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CANADIAN REIT $49.40 (Toronto symbol REF.UN; Units outstanding: 69.3 million; Market cap: $3.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 3.5%; www.creit.ca) owns 198 properties, including retail, industrial and office buildings, across Canada and in Chicago. These holdings contain almost 24.1 million square feet of leasable area. The trust’s occupancy rate is 95.3%.

In the three months ended June 30, 2014, Canadian REIT’s revenue rose 3.5%, to $102.0 million from $98.6 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit gained 4.2%, to $0.74 from $0.71.

Canadian REIT added $191.1 million worth of new buildings in 2013. That followed $401.9 million of property purchases in 2012, including a 50% stake in Calgary Place, a 575,000-square-foot office and retail complex, for $156.0 million. So far this year, it has made one acquisition: a 261,000-square-foot industrial property near Toronto’s Pearson International Airport for $29.3 million.

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ALLIED PROPERTIES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $35.46 (Toronto symbol AP.UN; Units outstanding: 74.6 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.0%; www.alliedreit.com) owns 138 office buildings, mostly in major Canadian cities. These mainly Class I properties contain over 9.9 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 bought $400 million of properties in 2012 and $182.4 million worth in 2013. In the first half of 2014, it added six more for $110.0 million.

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ISHARES MSCI JAPAN INDEX FUND $11.76 (New York Exchange symbol EWJ; buy or sell through brokers; us.ishares.com) is an ETF that tries to match the return of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Japan index.

The fund has now regained all of the ground it lost in the recent market downturn. Its latest rise came after the Japanese government and the Bank of Japan announced huge increases in their economic stimulus programs.

Under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s so-called “Abenomics” strategy, the Bank of Japan has pumped money into the country’s economy. However, consumer spending has remained sluggish, especially after the government raised the sales tax to 8% from 5% on April 1, 2014.

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BCE INC. $51.08 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 778.1 million; Market cap: $41.8 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 September 30, 2014, BCE’s earnings per share rose 10.7%, to $0.83 from $0.75 a year earlier. Revenue increased 1.9%, to $5.2 billion from $5.1 billion.

Revenue from wireless services (31% of the total) rose 7.0%. The company’s network upgrades continue to attract new wireless subscribers. It’s also gaining from rising use of smartphones, for which it charges higher service fees than regular cellphones.

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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) gets 55% of its revenue by selling flight simulators and pilot-training services to commercial airlines. Another 40% comes from simulators and training for military clients, mainly in the U.S.

CAE gets the remaining 5% of its sales by making medical-simulation products, such as mannequins, for training nurses and medical students.

Steady growth in revenue, earnings

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RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $27 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Units outstanding: 308.9 million; Market cap: $8.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.8; Dividend yield: 5.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.riocan.com) continues to open new malls and, with partners, mixed-use properties with office and residential space. The trust is also selling less profitable properties.

In the third quarter of 2014, RioCan’s net leasable area shrank by 2.5%, to 71.6 million square feet from 73.5 million a year earlier. But thanks to strong demand from retailers, it’s renewing leases at higher rental rates. That’s why its cash flow rose 7.4% in the latest quarter, to $131 million from $122 million. Cash flow per unit gained 5.0%, to $0.42 from $0.40, on more units outstanding.

The units trade at a reasonable 15.9 times RioCan’s expected 2014 cash flow of $1.70 a unit. The $1.41 distribution yields 5.2%.

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POTASH CORP. OF SASKATCHEWAN $38 (Toronto symbol POT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 829.7 million; Market cap: $31.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.5; Dividend yield: 4.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.potashcorp.com) has agreed to invest $52 million in its sulphuric acid plants in the U.S. (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars).

These improvements, part of a settlement with environmental regulators, will cut these facilities’ emissions. Potash Corp. will also pay a $1.3-million fine.

The total cost of $53.3 million is equal to 17% of the $317 million, or $0.38 a share, the company earned in the three months ended September 30, 2014. The latest earnings are also down 11.0%, from $356 million, or $0.41 a share, a year earlier. Sales rose 8.0%, to $1.6 billion from $1.5 billion, as higher potash volumes offset an 8.5% drop in average prices.

