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RIOCAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $25.79 (Toronto symbol REI.UN; Units outstanding: 267.0 million; Market cap: $6.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.4%; www.riocan.com) is Canada’s largest REIT. It has interests in 331 shopping malls in Canada, including 10 under development. These properties contain over 91 million square feet of leasable area.

RioCan also owns stakes in 38 malls in the U.S. through joint ventures. In addition, it owns 14% of Cedar Shopping Centers, a U.S. REIT whose malls are mainly in the northeastern U.S.

In the three months ended September 30, 2011, revenue rose 15.1%, to $236 million from $205 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit rose 5.7%, to $0.37 from $0.35. RioCan’s units yield 5.4%.

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Just a few years ago, the North American automobile industry was in a deep slump and some long-established names appeared to be on the verge of failing. But while General Motors is still struggling to regain profitability, its biggest Detroit rival has engineered a strong turnaround and is making expansion plans. FORD MOTOR CO. (New York symbol F; www.ford.com) is the second-biggest carmaker in the U.S., and the world’s fifth-largest....

MCGRAW-HILL COMPANIES INC. $42 (New York symbol MHP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 293.4 million; Market cap: $12.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mcgraw-hill.com) announced in September 2011 that it will split into two separate, publicly traded companies. One of these new firms, McGraw-Hill Markets, will sell a variety of financial-information products. This business will include Standard & Poor’s, which provides credit ratings on bonds, and McGraw-Hill’s J.D. Power market-research firm. McGraw-Hill Markets will have annual revenue of $4 billion. International sales will account for 40% of that total. The other company, McGraw-Hill Education, will publish textbooks for schools and colleges. This business will have $2.4 billion of annual revenue....

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA $54 (www.rbc.com) has formed a new alliance with Shoppers Drug Mart, which operates over 1,200 drug stores in Canada. Under the deal, Shoppers’ customers can use a new Royal Bank Visa credit card to earn reward points on their purchases....

PENGROWTH ENERGY CORP. $9.90 (www.pengrowth.com) will focus on developing its western Canadian oil properties in 2012. Due to lower natural gas prices, it will hold off on further investments in its gas properties during the year. Buy.

TORSTAR CORP. $8.96 (www.torstar.com) recently bought Heartsong Presents Book Club, a publisher of Christian romance novels, for an undisclosed sum through its Harlequin book-publishing subsidiary. This purchase nicely complements Harlequin’s “Love Inspired” line of inspirational novels....

CGI GROUP INC. $20 (Toronto symbol GIB.A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 258.9 million; Market cap: $5.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.cgi.com) is Canada’s largest provider of computer outsourcing services. It also operates in 15 other countries. Canada and the U.S. each accounted for 47% of its revenue in the latest fiscal year; Europe and Asia supplied the remaining 6%.

The company often uses acquisitions to fuel its growth. It cuts the risk of this strategy by focusing on smaller companies that enhance its products or expand its geographic reach.

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METRO INC. $52 (Toronto symbol MRU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 100.7 million; Market cap: $5.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.5; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.metro.ca) has converted its class A subordinate voting shares (one vote per share) and class B multiple voting shares (16 votes per share) into a single class of common shares (one vote per share). The new shares trade under the MRU symbol (old symbol MRU.A).

Meanwhile, the supermarket operator’s sales rose 3.4% in the three months ended December 17, 2011, to $2.7 billion from $2.6 billion a year earlier. Metro recently paid $157.3 million for 55% of Marché Adonis, which sells foods from Greece, Turkey, Lebanon and other Mediterranean countries. This purchase added $33 million to Metro’s sales in the quarter. On a same-store basis, sales rose 1.7%.

Earnings rose 8.6%, to $103.7 million from $95.5 million. Earnings per share rose 11.0%, to $1.01 from $0.91, on fewer shares outstanding. The company also raised its quarterly dividend by 11.7%, to $0.215 a share from $0.1925. The new annual rate of $0.86 yields 1.7%.

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MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $32 (Toronto symbol MBT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 65.7 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 5.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mtsallstream.com) announced that its Allstream division has connected 2,388 buildings in Canada to its fibre optic network....

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $53 (Toronto symbol SNC; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 150.9 million; Market cap: $8.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.snclavalin.com) has won a contract to install new containment and ventilation equipment in a Romanian nuclear power plant. SNC will complete this project in 2013.

The contract is worth $48 million, which is less than 1% of the company’s annual revenue of $7 billion. However, this deal could lead to more contracts from nuclear power producers, particularly as they invest in new safety equipment after the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan was damaged by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

SNC-Lavalin is a buy.

