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MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $29 (Toronto symbol MBT; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 78.9 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 4.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mtsallstream.com) has acquired AWS-1 radio frequencies (or spectrum) in Manitoba from rival wireless carrier WIND Mobile. The purchase will boost its wireless networks’ speed and capacity.

Manitoba Telecom paid $45 million for these frequencies. To put that in context, it earned $10.4 million, or $0.13 a share, in the three months ended June 30, 2015. Excluding unusual items, such as costs related to a restructuring of its Allstream business communications subsidiary, the company earned $0.31 a share in the quarter, down 16.2% from $0.37 a share a year earlier.

Manitoba Telecom is a hold.

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POTASH CORP. OF SASKATCHEWAN $34 (Toronto symbol POT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 834.7 million; Market cap: $28.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.5; Dividend yield: 5.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.potashcorp.com) has offered to buy leading German fertilizer producer K+S AG for around $8.6 billion U.S.

K+S has rejected the offer, as it feels the price discounts the potential value of its new Legacy potash mine in Saskatchewan, which will open in 2016. As a result, K+S has indicated that Potash Corp. would have to raise its bid by roughly 22%.

In response, Potash Corp. may launch a hostile takeover offer. However, German regulators would probably block an acquisition, particularly if Potash Corp. plans to close some of K+S’s mines. Potash Corp. is still a hold.

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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ IGM FINANCIAL INC. $38 (Toronto symbol IGM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 247.5 million; Market cap: $9.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.1; Dividend yield: 5.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.igmfinancial.com) had $137.9 billion worth of assets under management as of July 31, 2015, down 3.0% from $142.1 billion a year earlier. The company’s fee income rises and falls with the value of the mutual funds and other securities it manages, so its revenue and earnings decline when the price of these assets falls.

However, IGM sells most of its funds through its own salesforce. This leaves it less dependent on selling through the brokerage industry than its competitors. This salesforce also lets IGM form close relationships with clients, and keep redemption rates down.

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TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $53 (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $95.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.4; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.td.com) recently agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to department store operator Nordstrom (New York symbol JWN) for its U.S. credit card portfolio. These loans total $2.2 billion U.S.; TD expects to complete the purchase by the end of 2015.

Separately, TD has agreed to become the exclusive issuer of Nordstrom-branded Visa and privatelabel credit cards.

Under the deal, which is similar to the bank’s March 2013 purchase of Target’s credit card portfolio, Nordstrom will keep receiving most of the earnings from its card operations. However, TD will also get a share, and it stands to benefit as more Nordstrom shoppers adopt the cards.

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ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $76 (Toronto symbol RY; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $106.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.2; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rbc.com) continues to sell its less promising overseas operations as it shifts its international focus to the U.S., U.K. and Asia.

For example, it recently sold its retail banking business in the country of Suriname, South America.

It’s also selling its Swiss private banking operations to SYZ Group for an undisclosed sum. This subsidiary offers wealth management services to wealthy investors from emerging markets like Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Royal aims to complete its purchase of Los Angeles-based City National (New York symbol CYN) by the end of 2015. City National focuses on wealthy individuals and lending to businesses in the entertainment, technology and health care industries. Royal plans to merge it with its U.S. wealth management operations.

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Overall earnings fell 1.2%, to $410 million from $415 million, while per-share profits gained 2.0%, to $0.52 from $0.51, on fewer shares outstanding. Excluding currency rates, the company’s earnings per share jumped 14%.

Thomson’s sound balance sheet will let it keep developing new products, particularly ones it can deliver over the Internet or through mobile devices. As of June 30, 2015, the company held cash of $1.1 billion, or $1.44 a share. Its long-term debt of $7.0 billion is a manageable 21% of its market cap.

The stock has gained 30% in the past year and now trades at 20.5 times Thomson’s likely 2015 earnings of $2.03 a share. That’s still an acceptable multiple in light of its high market share, unique products and improving profit margins. The $1.34 dividend yields 3.2%.

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PENGROWTH ENERGY CORP. $1.71 (Toronto symbol PGF; Aggressive Growth and Income Portfolios, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 540.7 million; Market cap: $924.6 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 14.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.pengrowth.com) plans to spend $190 million to $210 million on its oil and gas properties in 2015, down from its earlier forecast of $220 million to $240 million.

