CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY $181.49

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY $181.49 (Toronto symbol CP; Shares outstanding: 153.0 million; Market cap: $27.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.1%; www.cpr.ca) has abandoned its plan to merge with U.S.-based railway Norfolk Southern Corp. (New York symbol NSC). Norfolk rejected CP’s latest offer of about $30 billion U.S. in cash and shares. In addition, U.S. transportation regulators probably would have blocked any deal no matter how CP structured the transaction. The company will now use some of the cash it had set aside for the takeover to raise its quarterly dividend by 42.9%, starting with the July 2016 payment. The new annual rate of $2.00 a share yields 1.1%. The company also plans to buy back as much as 6.9 million of its shares (about 5% of the total outstanding) over the next year. In 2015, it repurchased $2.7 billion of its shares. Meanwhile, CP should continue to benefit as its investments in new trains and tracks improve operating efficiency. Its earnings will probably rise 10.1%, from $10.10 a share in 2015 to $11.12 in 2016. The stock trades at 16.3 times that forecast. CP Rail is a buy.

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