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TELUS CORP. (Toronto symbols T $57 and T.A $54; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 324.5 million; Market cap: $18.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) has paid an undisclosed sum for Wolf Medical Systems, which makes software that helps hospitals and clinics convert patient records to electronic form.

Doctors can also use Wolf’s products to access this information from a wide variety of devices, including smartphones and tablet computers.

Adding Wolf’s expertise enhances Telus’s current electronic health record services. There is also plenty of room for the company to grow in this market: right now, just 32% of Canada’s medical records are digital.

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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) will invest an extra $83 million U.S. in seven American wind-power projects after its partner, Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (Toronto symbol AQN), dropped out of the joint venture. As a result, Emera will pay $333 million U.S. for 49% of this venture; First Wind Holdings LLC owns the remaining 51%. That’s roughly equal to nine months’ cash flow.

Wind power relies heavily on politically sensitive government subsidies. However, wind projects represent just a small portion of Emera’s overall operations.

Emera is a buy.

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CANADIAN UTILITIES LTD. (Toronto symbols CU [class A non-voting] $62 and CU.X [class B voting] $62; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 127.6 million; Market cap: $7.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.canadianutilities.com) distributes electricity and natural gas in Alberta. It also operates 19 power plants in Canada, Australia and the U.K.

The company has a higher p/e ratio than ATCO: the stock trades at 15.4 times Canadian Utilities’ likely 2012 earnings of $4.02 a share.

However, Canadian Utilities’ shares are more liquid. As well, its higher dividend makes it a better choice for income-seeking investors. Canadian Utilities recently raised its quarterly dividend by 9.9%, to $0.4425 a share from $0.4025. The new annual rate of $1.77 yields 2.9%.

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ATCO LTD. (Toronto symbols ACO.X [class I non-voting] $61 and ACO.Y [class II voting] $61; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 57.7 million; Market cap: $3.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.atco.com) is a holding company. Its main subsidiary is 52.7%-owned Canadian Utilities.

ATCO has four main divisions: Utilities (which distributes electricity and natural gas); Energy (which operates power plants); Structures & Logistics (which provides buildings and related services, such as fire protection, to construction and resource companies); and its Australian business (which operates power plants and distributes natural gas in Australia.) ATCO owns 75.5% of the Structures division; Canadian Utilities owns the remaining 24.5%.

The Structures business continues to win new contracts. For example, in January 2012, it signed a deal with Husky Energy to provide housing and related services to workers at the Sunrise Energy oil sands project in Alberta.

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ENCANA CORP. $19 (Toronto symbol ECA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 736.3 million; Market cap: $14.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.encana.com) is one of North America’s largest natural gas producers. The company prefers to focus on large unconventional reserves, including shale gas, which is natural gas that is trapped in rock formations. To extract it, companies must pump water and chemicals into the rock. This fractures the rock and releases the natural gas. Encana’s proven and probable reserves could last 23 years.

In 2011, the company agreed to sell $3.5 billion of non-essential assets (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars).

The sales are part of Encana’s plan to focus on its main gas-producing properties in Alberta, B.C., Wyoming, Michigan, Colorado and Louisiana. The company will also use the proceeds to maintain its quarterly dividend of $0.20 U.S. a share, for a 4.0% annualized yield.

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BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA $52 (Toronto symbol BNS; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.1 billion; Market cap: $57.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.scotiabank.com) is raising $1.7 billion by selling up to 33 million common shares for $50.25 each. The bank is also thinking about selling Scotia Plaza, its 68-storey office tower in downtown Toronto. Bank of Nova Scotia could get up to $1 billion for this building.

The cash from these sales will help Bank of Nova Scotia comply with new international regulations that require banks to maintain more capital to cover potential loan losses.

A stronger balance sheet will also help the bank pursue more acquisitions, particularly in fast-growing markets in Asia and Latin America.

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BELL ALIANT INC. $28 (Toronto symbol BA, Conservative Growth Portfolio, 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 telephone and Internet services to 2.6 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 Inc., which owns 43.8% of Bell Aliant.

We’ve lowered Bell Aliant’s TSINetwork Rating to Average from Above Average. It’s still prominent in its industry, with a record of steady profits and dividends, and its balance sheet remains strong. However, it faces rising competition across all of its businesses. In addition, many of its phone customers are giving up their land lines and switching to wireless devices.

Bell Aliant is still a buy.

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CENOVUS ENERGY INC. $38 (Toronto symbol CVE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 754.3 million; Market cap: $28.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.cenovus.com) operates three oil sands projects in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan.

Cenovus ships the heavy bitumen from these properties to refineries in Illinois and Texas. U.S.-based ConocoPhillips (New York symbol COP) owns 50% of the refineries, as well as 50% of Cenovus’s main Foster Creek and Christina Lake oil sands projects in Alberta.

