Updating Manitoba Telecom, Encana and Power Corp.

Article Excerpt

MANITOBA TELECOM $28.74 (Toronto symbol MBT; Shares outstanding: 78.9 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 4.5%; www.mts.ca) has acquired AWS-1 radio frequencies (or spectrum) in Manitoba from rival wireless carrier WIND Mobile. The $45-million purchase will boost the speed and capacity of the company’s wireless networks. Manitoba Telecom is a hold. ENCANA $9.07 (Toronto symbol ECA; Shares outstanding: 842.5 million; Market cap: $7.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 4.0%; www.encana.com) has agreed to sell its Haynesville natural gas properties in northern Louisiana for $850 million (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). The sale will let the company avoid spending $480 million on these projects through 2020. Moreover, the new owners will pay Encana a fee to transport natural gas for the next five years. The company expects to complete the sale by the end of 2015. It will use the proceeds to pay down its long-term debt, which totals $7.9…