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BELL ALIANT INC. $28.65 (Toronto symbol BA: Shares outstanding: 227.8 million; Market cap: $6.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Yield: 6.6%; www.aliant.ca) sells telephone and Internet services to 2.8 million customers in Atlantic Canada, as well as rural parts of Ontario and Quebec. The company also sells wireless services through an alliance with BCE, which owns 43.8% of Bell Aliant.

The company faces strong competition from cable providers. In addition, many of its phone customers are switching to wireless devices. However, Bell Aliant’s wireless agreement with BCE and recent upgrades to its high-speed Internet network are helping it hold on to clients and attract new ones.

Bell Aliant earned $0.75 a share in the three months ended September 30, 2011. A year earlier, it earned just $0.21 a share.

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ISHARES MSCI SOUTH KOREA INDEX FUND $54.02 (New York Exchange symbol EWY; buy or sell through brokers), is an exchange-traded fund that aims to track the MSCI Korea Index.

The fund’s top holdings include Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Co., Posco (steel), Hyundai Mobis (auto parts), Shinhan Financial, Kia Motors, LG Chemical, KB Financial, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hynix Semiconductor.

The South Korean stock market has seen little change since the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on December 17, 2011, and the elevation of his son Kim Jong-un as leader.

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ISHARES MSCI EMERGING MARKETS EASTERN EUROPE INDEX FUND $24.23 (New York Exchange 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, 74.0%; Poland, 17.4%; Czech Republic, 4.3%; and Hungary, 3.5%.

The fund’s top holdings are Gazprom (Russia: gas utility), 21.0%; Lukoil (Russia: oil), 10.0%; Sberbank (Russia: bank), 7.9%; Novatek (Russia: natural gas), 4.2%; Rosneft Oil Company (Russia: oil and gas), 3.9%; Uralkali (Russia: potash), 3.7%; Mobile Tele-Systems (Russia: wireless), 2.8%; MMC Norilsk Nickel (Russia: mining), 2.7%; Tafneft (Russia: oil and gas); and CEZ AS (Czech Republic: utility), 2.2%. iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Eastern Europe Index Fund’s expense ratio is 0.68%.

The fund’s concentration in Russia adds risk, especially given its current political tensions. But the long-term outlook for resource prices, including oil and gas, is positive. That’s a big plus for Russia’s largely resource-based economy, which is forecast to grow by 3.5% in 2012.

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ISHARES S&P INDIA NIFTY 50 INDEX FUND $20.44 (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 Infosys Technologies (software), 9.5%; Reliance Industries Ltd. (conglomerate), 8.4%; ITC Ltd. (conglomerate), 7.7%; Housing Development Finance, 6.3%; ICICI Bank, 5.7%; HDFC Bank, 5.6%; Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (information technology), 4.2%; Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (conglomerate), 3.9%; Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (consumer products), 3.1%; and State Bank of India, 3.0%.

The fund’s industry breakdown includes: Banks, 17.0%; Computers, 15.9%; Refineries, 8.8%; Cigarettes, 7.7%; Finance: Housing, 6.3%; Automobiles, 5.4%; Pharmaceuticals, 4.5%; Power, 4.3%; Engineering, 3.9%; and Oil Exploration, 3.3%. The fund has an expense ratio of 0.89%.

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CENOVUS ENERGY $34.33 (Toronto symbol CVE; Shares outstanding: 757.8 million; Market cap: $26.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 2.3%; www.cenovus.com) reported that its cash flow per share rose 54.4% in the third quarter of 2011, to $1.05 from $0.68 a year earlier. A 9.6% increase in oil prices was the main reason for the gain.

Cenovus continues to expand its Foster Creek and Christina Lake oil sands operations in Alberta. U.S.-based ConocoPhillips owns 50% of these properties. The company now plans to spend between $3.1 billion and $3.4 billion on these and other projects in 2012. That’s up 23% from its 2011 capital expenditures.

These investments will push up Cenovus’s production to between 155,000 and 171,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (including natural gas), from 135,000 barrels in 2011.

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PENGROWTH ENERGY CORP. $11.31 (Toronto symbol PGF; Shares outstanding: 329.3 million; Market cap: $3.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 7.4%; www.pengrowth.com) produces oil and natural gas from properties in Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan. It also owns 8.4% of the Sable Offshore Energy Project, which extracts natural gas from several fields south of Nova Scotia.

Pengrowth produced an average of 74,568 barrels of oil equivalent per day (including natural gas) in the three months ended September 30, 2011. That’s up 2.6% from 72,704 barrels a year earlier. Production was weighted 51% to oil and 49% to natural gas.

Cash flow rose 0.7%, to $150.4 million from $149.3 million. Cash flow per share fell 8.0%, to $0.46 from $0.50, on more shares outstanding.

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ARC RESOURCES $25.52 (Toronto symbol ARX; Shares outstanding: 287.6 million; Market cap: $7.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; Dividend yield: 4.7%; www.arcresources.com) produces oil and gas in western Canada. Its average daily production of 85,178 barrels of oil equivalent is weighted 67% to gas and 33% to oil.

