The Globe and Mail attempts to identify the best in ultraconservative stocks in the S&P/TSX 60 index in its Thursday, Nov. 12, edition. The Globe's Ian Tam writes in the Number Cruncher column that he searched for names with steady earnings and sustainable dividends over time. Mr. Tam avoided stocks with a high beta, meaning he wanted stocks that do not make volatile moves or so-called "steady Eddies." He only picked companies with a long history of positive and steadily growing earnings. His picks have a decent dividend yield of about 4 per cent or more. He considered the trailing price-to-earnings ratio and price-to-book ratio. He only considered companies with a positive three-month earnings estimate revision (analysts' current consensus estimate for earnings per share versus three months ago). Mr. Tam also likes to see positive quarterly earnings surprises in his picks. Mr. Tam's top 10 qualifying stocks are Fortis, National Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia, BCE, Bank of Montreal, TransCanada, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, Telus and Shaw Communications.