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CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY $127.99 (Toronto symbol CP; Shares outstanding: 174.7 million; Market cap: $22.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.1%; www.cpr.ca) continues to benefit from its aggressive plan to improve its efficiency with new locomotives, upgraded tracks and software that optimizes train loads and speeds.

For example, CP has cut the time it takes to ship intermodal containers between Toronto and Calgary by 20 hours. The trip now takes 64 hours.

Speeding up service will help CP attract more customers. It will also help it reach its goal of lowering its operating ratio from 75.8% in the first quarter of 2013 to around 65% by the middle of 2016. (Operating ratio is calculated by dividing a railway’s regular operating costs by its revenue. The lower the ratio, the better.)
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PENN WEST PETROLEUM $11.38 (Toronto symbol PWT; Shares outstanding: 485.0 million; Market cap: $5.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.1%) is moving to shore up its finances and boost its value after it appointed Rick George as chairman and Allan Markin as vice-chairman.

George played a key role in building Suncor Energy, while Markin was important to the growth of Canadian Natural Resources.

Penn West already plans to cut its staff by 10% and reduce its quarterly dividend by 48.1%, to $0.14 from $0.27. The new rate will give it a 4.9% yield, based on today’s share price.
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ENERPLUS CORP. $15.55 (Toronto symbol ERF; Shares outstanding: 199.7 million; Market cap: $3.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 7.0%) produces an average of 87,183 barrels of oil equivalent per day (52% gas and 48% oil).

The company’s properties are mainly in Alberta, Saskatchewan, B.C., North Dakota and Montana, as well as the Marcellus Shale, which passes through Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia.

In the three months ended March 31, 2013 Enerplus’s cash flow per share rose 1.2%, to $0.87 from $0.86 a year earlier. Oil prices fell 8.6%, but that was offset by a 10.1% overall production increase and 36.5% higher gas prices.
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ARC RESOURCES $27.53 (Toronto symbol ARX; Shares outstanding: 311.1 million; Market cap: $8.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; Dividend yield: 4.4%; www.arcresources.com) produces oil and natural gas in western Canada. The company’s average daily output of 95,472 barrels of oil equivalent (including natural gas) is weighted 61% to gas and 39% to oil.

In the three months ended March 31, 2013, cash flow per share rose 4.8%, to $0.65 from $0.62. Production increased 2.1%, and a 22.2% rise in gas prices more than offset an 8.4% decline in oil prices.

ARC’s long-term debt is $762.0 million, or a low 8.7% of its market cap. It trades at 10.2 times its forecast 2012 cash flow of $2.70 a share.
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LOBLAW COMPANIES $47.66 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 283.1 million; Market cap: $13.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 2.0%; www.loblaw.ca) is testing a new store format in Calgary that is much smaller than its other supermarkets.

This store, called The Box by No Frills, is just 10,000 square feet, compared to 25,000 square feet for its regular stores.

Smaller stores like this would help Loblaw expand in urban areas. They would also help it compete with non-traditional food sellers, such as drug stores and convenience stores. To boost traffic, the new stores will highlight $1 items in most aisles.
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MARKET VECTORS VIETNAM ETF $18.89 (New York symbol VNM; buy or sell through brokers) holds shares of Vietnamese companies or foreign firms that get a significant amount of their revenue from Vietnam.

The ETF’s top 10 holdings are Pha Lai Thermal Power, 8.2%; Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, 7.2%; Baoviet Holdings (finance and insurance), 7.1%; PetroVietnam Fertilizer and Chemical, 6.9%; Vincom Corp. (real estate), 6.8%; Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank, 5.3%; Gamuda Bhd (a Malaysiabased construction group), 5.2%; Minor International (a Thailand-based firm with hotels and fast-food restaurants in Vietnam), 4.4%; Vietnam Construction and Import-Export, 4.3%; and Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (an India-based oil and gas company), 4.2%.

Market Vectors Vietnam ETF’s industry breakdown is as follows: Financials, 36.2%; Energy, 19.9%; Industrials, 14.5%; Materials, 10.0%; Utilities, 8.2%; Consumer Discretionary, 5.3%; and Consumer Staples, 3.7%. Its expense ratio is 0.76%.
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ISHARES FTSE/XINHUA CHINA 25 INDEX FUND $31.73 (New York symbol FXI; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that aims to track the FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index, which is made up of the 25 largest and most liquid Chinese stocks. All of the stocks in the index trade on the Hong Kong exchange. Some also trade as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) on the New York exchange.

