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Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan passed the Federal Reserve’s latest “stress test,” which measures how well financial firms would cope with a sharp jump in unemployment, falling stock prices and other unfavourable conditions. Here is our analysis of the two banks, both of which we cover regularly in our advisory on U.S. stocks, Wall Street Stock Forecaster....

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 stock investing 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: “There are too many occasions when an investment that is in a broker’s best financial interest will actually bring the investor higher costs and greater risk.”...

Ottawa continues to impose new rules on Canada’s main wireless firms in an effort to encourage more competition. These measures include restricting the new radio frequencies (or spectrum) they can buy, cutting wireless contract terms from three years to two and capping roaming charges. Meanwhile, new rules will force TV providers to let subscribers buy the channels they want, instead of having to purchase a package....

TOROMONT INDUSTRIES LTD (Toronto symbol TIH; www.toromont.com) distributes a broad range of industrial equipment, including machinery made by Caterpillar Inc. It also makes refrigeration systems through its CIMCO division. The company completed the spinoff of Enerflex Ltd. (see below) in July 2011. Shareholders received shares of both the new Toromont Industries and Enerflex....

TORSTAR CORP. $7.74 (www.torstar.com) is selling its Harlequin book-publishing subsidiary to News Corp. (Nasdaq symbol NWSA), the parent company of publishing firm HarperCollins. The company will receive $455 million, which is equal to 73% of its $623.4-million market cap. Torstar will put the proceeds toward its bank loans and other debt, which stood at $192.9 million on March 31, 2014.

Meanwhile, Torstar’s earnings in the first quarter of 2014 (including Harlequin) rose 70.2%, to $7.1 million, or $0.09 a share. It earned $4.2 million, or $0.05 a share a year earlier. The gain is entirely due to savings from an ongoing restructuring plan, mainly job cuts. Weak advertising sales at its newspapers reduced its overall revenue by 6.7%, to $292.4 million from $313.4 million.

Selling Harlequin means Torstar will focus entirely on its cyclical newspaper and Internet businesses. That adds risk. However, the cash from the sale will help it sustain its current dividend. Best Buy.

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CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO. $64 (Toronto symbol CNR; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 824.5 million; Market cap: $52.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.0; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cn.ca) operates Canada’s largest railway. Its 32,350-kilometre network stretches across the country and through the U.S. Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico.

Thanks to strong shipping volumes in the wake of the recession, CN’s revenue rose 43.5%, from $7.4 billion in 2009 to $10.6 billion in 2013.

Earnings jumped 68.4%, from $1.5 billion to $2.6 billion; while per-share earnings rose 88.9%, from $1.62 to $3.06, on fewer shares outstanding (all per-share amounts adjusted for a 2-for-1 stock split in November 2013).

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ENCANA CORP. $26 (Toronto symbol ECA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 740.9 million; Market cap: $19.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.2; Dividend yield: 1.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.encana.com) has agreed to buy shale oil properties in the Eagle Ford area of southern Texas for $3.1 billion (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). A separate deal to sell natural gas fields in eastern Texas for $530 million will help pay for this purchase.

Including Eagle Ford, Encana now has six core properties. The other five are: Montney (B.C.), Duvernay (Alberta), DJ Basin (Colorado), San Juan Basin (New Mexico) and the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (Louisiana). All of these areas contain large amounts of oil and natural gas liquids, such as butane and propane. That cuts Encana’s exposure to weak gas prices.

The stock is up 35% since Encana said it would expand its oil production in November 2013. Even so, it trades at a moderate 7.2 times the company’s projected 2014 cash flow of $3.31 a share.

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IGM FINANCIAL INC. $54 (Toronto symbol IGM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 252.4 million; Market cap: $13.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.1; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.igmfinancial.com) continues to benefit as rising stock markets spur the value of its clients’ holdings.

As of April 30, 2014, IGM had $138.25 billion worth of assets under management, up 10.0% from $125.7 billion a year earlier. The company’s fee income rises and falls with the value of the securities it manages, so its revenue and earnings gain when the price of these assets rises.

IGM Financial is a buy.

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METRO INC. $68 (Toronto symbol MRU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 87.6 million; Market cap: $6.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.metro.ca) operates about 600 supermarkets in Quebec and Ontario. It also has over 250 drugstores that operate under the Brunet, The Pharmacy and Drug Basics banners.

Metro continues to cut costs in response to competition from larger Canadian chains, like Loblaw and Sobeys, and big box stores like Wal-Mart and Costco. It is also converting some of its underperforming Metro outlets in Ontario to the faster-growing Food Basics discount banner.

In its fiscal 2014 second quarter, which ended March 15, 2014, Metro’s earnings rose 0.5%, to $96.9 million from $96.4 million a year earlier. In the last six months, the company has spent $301.8 million on share buybacks. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings rose 9.2%, to $1.07 from $0.98.