Cenovus gets about half of its output from the oil sands. Conventional oil and natural gas wells supply the other half.

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IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $48 (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap: $40.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 1.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.imperialoil.ca) is Canada’s third-largest publicly traded oil company, after Suncor and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. Imperial is a 69.6%-owned subsidiary of U.S.-based ExxonMobil Corp. (New York symbol XOM).

Higher oil prices pushed up Imperial’s earnings by 52.5% in 2011, to $3.4 billion, or $3.95 a share. In 2010, it earned $2.2 billion, or $2.59 a share. Revenue rose 22.4%, to $30.7 billion from $25.1 billion. Cash flow per share rose 33.0%, to $4.70 from $3.53.

Imperial gets most of its oil from its Cold Lake oil sands project in Alberta. In 2011, Cold Lake’s daily production rose 11.1%, to a record 160,000 barrels from 144,000 barrels in 2010. That offset lower production of conventional oil and natural gas.

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SUNCOR ENERGY INC. $35 (Toronto symbol SU; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 1.6 billion; Market cap: $56.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.suncor.com) became Canada’s largest integrated oil company in 2009, when it merged with Petro-Canada. It gets 60% of its production from its oil sands projects in Alberta; the remaining 40% is conventional oil and natural gas. Suncor also operates four refineries and 1,500 gas stations under the Petro-Canada banner.

Thanks to a 27.5% jump in its average realized oil price, Suncor’s earnings rose 12.4% in 2011, to $4.3 billion from $3.8 billion in 2010.

Earnings per share rose 9.9%, to $2.67 from $2.43, on more shares outstanding. If you exclude unusual items, such as gains and losses on asset sales, earnings per share would have jumped 115.0%, to $3.59 from $1.67. Cash flow per share rose 46.0%, to $6.16 from $4.22.

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GENNUM CORP. $13.50 (Toronto symbol GND; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 35.5 million; Market cap: $477.8 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.5; Dividend yield: 1.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.gennum.com) soared 119% in one day after the company accepted a $13.55-a-share takeover offer from U.S.-based Semtech Corp. (Nasdaq symbol SMTC). It’s clear that Semtech shares our high opinion of this well-managed junior company.

Gennum went through a sharp setback in the recession, as TV broadcasters had less to spend on the company’s equipment, which lets them store, edit and transfer video signals.

That’s why the stock fell from $14.50 in January 2007 to just $3.50 in December 2008. It rebounded to $8.35 in February 2011, but moved down to $5.75 in December 2011.

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ENBRIDGE INC. $39 (Toronto symbol ENB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 779.2 million; Market cap: $30.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.enbridge.com) gets 85% of its revenue by operating pipelines that pump crude oil and natural gas from western Canada to eastern Canada and the U.S. The company’s pipelines handle 65% of all western Canadian crude oil exports.

The remaining 15% of revenue mainly comes from distributing natural gas to 2 million consumers in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and New York State.

Enbridge’s revenue rose 51.5%, from $10.6 billion in 2006 to $16.1 billion in 2008. Revenue fell 22.7% in 2009, to $12.5 billion, as the recession cut gas sales and prices. New pipelines pushed up revenue by 21.3%, to $15.1 billion, in 2010.

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FORTIS INC. $33 (Toronto symbol FTS; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 186.9 million; Market cap: $6.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 3.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.fortis.ca) is the main electricity supplier in Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island. It also operates power plants in other parts of Canada, the U.S. and the Cayman Islands.

Fortis had hoped to buy Central Vermont Public Service Corp. (New York symbol CV), which distributes electricity in Vermont, but it was outbid by Quebec natural gas distributor Gaz Metro LP. As a result, Fortis received a breakup fee of $11 million (after tax). Fortis also sold a 40% stake in its power poles in Newfoundland for $46 million. This cash will help the company pursue more acquisitions in the U.S.

Fortis probably earned $1.69 a share in 2011. The stock trades at 19.5 times that figure. It also trades at 18.8 times Fortis’s projected 2012 earnings of $1.76 a share. These are high p/e ratios for a utility that gets over 90% of its revenue from slow-growing regulated businesses.

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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, one Inner Circle question concerned a potentially fast-growing stock market investment, convenience store chains. Pat looks at how one U.S. chain is doing following its successful fight to resist a takeover bid from a big Canadian chain. ...

Investors often ask us why we don’t publish price targets for the stocks we recommend in our newsletters and investment services. After all, stock price targets commonly appear in brokerage and media reports. There are several reasons we do not follow this practice. The main one stems from a key piece of our stock trading advice: predictions are the least reliable part of the investment decision-making process....