The benefits of Cross-Listed Stocks

As a Canadian, in order to build up US funds, I have held cross-listed Canadian companies on the US stock exchange to earn dividends in US dollars. When the currency exchange is not on par, that’s one way to generate cash in US dollars. Most so when the dividend paid is already declared in US dollars.

The process of transferring a share across stock exchange is called ‘journaling’. It is a term used with the discount brokers for moving cross-listed stocks between exchanges. The end result is that you can hold Canadian blue chip companies in US currencies generating US dividends. I had many readers asking me the question on how to do this as it is a way to get around currency fees to some extent.

Before you look into the process, make sure your discount broker supports it and that you have a proper US cash account. Many discount brokers already support it such as RBC Direct Investing or TD WebBroker.

Cross Listed Stocks

First, you need a company that trades on both exchanges. Most of the Canadian Blue Chip stocks are present on both the TSX and the NYSE. When you think about it, a share of Royal Bank on the TSX is the same as a share on the NYSE from the perspective of owning a piece of the company. Keep in mind that income taxes have different rules based on country of residence and the provenance of the dividends.

Related: Dividends Taxes

Benefits of Cross-Listed Stocks

One main benefit is that you can choose to earn the dividends in either currency. As it stands, my RRSP account for my dividend portfolio is mostly in US currency. The main reason is that there is no dividend withholding tax for foreign dividends (excluding MLPs) in an RRSP.

A note on investing in US Companies:

The US is a large market with many large conglomerates providing international exposure.
Exposure to new sectors with little representation in Canada.

A secondary benefit is that you incur no currency exchange fees in the process for companies that pay in USD such as Brookfield Asset Management or Thompson Reuters. Below is a comprehensive list of stocks you can use. To execute a straight currency exchange, I simply use DLR and DLR.U as it has very little fee.