The company also wants to sell $600 million worth of less important assets. It will use the cash to pay down its debt of $1.9 billion, which is a high 2.1 times its market cap.

Meanwhile, Pengrowth continues to benefit from its hedging program, which locks in selling prices above today’s low oil and gas prices. That should help it keep paying monthly dividends of $0.02 a share. The annual rate of $0.24 yields a high 14.0% due to the stock’s depressed price.

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ENCANA CORP. $9.45 (Toronto symbol ECA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 842.5 million; Market cap: $8.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.encana.com) continues to sell less important properties as it narrows its focus on four higher-margin projects: Montney (B.C.), Duvernay (Alberta) and Eagle Ford and Permian (Texas).

These sales cut its daily output by 21.0% in the three months ended June 30, 2015, to 388,700 barrels a day (67% gas, 33% oil and natural gas liquids) from 491,800 a year earlier. As well, the company’s realized gas prices, which include the benefit of hedging contracts, fell 13.7%, while oil prices dropped 37.0%.

As a result, Encana lost $167 million, or $0.20 a share (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). A year earlier, it earned $171 million, or $0.23. Cash flow per share dropped 75.3%, to $0.22 from $0.89, while revenue declined 47.7%, to $830 million from $1.6 billion.

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Successful expansion in Ireland is just one reason Great-West Lifeco gets our nod as one of Canada’s top financial blue chip stocks.

CENOVUS ENERGY INC. $19 (Toronto symbol CVE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 833.2 million; Market cap: $15.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 3.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average) gets 35% of its revenue from its Western Canadian oil sands properties and conventional oil and gas wells. Chief among these assets are its 50%-owned Christina Lake and Foster Creek oil sands projects; ConocoPhilips (New York symbol COP) owns the remaining 50%.

Refining supplies the remaining 65% of Cenovus’s revenue. The company ships its oil to its 50%-owned refineries in Illinois and Texas. Phillips 66 (New York symbol PSX) owns the other 50% of these operations. Cenovus’s refineries help cut its exposure to falling oil prices, as cheaper crude lowers their operating costs.

Cenovus still plans to spend $1.8 billion to $2.0 billion on expansions and upgrades in 2015, unchanged from its previous estimate. These projects should add 50,000 barrels a day to its production by the end of 2016.

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SUNCOR ENERGY INC. $37 (Toronto symbol SU; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $51.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 3.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.suncor.com) gets 80% of its crude production from its huge Alberta oil sands projects. The remaining 20% comes from traditional oil and gas wells.

Lower oil and gas prices cut these properties’ contribution to just 39% of Suncor’s revenue and 31% of its earnings in the three months ended June 30, 2015.

However, low oil prices are a plus for Suncor’s four refineries and 1,500 Petro-Canada gas stations. As a result, these businesses supplied 61% of revenue and 69% of earnings.

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SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $40 (Toronto symbol SNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 150.6 million; Market cap: $6.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.snclavalin.com) earned $26.5 million in the second quarter of 2015, down 17.3% from $32.1 million a year earlier. Earnings per share declined 19.0%, to $0.17 from $0.21, on fewer shares outstanding.

The drop was largely because SNC ran into unstable soil while building a mass-transit project, which increased its costs. Expenses at a separate highway project were also higher than expected, further hurting its earnings.

However, revenue jumped 32.7%, to $2.25 billion from $1.7 billion, thanks to U.K.-based Kentz, which SNC bought in August 2014. Kentz provides engineering and construction services to the oil and gas industry and now supplies a third of SNC’s revenue.

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POWER CORP. $31.00 (Toronto symbol POW; Shares outstanding: 414.0 million; Market cap: $14.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.0%; www.powercorporation.com) is a diversified holding company. It holds its financial assets through 65.7%-owned Power Financial.

These financial assets include 69.5% of Great-West Lifeco, one of Canada’s largest life insurers, and 58.7% of IGM Financial, a leading Canadian mutual fund provider.

As well, Power Financial owns 50% of holding company Parjointco, which holds a 55.5% stake in Switzerland-listed Pargesa Holdings SA. Pargesa has 95% of its assets in five large European firms. Power Corp. also has interests in Asia.

