TRANSCONTINENTAL INC. (Toronto symbol TCL.A; www.tctranscontinental.com) is the largest commercial printer in Canada and the fourth-largest in North America. It also publishes newspapers and magazines.

Transcontinental also has over 1,000 websites, which supply 16% of its total revenue. These websites will become more important to this blue chip stock’s growth in the next few years as advertisers spend more on the …read more »

CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO. (Toronto symbol CNR; www.cn.ca) operates the largest freight rail network in Canada. It also serves 16 U.S. states. Ottawa nationalized CNR in 1918 because of the vital role the company played in Canada’s early growth. CNR became a publicly traded company in 1995.

The company is upgrading its Alberta rail networks to take advantage of expanding oil …read more »

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $51.97 (Toronto symbol BNS: Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $57.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Div. yield: 4.0%, www.scotiabank.com) has agreed to buy 51% of Banco Colpatria, Colombia’s fifth-largest bank, with 175 branches and 308 ATMs.

Bank of Nova Scotia will pay $500 million U.S. plus 10 million common shares. That gives the deal a value …read more »

MCDONALD’S CORP. $92 (New York symbol MCD; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $92.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.6; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.mcdonalds.com) is a good example of a high-quality stock that continues to thrive despite stock-market weakness.

The stock is now around 44.3% above the $63.75 peak that it hit prior to …read more »

BCE INC. $38.22 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 777.1 million; Market cap: $30.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.4%; www.bce.ca) is Canada’s largest provider of telephone, Internet and wireless services. It also sells wireless and satellite-TV services across Canada.

In the three months ended June 30, 2011, BCE’s earnings per share rose 10.3%, to $0.86 from $0.78. Revenue rose …read more »

TELUS $48.57 (Toronto symbol T.A; Shares outstanding: 335.6 million; Market cap: $16.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.5%; www.telus.com) is Canada’s second-largest telephone and wireless provider after BCE Inc..

Telus has 7.1 million wireless subscribers across Canada, and gets twice as much of its revenue from wireless as BCE (52% compared to BCE’s 26%). The company continues to expand …read more »

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD. $52.02 (Toronto symbol CP; Shares outstanding: 170.7 million; Market cap: $8.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 2.3%; www.cpr.ca) reports that its operating ratio worsened in the three months ended June 30, 2011, to 81.8% from 77.8% a year earlier. (Operating ratio is calculated by dividing regular operating costs by revenue. The lower the ratio, the …read more »

General Mills, New York symbol GIS, is one of the world’s largest food makers. Its top brands include Big G (cereal), Green Giant (canned and frozen vegetables), Pillsbury (baking dough), Old El Paso (tacos) and Progresso (soups and salads).

In its fiscal 2012 first quarter, which ended August 28, 2011, General Mills’ sales rose 8.9%, to $3.8 billion from $3.5 billion …read more »

General Electric Co., New York symbol GE, plans to buy back all of the preferred shares it sold to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (New York symbol BRK.B), the holding company controlled by billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

GE sold these shares to Berkshire during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. The cash from the sale helped stabilize GE’s finance division.

The company will pay …read more »

Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a new or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you our specific advice on the fundamentals of successful investing. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away.

Today’s tip: “The quality …read more »