acquisition strategy

DUNDEE REIT $34.37 (Toronto symbol D.UN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-365-3535; www.dundeereit.com; Shares outstanding: 97.0 million; Market cap: $3.3 billion; Dividend yield: 6.4%) owns and manages 22.9 million square feet of office and retail space. The trust has a 95.1% occupancy rate.

In the three months ended September 30, 2012, Dundee REIT’s revenue jumped 71.6%, to $187.3 million from $109.2 million a year earlier. Most of the increase came from properties the trust recently purchased.

Cash flow jumped 67.5%, to $61.3 million from $36.6 million. Cash flow per unit rose 5.2%, to $0.61 from $0.58, on more units outstanding (the trust issued new units to pay for the acquired properties). The units yield 6.4%.

...

Contrans Group, $9.52, symbol CSS on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 32.3 million; Market cap: $307.5 million; www.contrans.ca), is a Canadian company that ships freight via flatbed trailers, vans and tanker trailers. Contrans has terminals across the country. The company has about 1,000 employees. Its fleet consists of 2,200 trailers and 1,200 trucks, 700 of which are owned and operated by their drivers. Contrans continues to grow by acquisition. For example, in June 2012, it bought Peter Hodge Transport Limited, a Milton, Ontario, company with 92 trucks and 140 trailers, for an undisclosed amount....

Parkland Fuel Corp., $16.97, symbol PKI on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 66.6 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion, www.parkland.ca), operates gas stations, convenience stores and a fuel distribution business, mostly in Western Canada and Ontario. The company was called Parkland Income Fund prior to its conversion to a dividend-paying corporation on December 31, 2010. Parkland owns 163 rural gas stations and convenience stores. Its brands include Fas Gas Plus, Race Trac Gas and Short Stop (convenience stores). Many stations sell propane in addition to gasoline and diesel fuel. The company also operates Esso gas stations in western Canada and Ontario under a licensing deal with Imperial Oil Ltd. (symbol IMO on Toronto)....

DUNDEE REIT $38.86 (Toronto symbol D.UN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-365-3535; www.dundeereit.com; Shares outstanding: 96.6 million; Market cap: $3.8 billion; Dividend yield: 5.7%) owns and manages 27.6 million square feet of office, industrial and retail space. The trust has a 95.6% occupancy rate. In the three months ended June 30, 2012, Dundee’s revenue jumped 89.6%, to $181.2 million from $95.6 million a year earlier. Most of the increase came from properties the trust recently purchased. Cash flow jumped 78.9%, to $56.0 million from $31.3 million. Cash flow per unit rose 8.9%, to $0.61 from $0.56, on more units outstanding (the trust issued new units to pay for the acquired properties)....

DUNDEE REIT, $38.40, symbol D.UN on Toronto, owns and manages 27.6 million square feet of office, industrial and retail space. The real estate investment trust’s occupancy rate is 95.6%. In the three months ended June 30, 2012, Dundee’s revenue jumped 89.6%, to $181.2 million from $95.6 million a year earlier. Most of the increase came from properties the trust recently purchased. The best way to assess a real estate investment trust’s operating performance is to look at its cash flow, and Dundee’s cash flow rose 78.9% in the latest quarter, to $56.0 million from $31.3 million. Cash flow per unit rose 8.9%, to $0.61 from $0.56, due to more units outstanding (the trust issued new units to pay for recent property purchases)....

AASTRA TECHNOLOGIES, $16.56, symbol AAH on Toronto, develops and markets products and systems for accessing communication networks, including the Internet. Its technology is centred around business telephone systems and includes products that integrate land lines and mobile phones. In the three months ended June 30, 2012, the company’s sales fell 15.5%, to $147.1 million from $174.1 million a year earlier. Sales declined in all regions, including Western Europe, where Aastra gets the majority of its revenue. The lower sales caused the company’s earnings to fall sharply, to $1.9 million, or $0.15 a share, from $6.1 million, or $0.43 a share. Cash flow per share fell 43.8%, to $0.45 from $0.80....

ADOBE SYSTEMS $31.43 (Nasdaq symbol ADBE; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (408-536-6000; www.adobe.com; Shares outstanding: 491.8 million; Market cap: $15.5 billion; No dividends paid) is teaming up with NBC to stream events live from the Olympic Summer Games in London to mobile device users in the U.S. for free. Comcast Corp. owns NBC, which has the U.S. television rights to the London Olympics. NBC has launched two applications using Adobe technology. Both include software that measures user traffic and offers targeted advertising. The first app, NBC Olympics Live Extra, will let customers of cable, satellite and telephone companies live-stream competitions and events. The other app, called NBC Olympics, will provide additional information, such as TV and online schedules, live results and highlights....

DUNDEE REIT $39.04 (Toronto symbol D.UN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-365-3535; www.dundeereit.com; Shares outstanding: 96.5 million; Market cap: $3.8 billion; Dividend yield: 5.6%) aims to sell off its industrial properties over the next 18 months, to focus on adding to its office properties.

Right now, Dundee owns 22.5 million square feet of office space across 175 properties and 5.7 million square feet of industrial space across 74 properties. The REIT’s industrial holdings contribute about 8% of its revenue. Dundee spent a total of $1.6 billion on property purchases in 2011, up from $900 million in 2010.

The trust’s growth-by-acquisition strategy adds risk, but it is steadily diversifying its holdings outside western Canada by purchasing more buildings in other parts of the country. At the start of 2010, about 70% of Dundee’s properties were in western Canada. That’s now down to less than 55%.

...

NEW GOLD INC., $9.95, symbol NGD on Toronto, has three operating mines: the Mesquite mine in the U.S., the Cerro San Pedro mine in Mexico and the Peak mine in Australia. It also owns 30% of the El Morro copper/gold project in Chile (Goldcorp owns the other 70%) and 100% of the Blackwater gold project in B.C. New Gold is now starting up its fourth mine. The $765-million New Afton gold mine in B.C. processed the first ore through its mill on June 28, 2012. New Gold’s target for commercial production at New Afton, defined as 30 days of operation at 60% capacity (or 6,600 tonnes per day) remains August 2012. The company expects New Afton to produce an average of 85,000 ounces of gold and 75 million pounds of copper annually over its 12-year life. There is still room to expand the mine’s reserves and increase production through exploration drilling....

CHEMTRADE LOGISTICS INCOME FUND $15.05 (Toronto symbol CHE.UN; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (416-496-5856; www.chemtradelogistics.com; Units outstanding: 41.7 million; Market cap: $627.6 million; Dividend yield: 8.0%) is one of North America’s largest providers of removal services for resource firms, such as oil refineries and base-metal processors. These companies create sulphur, acid and other by-products as part of their processing activities. Chemtrade converts these substances into useful chemicals, like sulphuric acid. In the three months ended March 31, 2012, Chemtrade’s revenue rose 34.4%, to $227.9 million from $169.6 million. That mostly reflects the contribution of Marsulex Inc., which Chemtrade bought for $419.5 million in cash and stock in June 2011. Cash flow rose 6.0%, to $27.5 million from $25.9 million. Cash flow per share fell 28.6%, to $0.66 from $0.84, on more shares outstanding from the Marsulex purchase....