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ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX ETF $21.18 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) is a good low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index, which consists of the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. Expenses are just 0.18% of assets, and it yields 3.0%.

The index mostly consists of high-quality companies. However, it must ensure that all sectors are represented, so it holds a few we wouldn’t include. The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 7.9%; TD Bank, 7.1%; Valeant Pharmaceuticals, 6.6%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.6%; CN Railway, 4.2%; Suncor Energy, 3.6%; Enbridge, 3.6%; Bank of Montreal, 3.4%; BCE, 3.3%; Manulife Financial, 3.3%; Brookfield Asset Management, 2.8%; and Canadian Natural Resources, 2.6%.

iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF is a buy.
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IBM $163.16 (New York symbol IBM; Shares outstanding: 984.7 million; Market cap: $162.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.2%; www.ibm.com) has formed an alliance with Box Inc. (New York symbol BOX), which sells cloud-storage services to businesses.

Under the deal, IBM will develop programs that combine its analytics software with Box’s cloud-based data. It will also integrate some of Box’s programs with its business email and online collaboration services, while Box’s clients will gain access to IBM’s consultants and online security technologies.

Teaming up with Box should help IBM compete with cloud-computing providers like Amazon.com and Oracle.

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ENERPLUS CORP. $10.14 (Toronto symbol ERF; Shares outstanding: 206.2 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 5.9%) produces an average of 100,855 barrels of oil equivalent a day (57% gas and 43% oil). Its properties are mainly in Alberta, Saskatchewan, B.C., North Dakota and Montana, as well as in the Marcellus shale, which passes through Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia.

Enerplus’s production rose 2.1% in the quarter ended March 31, 2015, but that wasn’t enough to offset sharply lower oil and gas prices; cash flow per share fell 51.4%, to $0.53 from $1.09.

Like ARC, Enerplus will cut spending this year. Its outlays will now total $480 million, down 40.8% from $811.0 million in 2014.

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ARC RESOURCES $21.14 (Toronto symbol ARX; Shares outstanding: 340.0 million; Market cap: $7.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; Dividend yield: 5.7%; www.arcresources.com) produces oil and natural gas in Western Canada. Its average daily output of 120,354 barrels of oil equivalent is 64% gas and 36% oil. In the quarter ended March 31, 2015, ARC’s cash flow per share fell 38.7%, to $0.57 from $0.93 a year earlier. Production gained 13.9%, but its realized oil price fell 49.0% and its gas price declined 45.5%. Like many oil and gas producers, ARC is cutting back on exploration and development spending. This year, it will devote $550.0 million to this purpose, down sharply from $945.5 million in 2014....

BCE INC. $52.91 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 847.9 million; Market cap: $45.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.9%; www.bce.ca) continues to expand its Fibe TV and high-speed Internet networks.

BCE aims to increase Fibe speeds in Toronto to 1,000 megabits a second, or 5.7 times faster than its current top speed of 175 megabits. Faster networks will help BCE hang on to its current customers and compete with cable companies.

The company will spend $1.14 billion on these improvements, which will eventually reach 1.1 million Toronto homes and businesses. It will also speed up its Fibe networks in other cities in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada.

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ALLIED PROPERTIES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $36.94 (Toronto symbol AP.UN; Units outstanding: 77.6 million; Market cap: $2.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.0%; www.alliedreit.com) owns 142 office buildings, mostly in major Canadian cities. These mainly Class I properties contain over 9.5 million square feet of leasable area. Class I refers to 19th- and early-20th-century light industrial buildings that have been converted to retail space. They usually feature exposed beams, interior brick and hardwood floors.

Allied spent $400 million on properties in 2012, $182.4 million in 2013 and $234.9 million in 2014. In the first quarter of 2015, it added two more for $31.8 million.

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CENOVUS ENERGY $18.66 (Toronto symbol CVE; Shares outstanding: 828.5 million; Market cap: $15.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.7%; www.cenovus.com) gets 35% of its revenue from its oil sands projects and conventional oil and gas wells in Western Canada.

Refining supplies the remaining 65% of Cenovus’s revenue. The company ships oil to its 50%-owned refineries in Illinois and Texas. Phillips 66 (New York symbol PSX) owns the other 50% of these operations.

Cenovus has now agreed to sell its royalty lands to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan for $3.3 billion. The company collects royalties from firms that drill for oil and gas on these properties, which total 4.8 million acres in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

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GREAT-WEST LIFECO $36.57 (Toronto symbol GWO; Shares outstanding: 997.4 million; Market cap: $36.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Yield: 3.6%; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is one of Canada’s largest insurance firms. It also offers mutual funds and wealth management. Power Financial owns 67.1% of Great-West.

In the three months ended March 31, 2015, Great-West’s earnings per share rose 18.6%, to $0.70 from $0.59 a year earlier.

The company’s expansion in the U.S. and Ireland continues, helping it end the latest quarter with $1.2 trillion of assets under administration. That’s up 46.0% from $805.9 billion a year earlier and 102.6% from $581.9 million on March 31, 2013.

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Emera is both a high-yielding utility and a growth stock aiming to raise its dividend with the help of new projects: our recommendation.

