4. Cyclicality: Exclude REITs and pure-play energy companies due to high cyclicality.

Next, we rank our Canadian and American watchlists based on how far each stock’s price is below its fair value (Low Price), as determined by dividend yield theory. To find fair value, divide the current dividend (Dividend) by the stock’s historical high yield (High Yield).

Since price and yield move in opposite directions, a lower price results in a higher yield, and vice versa. The ten companies above the thick black line have a current price (Price) below fair value (Low Price). Put simply, these stocks have a current dividend yield higher than their historically high yield. According to dividend yield theory, these companies are sensibly priced and have the highest probability of a price increase in the short term. These are our Timely Ten.

Takeaway

 

History shows the Timely Ten is fertile ground for finding attractive entry points into high-quality dividend growers. Whether or not you act on the names, the list serves its purpose: to surface opportunities when quality meets value.

When making investment decisions, always prioritize a company’s ‘quality’ over a ‘sensible price’. For more details on our quality indicators, download our Free Guide to Finding Quality Dividend Growth Stocks here.

The Magic Pants model portfolios (Canadian and American) are real-money dividend growth portfolios funded with actual capital and executed in live accounts. Every position shown is owned, sized, and tracked in real time using our disciplined DGI process.

Become a paid subscriber, and I’ll show you exactly how I do it. In addition, gain full access to this post and exclusive, subscriber-only content. We do the work; you stay in control.

DGI Scorecard

 

The Magic Pants 2026 list (The List) includes 26 Canadian dividend growth stocks and our new American watchlist (The List-USA) contains 28 companies. Here are the criteria to be considered a candidate on our watchlists:

  1. Dividend growth streak: 10 years or more.
  2. Market cap: Minimum one billion dollars.
  3. Diversification: Limit of five companies per sector, preferably two per industry.
  4. 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 Canadian 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.

Performance of ‘The List’

 

The dividend growth of The List stayed the same last week, with an average YTD increase of 6.0% (income).

The price of The List went down last week and now stands at +0.9% YTD (capital).

Top Performers Last Week: 

  • Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ-T), up +5.64%.
  • Emera (EMA-T), up +3.29%.
  • Intact Financial (IFC-T), up +3.02%.

Worst Performer Last Week: 

  • goeasy Ltd. (GSY-T), down -67.41%.

Note: Stocks ending in “-N or -Q” declare earnings and dividends in US dollars. To achieve currency consistency between dividends and share price for these stocks, we have shown dividends in US dollars and share price in US dollars (these stocks are listed on a US exchange). The dividends for their Canadian counterparts (-T) would be converted into CDN dollars and would fluctuate with the exchange rate.

PAID subscribers enjoy full access to our enhanced weekly newsletter, premium content, and easy-to-follow trade alerts so they can build DGI portfolios alongside ours. This service provides the resources to develop your DGI business plan confidently. We do the work; you stay in control!

It truly is the subscription that pays dividends!

The greatest investment you can make is in yourself. Are you ready to take that step? 

For more articles and the full newsletter, check us out on magicpants.substack.com.

MP Market Review – March 6, 2026

Last updated by BM on March 10, 2026

Summary

 

This is not a stock-picking newsletter.

It’s a behind-the-scenes look at how a dividend growth portfolio is built, maintained, and improved over time.

Welcome to this week’s MP Market Review. Each week, we track the Canadian dividend growth companies on The List, our curated watchlist of businesses designed to produce rising income. While we also publish a U.S. edition monthly, Canada remains our training ground.

Our objective is simple: grow dividend income by 7–10%+ annually while delivering capital appreciation that matches or exceeds the TSX Composite in Canada and the S&P 500 for our U.S. investors over a full market cycle.

What you’re about to read isn’t theory. It’s the real-time application of a dividend growth strategy using real money, with a clear objective: growing income first and letting capital growth follow.

Markets generate a lot of noise. We ignore most of it.

Instead, we track a small set of metrics that tell us whether our dividend growth strategy is working in real time. No forecasts. No opinions. Just results.

Here they are:

  • Dividend income from The List: +6.0% year-to-date
  • Capital value: +3.8% year-to-date
  • Dividend announcements last week: One
  • Earnings reports last week: One
  • Earnings reports this week: One

DGI Clipboard

 

“Our increasing income comes from our companies directly, not the market.”

-Tom Connolly

While Markets Bounce Around, Our Paychecks Keep Rising

 

Remember the message from last week’s newsletter and the charts that support the thesis:

Income is built first. Capital appreciation follows.

This is the foundation of dividend growth investing.

We are not trying to predict short-term market moves.
We are not chasing the hottest stocks.

Instead, we focus on something much more durable.