TickerKey	Ticker	Company	Sector	Industry	Score	Quote	Market Cap	P/E	FPE	EPS	Yield Raw	Yield	PayoutRatio	Payments	Dividend	Chowder	GrowthRating	IncomeRating	Tollbooth	Ambassador	Achiever	Aristocrat	King	Country	Graph
TSE:ABX	ABX	Barrick Gold	Basic Materials	Gold	0.38	38.02	51.37	11.54	11.54	3.29	0.0111	1.11	0.1284	4	0.32	0.0111	1	5	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1
TSE:BAM.A	BAM.A	Brookfield Asset Management	Financial Services	Asset Management	0.43	44.30	50.51	128.60	128.60	0.34	0.0143	1.43	1.8640	4	0.48	0.0784	6	3	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	YES	NO	Canada	1
TSE:TRI	TRI	Thompson Reuters	Industrials	Consulting Services	0.49	102.23	38.44	24.32	24.32	4.20	0.0196	1.96	0.4778	4	1.52	0.0372	3	7	Intermediate	NO	YES	YES	NO	Canada	1
TSE:FNV	FNV	Franco-Nevada Corp	Basic Materials	Gold	0.52	188.01	35.83	128.37	128.37	1.46	0.0073	0.73	0.9405	4	1.04	0.0513	6	6	Intermediate	YES	YES	YES	NO	Canada	1
TSE:QSR	QSR	Restaurant Brands International Inc.	Consumer Cyclical	Restaurants	0.69	73.95	34.64	26.55	26.55	2.79	0.0371	3.71	0.9844	4	2.08	0.6576	8	4	Consumable - Discretionary	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1
TSE:NTR	NTR	Nutrien Ltd	Basic Materials	Agricultural Inputs	0.48	54.99	31.30	28.91	28.91	1.90	0.0432	4.32	1.2509	4	1.80	0.0432	4	5	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1
TSE:WCN	WCN	Waste Connections Inc	Industrials	Waste Management	0.50	133.25	26.57	129.36	129.36	1.03	0.0073	0.73	0.9486	4	0.74	0.1690	8	4	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1
TSE:WPM	WPM	Wheaton Precious Metals Corp	Basic Materials	Gold	0.38	67.53	22.95	65.01	65.01	1.04	0.0078	0.78	0.5078	4	0.40	0.0751	3	3	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1
TSE:BIP.UN	BIP.UN	Brookfield Infrastructure Partners	Utilities	Utilities - Diversified	0.67	63.91	20.11	79.79	79.79	0.80	0.0444	4.44	3.5485	4	2.15	0.1365	8	6	Tollbooth - Regulated	YES	YES	NO	NO	Canada	1
TSE:BEP.UN	BEP.UN	Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P.	Utilities	Utilities - Renewable	0.48	62.01	19.56	0.00	0.00	-0.61	0.0462	4.62	1.0000	4	2.17	0.0755	4	6	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1
TSE:AEM	AEM	Agnico Eagle Mines	Basic Materials	Gold	0.51	106.09	19.50	39.37	39.37	2.69	0.0100	1.00	0.3927	4	0.80	0.1244	5	5	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1
TSE:MG	MG	Magna International Inc	Consumer Cyclical	Auto Parts	0.33	60.82	13.77	0.00	0.00	-0.81	0.0347	3.47	1.0000	4	1.60	0.1317	3	2	Durable	NO	NO	YES	NO	Canada	1
TSE:OTEX	OTEX	Open Text Corporation	Technology	Software - Application	0.50	55.40	11.40	48.84	48.84	1.13	0.0166	1.66	0.8161	4	0.70	0.1195	5	2	Intermediate	NO	NO	YES	NO	Canada	1
TSE:BPY.UN	BPY.UN	Brookfield Property Partners	Real Estate	Real Estate Services	0.59	15.10	11.05	7.78	7.78	1.94	0.1163	11.63	0.9052	4	1.33	0.1726	6	6	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1
TSE:AQN	AQN	Algonquin Power & Utilitties Corp	Utilities	Utilities - Renewable	0.77	18.57	11.00	19.10	19.10	0.97	0.0441	4.41	0.8445	4	0.62	0.1308	7	8	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	YES	NO	Canada	1
TSE:PAAS	PAAS	Pan American Silver Corp	Basic Materials	Silver	0.18	46.42	7.28	3232.59	3,232.59	0.01	0.0057	0.57	26.4072	4	0.20	0.0057	2	0	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1
TSE:RBA	RBA	Ritchie Bros Auctioneers Inc	Industrials	Specialty Business Services	0.52	76.27	6.31	41.66	41.66	1.83	0.0152	1.52	0.6349	4	0.88	0.0634	6	6	Intermediate	NO	YES	YES	NO	Canada	1
TSE:GIL	GIL	Gildan Activewear Inc.	Consumer Cyclical	Apparel Manufacturing	0.15	26.12	3.92	0.00	0.00	-1.43	0.0000	0.00	0.0000	4	0.00	0.2099	3	0	Consumable - Discretionary	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1
TSE:OVV	OVV	Ovintiv	Energy	Oil & Gas E&P	0.37	13.31	2.65	0.00	0.00	-16.47	0.0372	3.72	1.0000	4	0.38	0.0372	2	5	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1
TSE:MX	MX	Methanex Corp	Basic Materials	Chemicals	0.39	33.19	1.92	23.17	23.17	1.43	0.0060	0.60	0.1403	4	0.15	0.0882	3	3	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1
TSE:MAXR	MAXR	Maxar Technologies	Technology	Communication Equipment	0.26	38.27	1.78	11.87	11.87	3.22	0.0014	0.14	0.0164	4	0.04	0.0014	1	3	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1
TSE:UFS	UFS	Domtar Corp	Basic Materials	Paper & Paper Products	0.08	38.58	1.62	177.19	177.19	0.22	0.0000	0.00	0.0000	4	0.00	0.0343	1	0	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1

The process to buy on the TSX and have your share transferred over to the NYSE (and vice-versa) is called ‘journalling’ your shares to the other exchange. Once your transaction has settled, which takes 3 days typically, you can ask your discount broker to do that. With RBC Direct Investing it is free and they adjust the book value as well for accounting. There may be a fee with other discount brokers and you should inquire.

Discount Broker Requirements

As a note of caution, to effectively manage US stocks in your portfolio, you need dual currency accounts. Make sure your discount broker provides those (and with no fees if possible). Otherwise, you lose a lot of the benefits that come with holding the US investments.

Related: Discount Broker Review

Canadian Cross-Listed Stocks

Below is a list of all the stocks on the Canadian Dividend Performance List that also trade on the NYSE sorted by market capitalization. A large part of my portfolio is invested in US companies and is therefore in US dollars for the simple reason that the US is a much bigger economy than Canada.

The previous table above represents the subset of cross-listed stocks paying in USD whereas the following table represent the stocks that trade on both exchanges.

