Updating IMPERIAL OIL LTD., TRANSCONTINENTAL INC. and BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA

Article Excerpt

IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $39 (Toronto symbol IMO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap: $33.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 1.1%; SI Rating: Average) has formed a new joint venture with parent company ExxonMobil Corp. (New York symbol XOM) and BP plc (New York symbol BP). This new company will explore for oil and natural gas in the Beaufort Sea. Imperial and Exxon will each own a 25% stake in the venture, and BP will own 50%. Underwater exploration in the arctic is hugely expensive, so this joint venture will help all three partners lower their costs. Developing these offshore fields would also help Imperial with its plan to build a new pipeline that would pump gas from the Mackenzie Delta to Alberta. However, exploration will have to wait while regulators review offshore drilling safety standards in the wake of BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Imperial Oil is a buy. TRANSCONTINENTAL INC. $14 (Toronto symbol TCL.A;…