In the three months ended September 30, 2011, ARC’s cash flow per share rose 17.5%, to $0.74 from $0.63. That’s because the company raised its production. It also benefited from higher oil prices.

ARC converted from a trust to a corporation on January 1, 2011, in response to Ottawa’s income-trust tax. However, ARC has $2.2 billion of tax pools that are letting it offset the tax and maintain its $0.10 monthly payout (it now yields 4.7%).

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BCE INC. $42.28 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 778.2 million; Market cap: $32.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.1%; www.bce.ca) is teaming up with Rogers Communications to buy 75% of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE).

This is the private company that owns the Toronto Maple Leafs (hockey), Toronto Raptors (basketball) and Toronto FC (soccer). MLSE also owns the Air Canada Centre arena in Toronto.

BCE will pay a total of $533 million for 37.5% of MLSE.

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IMPERIAL OIL $46.03 (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares outstanding: 850.5 million; Market cap: $39.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.0%; www.imperialoil.ca) is a major integrated-oil company that gets most of its production from its oil sands projects in Alberta. Imperial also has conventional oil and natural-gas operations in western Canada, and it holds interests in offshore projects in Atlantic Canada.

In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Imperial’s earnings jumped 105.5%, to $859 million, or $1.01 a share. A year earlier, it earned $418 million, or $0.49 a share. Imperial increased its oil sands production and benefited from rising oil prices and improved refinery profits. Revenue rose 35.8%, to $7.9 billion from $5.9 billion.

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 80% complete. Imperial owns 71% of Kearl. ExxonMobil Corp. (New York symbol XOM) owns the remaining 29%. Exxon also holds a 69.6% interest in Imperial.

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Pat McKeough responds to many personal questions on specific stocks and other investing topics from the members of his Inner Circle. Every week, his comments and recommendations on a selection of the most intriguing questions of the past week go out to all Inner Circle members. And every Friday, we offer you one of the highlights from these Q&A sessions. This week, the subject of tech stocks came up as one Inner Circle member asked about a company that makes software that is vitally important for computers and mobile devices, but also faces a highly competitive market....

SARA LEE CORP. $18 (New York symbol SLE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 590.7 million; Market cap: $10.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 2.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.saralee.com) announced in January 2011 that it would break itself into two separate, publicly traded companies. One firm will consist of Sara Lee’s international coffee and tea businesses. The other will focus on its North American packaged meat operations. The company aims to complete the breakup by the end of fiscal 2012 (fiscal years end June 30). It will also pay a special dividend of $3.00 a share before the split....

Many people in the investment industry promote asset allocation funds as a simple and profitable way to assemble a diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds and cash equivalents. But as is so often the case, the product rarely lives up to the hype....

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 advice, in this case showing you how we judge winning stock picks. 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: “Use our TSI Network ratings system to pick the right stocks: Part 2”...

LINAMAR CORP. $15 (www.linamar.com) earned $0.39 a share in the third quarter of 2011, up 44.4% from $0.27 a share a year earlier. These figures exclude costs to integrate Linamar’s recent purchase of three French plants that make cylinder heads, gears and other parts for European carmakers....

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $54 (www.snclavalin.com) has won a contract to design a plant to process bitumen from the MacKay River oil sands project in northern Alberta. The company didn’t reveal how much the contract is worth, but it should enhance SNC’s reputation in this fast-growing area....

AGRIUM INC. $76 (www.agrium.com) has raised its dividend for the first time since 1996. The new semi-annual payout of $0.225 U.S. a share, up 309.1% from $0.055 U.S., has an annualized yield of 0.6%. The company should also continue to benefit from rising crop and livestock prices, which give farmers more money to spend on seeds, fertilizers and other products that Agrium sells in its retail outlets....

MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $30 (Toronto symbol MBT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 65.7 million; Market cap: $2.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 5.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mtsallstream.com) has 1.3 million telephone and wireless customers in Manitoba. This business now accounts for 55% of the company’s revenue. The remaining 45% comes from its Allstream division, which provides integrated telephone, Internet and other communication services to businesses across Canada.

Revenue fell from $1.9 billion in 2006 to $1.8 billion in 2010, largely because the Allstream division lost a big client. Strong competition from cable companies has also hurt demand for the company’s traditional phone services.

Earnings rose 17.9%, from $2.57 a share (or a total of $174.9 million) in 2006 to $3.03 a share (or $195.8 million) in 2008. Earnings then fell 33.3%, to $2.02 a share (or $130.5 million) in 2010.

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TORSTAR CORP. $9.43 (Toronto symbol TS.B; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 79.2 million; Market cap: $746.9 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 5.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.torstar.com) has agreed to buy 25% of privately held Blue Ant Media Inc., which owns three specialty TV channels that focus on music, comedy and travel.