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PEYTO EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT CORP. $27.59 (Toronto symbol PEY; Shares outstanding: 159.0 million; Market cap: $4.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.8%; www.peyto.com) produces and explores for oil and natural gas in Alberta. Its average daily production of 81,588 barrels of oil equivalent is 91% gas and 9% oil.

In the three months ended March 31, 2015, Peyto’s cash flow fell 10.5%, to $0.94 a share from $1.05 a year ago. It raised its production by 13.0%, but that was offset by lower gas prices.

Like Bonavista, Peyto is cutting its spending this year. Its outlays will now total $560 million to $600 million, down from $690 million in 2014.

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BONAVISTA ENERGY $4.63 (Toronto symbol BNP; Shares outstanding: 206.6 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 9.1%; www.bonavistaenergy.com) explores for oil and natural gas in Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C. Its output is 75% gas and 25% oil.

In the three months ended June 30, 2015, Bonavista’s cash flow per share fell 34.3%, to $0.44 from $0.67 a year earlier.

Most of that drop came from lower oil and natural gas prices; the company’s output fell only slightly, to 73,736 barrels of oil equivalent a day from 74,273 barrels.

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ISHARES CDN REIT SECTOR INDEX FUND $15.79 (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds the 15 Canadian real estate investment trusts in the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index.

iShares CDN REIT’s expenses are 0.60% of its assets. The fund yields 5.1%.

The ETF’s largest holding is RioCan REIT at 20.1%, followed by H&R REIT (14.6%), Smart REIT (7.9%), Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (7.9%), Canadian REIT (7.3%), Allied Properties REIT (6.7%), Cominar REIT (6.5%), Dream Office REIT (6.1%), Boardwalk REIT (5.3%), Granite REIT (4.5%), Artis REIT (4.3%), Dream Global REIT (2.5%), Crombie REIT (2.3%), Pure Industrial REIT (2.1%) and Northern Property REIT (1.6%).

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H&R REIT $22.20 (Toronto symbol HR.UN; Units outstanding: 276.5 million; Market cap: $6.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 6.1%; www.hr-reit.com) owns or has stakes in 506 office buildings, industrial properties and shopping malls in Canada and the U.S. In all, these holdings include 46.1 million square feet of leasable space.

In December 2014, the REIT sold part ownership of 101 industrial properties, or a total of 19.5 million square feet, in Canada and the U.S. for $731 million. The buyers included the Canadian Public Sector Pension Investment Board.

H&R has kept a 50% interest in the Canadian properties and a 49.5% stake in the U.S. portfolio. It continues to manage these assets and receives fees for doing so. The trust also held on to full ownership of 14 other industrial properties.

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CANADIAN REIT $41.55 (Toronto symbol REF.UN; Units outstanding: 72.8 million; Market cap: $3.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.3%; www.creit.ca) owns 198 properties, including retail, industrial and office buildings, across Canada and in Chicago. These holdings contain 24.9 million square feet of leasable area. The trust’s occupancy rate is 94.7%.

In the three months ended June 30, 2015, Canadian REIT’s revenue rose 5.5%, to $111.5 million from $105.7 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit gained 2.7%, to $0.76 from $0.74.

Canadian REIT generally aims to grow by developing its own properties rather than through large acquisitions. Over the next few years, it’s spending $660 million to add about 3.1 million square feet of space. To cut its risk, the trust takes on partners to help it carry out big projects.

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TORSTAR $4.45 (Toronto symbol TS.B; Shares outstanding: 79.9 million; Market cap: $351.4 million; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 11.8%; www.torstar.com) has purchased 56% of VerticalScope, a private firm that operates over 600 online forums and a variety of websites, including AutoGuide.com, Motorcycle.com, ATV.com and PetGuide.com.

The online forums attract 80 million unique visitors and 500 million page views per month. Much of VerticalScope’s website traffic comes from the U.S.

This purchase should help Torstar offset slowing advertising revenue at its newspapers as advertisers shift their spending to the Internet.

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MANITOBA TELECOM $28.80 (Toronto symbol MBT; Shares outstanding: 78.9 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 4.5%; www.mts.ca) gets 60% of its revenue from its MTS division, which has 1.3 million TV, telephone and wireless users in Manitoba. The other 40% comes from Allstream, which sells phone and Internet services to businesses across Canada.

