Search

EMERA INC. $47 (Toronto symbol EMA; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 148.2 million; Market cap: $7.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.emera.com) owns 100% of Nova Scotia Power, that province’s main electricity supplier. It also owns or invests in power plants and natural gas pipelines in the U.S. and the Caribbean. Emera recently agreed to purchase TECO Energy (New York symbol TE). It supplies electricity and natural gas to 1.05 million customers in Tampa Bay, Florida. A separate subsidiary distributes gas to 510,000 clients in New Mexico. The company will pay $10.4 billion U.S., including TECO’s debt. Emera will probably sell new shares to help pay off the short-term loans it needs to finance the deal....

FORTIS INC. $40 (Toronto symbol FTS; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 283.1 million; Market cap: $11.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.fortisinc.com) owns electrical utilities across Canada and in the U.S. and Caribbean. It also distributes natural gas in British Columbia. In February 2016, Fortis agreed to buy ITC Holdings Corp. (New York symbol ITC), which owns 25,100 kilometres of high-voltage power lines in the U.S. Midwest. Fortis is paying $6.9 billion U.S. in cash and shares; ITC shareholders will own 27% of the combined company. Fortis will also list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange; its shares will continue to trade in Toronto....

CANADIAN UTILITIES LTD. (Toronto symbols CU [class A non-voting] $35 and CU.X [class B voting] $35; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 267.0 million; Market cap: $9.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.8; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.canadianutilities.com) distributes electricity and natural gas in Alberta and Australia. It also operates 15 power plants in Canada (13) and Australia (2). ATCO Ltd. (see right) owns 53.1% of the company. Due to lower power prices in Alberta and the sale of its information technology subsidiary, the company’s earnings in 2015 dropped 50.5%, to $352 million from $711 million in 2014. Per-share earnings fell 56.0%, to $1.11 from $2.52 on more shares outstanding. Without unusual items, earnings fell 16.0%. Revenue declined 9.3%, to $3.3 billion from $3.6 billion. In December 2015, the company completed and started operating a 485-kilometre power line in eastern Alberta. This is the longest transmission line in Alberta’s history. Other new projects include a gas pipeline and power plant in Mexico, and four underground gas-storage facilities in Alberta....

ATCO LTD. (Toronto symbols ACO.X [class I non-voting] $39 and ACO.Y [class II voting] $39; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 115.0 million; Market cap: $4.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.atco.com) gets most of its earnings from its 53.1% stake in Canadian Utilities (see page 44). It also owns 75.5% of ATCO Structures & Logistics, which makes temporary buildings for construction, mining and energy exploration firms; Canadian Utilities owns the other 24.5%. In December 2015, the company sold its ATCO Emissions Management subsidiary for $60 million. This business helps producers of oil, gas and electricity reduce air and noise pollution....

IMPERIAL OIL LTD. $40 (Toronto symbol IMO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap: $33.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 1.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.imperialoil.ca) plans to expand its oil sands operations in the Cold Lake area of northern Alberta. In 2015, Cold Lake supplied 158,000 barrels a day, or 43% of Imperial’s average daily production of 366,000 barrels a day. This expansion will cost $2 billion. It should produce an additional 50,000 barrels a day by 2022. Imperial’s expertise with solvent assisted, steam-assisted gravity drainage technology should help cut its operating costs. That process also creates fewer greenhouse gasses than conventional extraction methods. Imperial Oil is a buy.

CENOVUS ENERGY INC. $18 (Toronto symbol CVE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 833.2 million; Market cap: $15.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 1.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cenovus.com) owns oil sands projects and conventional wells in Western Canada. It ships its oil to its 50%-owned refineries in Illinois and Texas. Due to low oil prices, Cenovus has shrunk its workforce by 31% since the start of 2015. These cuts should save it $200 million this year; it lost $403 million, or $0.49 a share, in 2015. The cuts should also help Cenovus quickly expand profits when oil prices recover. Cenovus is still a buy.

ANDREW PELLER LTD. (Toronto symbols ADW.A $28 and ADW.B $30; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 14.3 million; Market cap: $406.4 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.andrewpeller.com) is Canada’s second-largest wine producer, after Constellation Brands. It accounts for 14.2% of the country’s wine sales, and 37.1% of wines produced in Canada. Peller continues to benefit from strong sales of its premium-priced brands. These include its 2011 deal with hockey star Wayne Gretzky to make and distribute wines under his name. This brand is now one of the best-selling wines in Canada. To keep up with strong demand for Gretzky wines, the company is building a new winery next to its existing operation in the Niagara region of Southern Ontario. This new facility will open in the spring of 2017....

BOMBARDIER INC. (Toronto symbols BBD.A $1.52 and BBD.B $1.43; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $2.3 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 0.2; Dividend suspended in February 2015; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; www.bombardier.com) is the world’s third-largest maker of commercial aircraft, after Boeing and Airbus. It’s also a leading maker of passenger railcars. The company recently formed a joint venture with the government of Quebec to build its new CSeries passenger jets. Under the deal, the province will pay $1.0 billion for 49.5% of this business (all amounts except share prices and market cap in U.S. dollars)....

BLACKBERRY LTD. $9.21 (Toronto symbol BB; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 521.2 million; Market cap: $4.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative; www.blackberry.com) provides secure wireless communication services, mainly to businesses and government agencies. In the fiscal year ended February 29, 2016, BlackBerry’s revenue fell 35.2%, to $2.2 billion from $3.3 billion a year earlier (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Smartphones supplied 40% of total revenue, followed by the fees it charges wireless carriers to access its networks (37%). The software it installs on its clients’ email servers contributed 23% of revenue. Without unusual items, the company lost $0.19 a share, compared to a profit of $0.08 in 2014. BlackBerry holds cash of $2.6 billion, or $5.03 a share. Its longterm debt of $1.3 billion is a manageable 27% of its market cap....