Blue Ant is also in the process of buying High Fidelity HDTV Inc., which owns four high-definition specialty channels, including Oasis HD (nature programming) and HIFI (music and arts programming).

Blue Ant’s purchase of High Fidelity requires regulatory approval. After the deal closes, Torstar will invest $22.7 million in Blue Ant. To put that in context, Torstar earned $25.2 million, or $0.32 a share, in the three months ended September 30, 2011.

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THOMSON REUTERS CORP. $28 (Toronto symbol TRI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 827.5 million; Market cap: $23.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 4.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.thomsonreuters.com) has suspended its plan to sell its health-care business, which sells data and software that helps hospitals, clinics and medical professionals lower their costs and cut fraud. This division supplies 3% of Thomson Reuters’ total revenue.

The company put the health-care division up for sale in June 2011, but there was limited interest due to uncertainty over the global economy. Holding onto it until conditions improve makes sense.

Thomson Reuters is a buy.

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CANADIAN TIRE CORP. $65 (Toronto symbol CTC.A; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 81.4 million; Market cap: $5.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.canadiantire.ca) faces strong competition from U.S.-based department store operator Target, which plans to open around 135 stores in Canada in 2013.

The company’s experience competing with big U.S. retailers, like Wal-Mart and Home Depot, will help it prepare for Target. As well, Canadian Tire has recently added to its automotive products and services. That will give it an edge over Target, which will focus more on clothing and household goods.

Canadian Tire is a buy.

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FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. $23 (Toronto symbol FTT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 171.6 million; Market cap: $3.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 2.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.finning.com) saw its sales jump 26% in the first nine months of 2011. That’s because higher commodity prices spurred demand for heavy equipment, such as bulldozers and trucks, from oil-exploration and mining companies.

However, Finning expects its 2012 sales to rise by just 5%, as slower growth in China and India could dampen resource prices. However, based on its strong order backlog, the company expects its sales to rise by 10% in both 2013 and 2014. As well, Finning expects its earnings to rise faster than its sales as it continues to expand its repair and service businesses. In the third quarter of 2011, Finning got 39% of its revenue from selling product-support services.

Finning is a buy.

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BANK OF MONTREAL $58 (Toronto symbol BMO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 639.0 million; Market cap: $37.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 4.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bmo.com) currently pays quarterly dividends of $0.70 a share.

The bank will now let shareholders reinvest their dividends in additional shares at a 2% discount to the market price. Previously, it did not offer a discount. As well, shareholders can buy up to $40,000 of additional common shares at the market price directly from the bank each year.

Bank of Montreal is a buy.

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EMERA INC. $33 (Toronto symbol EMA; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 122.2 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.emera.com) gets most of its revenue from Nova Scotia Power Inc., which is Nova Scotia’s main electricity supplier. The rest comes from its investments in pipelines, power plants and wind-power projects in the U.S. and Caribbean.

The company is using its steady cash flow to invest in new projects that will spur its long-term growth. The biggest is a joint venture with the Newfoundland government to transmit power from a proposed hydroelectric plant at Muskrat Falls on Labrador’s Churchill River to Newfoundland. Emera will pay $600 million for 29% of this business.

Emera will also spend $1.2 billion to build an undersea cable which will transmit 20% of the Muskrat Falls plant’s power to Nova Scotia. Emera will own 100% of this cable. The entire project should begin operating around 2016.

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TRANSCONTINENTAL INC. $13 (Toronto symbol TCL.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 81.0 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 4.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.tctranscontinental.com) is the largest commercial printer in Canada and the fourth-largest in North America. It also publishes newspapers and magazines.

Transcontinental also has over 1,000 websites, which supply 16% of its total revenue. These websites will become more important to its growth in the next few years as advertisers spend more on the Internet than print products.

The company recently swapped its printing plants in Mexico for six facilities in Canada. If you exclude the contribution from the Mexican plants and other unusual items, such as goodwill writedowns, Transcontinental earned $161.7 million, or $2.00 a share, in its 2011 fiscal year (which ended October 31, 2011). That’s up 3.7% from $155.9 million, or $1.93 a share, in fiscal 2010. Sales rose 0.8%, to $2.04 billion from $2.03 billion.

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CAE INC. $10 (Toronto symbol CAE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 257.6 million; Market cap: $2.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cae.com) earned $38.4 million in the quarter ended September 30, 2011. That’s down 1.8% from $39.1 million a year earlier. Earnings per share were unchanged at $0.15 on more shares outstanding.

If you exclude costs to integrate Medical Education Technologies, Inc. (METI), which CAE recently purchased for $130 million U.S., CAE would have earned $41.1 million, or $0.16 a share, in the latest quarter. METI makes medical simulators and other products for training paramedics and medical students.

Revenue rose 11.7%, to $433.5 million from $388.0 million. METI contributed $7.1 million to the increase. In addition, demand for CAE’s flight simulators and pilot-training services continues to rise as airlines replace their aging planes with newer models.

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