Capitalization

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD. $58.16 (Toronto symbol CP; Shares outstanding: 168.6 million; Market cap: $9.8 billion; SI Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.9%) has raised its quarterly dividend by 9.1%, to $0.27 a share from $0.2475. The new annual rate of $1.08 a share yields 1.9%.

The company also added $70 million to its 2010 capital spending plans. It will now spend …read more »

If you want to invest in gold and silver, we think the best way to do it is through shares of companies that mine gold and silver. Our favourite gold stock is Newmont Mining (see box this page). But if you want to hold a number of gold or silver stocks, the two exchange-traded funds below offer a good combination …read more »

MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $28.34 (Toronto symbol MBT; Shares outstanding: 64.7 million; Market cap: $1.8 billion; SI Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 9.2%) gets 52% of its revenue from its MTS division, which mainly sells traditional and wireless telephone services to consumers. The remaining 48% of its revenue comes from its Allstream business-communications division.

In the three months ended March 31, 2010, …read more »

AMEREN CORP. $24 (New York symbol AEE; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 238.2 million; Market cap: $5.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 6.4%; WSSF Rating: Average) sells electricity and natural gas to 3.4 million customers in Illinois and Missouri.

In the three months ended March 31, 2010, Ameren’s earnings fell 16.7%, to $95 million from $114 million a year …read more »

Investors generally look to aggressive stocks for capital gains and to more conservative stocks, like utilities, for income. However, there are some aggressive stocks that pay dividends that are as high — or even higher — than more established companies.

(We’ve updated our buy/sell/hold advice on a high-dividend aggressive stock in a just-published issue of Stock Pickers Digest. See below …read more »

BELLATRIX EXPLORATION $2.86 (Toronto symbol BXE; SI Rating: Speculative) (403-266-8670; www.bellatrixexploration.com; Shares outstanding: 92.5 million; Market cap: $264.1 million; No dividends paid) has established oil and gas production in Canada, one of the world’s safest jurisdictions.

Bellatrix produces oil and natural gas in Saskatchewan and west-central Alberta. Gas makes up about 74% of its output.

In the three months ended March 31, …read more »

One key part of our three-pronged investing program is to spread your money out across the five main sectors of the economy: Manufacturing & Industry; Resources; Consumer; Finance; and Utilities.

In general, stocks in the Resources and Manufacturing & Industry sectors expose you to above-average volatility, and stocks in the Utilities and Finance sectors entail below-average volatility. Consumer stocks usually …read more »

China Investment Corp. (CIC) continues to catch investors’ attention by making a number of big purchases in the resource sector, including crude oil stocks. CIC is the Chinese government’s “sovereign wealth fund.”

Sovereign wealth funds have been around since the 1950s. They are state-owned investment funds that are usually financed by an economic surplus. Many Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, …read more »

MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $29 (Toronto symbol MBT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 64.7 million; Market cap: $1.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 9.0%; SI Rating: Average) has dropped nearly 20% in the past five months. That’s mainly because of fears that slowing sales of traditional telephone services will force it to cut its quarterly dividend of …read more »

PRECISION DRILLING TRUST $7.13 (Toronto symbol PD.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resource sector; Units outstanding: 275.6 million; Market cap: $2.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; No dividends paid since February 2009; SI Rating: Extra Risk) provides contract-drilling services to oil and gas producers. Precision owns 351 drilling rigs, including 202 in Canada, 146 in the U.S. and three in Mexico and other …read more »