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RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL $48 (www.rbi.com) is the new company formed by the merger of Tim Hortons Inc. (old symbol THI) and Burger King Worldwide (old symbol BKW).

Restaurant Brands is the world’s third-largest fast-food chain, after McDonald’s and Yum Brands, with 14,000 Burger King restaurants and 4,590 Tim Hortons outlets in 100 countries. In all, these locations have annual sales of over $23 billion U.S.

Roughly 72% of Tim Hortons shareholders opted to receive 3.0879 shares of the new company for each Tim Hortons share they held. A further 26% chose the default option of $65.50 in cash plus 0.8025 of a Restaurant Brands share, while 2% picked the all-cash option of $88.50 a share.

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SUNCOR ENERGY INC. $35 (Toronto symbol SU; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $52.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 3.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www. suncor.com) gets 40% of its revenue and 65% of its earnings by producing oil and natural gas, mainly at its large Alberta oil sands projects. The remaining 60% of revenue and 35% of earnings come from its four oil refineries and 1,500 Petro-Canada gas stations.

Big merger boosted results

Suncor merged with rival Petro-Canada in 2009, increasing its revenue by 52.2%, from $25.5 billion in 2009 to $38.8 billion in 2011. Lower oil prices cut the company’s revenue to $38.5 billion in 2012. In 2013, Suncor sold most of its Western Canadian natural gas operations for $1 billion. However, higher oil prices offset the lower production, and its revenue rose to $40.3 billion.

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BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $4.15 and BBD.B $4.14; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $7.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bombardier.com) has won several orders for new regional jets, business jets and turboprop planes. Assuming these customers exercise all of their options, these deals are worth a total of $1.7 billion (all amounts except share prices and market cap in U.S. dollars). That’s equal to 9% of the company’s annual revenue of $19.5 billion.

In addition, Bombardier has received an order for 42 passenger railcars from the operator of a public transit system near Paris, France. This deal is worth $484 million, and the company will begin delivering the trains in 2017.

Bombardier B stock is a buy.

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IGM FINANCIAL INC. $44 (Toronto symbol IGM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 251.6 million; Market cap: $11.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.0; Dividend yield: 5.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.igmfinancial.com) had $141.9 billion of assets under management on December 31, 2014, up 7.7% from $131.8 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 benefit when the value of these assets increases.

However, IGM’s overall mutual fund redemptions exceeded sales by $30.6 million in December. Net gains at the company’s Investors Group (up $13.3 million) and Counsel (up $19.7 million) subsidiaries failed to offset $63.1 million of net redemptions at its Mackenzie division.

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ENCANA CORP. $15 (Toronto symbol ECA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 741.0 million; Market cap: $11.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.encana.com) has agreed to sell its natural gas pipelines and compression facilities in B.C.’s Montney region to a partnership between Veresen Inc. (Toronto symbol VSN) and investment firm KKR & Co. (New York symbol KKR). Encana will continue to own and operate gas wells in this region.

Encana will get $412 million (Canadian) when the sale closes in the next few weeks. To put that in context, it earned $281 million U.S., or $0.38 U.S. a share, in the quarter ended September 30, 2014.

Encana is a buy.

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SHAWCOR LTD. $38 (Toronto symbol SCL; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 64.5 million; Market cap: $2.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.shawcor.com) makes sealants and coatings that keep oil and gas pipelines from rusting. It also manufactures industrial products, such as electrical wire and protective sheaths.

Low oil prices are prompting oil and gas producers to delay new drilling projects in the Gulf of Mexico. As a result, ShawCor will write down the value of its pipe-coating facility in Texas. Meanwhile, the devaluation of Venezuela’s currency has prompted the company to write down its 50% joint venture in that country.

These charges will cut ShawCor’s earnings by $80 million in the fourth quarter of 2014. To put that in context, it earned $115.5 million, or $1.90 a share, in the first nine months of the year.