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IGM FINANCIAL INC. $48 (Toronto symbol IGM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 251.7 million; Market cap: $12.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.3; Dividend yield: 4.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.igmfinancial.com) is Canada’s largest independent mutual fund company. Power Financial (Toronto symbol PFC) owns 58.7% of IGM.

In the three months ended September 30, 2014, IGM’s earnings rose 13.6%, to $219.7 million, or $0.87 a share. A year earlier, it earned $193.4 million, or $0.77. Revenue increased 12.4%, to $750.2 million from $667.5 million. Gross sales of mutual funds rose 4.4%, while redemptions fell 26.6%.

IGM should earn $3.30 a share in 2014, and the stock trades at a reasonable 14.5 times that forecast. It also raised its dividend by 4.7%. The new rate of $2.25 a share yields 4.7%.

IGM Financial is a buy.

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LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $60 (Toronto symbol L; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 412.4 million; Market cap: $24.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.loblaw.ca) has sold 15 stores and one warehouse to Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (Toronto symbol CHP.UN).

Loblaw received $211.9 million, which is equal to 57% of the $371.0 million, or $0.90 a share, that it earned in the three months ended October 4, 2014. That total included $112.2 million of Choice Properties’ units. As a result, Loblaw now owns 83.0% of this REIT.

Loblaw is a buy....

SAPUTO INC. $32 (Toronto symbol SAP; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 390.7 million; Market cap: $12.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.saputo.com) earned $155.7 million in its fiscal 2015 second quarter, which ended September 30, 2014. That’s up 16.8% from $133.3 million a year earlier.

Earnings per share gained 14.7%, to $0.39 from $0.34, on more shares outstanding (all per-share amounts adjusted for a 2-for-1 stock split in September 2014).

Sales rose 21.1%, to $2.7 billion from $2.3 billion. That’s mainly because of Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory, an Australian maker of milk, cheese, butter and other dairy products; Saputo bought 87.92% of Warrnambool for $449.6 million in January 2014. Higher selling prices for cheese and butter in the U.S. also contributed to the gain.

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MAPLE LEAF FOODS INC. $19 (Toronto symbol MFI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 142.1 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 0.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mapleleaf.ca) is Canada’s largest food processing company. It mainly sells its products, including fresh and prepared meats and poultry, under the Maple Leaf and Schneider brands.

In May 2014, the company sold its 90.0% stake in Canada Bread, Canada’s second-largest producer of baked goods after Weston Bakery. It received $1.66 billion for this holding.

Meanwhile, Maple Leaf continues to make progress with a major restructuring of its meatprocessing operations, which mainly involves closing older plants and shifting their operations to newer facilities. The company expects to complete the plan by the end of 2015.

Maple Leaf is starting to see some of the plan’s benefits. In the quarter ended September 30, 2014, it lost $26.7 million, or $0.19 a share, compared to a loss of $24.5 million, or $0.18 a share, a year ago. But if you exclude restructuring costs, losses improved to $0.13 a share from $0.19.

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TORSTAR CORP. $6.20 (Toronto symbol TS.B; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 80.2 million; Market cap: $497.2 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 8.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.torstar.com) has teamed up with the publisher of Montreal’s La Presse newspaper to launch a free version of the Toronto Star specifically for tablet computers.

La Presse launched its own tablet version in 2013. So far, it has attracted over 450,000 users.

Under this agreement, Torstar will use La Presse’s technology. The two companies will also jointly sell online ads, which should appeal to national advertisers that aim to reach both English and French readers.

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TELUS CORP. $42 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 612.0 million; Market cap: $25.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) added 113,000 new wireless subscribers, net of cancellations, in the three months ended September 30, 2014, up 8.7% from a year earlier. It now has 8.0 million wireless subscribers. In addition, it continues to attract high-speed Internet and digital TV users.

As a result, its revenue rose 5.4%, to $3.0 billion from $2.9 billion. Earnings gained 6.0%, to $387 million from $365 million. Telus spent $164 million on share buybacks in the latest quarter, so its per-share earnings rose 10.3%, to $0.64 from $0.58.