We build income.

And we do it the same way every time.

By purchasing high quality dividend growth companies at sensible prices and holding them as their dividends grow over time.

The Quiet Superpower of Dividend Growth Investing

One of the most powerful aspects of this strategy is also one of the least talked about.

Growing income.

Markets will always move up and down. That is simply the nature of markets.

But the businesses we own continue to operate.
They continue to generate profits.
And they continue to send a growing stream of cash back to shareholders.

Every dividend increase is essentially a small raise.

Stack enough of those raises together and something remarkable begins to happen.

The math of compounding quietly starts working in your favor.

Not loudly.
Not dramatically.

But relentlessly.

Dividend Increases Announced So Far in 2026

Here are the dividend raises announced so far this year from companies we follow and own.

TD Bank (TD-T) 1.05 to 1.08 up 2.9% payable January 31, 2026

Royal Bank of Canada (RY-T) 1.54 to 1.64 up 6.5% payable February 24, 2026

Canadian Tire (CTC-A-T) 1.775 to 1.80 up 1.4% payable March 1, 2026

Enbridge Inc. (ENB-T) .9425 to .97 up 2.9% payable March 1, 2026

Metro Inc. (MRU-T) .37 to .4075 up 10.1% payable March 10. 2026

Franco Nevada (FNV-N) .38 to .44 up 15.8% payable March 26, 2026

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP-N) .43 to .455 up 5.8% payable March 31, 2026

Canadian National Railway (CNR-T) .8875 to .915 up 3.1% payable March 31, 2026

Thomson Reuters (TRI-Q) .595 to .655 up 10.0% payable March 10, 2026

Magna (MGA-N) .485 to .495 up 2.1% payable March 13, 2026

Manulife Financial (MFC-T) .44 to .485 up 10.2% payable March 19, 2026

CCL Industries Inc. (CCL-B-T) .32 to .36 up 12.5% payable March 31, 2026

Intact Financial (IFC-T) 1.35 to 1.47 up 10.5% payable March 31, 2026

Toromont Industries (TIH-T) .52 to .56 up 7.7% payable April 2, 2026

Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ-T) .5875 to .625 up 6.4% payable April 7, 2026

Stantec Inc. (STN-T) .225 to .245 up 8.9% payable April 15, 2026

Stella-Jones Inc. (SJ-T) .31 to .34 up 9.7% payable April 24, 2026

TC Energy (TRP-T) .85 to .8775 up 3.2% payable April 30, 2026

These are not random events.

They are the direct result of owning high quality businesses with growing earnings.

Growing earnings drive growing dividends.

And over time, growing dividends drive higher stock prices.

Takeaway

 

This income is yours.

You can reinvest it.
You can pay bills with it.
You can spend it on something fun.

The best part is this:

You did not have to sell a single share of your businesses to receive it.

That is the beauty of dividend growth investing.

While markets bounce around, our paychecks keep rising.

And the income snowball continues to build momentum.

One dividend raise at a time.

The Magic Pants model portfolios (Canadian and American) are real-money dividend growth portfolios funded with actual capital and executed in live accounts. Every position shown is owned, sized, and tracked in real time using our disciplined DGI process.

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DGI Scorecard

 

The Magic Pants 2026 list (The List) includes 26 Canadian dividend growth stocks and our new American watchlist (The List-USA) contains 28 companies. Here are the criteria to be considered a candidate on our watchlists:

  1. Dividend growth streak: 10 years or more.
  2. Market cap: Minimum one billion dollars.
  3. Diversification: Limit of five companies per sector, preferably two per industry.
  4. 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 Canadian 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.

Performance of ‘The List’

 

The dividend growth of The List was up last week, with an average YTD increase of 6.0% (income).

The price of The List went down last week and now stands at +3.8% YTD (capital).

Top Performers Last Week: 

  • Thomson Reuters (TRI-Q), up +15.61%.
  • Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ-T), up +5.51%.
  • Stella-Jones Inc. (SJ-T), up +2.87%.

Worst Performer Last Week: 

  • CCL Industries Inc. (CCL-B-T), down -8.49%.

 

Note: Stocks ending in “-N or -Q” declare earnings and dividends in US dollars. To achieve currency consistency between dividends and share price for these stocks, we have shown dividends in US dollars and share price in US dollars (these stocks are listed on a US exchange). The dividends for their Canadian counterparts (-T) would be converted into CDN dollars and would fluctuate with the exchange rate.

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It truly is the subscription that pays dividends!

The greatest investment you can make is in yourself. Are you ready to take that step? 

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I’ll coach you on how to identify high-quality individual dividend growth stocks when they are sensibly priced, and hold them for the growing income.