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CENOVUS ENERGY $29.31 (Toronto symbol CVE; Shares outstanding: 757.0 million; Market cap: $22.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 3.6%; www.cenovus.com) has opened the latest phase of its 50%-owned Foster Creek oil sands project in Alberta.

U.S.-based ConocoPhillips (New York symbol COP) owns 50% of both Cenovus’s Foster Creek and Christina Lake projects.

Foster Creek produced an average of 119,000 barrels a day in August 2014. This latest phase should add 30,000 barrels when it reaches fullcapacity in the next 12 to 18 months.

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BONAVISTA ENERGY $12.54 (Toronto symbol BNP; Shares outstanding: 201.9 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 6.7%; www.bonavistaenergy.com) explores for oil and natural gas in Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Its production is 67% gas and 33% oil.

In the three months ended June 30, 2014, Bonavista’s cash flow per share gained 6.3%, to $0.67 from $0.63 a year earlier. Production rose just 2.4%, to 74,272 barrels of oil equivalent a day from 72,554. However, that’s because Bonavista sold 2,700 barrels a day of heavy-oil production, which is less of a focus for the company. Bonavista’s realized gas price increased 17.9%, to an average of $4.29 per thousand cubic feet from $3.64. Oil prices fell 1.3%, to $79.34 a barrel from $80.42.

Bonavista plans to spend $580 million to $600 million on exploration and development in 2014. Its plans include drilling 130 to 135 wells, which will let it raise its production to as high as 86,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day at the end of 2014. For all of 2013, Bonavista spent $460 million to drill 126 wells.

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PEYTO EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT CORP. $34.95 (Toronto symbol PEY; Shares outstanding: 153.7 million; Market cap: $5.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 3.4%; www.peyto.com) produces and explores for oil and natural gas in Alberta. Its average daily production of 72,302 barrels of oil equivalent is 90% gas and 10% oil.

In the quarter ended June 30, 2014, Peyto’s cash flow rose 41.9%, to $1.05 a share from $0.74 a year earlier. That’s because the company raised its production by 26.1%. Gas prices also gained 17.5%, to an average of $4.37 per thousand cubic feet from $3.72, while oil prices rose 14.0%, to $77.30 a barrel from $67.82.

Peyto plans to spend $625 million on exploration and development in all of 2014, which will let it drill 110 to 125 wells. To put that in context, the company spent $578 million to drill 99 wells in 2013. This year’s spending should let it finish 2014 with production of over 81,500 barrels a day. The stock trades at 7.4 times Peyto’s forecast 2014 cash flow of $4.73 a share. The company’s long-term debt of $825 million is a low 15.3% of its $5.4-billion market cap.

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ENBRIDGE INC. $53.00 (Toronto symbol ENB; Shares outstanding: 846.2 million; Market cap: $45.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yeield:2.6%; www.enbridge.com) plans to transfer its 66.7% stake in the U.S. portion of the Alberta Clipper pipeline to its American affiliate, Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. (New York symbol EEP).

The 1,600-kilometre Alberta Clipper pipeline moves crude from Alberta’s oil sands to Superior, Wisconsin.

Enbridge will receive $300 million U.S. in cash and $600 million U.S. worth of Enbridge Energy Partners units. The $900-million U.S. total is equal to 2% of Enbridge’s $45.4-billion (Canadian) market cap.

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TRANSCANADA CORP. $56.86 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 708.0 million; Market cap: $40.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.4%; www.transcanada.com) is facing pressure from U.S.-based activist investors to unlock some of its value by selling or spinning off its electrical
power plants.

These investors also want the company to place more of its U.S. natural gas pipelines into a master limited partnership, which is similar to a Canadian income trust.

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POWERSHARES QQQ ETF $97.21 (Nasdaq symbol QQQQ; buy or sell through brokers; www.invescopowershares.com), formerly called Nasdaq 100 Trust Shares, holds stocks that represent the Nasdaq 100 Index, which consists of the 100 largest shares on the Nasdaq exchange, based on market cap.

The Nasdaq 100 Index contains shares of companies in a number of major industries, including computer hardware and software, telecommunications, retail/wholesale trade and biotechnology. It does not contain financial companies. The fund’s expenses are about 0.20% of its assets.

The index’s highest-weighted stocks are Apple, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Google, Cisco Systems, Intel, Amazon.com, Gilead Sciences, Comcast Corp. and Facebook.

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Every Thursday we bring you “Best U.S. Stocks.” 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, from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster.

Tennant has risen steadily over the past few years. But even though it fell back slightly during the recent market slump, the outlook remains very positive for its environmentally friendly products.

TENNANT CO. (New York symbol TNC; www.tennantco.com) makes industrial floor-cleaning equipment, including scrubbers, sweepers and polishers. It also manufactures cleaning gear for garages, stadiums, parking lots and city streets.

In 2008, the company started selling equipment featuring its ec-H20 technology, which uses electricity to turn tap water into a chemical-free cleaning solution. This helps cut the machine’s operating costs.