Today, we look at two of Canada’s leading Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)....

BLACKBERRY INC. $10 (www.blackberry.com) aims to unlock more of its QNX software’s value; QNX powers communication and entertainment systems in 60 million cars. The application has 50% of this market but faces strong competition from Microsoft and free Linux-based systems....

RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $51 (www.rbi.com) has joined McDonald’s and KFC in bringing back old mascots. The company’s Burger King chain is now using its big-headed “King” mascot for the first time since 2011....

Profits have soared for Electronic Arts, but the need to keep turning out successful video games makes it a high risk stock in our view.

Two U.S. stocks that tap into “big data” to serve financial firms are good stocks to buy as they trade near their all-time highs.

Two of Canada’s biggest insurance firms have the assets to forge ahead with expansion and still rank among our best low risk investments.

Many brokers ignore Andrew Peller, but this hidden gem’s steady growth earns it our rating as one of the best Canadian dividend stocks.

We continue to like two energy service stocks whose efficient technology helps them profit in spite of current oil prices.

NVIDIA CORP. $20 (www.nvidia.com) plans to focus on designing high-end graphic chips for computer games, cars and cloud computing applications. As a result, it aims to sell its Icera subsidiary, which designs energy-efficient chips for mobile phones....

RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $43 (www. rbi.com) earned $0.30 a share in the three months ended June 30, 2015, up 25.0% from $0.24 a year earlier. These figures exclude costs related to Burger King Worldwide’s December 2014 acquisition of Tim Hortons....

GENUINE PARTS CO. $88 (New York symbol GPC; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 152.3 million; Market cap: $13.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.genpt.com) gets 53% of its sales and 55% of its earnings by selling replacement auto parts: Genuine operates 1,100 outlets under the NAPA banner, and its distribution business serves 4,900 independent stores in North America, Australia and New Zealand.

The company also distributes industrial parts (31% of sales, 29% of earnings), office products (12%, 11%) and electrical equipment (4%, 5%).

As the economy improved after the 2008/09 recession, the company’s sales rose 36.9% from $11.2 billion in 2010 to $15.3 billion in 2014. Overall earnings jumped 49.6%, from $475.5 million to $711.3 million. Per-share profits gained 53.7%, from $3.00 to $4.61, on fewer shares outstanding.

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CINTAS CORP. $85 (Nasdaq symbol CTAS; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 111.7 million; Market cap: $9.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 1.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cintas.com) designs and makes uniforms, then sells them to over 900,000 businesses, mainly in North America. It also offers related products and services, like office cleaning and first aid kits.

Last year, the company sold its document-shredding operations to Toronto-based Shred-it International. In exchange, it received 42% of the combined firm and $180 million in cash. In May 2015, the company received a $113.4-million dividend from Shred-it.

Shred-it recently accepted a $2.3-billion takeover offer from Stericycle (Nasdaq symbol SRCL). As a result, Cintas will get between $550 million and $600 million for its stake. Stericycle expects to complete the purchase by the end of 2015.

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DIAGEO PLC ADRs $115 (New York symbol DEO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; ADRs outstanding: 627.8 million; Market cap: $72.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.5; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.diageo.com) fell 5% recently on news that U.S. securities regulators were looking into allegations that the company shipped more cases to distributors than they ordered. Liquor producers can record shipments as sales when they ship them to the wholesaler.

The company is co-operating with officials, but the possibility that it may have to restate financial results from prior periods will keep weighing on the stock.

Diageo is a hold.

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WAL-MART STORES INC. $72 (New York symbol WMT; Conservative Growth Portfolio: Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 3.2 billion; Market cap: $230.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.walmart.com) has paid an undisclosed sum for the 49% of Chinese e-commerce website Yihaodian.com it didn’t already own.

To spur the growth of online retail, the Chinese government recently relaxed foreign ownership restrictions on some Internet businesses. Owning all of Yihaodian.com will make it easier for Wal-Mart to co-ordinate inventory with its physical stores. The purchase will also help the company profit as younger Chinese shoppers buy more goods online.

Wal-Mart is a buy.

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STANLEY BLACK & DECKER INC. $108 (New York symbol SWK; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 153.7 million; Market cap: $16.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.stanleyblackanddecker.com) continues to upgrade its operations following several years of growing through acquisitions, including its largest, the March 2010 purchase of rival toolmaker Black & Decker for $4.5 billion in stock.

The efficiency improvements are freeing up cash for dividends: Stanley recently raised its payout by 5.8%. The new annual rate of $2.20 yields 2.0%.

Stanley is a buy.

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AT&T INC. $35 (New York symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 5.2 billion; Market cap: $182.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 5.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.att.com) has completed its purchase of DirecTV, which has 20.4 million satellite TV customers in the U.S. and 19.5 million in Latin America. It also owns regional sports networks and other cable channels. AT&T paid $47.1 billion (69% stock and 31% cash).

To win regulatory approval, the company agreed to expand its high-speed fibre-optic Internet service to more areas and upgrade Internet connections to schools and public libraries.

By combining broadcasting and other facilities, AT&T should save $2.5 billion annually by the end of the third year. Adding DirecTV will also help the company negotiate better content deals with sports leagues and TV networks.

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