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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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VERESEN $14.25 (Toronto symbol VSN; Shares outstanding: 290.0 million; Market cap: $4.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 7.0%; www.vereseninc.com) owns pipelines, power plants and gas-processing facilities across North America.

A major holding is 50% of the Alliance gas line, which runs 3,000 kilometres between Chicago and Fort St. John, B.C. Veresen also owns the Alberta Ethane Gathering System, 42.7% of the Aux Sable NGL plant and the Hythe/Steeprock natural gas gathering and processing complex in the Cutbank Ridge region of Alberta and B.C.

In the three months ended June 30, 2015, Veresen’s cash flow per share fell 24.1%, to $0.22 from $0.29 a year earlier.

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PEMBINA PIPELINE $37.12 (Toronto symbol PPL; Shares outstanding: 340.4 million; Market cap: $13.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 4.7%; www.pembina.com) owns pipelines that carry half of Alberta’s conventional oil, 30% of Western Canada’s natural gas liquids (NGLs) and almost all of B.C.’s conventional oil.

Pembina also owns extensive facilities to extract, process and store NGLs.

In the three months ended March 31, 2015, the company’s cash flow per share fell 24.1%, to $0.63 from $0.83 a year earlier. That’s mainly because lower oil and gas prices cut profit margins and volumes at its NGL extraction business.

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CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD. $208.83 (Toronto symbol CP; Shares outstanding: 161.0 million; Market cap: $34.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 0.7%; www.cpr.ca) transports freight over a 22,000-kilometre rail network between Montreal and Vancouver, as well as hubs in the U.S. Midwest and Northeast.

CP continues to benefit from lower fuel prices and an aggressive cost-cutting plan, but the slowing economy is hurting its freight volumes and revenue. That has caused the shares to fall about 14% from earlier this year.

In the three months ended June 30, 2015, the railway earned $404 million, up 8.9% from $371 million a year earlier. Per-share profits jumped 16.1%, to $2.45 from $2.11, on fewer shares outstanding.

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LOBLAW COMPANIES $72.20 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 412.6 million; Market cap: $29.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.4%; www.loblaw.ca) is Canada’s largest food retailer.

Loblaw plans to close 52 underperforming stores in the next year, including supermarkets, gas bars and stand-alone Joe Fresh clothing outlets. Following these closures, it will operate roughly 2,400 stores, including 1,250 Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacies.

The move will cut Loblaw’s yearly sales by $300 million, but it should add $35 million to $40 million to its annual gross profits. It also expects to save at least $200 million this year by merging its warehouses and other operations with Shoppers.

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In response to a question by a Member of his Inner Circle, Pat McKeough looks at the prospects of one of Canada’s biggest, and oldest, retailers, Hudson’s Bay Company. With five banners in North America, including several leading luxury chains in the U.S., the company has added one of Germany’s largest department store chains. Pat examines the costs and risks of such a big acquisition, but also looks at some of the advantages this growth stock could unlock with its European takeover.
For a recent report on a Canadian growth stock that has achieved rapid growth in the past year, read AirBoss of America gets big profit bounce from rubber products.

Q: Hi, Pat: Could I have your latest recommendations on Hudson’s Bay Co.? Regards.

A: Hudson’s Bay Co. (symbol HBC on Toronto; www.thebay.com) has five main banners:

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Because it’s always important to diversify beyond Canada, a look at two Vanguard ETFs that offer a low-fee way to achieve diversification.

Adding strength with timely U.S. acquisitions, Royal Bank and TD Bank bolster their status as solid blue chips stocks in a sluggish economy.