The fund’s top holdings are China Mobile, 10.5%; China Construction Bank, 8.7%; Industrial & Commercial Bank, 7.4%; Tencent Holdings, 6.8%, Bank of China, 5.9%; PetroChina, 4.0%, CNOOC, 4.0%; China Shenhua Energy, 3.9%; China Life Insurance, 3.9%, and Ping An Insurance, 3.9%.

The fund’s holdings give it the following industry breakdown: Financials, 52.1%; Telecommunications, 16.7%; Oil and Gas, 11.8%; Technology, 6.8%, Basic Materials, 5.0%; and Consumer Goods, 3.2%. Its expense ratio is 0.73%.
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H&R REIT $21.95 (Toronto symbol HR.UN; Units outstanding: 261.7 million; Market cap: $16.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 6.2%; www.hr-reit.com) has bought the Peter Pond Mall in Fort McMurray, Alberta for $168.5 million.

The Peter Pond Mall is Fort McMurray’s only enclosed shopping centre. It serves the thriving oil sands industry in that area.

The average household income in Fort Mc- Murray is over $190,000 a year, and that prosperity gives the mall average sales of over $870 a square foot. That average ranks Peter Pond among the top 10 shopping centres in Canada.
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ALLIED PROPERTIES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $31.73 (Toronto symbol AP.UN; Units outstanding: 68.0 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 4.3%; www.alliedpropertiesreit.com) owns 126 office buildings, mostly in major Canadian cities. These mainly Class I properties contain over 9.5 million square feet of leasable area.

Class I refers to 19th- and early-20th-century light industrial buildings that have been converted to office and retail space. They usually feature exposed beams, interior brick and hardwood floors.

The trust bought $400 million worth of properties in 2012. In the first quarter of 2013, it added a further $146 million of acquisitions. Allied has a 92.8% occupancy rate.
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RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $25.37 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Units outstanding: 300.0 million; Market cap: $7.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.6%; www.riocan.com) is Canada’s largest real estate investment trust (REIT). It has interests in 344 shopping malls containing over 84 million square feet of leasable area. That total includes 50 U.S. malls containing over 13.7 million square feet.

RioCan recently ended its joint venture with Retail Properties of America (New York symbol RPAI). As a result, RioCan now holds 100% of eight highquality malls in Texas, including the dominant shopping centres in Austin and San Antonio.

In the quarter ended March 31, 2013, RioCan’s revenue rose 10.6%, to $281 million from $254 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit rose 10.8%, to $0.41 from $0.37. The units yield 5.6%.
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SUN LIFE FINANCIAL $31.38 (Toronto symbol SLF; Shares outstanding: 603.0 million; Market cap: $18.9 billion; SI Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.6%; www.sunlife.ca) sells savings, retirement, pension and life insurance products to individuals and corporations.

The company mainly operates in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., but has expanded into Asia, China and India. It has $570.7 billion of assets under management.

In the three months ended March 31, 2013, Sun Life’s earnings per share rose 1.4%, to $0.75 from $0.74. Revenue rose 3.1%, to $3.4 billion from $3.3 billion.
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ISHARES MSCI EMERGING MARKETS EASTERN EUROPE INDEX FUND $22.87 (New York symbol ESR; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that aims to track the MSCI Emerging Markets Eastern Europe Index. The fund’s geographic breakdown is as follows: Russia, 73.1%; Poland, 20.1%; Czech Republic, 3.0%; and Hungary, 2.9%.

The fund’s top holdings are Gazprom (Russia: gas utility), 14.6%; Sberbank (Russia: bank), 10.9%; Lukoil (Russia: oil), 10.5%; Magnit OJSC (Russia: retailing), 5.1%; Novatek (Russia: natural gas), 3.9%; PKO Bank Polski SA (Poland: banking), 3.5%; Mobile TeleSystems (Russia: wireless), 3.4%; Uralkali (Russia: potash), 3.3%; and Rosneft Oil Company (Russia: oil and gas), 3.1%.

