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TRANSCANADA CORP. $44.88 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 704.5 million; Market cap: $31.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.9%; www.transcanada.com) has won a contract to build and operate a 90-kilometre pipeline that will pump bitumen from the Fort Hills oil sands project to an upgrading facility near Fort McMurray, Alberta.

This new line, called the Northern Courier Pipeline, will cost $660 million.

Regulators still need to approve the project. TransCanada will submit an initial application in late 2012; it hasn’t said when it would begin construction.

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VERESEN $12.77 (Toronto symbol VSN; Shares outstanding: 196.3 million; Market cap: $2.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Yield: 7.8%) owns pipelines, power plants and natural gas processing facilities across North America. One of its major holdings is 50% of the Alliance gas pipeline, which runs 3,000 kilometres between Chicago and Fort St. John, B.C. Enbridge owns the other 50%.

The company also owns the Alberta Ethane Gathering System, and Veresen and Enbridge together hold 85.4% of the Aux Sable natural gas liquids plant.

In December 2011, Veresen paid Encana Corp. $920 million for the Hythe/Steeprock natural gas gathering and processing complex in the Montney region of B.C. and Alberta. Encana has agreed to purchase most of the facility’s gas under a long-term contract.

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PEMBINA PIPELINE $26.86 (Toronto symbol PPL; Shares outstanding: 288.7 million; Market cap: $7.8 billion; TSI Network Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 6.0%; www.pembina.com) owns pipeline systems that transport half of Alberta’s conventional oil production, 30% of the natural gas liquids (NGLs) produced in Western Canada and virtually all of B.C.’s conventional oil output.

In the three months ended June 30, 2012, revenue rose 70.0%, to $870.9 million from $512.4 million a year earlier. In January 2012, it bought rival Provident Energy, which extracts, transports and stores NGLs, for $3.2 billion. Provident’s contribution was the main reason for the higher revenue.

Cash flow rose 9.4%, to $89.5 million from $81.8 million. However, cash flow per share fell 36.7%, to $0.31 from $0.49, because the company issued more shares to pay for Provident. Lower NGL prices held back Provident’s cash flow in the latest quarter. But over the longer term, the company should be a good fit with Pembina because it diversifies its business and provides additional growth prospects.

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BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $52.46 (Toronto symbol BNS: Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $57.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Div. yield: 4.4%, www.scotiabank.com) has agreed to buy ING Bank of Canada, which operates as ING Direct, from Netherlands-based ING Group.

ING Direct offers a wide variety of no-fee banking services, mainly over the Internet. It has 1.8 million customers and $30 billion in deposits. Bank of Nova Scotia will keep ING Direct as a separate business.

The bank will pay $3.1 billion for ING Direct when the deal closes in December 2012. However, ING Direct holds cash of $1.2 billion, so the real cost is around $1.9 billion.

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IMPERIAL OIL $46.36 (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap: $39.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.0%; www.imperialoil.ca) is a major integrated oil company with oil sands projects in Alberta, and conventional oil and gas operations in Western Canada. It also owns four refineries and operates 1,850 Esso gas stations.

In the three months ended June 30, 2012, Imperial’s earnings fell 12.5%, to $635 million, or $0.75 a share, on lower oil and gas prices. A year earlier, it earned $726 million, or $0.85 a share. Revenue fell 3.3%, to $7.5 billion from $7.8 billion. However, cash flow per share rose 0.9%, to $1.09 from $1.08.

Imperial’s production is set to keep rising thanks to its new oil sands operations, including the $10.9-billion Kearl project, which is more than 94% complete. Imperial owns 71% of Kearl. ExxonMobil (New York symbol XOM) owns the remaining 29%. Exxon also holds a 69.6% interest in Imperial.

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METRO INC. $58 (Toronto symbol MRU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 97.1 million; Market cap: $5.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.metro.ca) continues to benefit from its October 2011 purchase of a 55% stake in Marché Adonis, which sells Mediterranean-style foods through five stores in Quebec. It also distributes foods to other retailers through warehouses in Montreal and Toronto.

In its fiscal 2012 third quarter, which ended July 2, 2012, Metro’s sales rose 3.8%, to $3.7 billion from $3.6 billion a year earlier. Marché added $81.3 million to Metro’s sales in the latest quarter. A new loyalty rewards program in Quebec and the company’s focus on fresh products are also encouraging repeat visits. Same-store sales rose 1.0% at its 600 supermarkets in Quebec and Ontario.

The higher sales helped increase Metro’s earnings by 16.0%, to $147.4 million from $127.1 million. Earnings per share rose 18.7%, to $1.46 from $1.23, on fewer shares outstanding.