Strong demand for this equipment increased the company’s sales by 9.4% in the three months ended June 30, 2014, to a record $219.1 million from $200.2 million a year earlier. Sales of ec-H2O gear rose 7.6% and account for about 20% of Tennant’s overall revenue.

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SPDR S&P 500 ETF $194.35 (New York symbol SPY; buy or sell through brokers; www.spdrs.com) holds the stocks in the S&P 500 Index, which consists of 500 major U.S. companies that are chosen based on their market cap, liquidity and industry group.

The index’s highest-weighted stocks are Apple, ExxonMobil, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, J.P. Morgan Chase, Chevron, General Electric, Berkshire Hathaway, Wells Fargo, IBM, Pfizer, Verizon and AT&T. The fund’s expenses are just 0.10% of its assets.

If you want exposure to the S&P 500 Index, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF is a buy.

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DIVIDEND INDEX FUND $25.38 (Toronto symbol XDV; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds 30 of the highest-yielding Canadian stocks. Its selections are based on dividend growth, yield and payout ratio. The weight of any one stock is limited to 10% of its assets. The fund’s MER is 0.55%. It yields 3.8%.

The fund’s top holdings are CIBC, 7.4%; National Bank, 6.9%; TD Bank, 6.7%; Bank of Montreal, 6.0%; Bonterra Energy, 6.0%; Royal Bank, 5.3%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 4.6%; BCE, 4.1%; Trans- Canada, 3.9%; and Laurentian Bank, 3.8%.

The ETF holds 53.0% of its assets in financial stocks. The top Canadian finance stocks have sound prospects. However, if you invest in this ETF, be sure to adjust the rest of your portfolio so it won’t be overly concentrated in the financial sector.

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ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $21.54 (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....

TELUS $38.35 (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 615.0 million; Market cap: $23.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.0%; www.telus.com) continues to expand its health care division, which helps doctors, pharmacies and hospitals convert patient records and other information to
electronic formats.

The company recently paid an undisclosed sum for ZRx Prescriber, an app that lets doctors write prescriptions through their tablet computers and smartphones. The app can also access a patient’s drug-insurance information, which speeds up claims and cuts down on errors.

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H&R REIT $21.86 (Toronto symbol HR.UN; Units outstanding: 272.4 million; Market cap: $6.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 6.2%; www.hr-reit.com) owns stakes in 41 office buildings, 112 industrial properties and 168 shopping malls across Canada.

In March 2013, H&R finished building the Bow, a $1.33-billion, two-million-square-foot office complex in Calgary. Encana Corp. has leased the entire building for 25 years.

In April 2013, H&R completed a $3.1-billion purchase of 27 properties from Primaris REIT. These assets include the 567,000-square-foot Dufferin Mall in Toronto’s west end.

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RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $25.67 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Units outstanding: 306.7 million; Market cap: $7.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.5%; www.riocan.com) is Canada’s largest real estate investment trust (REIT), with interests in 340 shopping malls containing over 81 million square feet of leasable area. That total includes 47 U.S. malls with over 13 million square feet.

In the three months ended June 30, 2014, RioCan’s revenue increased 8.5%, to $295 million from $272 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit rose 5.0%, to $0.42 from $0.40.

RioCan continues to see growth opportunities in Canada and the U.S. In 2013, it spent $849 million on 32 properties. In the first half of 2014, it added four more for a total of $45 million.

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ENCANA CORP. $23.88 (Toronto symbol ECA; Shares outstanding: 741.0 million; Market cap: $17.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.3%; www.encana.com) has agreed to buy Athlon Energy (New York symbol ATHL) for $7.1 billion U.S.

Athlon produces 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent (80% oil and 20% natural gas) a day from 1,138 wells in Texas’s Midland Basin. To put that in context, Encana produces 491,700 barrels (86% gas, 14% oil) a day.

Encana recently completed the sale of its remaining 54% stake in PrairieSky Royalty (Toronto symbol PSK) for $2.6 billion. The cash from this sale will help it pay for Athlon.

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VANGUARD FTSE EMERGING MARKETS ETF $40.01 (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 (China: wireless), Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Brazil: oil and gas), Itau Unibanco Holding SA (Brazil: banking), China Construction Bank, Tencent Holdings (China: Internet), Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, Naspers Ltd. (South Africa: media) and Hon Hai Precision Industry (Taiwan: electronics).

The $59.3-billion fund’s breakdown by country is as follows: China (20.6%), Taiwan (13.7%), Brazil (13.7%), India (9.9%), South Africa (9.7%), Mexico (5.7%), Russia (5.4%), Malaysia (5.2%), Indonesia (2.9%), Thailand (2.8%), Turkey (1.9%), Chile (1.7%), Poland (1.7%) and others (5.1%).

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VANGUARD GROWTH ETF $98.25 (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 $42.4-billion Vanguard Growth ETF’s top holdings are Apple, Google, Coca-Cola, Facebook, Oracle, Schlumberger, Comcast, Qualcomm, Gilead Sciences and Walt Disney Co.