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THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $39 (Toronto symbol TRI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 811.1 million; Market cap: $31.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.thomsonreuters.com) earned $374 million in the first quarter of 2014, up 19.5% from $313 million a year earlier (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings rose 21.1%, to $0.46 from $0.38. Revenue rose 1.0%, to $3.13 billion from $3.10 billion.

The higher earnings are mainly due to savings from a recent restructuring plan, including job cuts and eliminating less-profitable products. These savings will help Thomson offset weaker demand for its information products from financial institutions, particularly in Europe, as they continue to cut costs in the wake of the 2008 credit crisis. Meanwhile, demand for Thomson’s other data products (legal, tax and accounting, and intellectual property/science) remains strong.

Thomson Reuters is a buy.

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BELL ALIANT INC. $28 (Toronto symbol BA, Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 229.1 million; Market cap: $6.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 6.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bellaliant.ca) sells phone and Internet services to 2.4 million customers in Atlantic Canada and rural Ontario and Quebec.

The company continues to invest heavily in fibre optic networks. It now has 963,048 high-speed Internet users (up 3.9% from a year earlier) and 189,781 digital TV customers (up 38.3%).

However, lower demand for regular phone services caused its revenue to fall 1.2% to $675.7 million in the three months ended March 31, 2014, from $683.6 million a year earlier. Before one-time items, earnings declined 9.1%, to $0.40 a share from $0.44.

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MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $31 (Toronto symbol MBT; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 77.1 million; Market cap: $2.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 5.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mts.ca) gets around 55% of its revenue from its 1.3 million telephone and wireless customers in Manitoba.

The remaining 45% comes from Allstream, which sells integrated telephone, Internet and other communication services to businesses across Canada.

The company has suffered a couple of setbacks in the past few months. The first came late last year, when Ottawa blocked its plan to sell Allstream for $405 million to a private firm controlled by an Egyptian billionaire.

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TELUS CORP. $39 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 622.3 million; Market cap: $24.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) gets 55% of its revenue from its 7.8 million wireless subscribers across Canada. It also has 3.3 million phone customers, 1.4 million high-speed Internet users and 815,000 TV subscribers.

The company continues to expand its wireless operations. In November 2013, it paid $229 million for Public Mobile, which had 220,000 customers. To put the price in context, Telus earned $1.4 billion, or $2.16 a share, before unusual items in 2013.

Telus is now offering $350 million for Mobilicity, which has 165,000 wireless customers. This is the company’s third attempt to buy Mobilicity, after Ottawa blocked the last two.

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p>BCE INC. $49 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 777.3 million; Market cap: $38.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 5.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bce.ca) is Canada’s largest provider of telephone services, with 5.1 million customers in Ontario and Quebec. It also has 2.2 million high-speed Internet customers and 2.3 million TV subscribers. Together, these services supply 47% of the company’s revenue. BCE also sells wireless services across Canada. Its 7.8 million mobile subscribers provide 28% of its revenue.

A further 13% of revenue comes from its Bell Media division, which owns CTV Television, specialty channels and radio stations. It gets the remaining 12% from its 44% stake in Bell Aliant.

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p>FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. $30 (Toronto symbol FTT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 172.1 million; Market cap: $5.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.finning.com) is the world’s largest dealer of tractors, bulldozers and trucks made by Caterpillar Inc. (New York symbol CAT). The company sells these products to customers in the mining, forest-products and construction industries. Strong demand for Finning’s gear in Western Canada and the U.K. is offsetting weaker sales in South America. Finning now believes its revenue was $1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2014, up 8% from a year earlier. Sales of new equipment rose 8%, while revenue from maintenance and other support services gained 9%.

Finning is a buy.

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p>SHAWCOR LTD. $55 (Toronto symbol SCL; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 60.1 million; Market cap: $3.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 1.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.shawcor.com) makes sealants and coatings that keep oil and natural gas pipelines from rusting. The company also makes industrial products, such as electrical wire and protective sheaths. Thanks to acquisitions and new pipeline-coating contracts in North America and Europe, ShawCor’s revenue rose 5.4% in the three months ended March 31, 2014, to $479.1 million from $454.7 million a year earlier.

However, the company’s earnings declined 12.3%, to $61.9 million from $70.6 million, due to lower profits from joint ventures and higher interest costs and taxes. Per-share earnings rose 2.0%, to $1.03 from $1.01, on fewer shares outstanding.

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PRECISION DRILLING CORP. $14 (Toronto symbol PD; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resource sector; Shares outstanding: 292.1 million; Market cap: $4.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.precisiondrilling.com) provides contract drilling services to land-based oil and gas producers, mainly in North America. The company operates 330 rigs.

Higher oil and gas prices have spurred demand for Precision’s drilling services. As a result, its revenue rose 12.8% in the first quarter of 2014, to $672.2 million from $595.7 million a year earlier. Earnings gained 8.8%, to $101.6 million from $93.3 million. Per-share earnings rose 6.1%, to $0.35 from $0.33, on more shares outstanding.

