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ENCANA CORP. $57.80 (Toronto symbol ECA; Shares outstanding: 749.8 million; Market cap: $43.3 billion; SI Rating: Average) is a leading North American producer of natural gas and oil. Natural gas accounts for 80% of its production. EnCana focuses on unconventional properties, such as early-stage gas fields and oil sands. These have much longer production lives than conventional properties. Right now, that gives EnCana a longer term resource base than Imperial Oil, although a return to high oil and gas prices would let Imperial continue to develop some of its higher-cost oil sands and Arctic natural gas prospects. EnCana has postponed its plan to break itself up into two separate companies — one focusing on natural gas, the other on oil sands and oil refineries. That’s because falling energy prices and the problems in credit markets would likely make it difficult for the two new smaller companies to raise capital to fund new projects....

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY LTD. $44 (Toronto symbol CP; Shares outstanding: 153.8 million; Market cap: $6.8 billion; SI Rating: Average) transports freight over a rail network between Montreal and Vancouver. In the United States, subsidiaries connect CP Rail’s Canadian lines to major hubs in the Midwest and Northeast. Alliances with other railways extend its reach to Mexico. In the three months ended September 30, 2008, CP Rail’s earnings per share excluding one-time items fell 2.4%, to $1.20 from $1.23. Like most railways, CP Rail uses surcharges to offset higher fuel costs. This pushed up revenue by 6.5%, to $1.3 billion from $1.2 billion. CP Rail’s fuel costs rose 49% in the third quarter. Consequently, its operating ratio (regular operating costs divided by revenue — the lower, the better) weakened to 76.0% from 72.9% a year earlier. However, falling oil prices and a new productivity improvement plan should help CP Rail cut its costs. The rising U.S. dollar is a plus for the company, as it pushes up the contribution of its U.S. operations....

THE DUN & BRADSTREET CORP. $74 (New York symbol DNB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 53.9 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) provides credit reports on individual companies. Clients use these reports to make lending and buying decisions. Despite the current turmoil, Dun & Bradstreet’s third-quarter earnings rose 14.1%, to $1.13 a share from $0.99 a year earlier. These amounts exclude unusual items. Revenue rose 9.2%, to $409.2 million from $374.7 million. Long-term debt of $684.0 million is equal to about three years’ cash flow. The company has launched several new innovative products that should expand long-term earnings. A good example is a new service that lets clients access its information products using their mobile phones. The company can create innovative new products like this from its existing databases at little cost....

MOODY’S CORP. $22 (New York symbol MCO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 239.8 million; Market cap: $5.3 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) provides independent credit ratings and other information on bonds and other securities. It also provides credit assessment services to banks and other lenders. Credit ratings account for 80% of Moody’s revenues. That’s makes it vulnerable to the slowing economy, as businesses stop issuing new securities to fund acquisitions or expansion projects. In the three months ended September 30, 2008, earnings fell 17.5%, to $113.0 million from $136.9 million a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 9.8%, to $0.46 from $0.51, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue declined 17.4%, to $433.4 million from $525.0 million. Long-term debt of $750.0 million is a manageable 1.3 times its annual cash flow....

INVACARE CORP. $15 (New York symbol IVC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 32.2 million; Market cap: $483.0 million; WSSF Rating: Average) makes wheelchairs, motorized scooters and other mobility and home care products. Many of Invacare’s customers rely on reimbursements from the Medicare and Medicaid programs to fund purchases of motorized wheelchairs and breathing apparatus. Due to new restrictions on payouts, Invacare’s stock has dropped by 70% since 2004. The U.S. government recently delayed further changes to the Medicare and Medicaid plans. Still, the ongoing uncertainty forced Invacare to aggressively restructure its operations, including shifting production to low-cost countries and simplifying its product lines. These measures should cut its annual costs by $20 million....

BECKMAN COULTER INC. $42 (New York symbol BEC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 62.7 million; Market cap: $2.6 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) makes lab equipment that doctors and medical researchers use to detect substances in bodily fluids. Demand for Beckman’s automated systems remains strong among hospitals and clinics, offsetting lower sales to university labs due to lower government funding. Hospitals prefer Beckman’s systems, since they they require little human interaction. That helps cut their costs. Accurate detection of diseases also reduces the length of hospital stays for patients. In the three months ended September 30, 2008, Beckman earned $26.1 million, down 55.3% from $58.4 million a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 54.9%, to $0.41 from $0.91. If you disregard unusual items, earnings per share rose 1.3%, to $0.78 from $0.77. Revenue grew 13.4%, to $758.8 million from $669.0 million, partly due to an acquisition. It currently holds cash of $71.4 million or $1.14 a share. Long-term debt of $927.6 million is equal to roughly two years’ cash flow....

