EMERA INC. $33 (Toronto symbol EMA; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 121.8 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.emera.com) gets 70% of its revenue from Nova Scotia Power Inc., which is Nova Scotia’s main electrical-power supplier. It gets the rest comes from its interests in pipelines and power companies in the …read more »

CANADIAN TIRE CORP. $58 (Toronto symbol CTC.A; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 81.4 million; Market cap: $4.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.canadiantire.ca) will now install some of the household equipment it sells, such as garage-door openers, hot water tanks and central vacuum systems. Previously, customers had to install these items themselves, …read more »

Many investors are concerned about today’s market outlook. However, a strong point over the past few years has been the reliability of Canadian dividend stocks. A good example of this is BCE, a utility stock that has grown its dividend and continues to provide capital gains to patient investors.

BCE faces challenges and opportunities

BCE Inc. (Toronto symbol BCE; www.bce.ca) earned $663 …read more »

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $51.74 (Toronto symbol BNS: Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $55.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Div. yield: 4.0%, www.scotiabank.com) continues to build up its operations in China. The bank recently 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 …read more »

We still think investors will profit most — and with the least risk — by buying shares of well-established, dividend-paying stocks with strong business prospects.

These are companies that have strong positions in healthy industries. They also have strong management that will make the right moves to remain competitive in a changing marketplace.

Stocks like these give investors an additional measure of …read more »

GENUINE PARTS CO. $50 (www.genpt.com) has acquired privately held Cobra Wire & Cable, Inc. Based in Pennsylvania, Cobra distributes insulated wires and cables to makers of telecom equipment, batteries and other electrical products, mainly under long-term supply contracts. Genuine Parts did not say how much it paid, but Cobra will add $43 million to Genuine’s annual revenue of $11.9 billion. …read more »

MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $33 (Toronto symbol MBT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 65.7 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 5.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mtsallstream.com) has over 1.3 million telephone and wireless customers in Manitoba. This business now accounts for 54% of the company’s revenue. The remaining 46% comes from its Allstream division, which …read more »

TELUS CORP. (Toronto symbols T $53 and T.A $51; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 352.9 million; Market cap: $18.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 4.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) continues to expand its wireless business. As a result, it now gets 52% of its earnings from its 7.1 million wireless subscribers across Canada.

The company gets the …read more »

CP’s earnings have suffered lately, mainly due to bad weather. Avalanches during the winter disrupted its operations in western Canada, and spring floods washed out some of its lines in the Canadian Prairies and the U.S. Midwest.

However, these are short-term setbacks. As well, the company is now working on a number of improvements that should make it more efficient, and …read more »

TRANSCANADA CORP. $43 (Toronto symbol TRP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 703.0 million; Market cap: $30.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.5; Dividend yield: 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.transcanada.com) continues to face strong opposition from environmentalists and celebrities over its proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would pump crude oil from Alberta’s oil sands to refineries on the U.S. Gulf …read more »