Bank of Nova Scotia, Toronto symbol BNS, continues to benefit from its growing banking operations in the Caribbean, Latin America, South America and Asia.

Last week, Bank of Nova Scotia agreed to buy 19.99% of the Bank of Guangzhou; the Chinese government owns the remaining 80.01%. This bank is the 29th largest in China, with 84 branches.

Bank of Nova …read more »

BCE INC. $39 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 777.5 million; Market cap: $30.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 5.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bce.ca) is Canada’s largest provider of telephone, Internet and wireless services. The company’s main subsidiary, Bell Canada, has 6.3 million residential and business customers in Ontario and Quebec.

BCE sells wireless services …read more »

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD. $55 (Toronto symbol CP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 169.4 million; Market cap: $9.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cpr.ca) transports freight between Montreal and Vancouver. It also connects with hubs in the U.S. Midwest and Northeast. CP gets 25% of its revenue from the U.S.

In …read more »

CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE $77 (Toronto symbol CM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 398.9 million; Market cap: $30.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 4.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cibc.com) earned $808 million, or $1.89 a share, in the three months ended July 31, 2011. That’s up 26.3% from $640 million, or $1.53 a share, a year …read more »

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $54.53 (Toronto symbol BNS: Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $58.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Div. yield: 3.8%, www.scotiabank.com) is the third largest of Canada’s five big banks, with assets of $567.7 billion.

Excluding one-time items, the bank earned $1.14 a share in the quarter ended July 31, 2011. That’s up 16.3% from $0.98 a share …read more »

Bank of Nova Scotia is still our top pick among the big-five banks for safety-conscious investors. Its strong earnings in the latest quarter reflect its lower-risk lending and its focus on fast-growing developing markets. These strengths are more than offsetting rising costs and competition in Canada, as well as a rising Canadian dollar, which lowers the contribution of Scotia’s foreign …read more »

GREAT-WEST LIFECO $22 (Toronto symbol GWO; Shares outstanding: 959.8 million; Market cap: $21.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.6%) is Canada’s largest insurance company, with $497 billion in assets under administration. It also operates in the U.S. and Europe. In addition to insurance, Great-West sells wealth management and other financial services.

In the three months ended June 30, 2011, …read more »

3M Company, New York symbol MMM, makes over 55,000 consumer and industrial products, including Post-it notes, Scotch tape, Scotch-Brite cleaning products, Scotchguard fabric protection and Thinsulate insulation.

3M is one of the large cap stocks we analyze in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that recommends stocks for the part of your portfolio you devote to U.S. investments.

In the three months …read more »

Torstar’s earnings jumped in the latest quarter, but its shares have fallen, because it missed consensus estimates. Still, its cost cuts should make its newspapers more profitable, and its Internet businesses are growing quickly. As well, Harlequin should gain from the shift to ebooks from printed books. Torstar now trades at just 6.3 times its likely 2011 earnings of $1.72 …read more »

TRANSCANADA CORP. $39.56 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 691.7 million; Market cap: $27.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.3%; www.transcanada.com) has opened its second
pipeline in Mexico. This new, 307-kilometre line pumps natural gas from the country’s west coast to another gas pipeline in Guadalajara. This new pipeline cost $360 million U.S. To put that in context, TransCanada earned …read more »