TickerKey	Ticker	Company	Sector	Industry	Score	Quote	MarketCap	PE	FPE	EPS	Yield	PayoutRatio	Payments	Dividend	Chowder	GrowthRating	IncomeRating	Tollbooth	Ambassador	Achiever	Aristocrat	King	Country	Graph	Yield
TSE:RY	RY	Royal Bank	Financial Services	Banks - Diversified	0.67	95.47	102.98	12.27	12.27	7.78	0.0452	0.5553	4	4.32	0.1189	6	7	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	YES	NO	Canada	1	4.52
TSE:TD	TD	TD Bank	Financial Services	Banks - Diversified	0.68	62.08	85.14	12.03	12.03	5.16	0.0509	0.6124	4	3.16	0.1410	6	7	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	YES	NO	Canada	1	5.09
TSE:CNR	CNR	Canadian National Railway	Industrials	Railroads	0.57	138.68	74.69	27.43	27.43	5.06	0.0166	0.4545	4	2.30	0.1441	7	5	Tollbooth - Unregulated	YES	YES	YES	NO	Canada	1	1.66
TSE:ENB	ENB	Enbridge	Energy	Oil & Gas Midstream	0.57	40.21	61.70	42.27	42.27	0.95	0.0806	3.4105	4	3.24	0.1973	7	6	Tollbooth - Unregulated	YES	YES	YES	NO	Canada	1	8.06
TSE:CP	CP	Canadian Pacific Railway	Industrials	Railroads	0.45	396.96	53.80	23.46	23.46	16.92	0.0096	0.2246	4	3.80	0.1319	5	3	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	0.96
TSE:ABX	ABX	Barrick Gold	Basic Materials	Gold	0.38	38.02	51.37	11.54	11.54	3.29	0.0111	0.1284	4	0.32	0.0111	1	5	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	1.11
TSE:BAM.A	BAM.A	Brookfield Asset Management	Financial Services	Asset Management	0.43	44.30	50.51	128.60	128.60	0.34	0.0143	1.8640	4	0.48	0.0784	6	3	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	YES	NO	Canada	1	1.43
TSE:BNS	BNS	Scotia Bank	Financial Services	Banks - Diversified	0.74	55.15	50.32	9.75	9.75	5.66	0.0653	0.6360	4	3.60	0.1247	6	8	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	YES	NO	Canada	1	6.53
TSE:TRP	TRP	Transcanada Pipelines	Energy	Oil & Gas Midstream	0.73	60.47	43.06	13.28	13.28	4.55	0.0536	0.7121	4	3.24	0.1239	6	9	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	YES	YES	NO	Canada	1	5.36
TSE:BMO	BMO	Bank of Montreal	Financial Services	Banks - Diversified	0.65	80.23	39.01	11.53	11.53	6.96	0.0528	0.6092	4	4.24	0.0907	5	7	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	YES	NO	Canada	1	5.28
TSE:TRI	TRI	Thompson Reuters	Industrials	Consulting Services	0.49	102.23	38.44	24.32	24.32	4.20	0.0196	0.4778	4	1.52	0.0372	3	7	Intermediate	NO	YES	YES	NO	Canada	1	1.96
TSE:BCE	BCE	BCE	Communication Services	Telecommunication Services	0.68	55.50	37.92	20.42	20.42	2.72	0.0600	1.2243	4	3.33	0.1111	6	8	Tollbooth - Regulated	NO	YES	YES	NO	Canada	1	6.00
TSE:FNV	FNV	Franco-Nevada Corp	Basic Materials	Gold	0.52	188.01	35.83	128.37	128.37	1.46	0.0073	0.9405	4	1.04	0.0513	6	6	Intermediate	YES	YES	YES	NO	Canada	1	0.73
TSE:QSR	QSR	Restaurant Brands International Inc.	Consumer Cyclical	Restaurants	0.69	73.95	34.64	26.55	26.55	2.79	0.0371	0.9844	4	2.08	0.6576	8	4	Consumable - Discretionary	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	3.71
TSE:CM	CM	CIBC	Financial Services	Banks - Diversified	0.69	101.96	34.30	11.86	11.86	8.60	0.0573	0.6791	4	5.84	0.1060	6	7	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	YES	NO	Canada	1	5.73
TSE:NTR	NTR	Nutrien Ltd	Basic Materials	Agricultural Inputs	0.48	54.99	31.30	28.91	28.91	1.90	0.0432	1.2509	4	1.80	0.0432	4	5	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	4.32
TSE:MFC	MFC	Manulife	Financial Services	Insurance - Life	0.70	19.11	28.08	9.81	9.81	1.95	0.0586	0.5744	4	1.12	0.0838	5	7	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	YES	NO	Canada	1	5.86