In May 2015, the company completed a strategic review of its operations. As a result, it now plans to cut 25% of Allstream’s workforce and reduce the subsidiary’s capital spending by 20% to 30% in 2015. These moves should save Manitoba Telecom $50 million annually by the end of 2016.

In addition, the company will contribute $120 million to its underfunded employees’ pension plan, eliminating the need for additional payments over the next two years. It has also cut its dividend by 23.5%: the new annual rate of $1.30 a share yields 4.5%.

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BCE INC. $54.16 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 847.9 million; Market cap: $45.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.8%; www.bce.ca) is Canada’s largest provider of telephone, Internet and wireless services. It also offers satellite and Internet TV across the country.

In the three months ended June 30, 2015, BCE’s earnings per share rose 6.1%, to $0.87 from $0.82 a year earlier. Revenue increased 2.0%, to $5.33 billion from $5.22 billion.

BCE gained 22,110 wireless subscribers, net of losses, in the latest quarter. It signed up 61,033 new users under long-term contracts, up 72.5% from a year earlier. That’s important, as these customers tend to use smartphones, which generate higher monthly fees than regular cellphones.

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BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $63.81 (Toronto symbol BNS; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $78.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.3%, www.scotiabank.com) is paying an undisclosed sum for Citigroup’s (New York symbol C) retailbanking operations in Panama and Costa Rica, which include 27 branches.

The move will nearly triple the bank’s customer base in these two countries, from 137,000 to 387,000. It will also make Bank of Nova Scotia the second-largest credit card provider in both nations, with 18% of the market in Panama and 15% in Costa Rica.

The economies of Panama and Costa Rica are more tied to the growing U.S. economy than those of other Latin American countries, such as Chile and Peru, which are heavily reliant on resource exports to China. Panama and Costa Rica ship about 37% of their exports to the U.S.

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VANGUARD FTSE EMERGING MARKETS ETF $37.85 (New York symbol VWO; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) Emerging Index, which is made up of common stocks of companies in developing countries. The fund’s MER is just 0.15%.

The Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF’s top holdings include Taiwan Semiconductor (Taiwan: computer chips), Tencent Holdings (China: Internet), China Mobile, China Construction Bank, Naspers Ltd. (South Africa: media), Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, Hon Hai Precision Industry (Taiwan: electronics), Petroleo Brasileiro (Brazil: oil and gas) and Ping An Insurance Group of China.

The $65.4-billion fund’s breakdown by country is as follows: China, 28.4%; Taiwan, 14.2%; India, 11.6%; South Africa, 9.3%; Brazil, 8.8%; Mexico, 5.1%; Russia, 4.4%; Malaysia, 4.1%; Thailand, 2.6%; Indonesia, 2.4%; Philippines, 1.8%; Poland, 1.7%; Turkey, 1.7%; and others, 3.9%.

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VANGUARD GROWTH ETF $110.34 (New York symbol VUG; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) U.S. Large Cap Growth Index, a broadly diversified index that mainly consists of large U.S. companies. The fund’s MER is just 0.09%.

The $48.1-billion Vanguard Growth ETF’s top holdings are Apple, Google, Coca-Cola, Facebook, Oracle, Home Depot, Comcast, Amazon.com, Gilead Sciences and Walt Disney Co.

The fund’s breakdown by industry is as follows: Technology, 23.9%; Consumer Services, 21.8%; Health Care, 14.6%; Financials, 12.1%; Industrials, 11.5%; Consumer Goods, 9.3%; Oil and Gas, 5.0%; Materials, 1.4%; and Telecom Services, 0.3%.

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TRANSCANADA CORP. $49.44 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 708.9 million; Market cap: $36.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.2%; www.transcanada.com) still hopes its Keystone XL pipeline will be approved, even though Alberta’s new NDP government has withdrawn the province’s support for the project.

Keystone XL would pump crude from Alberta’s oil sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Due to various delays, the company now expects Keystone XL to cost $8.0 billion U.S.

Meanwhile, TransCanada has improved its efficiency and adopted new technologies, both of which are helping it pump more oil through its existing Keystone pipeline between Alberta and refineries in Illinois.

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