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CANADA BREAD CO. LTD. $44 (www.canadabread.ca) reported that its sales fell 0.3% in the three months ended June 30, 2012, to $404.9 million from $406.2 million a year earlier. That’s mainly because it closed an older bakery in Toronto as part of a restructuring plan....

CAE INC. $10 (www.cae.com) has won contracts to build flight simulators and upgrade other pilot training equipment for military clients in the U.K., India and Oman. In all, these deals are worth $55 million. That’s equal to 3% of CAE’s annual revenue of $1.9 billion. Best Buy.

CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE $77 (www.cibc.com) earned $2.06 a share in the three months ended July 31, 2012. That’s up 6.7% from $1.93 a year earlier. Loan demand remained strong in Canada, and profits rose at the bank’s wealth management and capital markets divisions....

GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $22 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 949.8 million; Market cap: $20.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend Yield: 5.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s largest insurance company, with $523.6 billion of assets under administration. It also sells mutual funds and retirement planning and wealth management services. Power Financial Corp. (Toronto symbol PFC) owns 68.2% of Great-West.

Top brands are a big plus

In Canada, the company sells its products under several well-known banners, including Great West Life, Canada Life and Freedom 55. The Canadian division supplies 51% of Great-West’s earnings.

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TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $81 (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 911.7 million; Market cap: $73.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.td.com) earned $1.8 billion in the quarter ended July 31, 2012. That’s up 11.3% from $1.6 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 9.1%, to $1.91 from $1.75, on more shares outstanding. Revenue rose 8.5%, to $5.8 billion from $5.4 billion.

Low interest rates continue to spur loan demand. As well, last year’s purchases of MBNA’s Canadian credit card operations and Chrysler Financial, which provides car loans to buyers of Chrysler vehicles, also contributed to the higher earnings.

The bank set aside $438 million to cover bad loans in the latest quarter, up 15.3% from $380 million. However, that’s mainly due to the extra loans from the MBNA purchase.

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POTASH CORP. OF SASKATCHEWAN $41 (Toronto symbol POT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 859.1 million; Market cap: $35.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.2; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.potashcorp.com) expects global potash demand to rise to between 56 million tonnes and 60 million tonnes in 2013 from 53 million tonnes in 2012.

The recent drought in the U.S. has pushed up prices for wheat, corn and other crops. That’s prompting farmers to apply more fertilizer to increase their crop yields.

However, potash inventories have risen lately as big buyers like China and India negotiate new supply contracts. In response, the company will shut down its main potash mine in Saskatchewan for one month.

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TIM HORTONS INC. $50 (Toronto symbol THI; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 154.9 million; Market cap: $7.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.6; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.timhortons.com) aims to take advantage of fastgrowing interest in home coffee systems.

Under a new agreement, Kraft Foods Inc. (Nasdaq symbol KFT) and Tim Hortons will make and sell plastic cups, called T-Discs, filled with Tim Hortons coffee and sealed with a foil top. Kraft’s Tassimo beverage machine pierces the foil and brews a fresh single cup. The Tassimo system also scans a barcode on the T-Disc that tells it how much water to use, how long to brew the coffee and how hot it should be.

Tim Hortons plans to start selling T-Discs online and in its 3,000 Canadian outlets in October 2012.

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BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $53 (Toronto symbol BNS; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $58.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 4.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.scotiabank.com) continues to build on its extensive international operations....

RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $28 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Units outstanding: 263.4 million; Market cap: $7.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.2; Dividend yield: 4.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.riocan.com) is ending its joint venture with Cedar Shopping Centers (New York symbol CDR). RioCan holds 80% of this venture, which owns 22 malls in the U.S.

Under the terms of the deal, RioCan will buy Cedar’s 20% stake in 21 malls, while Cedar will buy RioCan’s 80% stake in another mall. RioCan will pay Cedar $39.0 million. That’s equal to 37% of its second quarter cash flow of $106.0 million, or $0.37 a unit.

RioCan is a buy.

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LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $35 (Toronto symbol L; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 281.4 million; Market cap: $9.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.loblaw.ca) recently formed a partnership with J.C. Penney (New York symbol JCP).

Under this deal, Loblaw will build Joe Fresh casual-clothing boutiques inside 700 of Penney’s 1,100 department stores in the U.S. These outlets should open in April 2013. Penney will also sell Joe Fresh products through its website.

As well, Loblaw continues to invest in new computers as part of a plan to improve its efficiency and avoid product shortages in its supermarkets. In the three months ended June 16, 2012, the company spent $20 million on these initiatives. That’s the main reason why its earnings fell 19.3% in the quarter, to $159 million, or $0.56 a share, from $197 million, or $0.69 a share, a year earlier.