BAXTER INTERNATIONAL INC. $52 (New York symbol BAX; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 620.2 million; Market cap: $32.3 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) makes medical equipment through three main divisions. Medical Delivery makes intravenous equipment and systems (38% of 2007 sales); BioScience makes various vaccines and drugs (41%); and Renal makes dialysis equipment (20%). Other products account for the remaining 1% of sales. Baxter continues to enjoy the benefits of its plan to focus on its more profitable operations, particularly vaccines and drugs that treat hemophilia, immune disorders and infectious diseases. The company has also sold its less profitable businesses, and cut costs. In the third quarter of 2008, Baxter’s earnings grew 22.9%, to $563 million from $458 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 25.7%, to $0.88 from $0.70, on fewer shares outstanding. These figures exclude unusual items. Revenue rose 14.5%, to $3.15 billion from $2.75 billion....

C.R. BARD INC. $82 (New York symbol BCR; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 99.2 million; Market cap: $8.1 billion; WSSF Rating; Above average) makes medical devices in four main areas: Vascular products such as stents and catheters (25% of 2007 sales); Urology products such as drainage and incontinence devices (30%); Oncology products that detect and treat various types of cancer (25%); and Surgical Tools and other products (20%). In June, 2008, Bard paid $70.7 million for Specialized Health Products International Inc. This company makes needles for syringes that reduce the risk of accidental punctures. That helps prevent the spread of infectious diseases. The purchase strengthened Bard’s vascular product portfolio. Thanks to this acquisition, plus higher selling prices, Bard’s revenue in the three months ended September 30, 2008 rose 13.2%, to $616.8 million from $544.8 million a year earlier. International markets account for about 30% of Bard’s sales. If you disregard favorable foreign exchange rates, sales rose 11%....

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. $86 (New York symbol IBM; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $111.8 billion; WSSF Rating; Above average) is the world’s largest computer company, with operations in over 170 countries. It specializes in large mainframe computers for governments and corporations. The company now gets over 50% of its revenue from its service division. Steady revenue streams from long-term contracts for designing and maintaining computer systems cuts IBM’s risk. IBM continues to expand its software operations, mostly through acquisitions. The company is now the world’s second-largest software maker after Microsoft Corp. Owning its own software business makes it easier for IBM to design and build customized computer systems for its clients. As well, using its own software lets IBM avoid paying licensing fees to other software makers....

DEVON ENERGY CORP. $68.66 (New York symbol DVN; SI Rating: Speculative) (405-235-3611; www.devonenergy.com; Shares outstanding: 441.5 million; Market cap: $30.3 billion) is one of the largest U.S.-based independent oil and gas explorers and producers. Devon’s properties are located mainly in the United States and Canada. This includes conventional production, as well as shale oil in north Texas, oil sands in Canada and deep-water wells in the Gulf of Mexico. In the three months ended September 30, 2008, Devon’s revenues rose 116.4%, to $6 billion from $2.8 billion a year earlier. Cash flow rose 58.7%, to $2.6 billion, or $5.93 a share, from $1.7 billion or $3.71 a share....

CIMAREX ENERGY $27.96 (New York symbol XEC; SI Rating: Extra risk) (303-295-3995; www.cimarex.com; Shares outstanding: 83.3 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion) is an oil and gas explorer and producer primarily focused in western Oklahoma, Kansas, the upper Gulf Coast areas of Texas and South Louisiana, the Permian Basin area of West Texas, plus the Gulf of Mexico. Cimarex’s production averaged 484.9 million cubic feet equivalent per day in the latest quarter. Natural gas makes up 72% of output. Production for the full year 2008 will likely average 485 million cubic feet. In the three months ended September 30, 2008, cash flow per share rose 76%, to $5.07 from $2.88. The company’s shares trade at just 1.5 times cash flow based on the 12 months. Long-term debt of $487 million is 20% of market cap....

CANALASKA VENTURES $0.08 (Toronto symbol CVV; SI Rating: Start-up) (1-800-667-1870; www.canalaska.com; Shares outstanding: 137.7 million; Market cap: $10.3 million) holds nineteen 100%-owned uranium projects in the Athabasca Basin region of Saskatchewan. The company has added partners to help pay for exploration drilling....

