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ENBRIDGE INC. $62.78 (Toronto symbol ENB; Shares outstanding: 848.8 million; Market cap: $53.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Divd. yield: 3.0%; www.enbridge.com) has won a contract to build an underwater pipeline that will pump crude oil from a new platform in the Gulf of Mexico to an existing pipeline network.

This deal is worth $130 million, which is small next to the $8.3 billion of revenue the company reported for the three months ended September 30, 2014.

However, deals like this enhance Enbridge’s already strong reputation in the region; its pipelines already carry about 40% of the natural gas produced in the Gulf’s deeper areas. The new line should start up in 2018.

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INNERGEX RENEWABLE ENERGY $11.91 (Toronto symbol INE; Shares outstanding: 100.7 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield 5.0%; www.innergex.com) operates 26 hydroelectric plants, six wind farms and one solar power facility in Quebec, Ontario, B.C. and Idaho. The company gets 73% of its power from hydroelectric plants. Wind supplies 26% and solar generates 1%. In contrast to Algonquin, Innergex is growing slowly, mostly by building its own hydroelectric and wind facilities, rather than through acquisitions. Right now, the company has five projects under construction.

But like Algonquin, Innergex makes sure it has firm long-term power-purchase contracts in place before it starts building new plants.

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ALGONQUIN POWER & UTILITIES CORP. $10.41 (Toronto symbol AQN; Shares outstanding: 238.1 million; Market cap: $2.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 3.8%; www.algonquinpower.com) has nearly tripled in size over the past three years through acquisitions. Now it’s expanding further with new purchases.

The most recent was late last year, when Algonquin paid $327 million U.S. for Park Water, owner of three regulated water utilities with 74,000 customers in California and Montana.

Algonquin’s regulated utility businesses now provide water, electricity and natural gas to over 488,000 customers, up sharply from 120,000 three years ago. In addition, its hydroelectric, thermal energy, solar and wind facilities generate 1,150 megawatts, up from 460.

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CENOVUS ENERGY $25.04 (Toronto symbol CVE; Shares outstanding: 757.1 million; Market cap: $19.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 4.3%; www.cenovus.com) has cut its capital spending plans for the second time in two months due to lower oil prices.

The company now expects to spend $1.8 billion to $2.0 billion in 2015, down from $2.5 billion to $2.7 billion in its earlier plan (and down from an estimated $3.1 billion in 2014). As part of these cuts, it will suspend drilling for conventional oil in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and defer some oil sands work.

Cenovus now expects its cash flow for the year to fall by roughly half, to $1.4 billion, or $1.85 a share. That could prompt the company to cut its $1.065-a-share dividend, which yields 4.3%. Cenovus’s dividend payments total $800 million a year.

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VANGUARD FTSE EMERGING MARKETS ETF $41.09 (New York symbol VWO; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) Transitions 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), China Mobile, Itau Unibanco Holding SA (Brazil: banking), China Construction Bank, Bank of China, Tencent Holdings (China: Internet), Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, Naspers Ltd. (South Africa: media); Banco Bradesco (Brazil: banking); and Hon Hai Precision Industry (Taiwan: electronics).

The $62.5-billion fund’s breakdown by country is as follows: China (24.4%), Taiwan (14.3%), India (11.7%), Brazil (10.7%), South Africa (9.5%), Mexico (5.6%), Malaysia (4.5%), Russia (3.6%), Indonesia (3.0%), Thailand (3.0%), Turkey (2.0%), Philippines (1.8%), Poland (1.8%) and others (4.1%).

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

Tip of the week: “When you work out a plan for your retirement, make sure that you aren’t basing your future income on over-optimistic calculations that will end up leaving you short.”

As the deadline for RRSP contributions approaches, many investors are confident they are taking concrete steps toward a secure retirement. But are those steps based on realistic calculations?

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GUGGENHEIM CHINA SMALL CAP ETF $25.66 (New York Exchange symbol HAO; buy or sell through brokers; www.guggenheimfunds.com) aims to track the AlphaShares China Small Cap Index, which is made up of all Chinese stocks that are legal for foreign investors and have market caps between $200 million and $1.5 billion.

The $205.6-millon fund’s top holdings are Shenzhou International, 1.1%; Air China, 1.0%; Zijin Mining, 1.0%; China Everbright, 1.0%; Zhejiang Expressway, 1.0%; CSPC Pharmaceutical, 1.0%; Aluminum Corp. of China, 1.0%; Datang International Power, 1.0%; and Shanghai Electric, 1.0%.

As China’s economy matures and wages rise, domestic spending should continue to increase. As well, the country’s leaders recently announced that they will extend social services to migrant workers, and they will likely have to make further investments in programs to ease the growing gap between the rich and poor. Guggenheim China Small Cap ETF is well positioned to benefit from both of these trends.

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RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $29.55 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Units outstanding: 313.9 million; Market cap: $9.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 4.8%; www.riocan.com) should be able to weather Target Corp.’s decision to close its 133 Canadian stores with minimal effect on its revenue and profits.

RioCan has Target as its seventh-largest tenant, with 26 locations, but the stores account for just 1.9% of the REIT’s annualized rental revenue.

Many of the Target stores are in established malls, so RioCan should be able to rent them to new tenants, perhaps at higher rates. Meanwhile, RioCan says the leases on the 26 locations are guaranteed by the U.S. parent company, Target Corp., for more than a decade.

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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.

Loblaw is doing a good job of competing with U.S. retail giants like Wal-Mart, which are aggressively expanding in the grocery market. In addition to improving its efficiency and profiting from its Joe Fresh clothing line, it has bought Shoppers DrugMart, which nicely complements its main business. And now it has seen its competition diminish with Target’s decision to close its Canadian stores.

LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. (Toronto symbol L; 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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CGI GROUP INC. $44 (www.cgi.com) has developed a computerized emergency response system for the Estonian government. This service gathers data from several sources and recommends the quickest way to respond to fires and other disasters....

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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