TSE:WCN	WCN	Waste Connections Inc	Industrials	Waste Management	0.50	133.25	26.57	129.36	129.36	1.03	0.0073	0.9486	4	0.74	0.1690	8	4	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	0.73
TSE:SLF	SLF	Sun Life Financial	Financial Services	Insurance - Diversified	0.57	54.82	24.27	14.00	14.00	3.92	0.0401	0.5612	4	2.20	0.0786	5	6	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	YES	NO	Canada	1	4.01
TSE:FTS	FTS	Fortis	Utilities	Utilities - Regulated Electric	0.66	52.19	24.25	19.57	19.57	2.67	0.0366	0.7154	4	1.91	0.0946	6	7	Tollbooth - Regulated	NO	YES	YES	NO	Canada	1	3.66
TSE:WPM	WPM	Wheaton Precious Metals Corp	Basic Materials	Gold	0.38	67.53	22.95	65.01	65.01	1.04	0.0078	0.5078	4	0.40	0.0751	3	3	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	0.78
TSE:T	T	Telus	Communication Services	Telecommunication Services	0.69	23.52	22.92	20.10	20.10	1.17	0.0495	0.9957	4	1.17	0.1193	7	7	Tollbooth - Regulated	NO	YES	YES	NO	Canada	1	4.95
TSE:CNQ	CNQ	Canadian Natural Resources	Energy	Oil & Gas E&P	0.60	23.16	20.76	1041.84	1,041.84	0.02	0.0734	85.0000	4	1.70	0.1810	7	7	Intermediate	YES	YES	YES	NO	Canada	1	7.34
TSE:SU	SU	Suncor	Energy	Oil & Gas Integrate	0.44	17.64	20.32	0.00	0.00	-3.56	0.0476	1.0000	4	0.84	0.1526	3	5	Consumable - Necessities	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	4.76
TSE:BIP.UN	BIP.UN	Brookfield Infrastructure Partners	Utilities	Utilities - Diversified	0.67	63.91	20.11	79.79	79.79	0.80	0.0444	3.5485	4	2.15	0.1365	8	6	Tollbooth - Regulated	YES	YES	NO	NO	Canada	1	4.44
TSE:RCI.B	RCI.B	Rogers	Communication Services	Telecommunication Services	0.47	51.83	20.08	15.61	15.61	3.32	0.0386	0.6024	4	2.00	0.0523	2	5	Tollbooth - Regulated	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	3.86
TSE:BEP.UN	BEP.UN	Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P.	Utilities	Utilities - Renewable	0.48	62.01	19.56	0.00	0.00	-0.61	0.0462	1.0000	4	2.17	0.0755	4	6	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	4.62
TSE:AEM	AEM	Agnico Eagle Mines	Basic Materials	Gold	0.51	106.09	19.50	39.37	39.37	2.69	0.0100	0.3927	4	0.80	0.1244	5	5	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	1.00
TSE:PPL	PPL	Pembina Pipeline	Energy	Oil & Gas Midstream	0.58	30.41	16.72	17.29	17.29	1.76	0.0829	1.4318	12	2.52	0.1251	6	6	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	YES	NO	Canada	1	8.29
TSE:MG	MG	Magna International Inc	Consumer Cyclical	Auto Parts	0.33	60.82	13.77	0.00	0.00	-0.81	0.0347	1.0000	4	1.60	0.1317	3	2	Durable	NO	NO	YES	NO	Canada	1	3.47
TSE:OTEX	OTEX	Open Text Corporation	Technology	Software - Application	0.50	55.40	11.40	48.84	48.84	1.13	0.0166	0.8161	4	0.70	0.1195	5	2	Intermediate	NO	NO	YES	NO	Canada	1	1.66
TSE:BPY.UN	BPY.UN	Brookfield Property Partners	Real Estate	Real Estate Services	0.59	15.10	11.05	7.78	7.78	1.94	0.1163	0.9052	4	1.33	0.1726	6	6	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	11.63
TSE:AQN	AQN	Algonquin Power & Utilitties Corp	Utilities	Utilities - Renewable	0.77	18.57	11.00	19.10	19.10	0.97	0.0441	0.8445	4	0.62	0.1308	7	8	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	YES	NO	Canada	1	4.41
TSE:IMO	IMO	Imperial Oil	Energy	Oil & Gas Integrate	0.57	18.40	10.28	0.00	0.00	-0.05	0.0478	1.0000	4	0.88	0.1261	6	7	Consumable - Necessities	NO	YES	YES	NO	Canada	1	4.78
TSE:SJR.B	SJR.B	Shaw Communications	Communication Services	Telecommunication Services	0.45	24.32	9.42	18.81	18.81	1.29	0.0487	0.9186	12	1.19	0.0487	2	4	Tollbooth - Regulated	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	4.87
