Search

POTASH CORP. OF SASKATCHEWAN $42 (Toronto symbol POT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 859.1 million; Market cap: $36.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.2; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.potashcorp.com) is the world’s largest fertilizer producer....

BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $3.90 and BBD.B $3.76; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $6.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; Dividend yield: 2.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.bombardier.com) has received a firm order for 20 of its Q400 turboprop planes from WestJet Airlines Ltd. (Toronto symbol WJA); WestJet is a recommendation of Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter that focuses on aggressive investing.

WestJet will use these planes for its new regional airline, which will serve smaller Canadian cities. Bombardier will begin delivering these planes in 2013.

The order is worth $683 million (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). If WestJet exercises all of its options to buy an additional 25 planes, the entire order would be worth $1.6 billion. That’s equal to 9% of Bombardier’s 2011 revenue of $18.3 billion.

...

SHAWCOR LTD. $36 (Toronto symbol SCL.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 70.6 million; Market cap: $2.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 1.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.shawcor.com) has won a contract from Pemex, Mexico’s state-owned oil company, to coat an underwater pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico.

The order is worth $40 million U.S., which is equal to 3% of the company’s annual revenue of $1.2 billion (Canadian). ShawCor will begin working on this project in the third quarter of 2012.

ShawCor is a buy.

...

IGM FINANCIAL INC. $37 (Toronto symbol IGM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 256.1 million; Market cap: $9.5 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 3.5; Dividend yield: 5.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.igmfinancial.com) is selling fewer mutual funds due to volatile stock markets. Lower share prices are also hurting IGM because its fee income rises and falls with the value of the securities it manages.

In the three months ended June 30, 2012, IGM’s earnings fell 15.9%, to $179.0 million from $212.8 million a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 14.6%, to $0.70 from $0.82, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue declined 8.6%, to $637.6 million from $697.7 million.

IGM recently cut the management fees it charges on about two-thirds of its products. That should help it hang on to existing clients and attract new ones. The quarterly dividend of $0.5375 a share also seems safe; the annual rate of $2.15 yields 5.8%.

...

RESEARCH IN MOTION INC. $7.56 (Toronto symbol RIM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 524.2 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.2; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.rim.com) has launched a version of its PlayBook tablet computer that can run on Long-Term Evolution (LTE) wireless networks, which are up to five times faster than current networks. Until now, the PlayBook used slower Wi-Fi technology to access the Internet.

These upgrades will help the PlayBook compete with other LTE-capable tablets. However, RIM’s earnings will remain under pressure until it launches smartphones that use its new BlackBerry 10 operating system. The company expects to start selling these phones in early 2013.

RIM is a hold, but only for aggressive investors.

...

TIM HORTONS INC. $52 (Toronto symbol THI; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 157.4 million; Market cap: $8.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.8; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.timhortons.com) has raised the prices of muffins, sandwiches and other items at its coffee-and-donut stores in Canada and the U.S. That’s because the drought in North America is pushing up its costs for wheat, canola oil and other ingredients.

The increases are unlikely to hurt customer traffic or sales, particularly because the company did not increase coffee prices.

Tim Hortons is a buy.

...

NORDION INC. $9.66 (Toronto symbol NDN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 62.0 million; Market cap: $598.9 million; Price-tosales ratio: 2.6; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.nordion.com) sells isotopes for cancer detection and research to hospitals, medical labs and clinics. It also makes products that sterilize food and surgical tools.

In Nordion’s fiscal 2012 second quarter, which ended April 30, 2012, its earnings fell 35.1%, to $4.8 million from $7.4 million a year earlier (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Earnings per share fell 27.3%, to $0.08 from $0.11, on fewer shares outstanding.

Revenue declined 26.7%, to $50.0 million from $68.3 million. That’s mainly because the Chalk River reactor near Ottawa suffered two unplanned shutdowns during the quarter. (Chalk River supplies most of Nordion’s isotopes.) These shutdowns, which each lasted a week, were in addition to a planned one-month shutdown for maintenance.

...

CAE INC. $10 (Toronto symbol CAE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 258.3 million; Market cap: $2.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cae.com) spends around 10% of its annual revenue of $1.8 billion on research. That helps it develop simulators for new planes, like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A380. The company is also using these funds to apply its expertise to new fields.

For example, CAE is now making simulators and other products, including lifelike mannequins, to train paramedics and medical students. It is also focusing on the mining industry: Right now, mining firms are using software that CAE developed to plan new mines and measure reserves. These new businesses, which both have strong growth potential, now supply 5% of CAE’s revenue.

The stock trades at 12.7 times the $0.79 a share that CAE will probably earn in its 2013 fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2013. The $0.16 dividend yields 1.6%.

...

HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. $48 (Toronto symbol HCG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 34.7 million; Market cap; $1.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.homecapital.com) is a mortgage lender that serves borrowers who don’t meet the stricter standards of larger, traditional lenders, like banks.

