The Successful Investor Hotline – Friday, May 22, 2009

Article Excerpt

MDS INC., $5.36, Toronto symbol MDS, gets all of its medical isotopes from the 52-year-old Chalk River nuclear reactor near Ottawa. The reactor was shut down this week after its operator, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., discovered a water leak. (Water helps stabilize the nuclear fission process.) Atomic Energy estimates that it will take at least a month to repair the leak. MDS makes over half of its earnings by selling isotopes to medical labs, which use them to detect and treat cancer and other diseases. The company estimates that a prolonged outage will cut its gross earnings by $4 million a month (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). MDS earned $2 million, or $0.02 a share, in the three months ended January 31, 2009. MDS is still a hold. TRANSCANADA CORP., $31.59, Toronto symbol TRP, has agreed to sell its 129-kilometre North Baja Pipeline, which pumps natural gas from Arizona to a pipeline in Mexico. The buyer is TC Pipelines,…