TSE:TECK.B	TECK.B	Teck Resources	Basic Materials	Other Industrial Metals & Mining	0.19	20.33	8.19	0.00	0.00	-3.52	0.0098	1.0000	4	0.20	0.0098	1	1	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	0.98
TSE:PAAS	PAAS	Pan American Silver Corp	Basic Materials	Silver	0.18	46.42	7.28	3232.59	3,232.59	0.01	0.0057	26.4072	4	0.20	0.0057	2	0	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	0.57
TSE:RBA	RBA	Ritchie Bros Auctioneers Inc	Industrials	Specialty Business Services	0.52	76.27	6.31	41.66	41.66	1.83	0.0152	0.6349	4	0.88	0.0634	6	6	Intermediate	NO	YES	YES	NO	Canada	1	1.52
TSE:CVE	CVE	Cenovus Energy	Energy	Oil & Gas - Integrated	0.10	5.56	5.20	0.00	0.00	-1.41	0.0000	0.0000	4	0.00	0.0000	1	0	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	0.00
TSE:CCO	CCO	Cameco Corp.	Energy	Uranium	0.16	13.87	4.15	129.69	129.69	0.11	0.0058	0.7273	1	0.08	0.0058	0	2	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	0.58
TSE:CAE	CAE	CAE Inc	Industrials	Aerospace & Defense	0.21	19.93	4.00	38.54	38.54	0.52	0.0000	0.0000	4	0.00	0.0904	3	0	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	0.00
TSE:GIL	GIL	Gildan Activewear Inc.	Consumer Cyclical	Apparel Manufacturing	0.15	26.12	3.92	0.00	0.00	-1.43	0.0000	0.0000	4	0.00	0.2099	3	0	Consumable - Discretionary	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	0.00
TSE:STN	STN	Stantec Inc.	Industrials	Engineering & Construction	0.55	40.45	3.42	23.45	23.45	1.72	0.0153	0.3605	4	0.62	0.1036	5	6	Durable	NO	NO	YES	NO	Canada	1	1.53
TSE:OVV	OVV	Ovintiv	Energy	Oil & Gas E&P	0.37	13.31	2.65	0.00	0.00	-16.47	0.0372	1.0000	4	0.38	0.0372	2	5	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	3.72
TSE:MX	MX	Methanex Corp	Basic Materials	Chemicals	0.39	33.19	1.92	23.17	23.17	1.43	0.0060	0.1403	4	0.15	0.0882	3	3	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	0.60
TSE:MAXR	MAXR	Maxar Technologies	Technology	Communication Equipment	0.26	38.27	1.78	11.87	11.87	3.22	0.0014	0.0164	4	0.04	0.0014	1	3	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	0.14
TSE:TA	TA	TransAlta	Utilities	Utilities - Independent Power Producers	0.32	8.06	1.69	27.17	27.17	0.30	0.0211	0.5667	4	0.17	0.0211	0	4	Tollbooth - Unregulated	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	2.11
TSE:UFS	UFS	Domtar Corp	Basic Materials	Paper & Paper Products	0.08	38.58	1.62	177.19	177.19	0.22	0.0000	0.0000	4	0.00	0.0343	1	0	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	0.00
TSE:CPG	CPG	Crescent Point Energy	Energy	Oil & Gas E&P	0.21	1.85	0.98	0.00	0.00	-6.96	0.0054	1.0000	4	0.01	0.0054	1	3	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	0.54
TSE:VET	VET	Vermillion Energy	Energy	Oil & Gas E&P	0.14	4.02	0.64	0.00	0.00	-8.93	0.0000	0.0000	12	0.00	0.0136	2	0	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	0.00
TSE:ERF	ERF	Enerplus Corporation	Energy	Oil & Gas E&P	0.37	2.64	0.45	0.00	0.00	-4.38	0.0455	1.0000	12	0.12	0.0455	1	6	Intermediate	NO	NO	NO	NO	Canada	1	4.55

DISCLOSURE: Please note that I may have a position in one or many of the holdings listed. For a complete list of my holdings, please see my Dividend Portfolio.

DISCLAIMER: Please note that this blog post represents my opinion and not an advice/recommendation. I am not a financial adviser, I am not qualified to give financial advice. Before you buy any stocks/funds consult with a qualified financial planner. Make your investment decisions at your own risk – see my full disclaimer for more details.