The fund’s breakdown by industry is as follows: Technology (23.8%), Consumer Services (19.7%), Financials (12.3%), Health Care (12.2%), Industrials (11.8%), Consumer Goods (9.9%), Oil and Gas (8.1%), Materials (1.6%), Utilities (0.3%) and Telecommunication Services (0.3%).

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VERESEN $17.25 (Toronto symbol VSN; Shares outstanding: 220.6 million; Market cap: $3.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.8%) has agreed to pay $1.43 billion for Global Infrastructure Partners’ 50% interest in the Ruby pipeline system. Ruby is a newly built natural gas line that runs 680 miles from Wyoming to Oregon. Right now, it can pump 1.5 billion cubic feet a day, but that could be increased to 2.0 billion. Partner Kinder Morgan will operate the system.

The Ruby pipeline will benefit Veresen in two main ways:

First, the company is buying its interest through preferred shares that it can convert into common shares whenever it chooses. That means it will receive steady preferred dividends that will immediately add to its cash flow per share.

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CANADIAN TIRE CORP. $126 (Toronto symbol CTC.A; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 78.1 million; Market cap: $9.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.canadiantire.ca) continues to add new locations and renovate older stores. It’s also benefiting from its 2011 purchase of the Forzani Group of sporting goods stores, including the popular Sport Chek banner. These moves are helping it compete with U.S.-based retailers like Wal-Mart.

In the quarter ended September 27, 2014, Canadian Tire’s earnings rose 18.4%, to $172.2 million from $145.5 million a year earlier. Earnings per share gained 21.2%, to $2.17 from $1.79, on fewer shares outstanding.

Overall sales rose 3.9%, to $3.1 billion from $3.0 billion. Same-store sales at the 493 Canadian Tire outlets gained 3.2% on strong demand for summer goods, like garden tools and patio furniture, and automotive products and services.

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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 investing advice. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental piece of investment advice, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “If you consider charitable donations an investment in a good cause, be prepared to look into them as carefully as you would your investments to ensure that your money is going to the right place.”...

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.

BCE is facing regulatory hurdles, but the company is improving its services while keeping its operating costs down. That should let it maintain its high dividend yield.

BCE INC. (Toronto symbol BCE; www.bce.ca ) is Canada’s largest provider of telephone services, with 5.0 million customers in Ontario and Quebec. It also has 2.2 million high-speed Internet customers and 2.3 million TV subscribers.

BCE also sells wireless services to 7.8 million customers across Canada, and its Bell Media segment owns CTV Television, specialty channels and radio stations.

The company recently offered to buy the 56% of Bell Aliant (Toronto symbol BA) that it doesn’t already own. Bell Aliant sells phone and Internet services to 2.3 million clients in Atlantic Canada and rural Ontario and Quebec. It also provides wireless services through an alliance with BCE.

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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. Domtar Corp. (symbol UFS on Toronto; www.domtar.com), is among North America’s largest producers of paper (sold in huge rolls), with an annual capacity of about 3.4 million tons....

Pat McKeough responds to many requests from members of his Inner Circle for specific investment advice, 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 “Our Top U.S. Stocks” on Thursday. Last week we had a question from an Inner Circle member about one of North America’s leading big-box retailers. Costco has built a growing business on the membership fees it charges and its policy of buying directly from manufacturers, which helps keep prices low. Pat balances the company’s rising revenues, international expansion plans and high membership renewal rate against the intensely competitive market in which it operates. Q: Pat: What is your advice on Costco? Is it a buy right now? Thank you....

Every Thursday we bring you “Best U.S. Stocks.” 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, from coverage in our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster.

More consumers are shopping online instead of in stores. That trend has forced some book and music stores to close and is putting pressure on electronics chains and sellers of office and computer equipment.

Even so, most consumers still prefer to shop for clothes in stores, where they can try them on before buying. That’s a plus for Nordstrom. Moreover, the company continues to invest heavily in e-commerce and make it easier for shoppers to pick up their online orders in stores.

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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 investment advice, and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “The best way to stay ahead of the market—and all the people who manage to underperform it—is to avoid going in and out trying to buy low and sell high.”...

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.

CGI GROUP INC. (Toronto symbol GIB.A; www.cgi.com)is Canada’s largest provider ofcomputer outsourcing services. CGI helps its clients automate routine functions, like accounting andbuying supplies. That makes them more efficientand lets them focus on their main businesses.

CGI follows what it calls a “Build and Buy” strategy. The “Build” part refers to expanding relationships with existing clients and attracting new ones. The company’s long-term outsourcing contracts give it steady, predictable revenue streams. They also let CGI sell these clients other services.

The “Buy” part of the strategy involves making acquisitions. CGI tempers the risk of buying other companies to fuel its growth by targeting firms that enhance its expertise or geographic presence.

For example, in August 2012, CGI completed the largest purchase in its history when it paid $2.7 billion for U.K.-based outsourcing firm Logica plc. As a result, Europe now accounts for 35% of CGI’s revenue, followed by the U.S. (25%), South America (20%), Canada (15%) and Asia (5%).

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