The company also raised its quarterly dividend by 11.1%, to $0.40 a share from $0.36. The new annual rate of $1.60 yields 3.8%. This was the eighth hike since May 2011.

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HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. $50 (Toronto symbol HCG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 70.1 million; Market cap; $3.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.5; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.homecapital.com) caters to borrowers who don’t meet the stricter standards of traditional banks. Its clients include recent immigrants with limited credit histories, and the self-employed.

However, Home Capital continues to do a good job of identifying problem loans early and adjusting the payment terms. That keeps its loan losses down.

In the three months ended September 30, 2014, earnings rose 10.5%, to $1.05 a share from $0.95 a year earlier. Revenue gained 6.5%, to $255.0 million from $239.4 million. Bad loans were just 0.27% of the Home Capital’s total loans, down from 0.35%.

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CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE $104 (Toronto symbol CM; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 397.0 million; Market cap: $41.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cibc.com) is Canada’s fifth-largest bank, with $405.4 billion of assets.

CIBC prefers to focus on domestic banking instead of international expansion; Canada supplies about 85% of its revenue. The bank sold half of its Aeroplan accounts to TD Bank (see page 113) when TD took over the plan.

As a result, its earnings fell 2.5% in the three months ended July 31, 2014, to $908 million from $931 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings declined 1.3%, to $2.23 from $2.26, on fewer shares outstanding. These figures exclude unusual items, such as gains on investment sales.

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BANK OF MONTREAL $82 (Toronto symbol BMO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 649.0 million; Market cap: $53.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bmo.com) is Canada’s fourth-largest bank, with $586.8 billion of assets.

In July 2011, the bank paid $4.1 billion for Milwaukee-based Marshall & Ilsley. The move doubled the size of its U.S. retail banking business, which now supplies 15% of its total earnings. Thanks to cost cuts and an improving U.S.

economy, this division will likely earn $686 million in fiscal 2014, up 8.7% from 2013. The bank aims to raise that to at least $750 million in 2015.

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BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $69 (Toronto symbol BNS; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $82.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.7; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.scotiabank.com) is the third-largest bank in Canada, with $791.5 billion of assets.

In the quarter ended July 31, 2014, the bank’s earnings rose 38.5%, to $2.3 billion from $1.6 billion a year earlier. Per-share profits gained 36.0%, to $1.85 from $1.36, on more shares outstanding.

The latest earnings included a $555-million gain on the sale of most of Bank of Nova Scotia’s stake in mutual fund operator CI Financial Corp. (Toronto symbol CIX). Without that, the bank earned $1.40 a share. Revenue rose 17.6%, to $6.5 billion from $5.5 billion.

Bank of Nova Scotia set aside $398 million to cover potential bad loans in the latest quarter, up 26.8% from $314 million a year earlier. That’s mainly due to rising credit card balances, more car loans and higher provisions for commercial loans in the Caribbean and Latin America.

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ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $82 (Toronto symbol RY; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $114.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.9; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rbc.com) is Canada’s second-largest bank, with $913.9 billion of assets.

In the three months ended July 31, 2014, the bank earned $2.4 billion, up 10.2% from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Per-share earnings rose 11.0%, to $1.62 from $1.46, on fewer shares outstanding. These figures exclude unusual items, such as a $40-million loss on the sale of its Jamaican banking operations.

Revenue jumped 25.2%, to $9.0 billion from $7.2 billion. The bank set aside $283 million to cover bad loans in the latest quarter, up 6.0%, from $267 million. That’s mainly due to higher provisions at its Caribbean and Canadian corporate-lending businesses. The strong results prompted Royal to raise its quarterly dividend by 5.6%, to $0.75 a share from $0.71. The new annual rate of $3.00 yields 3.7%.

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TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $57 (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $102.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.td.comtarget=”_blank”) is Canada’s largest bank, with $921.8 billion of assets.

TD continues to benefit from its recent deal with Aimia (Toronto symbol AIM) to become the main credit card issuer for the popular Aeroplan travelreward program. The bank’s insurance operations also benefited from a 32% drop in claims in the latest quarter.