AMERIGO RESOURCES $0.36 (Toronto symbol ARG; SI Rating: Speculative) (604-681-2802; www.amerigoresources.com; Shares outstanding: 93.4 million; Market cap: $33.1 million) processes copper from the tailings (waste rock) from Chile’s El Teniente, the world’s largest underground copper mine. In the three months ended September 30, 2008, Amerigo’s revenues rose 4.8%, to $29.9 million from $28.5 million a year earlier on record production. (All figures except share price in U.S. dollars.) However, cash flow per share fell 66.7%, to $0.03 a share from $0.09. That was largely due to higher costs, as well as lower copper prices, Copper prices have dropped over 67% from a high of $4.10 in June, to $1.31 today. Still, the long-term production outlook for the company is positive, and copper prices should recover with the economy. Amerigo has positive cash flow. It also holds cash of $4.3 million and has low debt....

BAFFINLAND IRON MINES $0.15 (Toronto symbol BIM; SI Rating: Start-up) (416-364-8820; www.baffinland.com; Shares outstanding: 233.1 million; Market cap: $35.0 million) is now looking for a major partner for its Mary River iron ore project on Baffin Island. Baffinland still hopes to start building an open-pit mine in 2010, with completion scheduled for 2014. It then aims to produce 18 million tonnes of ore per year for over 21 years. The company recently raised $21 million in a share issue. Baffinland is a buy for highly aggressive investors.

MIRANDA GOLD $0.23 (Toronto symbol MAD; SI Rating: Start up) (604-689-1659; www.mirandagold.com; Shares outstanding: 44.9 million; Market cap: $10.1 million) is a gold exploration company focused mostly in Nevada. Miranda holds $12 million in cash. That’s enough for four to five years of exploration. The company also has joint ventures with Barrick Gold, Teck Corp, Piedmont Mining, White Bear Resources and Queensgate Resources. These partners pay for high-risk early drilling to earn interests in Miranda’s properties. Miranda is a buy for highly aggressive investors.

HOME CAPITAL GROUP INC. $17 (Toronto symbol HCG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 34.5 million; Market cap; $586.5 million; SI Rating: Extra risk) is the parent company of Home Trust Company, a federally regulated trust company that specializes in residential first mortgages to small business owners, the self-employed and others who don’t meet the stricter criteria of larger, traditional lenders. Home Capital recently began offering traditional mortgages. While that puts it in direct competition with the big banks, Home Capital feels this move will strengthen its position among mortgage brokers. Demand for new residential and commercial mortgages rose 39.8% to $1.1 billion in the third quarter of 2008. Consequently, earnings grew 24.6%, to $0.81 a share (total $27.9 million) from $0.65 a share ($22.8 million) a year earlier. Revenue improved 24.0%, to $117.0 million from $94.3 million. Strong gains at the Visa credit card and personal loan businesses also help fuel earnings and revenue....

FINNING INTERNATIONAL INC. $14 (Toronto symbol FTT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 171.4 million; Market cap: $2.4 billion; SI Rating: Above average) sells and rents heavy equipment made by Caterpillar Inc. Products include tractors, bulldozers, pavers and trucks. Finning’s shares have moved down from their peak of $31 in April, 2008. That’s mainly because falling commodity prices have forced mining and energy exploration firms to suspend or scale back work on new developments. The credit crisis has made it harder for customers to borrow money for new equipment. Finning now plans to improve the profitability of its Canadian operations with a new restructuring plan, mostly by cutting its back office staff by 4%. The company did not reveal how much this plan would cost, but it should save it $10 million a year....

ENCANA CORP. $60 (Toronto symbol ECA; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 750.3 million; Market cap: $45.0 billion; SI Rating: Average) is a leading North American producer of natural gas and oil. Natural gas accounts for 80% of its production. EnCana prefers to focus on what it calls “key resource plays”. These are unconventional properties, such as early-stage gas fields and oil sands projects, which have much longer production lives than conventional properties. EnCana has postponed its plan to break itself up into two separate companies — one focusing on natural gas, the other on oil sands and oil refineries. That’s because falling energy prices and the problems in the credit markets make it difficult for the two new smaller companies to raise capital to fund new projects....

IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $42 (Toronto symbol IMO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 869.7 million; Market cap: $33.0 billion; SI Rating: Average) is Canada’s largest integrated oil company. It also operates over 1,900 retail gas stations under the “Esso” banner. ExxonMobil owns 69.6% of Imperial’s stock. Imperial gets about 90% of its daily crude oil production from its oil sands properties, mainly its 100% interest in the Cold Lake development and its 25% stake in the Syncrude partnership. Cold Lake’s reserves should last 13 more years, while Syncrude should continue for 28 more years. The company is now developing a new oil sands project at Kearl Lake. Imperial owns 70% of this project and will operate it; ExxonMobil owns the remaining 30%. Kearl Lake’s reserves should last 40 years....