Even though Home Capital caters to riskier borrowers, it avoids huge credit losses by identifying problem loans early. It then uses this information to restructure a borrower’s repayment terms and adjust its lending policies.

In the three months ended June 30, 2012, Home Capital’s earnings rose 10.4%, to $53.2 million, or $1.54 a share. That’s despite a higher corporate tax rate in Ontario, which cut Home Capital’s earnings by $2.0 million. A year earlier, the company earned $48.2 million, or $1.38 a share.

...

p>ENBRIDGE INC. $39 (Toronto symbol ENB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 797.0 million; Market cap: $31.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.enbridge.com) recently repaired a leaking oil pipeline in Wisconsin. The company has faced criticism over leaks like this. That could hurt its proposed $5.5-billion Northern Gateway project, which would pump oil from Edmonton to Kitimat, B.C. However, Enbridge still has a strong safety record, and it has pledged to spend an extra $500 million on thicker steel and extra monitoring for leaks.

Enbridge is a buy.

...

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $37 (Toronto symbol SNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 151.0 million; Market cap: $5.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.snclavalin.com) earned $32.5 million, or $0.21 a share, in the three months ended June 30, 2012. That’s down 68.2%, from $102.2 million, or $0.67 a share, a year earlier. The company spent $50 million more than it expected on a power plant in Tunisia and a petrochemical plant in Russia. That was the main reason for the lower earnings.

The stock has also come under pressure in the past few months over $56 million U.S. in unusual payments that the company made to agents it hired to secure certain construction contracts. However, this matter has had little impact on SNC’s ability to win new engineering deals: revenue rose 14.2% in the quarter, to $1.9 billion from $1.7 billion.

SNC-Lavalin is a buy.

...

CENOVUS ENERGY INC. $32 (Toronto symbol CVE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 755.7 million; Market cap: $24.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.cenovus.com) operates three heavy oil projects in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan. It gets about half of its output from the oil sands. Conventional oil and natural gas wells supply the other half.

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

These properties produce heavy bitumen, which Cenovus ships to its 50%-owned refineries in Illinois and Texas. ConocoPhillips recently spun off its refining operations as a separate company called Phillips 66 (New York symbol PSX). This new firm owns the other 50% of these refineries.

...

IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $44 (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap: $37.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 1.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.imperialoil.ca) is Canada’s second-largest publicly traded oil company, after Suncor. U.S.-based ExxonMobil Corp. (New York symbol XOM) owns 69.6% of Imperial.

The company is making a number of big investments to boost its oil sands production. Right now, it gets most of its oil from its Cold Lake oil sands project in Alberta. Imperial recently announced that it would spend $2 billion to add 40,000 barrels a day to Cold Lake’s current daily output of around 152,000 barrels. It expects to complete these upgrades in 2014.

Meanwhile, Imperial continues to make progress with its Kearl oil sands project. Imperial owns 71% of Kearl. ExxonMobil owns the remaining 29%.

...

SUNCOR ENERGY INC. $32 (Toronto symbol SU; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.5 billion; Market cap: $48.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.suncor.com) became Canada’s largest integrated oil company in 2009, when it merged with Petro- Canada.

Suncor gets 60% of its production from its Alberta oil sands projects. The rest comes from conventional oil and natural gas properties. Suncor also operates four refineries and 1,500 Petro- Canada gas stations.

The company aims to increase its oil sands production by 10% per year to 2020. However, it may slow its expansion because rising North American shale oil production is weighing on prices. As well, labour shortages and a lack of pipeline capacity are creating further uncertainty.

...

TECK RESOURCES LTD. $29 (Toronto symbol TCK.B; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 586.0 million; Market cap: $17.0 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.teck.com) is selling more metallurgical coal and copper thanks to recent expansion projects.

Coal sales in the three months ended June 30, 2012 rose 19.6%, to 6.7 million tonnes from 5.6 million a year earlier. Copper sales rose 10.4%, to 85,000 tonnes from 77,000 tonnes.

However, slowing growth in China and India cut coal prices by 25.7% from a year earlier. Copper prices fell 13.8%.

...

TRANSCANADA CORP. $45 (Toronto symbol TRP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 704.0 million; Market cap: $31.7 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 3.5; Dividend yield: 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.transcanada.com) operates a 68,500- kilometre pipeline network that pumps natural gas from Alberta to eastern Canada and the U.S. The company’s pipelines supply 20% of North America’s natural gas. In 2011, they provided 49% of TransCanada’s revenue and 60% of its earnings.

In the past few years, the company has aggressively diversified into other businesses, mainly through acquisitions and big new projects.

It now owns or invests in over 20 electrical power plants in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and the northeastern U.S. In all, these facilities have over 10,800 megawatts of generating capacity. Trans- Canada’s electrical power business now provides 42% of its revenue and 26% of its earnings.

...