As a result, TD’s earnings jumped 36.8% in the three months ended July 31, 2014, to $2.2 billion from $1.6 billion a year earlier. Per-share profits gained 40.2%, to $1.15 from $0.82. These figures exclude unusual items, such as costs related to the new Aeroplan business.

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ENCANA CORP. $21 (Toronto symbol ECA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 741.1 million; Market cap: $15.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.encana.com) recently narrowed its focus from around 30 unconventional natural gas properties to just six. These fields also produce significant amounts of oil and natural gas liquids, such as butane and propane.

The company now expects that liquids will account for 75% of next year’s operating cash flow, two years ahead of its original target.

Encana’s revenue rose 31.8%, from $6.7 billion in 2009 to $8.9 billion in 2010 (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). It then fell to $5.2 billion in 2012. However, revenue recovered to $5.9 billion in 2013 and could reach $7.0 billion in 2014.

Earnings dropped from $2.35 a share (or a total of $1.8 billion) in 2009 to $0.54 a share (or $398 million) in 2011. They then rebounded to $1.35 a share (or $997 million) in 2012, but fell to $1.09 a share (or $802 million) in 2013.

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CENOVUS ENERGY INC. $29 (Toronto symbol CVE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 757.1 million; Market cap: $22.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cenovus.comtarget=”_blank”) gets 40% of its revenue from its oil sands projects and conventional oil and gas wells in western Canada. These properties’ reserves should last 24 years.

Refining supplies the remaining 60% 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.

Thanks to higher production and oil prices, Cenovus’s revenue increased 62.0%, from $11.5 billion in 2009 to $18.7 billion in 2013. Even with the recent oil price decline, its revenue should rise to around $20 billion in 2014.

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Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific stock tips 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 a report on one of the stocks profiled in these Q&A sessions. We give you Pat’s buy-hold-sell recommendation as well as his analysis of the stock. This is part of the specific buy, hold and sell advice we offer you in our daily posts. Every week you get “A Stock to Sell” on Monday, “Best Canadian Stocks” on Tuesday, and “U.S. Stock Picks” on Thursday.

This week an Inner Circle Member asked us about a Canadian company that’s an international leader in the aircraft parts industry. Héroux-Devtek is the world’s third-largest maker of landing gear for aircraft, with clients such as Boeing, Embraer and Bombardier. Pat considers the company’s rising earnings in light of a recent acquisition and a new contract with Boeing. He also looks at the impact of shrinking military budgets around the globe on Héroux-Devtek’s prospects.

Q: Pat: What is your opinion on Héroux-Devtek Inc.? Best regards.

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Every Thursday we bring you 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. Procter & Gamble’s sales have slowed in recent years, mainly due to competition from cheaper generic brands. In response, the company is eliminating less profitable household goods and cutting costs. It’s also doing a good job of developing new products and finding new markets for existing ones. These moves will give Procter more room to adjust its prices without hurting its profit margins. They’ll also provide more cash for share buybacks and dividend hikes....

Every Tuesday we bring you “Best Canadian Stocks.” You get our specific recommendation 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.

Maple Leaf Foods is nearing the end of its multi-year plan to unload less profitable businesses and modernize its meat-processing plants. The plan’s costs have depressed the company’s current earnings, but it greatly improves its longer-term prospects.

MAPLE LEAF FOODS INC. (Toronto symbol MFI; www.mapleleaf.ca) is Canada’s largest foodprocessing company. It mainly sells its products, including fresh and prepared meats and poultry, under the Maple Leaf and Schneider brands.

In May 2014, the company sold its 90.0% stake in Canada Bread, Canada’s second-largest producer of baked goods after Weston Bakery. It received $1.66 billion for this holding.

Meanwhile, Maple Leaf continues to make progress with a major restructuring of its meat-processing operations, which mainly involves closing older plants and shifting their operations to newer facilities. The company expects to complete the plan by the end of 2015.

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Every Monday we feature “A Stock to Sell’ as our daily post. With every stock we recommend as a sell, we give you a full explanation of why we advise against investing in the stock at this time. LifeLogger Technologies (symbol LOGG on the U.S. over-the-counter market; www.lifelogger.com) is a Florida company that aims to market its gum-packet-sized LifeLogger wearable camera....