Updating CIBC, Agrium and Telus

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CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE $71 (Toronto symbol CM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 404.9 million; Market cap: $28.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 5.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cibc.com) continues to profit by focusing on retail banking, which accounts for 76% of its business. That cuts its reliance on its more-volatile corporate-lending and securities-trading divisions. In its fiscal 2012 second quarter, which ended April 30, 2012, the bank earned $766 million, or $1.90 a share. That’s up 6.1% from $722 million, or $1.80 a share, a year earlier. Without unusual items, such as losses on securities that CIBC holds, earnings per share would have risen 9.3%, to $2.00 from $1.83. Revenue rose 2.3%, to $3.1 billion from $3.0 billion. CIBC is a buy. AGRIUM INC. $84 (Toronto symbol AGU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 158.0 million; Market cap: $13.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 1.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.agrium.com) has raised its semi-annual dividend by 122.2%,…