BCE INC. $23 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 806.2 million; Market cap: $18.5 billion; SI Rating: Above average) provides telephone service to over 7.5 million residential and business customers in Ontario and Quebec. BCE also provides wireless service to 6.4 million subscribers across Canada. In June, 2007, BCE accepted a $42.75-a-share all-cash takeover offer from a private consortium led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. The deal required auditing firm KPMG to provide an opinion on BCE’s solvency following the takeover. KPMG’s preliminary analysis shows that BCE’s liabilities would probably exceed the value of its assets. KPMG’s report effectively killed the takeover. BCE recently stopped paying dividends on its common shares as part of deal with the consortium to help ensure that takeover would go through. Now that the deal is dead, BCE will probably resume quarterly dividend payments. The previous annual rate of $1.46 would now yield 6.3%....

NVIDIA CORP. $7.60 (Nasdaq symbol NVDA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 556.6 million; Market cap: $4.2 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) designs 3D chips for computers, video game consoles and other devices. Slowing sales of new computers have hurt Nvidia’s shares in the past few months. Restructuring charges and higher warranty costs related to defective chips have also dampened its earnings. In its third fiscal quarter ended October 26, 2008, earnings before one-time items dropped 57.8%, to $111.4 million from $264.2 million a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 54.5%, to $0.20 from $0.44. Revenue declined 19.5%, to $897.7 million from $1.1 billion. That’s partly due to growing price competition among video chip makers....

WAL-MART STORES INC. $57 (New York symbol WMT; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 3.9 billion; Market cap: $222.3 billion; WSSF Rating: Above average) is the world’s largest retailer with over 7,400 stores in the United States and 13 other countries. It serves over 175 million customers each week. The company has three main divisions: the Wal-Mart division operates 3,630 discount stores in the U.S. (63% of total sales); the Sam’s Club division operates 595 warehouse club stores (25% of sales); and the International division consists of 3,200 stores outside of the U.S. that Wal-Mart operates directly and through joint ventures (12% of sales). Revenues grew from $256.3 billion in 2004 to $374.5 billion in 2008 (fiscal years end January 31). Earnings rose from $2.03 a share ($8.9 billion) in 2004 to $3.16 a share ($12.9 billion) in 2008....

PENN WEST ENERGY TRUST $16.04 (Toronto symbol PWT.UN; Shares outstanding: 384.4 million; Market cap: $6.2 billion; SI Rating: Speculative) is the largest conventional oil and gas trust in North America. In the three months ended September 30, 2008, Penn West’s revenue rose 113.6%, to $1.2 billion from $628 million, largely due to acquisitions. Cash flow per unit rose 20.1%, to $1.73 from $1.44. Penn West trades at 2.3 times cash flow per share based on the 12 months. Penn West now has average daily production of 190,177 barrels of oil equivalent (weighted 44% to natural gas and 56% to oil). The units yield 25.4%....

PENGROWTH ENERGY TRUST $10.09 (Toronto symbol PGF.UN; Shares outstanding: 254.6 million; Market cap: $2.6 billion; SI Rating: Average) produces oil and gas in western Canada, as well as offshore Nova Scotia. Pengrowth’s average daily production of 80,981 barrels of oil equivalent is weighted 49% toward oil and liquids and 51% natural gas. In the three months ended September 30, 2008, Pengrowth’s revenue rose 23.3%, to $518.7 million from $420.7 million. Cash flow per unit rose 23.6%, to $1.10 from $0.89....

ARC ENERGY TRUST $18.72 (Toronto symbol AET.UN; Shares outstanding: 215.3 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; SI Rating: Speculative) produces oil and gas in western Canada. In the three months ended September 30, 2008, ARC’s revenue rose 61.8%, to $485.7 million from $300.2 million. Cash flow per unit rose 36.5%, to $1.16 from $0.85. The rise in cash flow came largely from higher oil and natural gas prices. ARC’s average daily production of 64,325 barrels of oil per day equivalent is weighted 50% toward oil and 50% natural gas. ARC’s debt remains low, at 17% of market cap. The trust has just lowered its monthly distribution by 16.7%, to $0.20 from $0.24. The units now yield 12.8%. ARC flowed only 68% of its cash flow through to its unitholders as distributions in the latest quarter. The units trade at 4.4 times cash flow based on the 12 months....