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Eastern Europe Index Fund’s expense ratio is 0.66%.
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ISHARES S&P INDIA NIFTY 50 INDEX FUND $21.98 (Nasdaq symbol INDY; buy or sell through brokers; us.ishares.com) is an ETF that aims to track the S&P CNX Nifty Index, which represents the 50 largest, most liquid Indian securities.

The fund’s top holdings are ITC Ltd. (conglomerate), 9.7%; Reliance Industries Ltd. (conglomerate), 7.4%; Housing Development Finance, 7.1%; ICICI Bank, 6.7%; HDFC Bank, 6.5%; Infosys, 6.4%; Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (conglomerate), 4.2%; Tata Consultancy Services (information technology), 4.0%; Hindustan Unilever, 3.4%; and Oil & Natural Gas Corp., 3.1%.

The fund’s industry breakdown includes Banks, 21.4%; Computers, 11.4%; Cigarettes, 9.7%; Refineries, 7.9%; Finance, 7.1%; Pharmaceuticals, 5.9%; Engineering, 4.2%; Oil Exploration and Production, 4.0%; and Automobiles, 3.6%; The ETF has a 0.92% expense ratio.
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NEWMONT MINING $29.02 (New York symbol NEM; Shares outstanding: 492.3 million; Market cap: $14.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 4.8%; www.newmont.com) gets 90% of its revenue from gold mines in the U.S., Australia and Peru. Copper, zinc and other metals supply the remaining 10%.

Gold is down 33%, from $1,800 an ounce in September 2012 to $1,204 today. That’s partly because the U.S. Federal Reserve has indicated that it will soon scale back its bond-purchasing program, known as quantitative easing. Slowing growth in the money supply will reduce the likelihood of a sharp increase in inflation. Many investors buy gold as a hedge against inflation.

In response, Newmont is cutting jobs and postponing building new mines. The company also links its dividend to the price of gold, so it has lowered its quarterly payout by 17.6%, to $0.35 a share from $0.425, for a 4.8% yield. Further dividend cuts seem likely, particularly if gold prices continue to fall.
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BELL ALIANT INC. $27.96 (Toronto symbol BA; Shares outstanding: 227.8 million; Market cap: $6.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 6.8%; www.aliant.ca) sells phone and Internet services to 2.5 million customers in Atlantic Canada and rural Ontario and Quebec. It also sells wireless services through an alliance with BCE, which owns 44% of Bell Aliant.

The company continues to replace copper wires with fibre optic cable. That’s attracting more highspeed Internet and digital TV customers. Strong demand for these services is also helping offset lower revenue from traditional phone services.

Bell Aliant’s high-speed fibre optic systems now reach 679,000 homes, up from 516,000 a year ago. By the end of 2013, it plans to expand its network to 800,000 homes.
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BROOKFIELD RENEWABLE ENERGY PARTNERS L.P. $29.20 (Toronto symbol BEP.UN; Units outstanding: 265.2 million; Market cap: $7.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 5.0%; www.brpfund.com) owns 196 hydroelectric generating stations, 11 wind farms and two natural-gas-fired plants. In all, it has 5,900 megawatts of generating capacity.

Roughly 35% of Brookfield Renewable’s generating capacity is in Canada, with another 50% in the U.S. and 15% in Brazil.

In the three months ended March 31, 2013, Brookfield’s revenue rose 2.6%, to $437 million from $426 million a year earlier. Cash flow gained 4.3%, to $195 million, or $0.73 a share, from $187 million, or $0.71 a share.
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TELUS $31.68 (Toronto symbol T; Shs. o/s: 653.8 million; Market cap: $20.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.3%; www.telus.com) has 7.7 million wireless subscribers across Canada, and gets much more of its revenue from wireless than BCE (54% compared to BCE’s 32%—see left).

Telus gets the remaining 46% of its revenue from its traditional phone business, which has 3.4 million customers in B.C., Alberta and eastern Quebec. Telus also has 1.3 million Internet subscribers and 712,000 Telus TV subscribers.