CAE INC. $15 (Toronto symbol CAE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 269.9 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.cae.com) is a leading maker of flight simulators and operator of pilot-training schools in over 30 countries. The company recently won several contracts for flight simulators and related equipment from military clients in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Australia. In all, these deals are worth $175 million, or 7% of the company’s $2.4 billion of annual revenue. CAE’s military businesses supply 35% of its sales. That cuts its reliance on cyclical commercial airlines....

CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY CO. $81 (Toronto symbol CNR; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 786.4 million; Market cap: $63.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.0; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.cn.ca) operates Canada’s largest railway. Its network stretches across the country and through the U.S. Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico. The company has agreed to repurchase up to 11.2 million of its shares from a private seller at a discount to the market price. It aims to complete this transaction by September 9, 2016. The move is part of CN’s plan to buy back up to 33.0 million of its common shares, or roughly 5% of the total outstanding, by October 29, 2016. Share buybacks raise earnings per share and other per-share calculations. That gives the remaining shareholders a larger stake in the company....

GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $35 (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 993.2 million; Market cap: $34.8 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend Yield: 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest insurance company, after Manulife Financial (Toronto symbol MFC). In the past few years, the company has expanded its presence in Ireland. In July 2013, it paid $1.75 billion for Irish Life, Ireland’s largest pension manager and life insurance provider. Irish Life recently announced two small acquisitions: it is buying Aviva Health, and increasing its stake in GloHealth from 49% to 100%. The company did not say how much it will pay, but these purchases will let it sell health insurance products to its Irish clients....

TORONTO-DOMINION BANK $55 (Toronto symbol TD; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.9 billion; Market cap: $104.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.3; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.td.com) is the first Canadian bank to use Visa’s new tokenization technology in its mobile banking app. This system uses encrypted “tokens” instead of credit card numbers and other account information. This helps protect clients’ sensitive information from online intruders. It also speeds up mobile payments and other transactions. Better security should encourage more of TD’s customers to do their banking online. That would cut its costs, as electronic transactions are cheaper to process than those in physical branches....

CANADIAN TIRE CORP. (Toronto symbols CTC $197 and CTC.A $135; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 73.5 million; Market cap: $10.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.canadiantire.ca) owns 498 Canadian Tire stores. They sell automotive, household and sporting goods. Franchisees run most of these outlets. Other operations include 296 gas stations and 91 PartSource auto parts stores. New markets have paid off Canadian Tire has acquired two big specialty retailers in the past few years: Mark’s sells casual and work clothing through 380 stores; and the Forzani Group sells sporting goods and athletic wear through 433 stores, including Sport Chek and Sports Experts....

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC. $47 (www.snclavalin.com) acquired U.K.-based Kentz Corp. for $2.1 billion in August 2014. Kentz sells engineering and construction services to oil and gas firms. The purchase is helping SNC win more contracts in the Middle East....

RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $51 (www.rbi.com) is the world’s third-largest fast-food operator, after McDonald’s and Yum Brands, with 15,003 Burger King outlets and 4,413 Tim Hortons stores in 100 countries. Last year, its affiliate in France acquired the Quick burger chain, which has 509 locations in France, Belgium and other parts of Europe....

Trading on the after hours market can easily do more harm than good to your portfolio returns.

User enhancements in 2015 helped eBay increase the number of active users on its websites as well as its revenue—before exchange rates.

The road to success with penny stocks is littered with risks. New free report shows how investors can avoid the risks and reap the rewards

Western Copper & Gold Corp. must find partners to extract gold, copper, silver from its only mine site, but it has the cash to complete the permitting process.

Formulating a good financial plan forces us to take a good look at the present—and the future.

Vecima Networks saw its revenue rise and earnings jump from increased sales of its broadband technology and because of the high U.S. dollar.

Imperial Oil is selling its remaining Esso gas stations. This will let the company focus on its oil sands operations. These projects will prosper when oil prices recover, and enhance the company’s growth prospects. IMPERIAL OIL $41.25 (Toronto symbol IMO; Shares outstanding: 847.6 million; Market cap: $34.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 1.4%; www.imperialoil.ca) is a major integrated oil company with oil sands projects in Alberta and conventional oil and gas operations across Western Canada. It also operates three refineries. Imperial is now selling its 497 company-owned Esso gas stations to independent operators for $2.8 billion. Following the sale, franchisees will operate all 1,700 Esso stations across Canada....

TRANSCANADA CORP. $49.18 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 709.0 million; Market cap: $34.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.6%; www.transcanada.com) has run into difficulties lately in gaining approvals for new pipelines, including Energy East in Canada and Keystone XL in the U.S. However, the company has moved forward with its proposed acquisiton of Texas-based Columbia Pipeline Group (New York symbol GPCX) for $13 billion U.S. This is a big purchase for TransCanada, which has a market cap of $35.4 billion (Canadian)....

PEMBINA PIPELINE $34.61 (Toronto symbol PPL; Shares outstanding: 373.4 million; Market cap: $12.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.0%; www.pembina.com) owns pipelines that carry half of Alberta’s conventional oil and almost all of B.C.’s oil. It also carries 30% of Western Canada’s natural gas liquids (NGLs). Pembina owns extensive facilities to extract, process and store NGLs, as well as natural gas processing plants. In the three months ended December 31, 2015, the company’s cash flow per share jumped 57.0%, to $0.77 from $0.49 a year earlier. New plants starting up boosted volumes at its NGL extraction business....