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ATCO LTD. (Toronto symbols ACO.X [class I non-voting] $48 and ACO.Y [class II voting] $48; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 115.1 million; Market cap: $5.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.atco.com) holds 53.2% of Canadian Utilities (see left). It also owns 75.5% of ATCO Structures & Logistics, which builds temporary buildings for construction and energy exploration firms; Canadian Utilities owns the remaining 24.5%.

The drop in oil prices is hurting growth at the structures business. As a result, ATCO likely earned $3.02 a share in 2014, down 10.9% from 2013. But higher earnings from Canadian Utilities should raise its 2015 earnings to $3.39 a share, and the stock trades at 14.2 times that estimate. The $0.99 dividend yields 1.8%.

Based on current prices, you can buy an ATCO share for $48 and get roughly $51 worth of Canadian Utilities. That means you get ATCO’s structures business, which provides around 25% of its earnings, for free.

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CANADIAN UTILITIES LTD. (Toronto symbols CU [class A non-voting] $42 and CU.X [class B voting] $42; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 263.3 million; Market cap: $11.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.1; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.canadianutilities.com) distributes electricity and natural gas in Alberta and Australia. It also operates 18 power plants in Canada, Australia and the U.K. ATCO Ltd. owns 53.2% of the company.

Alberta power regulators recently selected Canadian Utilities to build and operate a new 500- kilometre transmission line between Edmonton and Fort Mc- Murray, an area where power demand could double in the next 10 years.

The company will own 80% of a joint venture that will build this project. Quanta Services (New York symbol PWR) will own the remaining 20%. Canadian Utilities’ share of the $1.43-billion cost is $1.14 billion. Construction will begin in 2017, and the new line should start up in 2019.

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ANDREW PELLER LTD. $15 (Toronto symbol ADW.A; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 14.3 million; Market cap: $214.5 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.andrewpeller.com) is Canada’s second-largest producer of wines, after Vincor International. Its wineries in Nova Scotia, Ontario and British Columbia account for 13.4% of the Canadian wine market.

In the second quarter of its 2015 fiscal year, which ended September 30, 2014, Peller’s sales rose 7.2%, to $82.8 million from $77.2 million a year earlier. That’s mainly because the company started selling its Wayne Gretzky wines in Western Canada. It also launched several new products, including its skinnygrape spritzers and Panama Jack cocktails.

Earnings jumped 45.5%, to $5.1 million, or $0.37 a share, from $3.5 million, or $0.25.

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BLACKBERRY LTD. $15 (Toronto symbol BB; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 528.5 million; Market cap: $7.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; www.blackberry.com) lost $148 million, or $0.28 a share, in its fiscal 2015 third quarter, which ended November 29, 2014 (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). A year earlier, it lost $4.4 billion, or $8.37 a share.

Excluding writedowns and other unusual items, BlackBerry earned $0.01 a share in the latest quarter, unchanged from a year earlier.

Revenue fell 33.5%, to $793 million from $1.2 billion. In the latest quarter, 46% of total revenue came from hardware sales, 46% from communication services and 8% from software. BlackBerry ended the quarter with cash of $3.1 billion, or $5.88 a share. Its long-term debt of $1.7 billion is equal to 26% of its market cap.

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METRO INC. $92 (Toronto symbol MRU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 84.5 million; Market cap: $7.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.metro.ca) operates 600 grocery stores and 250 drugstores in Quebec and Ontario.

In its 2014 fiscal year, which ended September 27, 2014, Metro’s earnings rose slightly, to $460.9 million from $460.7 million in fiscal 2013. The company spent $459.7 million on share buybacks in the past year, which is why its earnings per share gained 8.5%, to $5.13 from $4.73.

Overall sales rose 1.7%, to $11.6 billion from $11.4 billion, while same-store sales gained 1.1%. Higher food prices were the main reason for these gains. As well, the company recently paid $101.6 million for 75% of privately held bakery Première Moisson, which has 23 stores and three production facilities in Quebec.

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LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $59 (Toronto symbol L; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 412.8 million; Market cap: $24.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.loblaw.ca) is Canada’s largest food retailer, with about 1,050 stores.