In the three months ended March 31, 2013, Telus’s earnings per share rose 14.3%, to $0.56 from $0.49 a year earlier. Revenue rose 4.8%, to $2.76 billion from $2.63 billion.
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BCE INC. $42.68 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 775.9 million; Market cap: $33.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.5%; www.bce.ca) is Canada’s largest provider of telephone, Internet and wireless services. It also sells satellite and Internet TV services across the country.

In the three months ended March 31, 2013, BCE’s earnings per share rose 11.6%, to $0.77 from $0.69 a year earlier. Revenue increased slightly, to $4.35 billion from $4.33 billion. Revenue fell 2.8% at the wireline (land line) division, which accounts for 58% of total revenue. This division faces rising competition. As well, many customers are cancelling land lines and switching to wireless devices.

Revenue from wireless services (32% of total revenue) rose 6.3%. The company’s network upgrades continue to attract new wireless subscribers, and it’s benefiting from rising use of smartphones, which generate higher monthly fees than regular cellphones. Bell’s Fibe high-speed Internet TV service also offers strong growth prospects.
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NCR CORP. (New York symbol NCR; www.ncr.com) is a leading maker of automated teller machines (ATMs), checkout scanners, cash registers and self-serve kiosks.

In February 2013, the company paid $791 million for Israel-based Retalix, whose software helps retailers manage their sales and track inventories. Retailers with a combined 70,000 locations in over 50 countries use Retalix’s products. NCR feels Retalix’s expertise will improve its point-of-sale terminals and self-serve kiosks.

In the three months ended March 31, 2013, Retalix contributed $50 million to NCR’s revenue. That helped push up the total by 13.3% in the latest quarter, to $1.4 billion from $1.2 billion a year earlier. The acquisition should add $255 million to the company’s full-year revenue.

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YAMANA GOLD (Toronto symbol YRI; www.yamana.com) owns eight operating gold mines in Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. It also holds a 12.5% stake in the Alumbrera copper/gold mine in Argentina and has a number of other properties in advanced stages of development. In the quarter ended March 31, 2013, Yamana’s revenue fell 4.4%, to $534.9 million from $559.7 million a year earlier (all figures except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Gold production rose, but prices for gold, as well as copper and silver, which are both significant by-products of Yamana’s gold mining, dropped. Cash flow per share fell 3.3%, to $0.29 from $0.30....

POTASH CORP. OF SASKATCHEWAN (Toronto symbol POT; www.potashcorp.com) is the world’s largest fertilizer producer. Its five potash mines in Saskatchewan and one in New Brunswick account for 20% of global potash capacity. Five of its mines have reserves of between 65 and 84 years. It also makes fertilizers from nitrogen and phosphate. Earnings for Potash were $3.51 a share (or $3.1 billion) in 2011. However, earnings fell to $2.42 a share (or $2.1 billion) in 2012....

Pat McKeough responds to many requests for specific advice on buying stocks and other questions on investment strategy and the economy from the members of his Inner Circle. 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 about the world’s biggest heavy equipment maker, Caterpillar. With slower economic growth in its main markets, especially China, the company has seen its revenues slip. Pat examines Caterpillar’s ambitious acquisition policy and looks at the company’s financial outlook in the face of slowing demand in a still-sluggish global economy. ...

COMPUTER MODELLING GROUP (Toronto symbol CMG; www.cmgroup.com) sells consulting services and software that help oil and gas producers use advanced recovery techniques to get more out of their existing wells. The company has customers in over 50 countries and offices in Calgary, Houston, London, Caracas and Dubai. In the three months ended March 31, 2013, Computer Modelling reported revenue of $19.3 million. That’s up 12.0% from $17.2 million a year earlier....

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: “Here are 3 warning signs that tell you when stocks brokers are clearly putting their own interests above those of their clients.”...

LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $46 (Toronto symbol L; www.loblaw.ca) announced yesterday that it has a friendly deal to purchase Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. (Toronto symbol SC) for $12.4 billion in cash and stock. The transaction, which combines Canada’s largest grocery and pharmacy chains, will be the biggest takeover in Canadian retail history. Shares of Loblaw rose 5% yesterday on the news. Loblaw had already risen 42% for us since its announcement in December 2012 that it would set up 75% of its real estate holdings as a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) under the name Choice Properties REIT (Toronto symbol CHP.UN)....