The more you know about investing, the more successful you will be. That has been Pat McKeough’s approach through four decades as an investor and investment counsellor. He regularly presents his views on specific investment topics on video in order to share the insights he has gathered over the years. In today’s video, Pat points out that while the knowledge you acquire is certain to enhance your success an investor, it is also true that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. That applies to one of the mainstays of stock research, the price/earnings ratio (the current share price divided by earnings per share). As a staple of stock quotes, the p/e ratio is widely used as a guide to the future profitability of a stock. But when it’s used on its own without taking other factors into account, Pat observes, it can lead to very costly mistakes. ...

Natural gas prices recently dropped below $2 U.S. per million British thermal units (BTUs), a 10-year low. Prices have since moved up somewhat, to $2.82. Shale gas discoveries continue to increase supply. At the same time, demand is slowing due to the weak global economy. Even so, the long-term outlook for gas is positive—and one reason is the prospect of rising liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to countries like Japan, China and South Korea, where gas sells at a big premium to North American prices....

Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on specific 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, one Inner Circle member asked Pat how he thinks one growing U.S. consumer chain measures up as a stock market investment. Tapping into the increasing demand for a healthier diet, this stock has already made its presence felt in Canada and aims to continue its ambitious expansion program....

BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SERVICES INC. $24 (New York symbol BR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 124.9 million; Market cap: $3.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.broadridge.com) gets 70% of its revenue from its Investor Communication Solutions division, which distributes proxy materials, including ballots, to investors in stocks and mutual funds. It also counts the votes. Broadridge’s ProxyEdge software helps centralize and simplify shareholder voting, particularly if a meeting involves multiple ballots. Broadridge mails and processes 60% of all proxy votes worldwide.

The remaining 30% of its revenue comes from its Securities Processing Solutions division, which provides transaction-processing services that automate many functions, including taking and executing orders, confirming trades, settlement and accounting.

Big changes since spinoff

...

MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS INC. $48 (New York symbol MSI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 286.3 million; Market cap: $13.7 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.motorolasolutions.com) makes specialized equipment, such as bar-code scanners and radios for police and fire vehicles. It gets two-thirds of its revenue by selling its products to governments; the remaining third comes from businesses.

Earnings jumped 29.6% in the three months ended June 30, 2012, to $0.70 a share from $0.54 a year earlier. Revenue rose 8.3%, to $2.1 billion from $2.0 billion. Sales to government customers rose 13.6%. However, weak economic conditions in Europe cut sales to businesses by 1.6%.

It also raised its quarterly dividend by 18.2%, to $0.26 a share from $0.22. The new annual rate of $1.04 yields 2.2%.

...

PFIZER INC. $24 (New York symbol PFE; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 7.5 billion; Market cap: $180.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.8; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pfizer.com) plans to spin off its animal health subsidiary, which makes drugs for livestock and pets, as a separate, publicly traded company. As part of this plan, Pfizer will sell up to 20% of this business. The new company, which will be called Zoetis Inc., supplied 6% of Pfizer’s 2011 revenue of $67.4 billion.

Pfizer should complete the offering in the first half of 2013. After that, it will probably hand out its remaining shares in Zoetis to its own shareholders.

Pfizer is a buy.

...

EBAY INC. $47 (Nasdaq symbol EBAY; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $61.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.5; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ebay.com) is testing a new service called eBay Now, which provides same-day delivery of goods purchased from major retailers such as Macy’s, Best Buy and Toys R Us.

eBay Now lets users order goods using their smartphones for a small fee. A courier company then picks up the merchandise from a store and delivers it to the customer. eBay’s PayPal service processes all payments.

This new service should help eBay compete with Amazon.com, which offers two-day shipping for an extra fee. Moreover, using existing stores instead of building its own warehouses— as Amazon does— will help eBay keep its delivery costs down.

...

WINDSTREAM CORP. $9.59 (Nasdaq symbol WIN; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 588.0 million; Market cap: $5.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 10.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.windstream.com) reported revenue of $1.5 billion in the quarter ended June 30, 2012, up 49.3% from $1.0 billion a year earlier. The gain is mainly due to its December 2011 purchase of PAETEC Holding Corp., which sells telecommunication services to businesses. Integration costs cut its earnings by 43.4%, to $54.7 million, or $0.09 a share, from $96.7 million, or $0.19 a share.

As a result of this purchase, Windstream now gets 68% of its revenue from broadband services, up 2.5% from a year earlier. That’s helping it offset declining traditional phone revenue.

The company feels that closing overlapping functions will save it $50 million in 2012 and $100 million by the end of 2014. That should let it keep paying quarterly dividends of $0.25 a share, for a 10.4% annualized yield.

...

SONY CORP. ADRs $12 (New York symbol SNE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $12.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.2; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.sony.com) is buying California-based Gaikai Inc., whose technology makes it easier to play online video games. The purchase will help Sony sell more video games to users of its mobile phones and handheld gaming devices.

The company will pay $380 million for Gaikai when the deal closes later this year. To put that in context, it lost $312 million, or $0.31 per ADR, in the three months ended June 30, 2012.

Sony is a hold.

...