The company is benefiting from sales of other products beyond food. For example, in 2006 it launched its popular Joe Fresh line of clothing, shoes and accessories.

Loblaw sells these goods in over 330 of its supermarkets and through 17 stand-alone stores in the U.S. and Canada. It plans to open 140 more Joe Fresh stores outside of North America in the next four years.

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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: 3.4; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rbc.com) is selling its private banking and wealth management businesses in Switzerland. Together, these operations have around $2 billion of assets. The sale is part of Royal’s plan to sell less important overseas operations. It will use the proceeds to expand its wealth management businesses in more profitable regions, including North America, the U.K. and Asia. Royal Bank is a buy.

TRANSCANADA CORP. $53 (Toronto symbol TRP; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 708.6 million; Market cap: $37.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.8; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.transcanada.com) could get a boost if it receives approval for two major pipelines that would pump crude oil from Alberta’s oil sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast (Keystone XL) and to refineries in Eastern Canada (Energy East).

Even if it has to abandon these projects, TransCanada’s crude volumes should remain steady, despite lower oil prices.

As well, the company could unlock some of its value by transferring assets to partly controlled affiliates. These transactions, called “drop downs,” help the parent company free up cash for new projects. Activist investors could also pressure TransCanada to spin off its electrical-power operations as a separate firm.

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TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $51 (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $96.9 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 3.4; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.td.com) also stands to gain from an improving North American economy, particularly in the U.S., where it now has more branches than in Canada.

At the same time, the low Canadian dollar will enhance the bank’s U.S. profits. TD’s strong emphasis on customer service will also help it hang on to depositors if interest rates rise. As well, lower oil prices should give consumers more cash to repay their loans, cutting TD’s loan losses.

TD Bank is a buy.

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CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO. $78 (Toronto symbol CNR; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 809.3 million; Market cap: $63.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.5; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cn.ca) has several key advantages that put it in a strong position to profit from an improving North American economy.

For example, it’s the only railway that accesses all three coasts: Atlantic, Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico. As well, CN owns an exclusive line that lets it avoid major bottlenecks in the Chicago area.

To top it off, lower fuel costs will enhance CN’s industry-leading efficiency rates. Crude-by-rail and fracking sand volumes should also remain steady, even with recent oil price drop.

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CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD. $211 (Toronto symbol CP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 170.1 million; Market cap: $35.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.6; Dividend yield: 0.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cpr.ca) has soared 205.8% since we named it our top pick in 2012. The gain is largely due to CP’s plan to cut costs and improve its efficiency with new locomotives, better tracks, and software that optimizes train loads and speeds. CP Rail is a buy.

TECK RESOURCES LTD. $14 (Toronto symbol TCK.B; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 566.8 million; Market cap: $7.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 6.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.teck.com) is down 62.2% since we made it our #1 pick for 2013.

That’s mainly because slowing industrial activity, mainly in Asia, has hurt demand for Teck’s metallurgical coal, a key ingredient in steelmaking. Lower oil prices have also dampened the outlook for its 20.0%-owned Fort Hills oil sands project in Alberta, which is scheduled to start up in late 2017.

The company has a long history of controlling its costs, which should help it stay profitable until coal and oil prices improve. It has also pledged to maintain its annual $0.90-a-share dividend, which yields 6.4%.

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CAE INC. $15 (Toronto symbol CAE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 265.3 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cae.com) is the world’s leading maker of flight simulators, which help teach airline and military pilots how to take off, land and handle a variety of emergency situations.

Since it started up in 1947, CAE has sold over 1,500 simulators to 140 airlines. It currently controls 70% of the global flight simulator market.

To cut its reliance on simulator sales, which tend to rise and fall with the overall economy, CAE began instructing pilots in 2001. It now operates around 50 pilot-training centres in over 25 countries. These facilities also train cabin crews and maintenance personnel.

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Every Monday we feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With every stock or investment we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in it at this time.

