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THOMSON CORP. $41 (Toronto symbol TOC; SI Rating: Above average) provides a wide range of specialized information to financial, medical, legal and scientific professionals, mainly through electronic channels such as the Internet. Unlike Torstar and Transcontinental, Thomson gets only a small portion of its revenue from ads.
In the third quarter of 2005, Thomson earned $0.46 a share (total $302 million) …read more »
The Internet has disrupted the historic business model of newspaper publishers and other information providers, competing against them for both readers and ad revenue.
Thomson was early among media firms to recognize the change and adapt to it. That’s one reason why it was a favourite of ours in the 1990s (though we switched our advice to ‘hold’ several years ago). …read more »
CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO. $95 (Toronto symbol CNR; SI Rating: Average) has suffered several derailments in the past few months. CN prefers to run longer trains, to save fuel and other costs. But longer trains are more difficult to control, particularly in mountainous terrain with steep grades and frequent twists. In fact, the company has had three derailments in British …read more »
MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $40 (Toronto symbol MBT; SI Rating: Average) has unveiled a major restructuring, including cutting its workforce by 12%, mainly at its Allstream business communication subsidiary. That should help the company cope with lower revenue from two of Allstream’s former owners, who plan to shift long-distance traffic to their own networks.
These moves will cost Manitoba Tel $100 …read more »
The 2005 deadline for tax-loss selling on the Toronto Exchange is Friday, December 23. If you sell at a loss on or before that date, you can deduct your loss for tax purposes against 2005 capital gains. However, you can also carry your loss back for the past three years, or carry it forward indefinitely, to offset past or future …read more »
ALCAN INC. $48 (Toronto symbol AL; SI Rating: Average) is the world’s second-largest producer of primary aluminum, after U.S.-based Alcoa Inc., with about 13% of the world’s aluminum production capacity. Manufacturers turn primary aluminum into a wide variety of products, including automotive parts, construction materials and beverage containers. North America accounts for a third of its sales.
Alcan’s sales rose from …read more »
In the 1980s and 1990s, Alcan qualified as what you might call a cyclical growth stock. It was cyclical because demand for and prices of aluminum and aluminum parts generally rise and fall with the economy. But it had a growth element because aluminum’s strength and light weight make it ideal for use in car parts, to cut fuel consumption.
In …read more »
Flow-through funds are tax shelters that mainly invest in the flow-through shares issued by junior mining and oil companies. These companies spend the proceeds from the shares they sell on mineral exploration and development, an activity that qualifies for certain tax credits and tax deferrals. These tax benefits “flow through” to investors in the fund. To take advantage of these …read more »