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FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. $24 (Toronto symbol FTT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 171.9 million; Market cap: $4.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 2.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.finning.com) sells, rents and repairs heavy equipment, such as tractors, bulldozers and trucks, made by Caterpillar Inc. (New York symbol CAT). Finning’s major customers are in the mining, forest products and construction industries in Western Canada, the U.K. and South America.

In July 2011, Caterpillar bought Milwaukee based Bucyrus International, which makes equipment that is used for mining and in the development of the oil sands.

In May 2012, Finning paid Caterpillar $305.8 million U.S. for Bucyrus’s distribution and support businesses in South America and the U.K. The company will buy Bucyrus’s Canadian operations for $159.2 million U.S. in October 2012.

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ENBRIDGE INC. $38 (Toronto symbol ENB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 797.1 million; Market cap: $30.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.enbridge.com) plans to spend $600 million to expand its natural gas distribution system in the Greater Toronto Area. To put this figure in context, Enbridge earned $653 million, or $0.86 a share, in the first half of 2012.

These upgrades will help the company sell more gas in the fast-growing communities outside Toronto. Enbridge aims to complete this project in 2015.

Enbridge is a buy.

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SHAWCOR LTD. $43 (Toronto symbol SCL.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 70.2 million; Market cap: $3.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 0.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.shawcor.com) jumped over 20% in early September after it announced that it will conduct a strategic review of its operations. This could lead to a sale of the company.

ShawCor makes sealants and coatings that keep oil and natural gas pipelines from rusting. It also manufactures industrial products, such as electrical wire and protective sheaths.

However, there is no deadline for this review, so any takeover offer could still be months away.

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MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $34 (Toronto symbol MBT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 66.7 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 5.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mtsallstream.com) gets 55% of its revenue from its 1.3 million telephone and wireless customers in Manitoba. The remaining 45% comes from its Allstream division, which sells integrated telephone, Internet and other communication services to businesses across Canada.

The company continues to benefit from recent upgrades to its high-speed Internet and wireless networks.

In the quarter ended June 30, 2012, it had 94,743 Internet TV users, up 3.4% from a year earlier. As well, high-speed Internet subscribers rose 1.8%, to 189,708, while wireless subscribers increased 0.2% to 490,498. These gains helped offset declines in residential (down 6.5%) and business phone customers (down 3.0%).

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BELL ALIANT INC. $27 (Toronto symbol BA, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 229.0 million; Market cap: $6.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 7.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bellaliant.ca) sells telephone and Internet services to 2.6 million customers in Atlantic Canada and rural parts of Ontario and Quebec. It also sells wireless services through an alliance with BCE, which owns 44% of Bell Aliant.

The company continues to replace its copper-wire cables with fibre optic lines. That’s letting it sell more high-speed Internet and digital TV services, which are offsetting falling demand for land lines. (Traditional phones still supply 55% of Bell Aliant’s overall revenue.)

The company’s fibre optic systems now reach 574,000 homes. It aims to increase that to 650,000 by the end of 2012.

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BCE INC. $44 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 773.9 million; Market cap: $34.1 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 5.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bce.ca) has 5.9 million telephone customers in Ontario and Quebec, as well as 2.1 million high-speed Internet subscribers and 2.1 million TV clients. In addition, the company’s wireless business now has 7.5 million subscribers across Canada.

BCE continues to expand its media division, which includes the 28-station CTV Television Network, 30 specialty channels and 33 radio stations. The company recently agreed to buy Astral Media (Toronto symbols ACM.A and ACM.B), which owns 22 TV stations, 84 radio stations and several pay TV and specialty channels, such as The Movie Network, Family Channel and Teletoon. Astral also owns billboards and sells other outdoor advertising in Quebec, Ontario and B.C.

The purchase price is $3.4 billion, including $380 million of Astral’s debt. BCE will pay roughly 75% of this cost in cash and 25% in common shares.

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Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on investing in stocks and other investment topics 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 the Inner Circle. This week, a question from an Inner Circle member asked about one of the technology stocks that has been on an upward trend. Pat looks at whether this wireless company can keep growing in a competitive market with new smartphone initiatives....

Investment research has changed a great deal since I first got involved in it in 1964, at age 16, when I got a part-time job as an assistant to an investment writer. Back then, and for many years after, you had to call or write companies to get them to mail annual and quarterly reports. You had to dig through stacks of dusty newspapers to get stock prices and market index history. To compare statistics on companies, you used a clunky adding machine and went through lots of pencils and paper....

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 investing advice that will help you develop a successful approach to investing. Each Investor Toolkit update gives you a fundamental tip and shows you how you can put it into practice right away. Today’s tip: “Investors who are guided by a fixed idea about the future often make the wrong decisions in the present.”...