In response to stronger-than-expected drilling activity, Precision now plans to spend $833 million to build and upgrade rigs in 2014, up 31.4% from its earlier forecast of $634 million. Drillers have already signed contracts for these new rigs, which cuts the risk of this investment.

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SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $52 (Toronto symbol SNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 152.1 million; Market cap: $7.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 1,8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.snclavalin.com) has agreed to sell AltaLink to Berkshire Hathaway (New York symbol BRK.B), the holding company controlled by billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

Wholly owned AltaLink provides electricity to 85% of Alberta’s population through 12,000 kilometres of power lines and 280 substations.

The company will receive $3.2 billion (or $2.9 billion after taxes). The transaction should close by the end of this year.

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p>SUNCOR ENERGY INC. $43 (Toronto symbol SU; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $64.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.suncor.com) is Canada’s largest integrated oil company by market cap (or the value of all its outstanding shares). Suncor gets 40% of its revenue and 65% of its earnings from producing crude oil and natural gas. Its 7.7 billion barrels of proven and probable reserves should last 35 years, based on current production rates.

The oil sands account for 70% of the company’s output. It also operates offshore platforms in Atlantic Canada and the North Sea, as well as conventional wells in Libya. However, political unrest has shut down some of Libya’s ports, limiting Suncor’s crude exports from the country.

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ENBRIDGE INC. $52.89 (Toronto symbol ENB; Shares outstanding: 831.5 million; Market cap: $43.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 2.7%; www.enbridge.com) has won approval to export some of the Canadian crude oil it ships into the U.S. to other countries.

Under the license terms, the pipeline operator must separate U.S.-produced oil from Canadian crude. The company expects exports to other markets to account for less than 2% of the volume its U.S. oil pipelines currently handle.

However, shipping oil to refineries in Europe and elsewhere would help producers collect higher prices for their crude. That would encourage them to raise their output, increasing demand for space on Enbridge’s pipelines.

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INNERGEX RENEWABLE ENERGY $10.60 (Toronto symbol INE; Shares outstanding: 95.9 million; Market cap: $1.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield 5.7%; www.innergex.com) operates 25 hydroelectric plants, six wind farms and one solar power facility in Quebec, Ontario, B.C. and Idaho. Innergex 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, it is developing or building five projects.

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

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ALGONQUIN POWER & UTILITIES CORP. $7.88 (Toronto symbol AQN; Shares outstanding: 206.9 million; Market cap: $1.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.3%; www.algonquinpower.com) has nearly tripled in size over the past two years through acquisitions.

Algonquin bought four companies in 2012, and seven more in 2013. These moves included a $140.7-million U.S. deal for a natural gas distributor in Georgia with 64,000 clients.

The company’s regulated utility businesses now provide water, electricity and natural gas to over 480,000 customers, up sharply from 120,000 a year ago. In addition, Algonquin’s hydroelectric, thermal energy, solar and wind facilities generate 1,125 megawatts of power, up from 460.

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BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $66.60 (Toronto symbol BNS; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $80.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.8%, www.scotiabank.com) has formally changed the name of its ING Direct subsidiary to Tangerine (www.tangerine.ca).

The bank bought ING Direct from its Netherlands-based parent, ING Group, in November 2012. This business provides no-fee banking services to 1.9 million clients, mainly over the Internet. The new name will let Bank of Nova Scotia keep using the orange colour associated with the ING Direct brand.

Tangerine will continue to operate separately from the bank’s retail banking operations. However, Bank of Nova Scotia will let Tangerine customers use its ATMs without paying fees.

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ENCANA CORP. $25.39 (Toronto symbol ECA; Shares outstanding: 740.9 million; Market cap: $19.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.2%; www.encana.com) has released more details regarding its plan to spin off its Clearwater oil and gas properties in southern Alberta.

The new company, called PrairieSky Royalty, will hold the oil and gas rights to 5.2 million acres. PrairieSky will not drill wells or explore for new reserves. Instead, it will collect royalties from other producers. That should generate steady cash flows for monthly dividends.

Encana plans to complete an initial public offering for PrairieSky in the next two to three months—although it will hang on to a majority stake. In the future, it may hand out that stake as a special dividend to its shareholders.

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ISHARES MSCI BRAZIL INDEX FUND $47.04 (New York Exchange symbol EWZ; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that is designed to track the Brazilian stock market.

Its top holdings are Petrobras (oil and gas), 10.3%; Cia Itau Unibanco Holding (banking), 8.7%; Vale do Rio Doce (mining), 8.1%; Cia de Bebidas das Americas (beer and beverages), 7.6%; Banco Brandesco, 6.4%; and BRF SA (food), 3.5%.

The ETF was launched on July 10, 2000. It has an expense ratio of 0.62%.

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