A recent question on “robotics stocks for aggressive investing” from a member of our Inner Circle led to this examination of three different companies involved in this growing field. One is a sell, one is a hold and one is a buy.

ReWalk Robotics (symbol RWLK on Nasdaq; www.rewalk.com) is an Israeli company that makes robotic exoskeletons for helping people with spinal cord injuries walk again. The FDA cleared this technology for use in the U.S. in June 2014. It has been marketed in Europe since 2012.

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Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific advice on stock picks as well as questions on investment strategy and the economy. Every week, his comments and recommendations on the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And each week, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. While we reserve our buy-hold-sell advice for Inner Circle members, these excerpts provide a great deal of information and analysis on stocks we’ve covered for members of Pat’s Inner Circle.

This week an Inner Circle member asked us about FLYHT Aerospace Solutions. This Canadian company supplies a number of products and services. But the two that have attracted the most attention in the past year are devices that collect and stream flight data. The mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in March 2014—and the recent crash of AirAsia flight QZ850—underlined the potential value of those devices. Pat looks into the company’s business and assesses its prospects for growth in a highly competitive market.

Q: Pat: I would appreciate having your thoughts on the following company: FLYHT Aerospace Solutions. Thank you.

A: FLYHT Aerospace Solutions (symbol FLY on Toronto; www.flyht.com) supplies a number of products and services to the aviation industry. The company changed its name from AeroMechanical Services in 2012.

The company’s products include the AFIRS UpTime data-collection device, which records flight information as it happens and relays it to the aircraft operator’s facilities by satellite. FLYHT also sells an emergency device called FLYHTStream that sends real-time data to the ground for immediate analysis. As well, it recently introduced the Dragon, a lightweight, portable satellite communication device that lets users access FLYHT’s technology with an iPad.

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Every Thursday we bring you one of our best U.S. stock picks. You get our specific recommendation on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You will read about stocks making moves you should know about, most often from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster.

Newell uses oil to make its products, so it stands to gain from the almost 60% drop in crude prices since June 2014. And even when oil rebounds, it will continue to benefit from recent acquisitions and its high market share.

NEWELL RUBBERMAID INC. (New York symbol NWL; www.newellrubbermaid.com) makes plastic storage bins, tools, window blinds, pens and many other household goods.

The company makes most of its products from oil-based resins, so it stands to gain from the recent drop in oil prices.

Newell continues to streamline its manufacturing and distribution operations, which should cut $270 million from its annual costs by mid-2015. The company now feels it can save an additional $200 million a year by the end of 2017.

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Every Wednesday, we publish our “Investor Toolkit” series on TSI Network. Whether you’re a beginning or experienced investor, these weekly updates are designed to give you specific investment advice. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investing strategy, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away.

Today’s tip: “Your investments gain doubly in your RRSP, but if you lose you take a double loss, so don’t use it as a place to find out if you have a talent for stock trading.”

Registered Retirement Savings Plans or RRSPs are a little like other investment accounts, except for their tax treatment. You can put up to 18% of the previous year’s earned income, maximum $24,930 for 2015, into an RRSP, and deduct it from your taxable income. (The limit is lower for pension plan members.) You only pay taxes on your RRSP investment, and the investment income it earns, when you make withdrawals from your RRSP.

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Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendations on the stocks we profile, with a full explanation of how we arrived at our opinion. You’ll read about stocks making moves you should know about, from coverage in one of our three newsletters featuring Canadian stocks—The Successful Investor, Stock Pickers Digest and Canadian Wealth Advisor.

VERESEN (Toronto symbol VSN; 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 quarter ended September 30, 2014, Veresen’s cash flow per share rose 4.5%, to $0.23 from $0.22.

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Every Monday we feature “A Stock to Sell” as our daily post. With every stock or investment we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in it at this time.

Currency Exchange International Corp. (symbol CXI on Toronto; www.ceifx.com), exchanges currency and offers other financial products and services in North America.

The company first sold shares to the public at $6.65 each and began trading on Toronto in March 2012.

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